Art

March 31, 2015 by Filigree

Tiny books

Just…tiny books. They’re awesome. They’re like…Night Vale meets a dollhouse. Go see them here. The first pieces of ‘real’ art (the ones I remember) I did at age 5 were miniatures, and the concept has stayed with me through many different crafts (jewelry, alabaster sculpture, felt sculpture, weaving, painting, mosaic, etc). But the smallest book…

March 30, 2015 by Filigree 4 comments

Moss agate pillow

…or, experiments in home decor. For a decade or so, I’ve been seeing Chinese jade, agate, and tourmaline-beaded pillows on the import market. Some are panels of beads sewn onto a pillow-top. Others are elaborate hollow cage structures shaped to fit the head and neck, and supported by jade or wooden end-caps. Metaphysically-inclined folks will…

March 20, 2015 by Filigree

More fiber art award ribbons

It’s spring. Next weekend is the Tempe Festival of the Arts, where 40,000 people will somehow find places to park around the core of Tempe’s Mill Avenue Downtown district. Hundreds of artist booths will line Mill and its side streets. There will be decadent food and more decadent booze. Several million dollars will change hands,…

February 24, 2015 by Filigree 2 comments

Why hall costumes? (part 2)

Last year I finished this swing coat, in hand-embroidered linen and cotton: But the seafoam green, gray-tan, and turquoise colorways were not quite right. Too high a contrast. So a couple of hours with a fiber-reactive dye, soda ash, a big plastic vat, the right kind of salt, and much care, I got exactly the…

February 22, 2015 by Filigree 2 comments

Musa Publishing: a case study

Once upon a time (2007ish) a new publisher came online with the usual bells and whistles, and then devolved into a sea of acrimony and accusation (circa 2011 – 2012). That publisher was Aspen Mountain Press, and out of its ashes a group of authors, editors, and support personnel banded together to create Musa Publishing. From…

February 17, 2015 by Filigree

The script test

Here’s one detail that seems to divide professional genre publishers and many self-pub authors/inexperienced small presses/vanity publishers: Cover font. Specifically, a hard-to-read script font. Font matters as much as imagery and composition. For e-books, the cover may be one of the most important investments an author or publisher will make. The ‘thumbnail’ sized or small-format cover…

February 15, 2015 by Filigree

More of ‘Night Flight/Night View’

This is actually the first piece I started sewing for this project, back in June 2010: the backdrop, the first thing people will see when they open this fabric pop-up book. Six different fabrics are used in the applique seen here. I’m sewing the rest of the accent beads on now – about 50% done…

February 12, 2015 by Filigree

Why Hall Costumes?

…and why not competition costumes? (First, this is a costumer and convention Thing. Wander off, if this bores you. Costume geeks won’t mind.) My work quality is good enough to at least enter SFF convention costume contests. I’ve entered, and won or at least placed in mainstream fiber arts competitions. But I dislike the structure,…

February 5, 2015 by Filigree

Option daydreams and nightmares

For authors unfamiliar with show business, few words will evoke the sheer magic of ‘They’ve optioned my book!’ That means someone has paid an author a certain amount of money to allow least the possibility (the ‘option’) of making that story into a movie, television drama, series, webcast, etc. Hold on there, pilgrim. You’re not…

January 30, 2015 by Filigree 2 comments

Accidental art

A very long time ago when I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism, I knew embroiderers who were so skilled the backs of their pieces were as flawless as the fronts. Same with the work from the masters of the Royal School of Needlework, to which I could never aspire to at my best.…

January 18, 2015 by Filigree

Night Flight: neighborhood

Say hello to part of a new fiber art book, which I may actually finish this year: As I mentioned in this post last year, back in 2009 I was insane enough to decide that, yes, I could make a pop-up book out of fabric. Most artists make pop-up or fold-out books out of paper,…

December 29, 2014 by Filigree 2 comments

A late December gloat

Okay, I’m going to be really evil, and gloat about a story that none of you will probably ever be able to read. Neither the author nor I are daft enough to release it in the wild. Not yet. As far as I know, it is the very first piece of fanfiction set in one…

November 26, 2014 by Filigree

New fiber art: Tempe Festival of the Arts award ribbons

Warning: if you are not a crafty type, this will be a very boring post. I’ll forgive you if you go look at pictures of Grumpy Cat instead. Twice a year, I have the honor of making the seventeen award ribbons for the Tempe Festival of the Arts, a major regional art fair in the…