Making A Life from Melanie Falick - A New Book

It's been a long time since I have been excited by a book..... but last week, I received a copy of Melanie Falick's new book Making A Life: Working By Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live. 

When I received Making a Life I couldn't wait to dig into it. A quick page through and I was intrigued by all the different artists/craftspeople that Melanie included. 

Making A Life begins with Melanie's personal introduction to this project. She has always been a maker. Through this book, Melanie wanted to explore why people make - especially in our current world with all the technology that is so everpresent in our lives. She asks why people both to knit, to sew, to quilt. She introduces scholarly research at the very beginning to inspire the reader to "Discover the Life You are Meant to Live" as the title says.

This is a big book - 320 pages long. Unlike Knitting In America, there are no individual projects that you can make. That is fine with me. I am most interested in reading about other artists (or makers as that term now seems to encompass all kinds of artistic and craft disciplines) -- how they found their beginning, what makes them tick and how they keep themselves motivated to keep on making. Making A Life does that. There are 30 different profiles of artists/craftspeople/makers in disciplines that range from fiber, pottery, sculpture, quilting, weaving, dyeing, shoemaking, woodworking, welding, printing and more.  

Some of the artists featured I was familiar with but some were totally new to me. Melanie has always had the knack for flushing out talent that may be new the larger world. Lotta Jansdotter, Natalie Lete, and Natalie Chanin are women whose work I know. It's nice to read about their stories. It is even more fun for me to explore the other women and men that were new to me - to discover their work and find inspiration in their daily practices. 

Each chapter explores a person, a couple or a school. There are beautiful photographs taken by Rinne Allen. The photographs are arranged in a mixed layout fashion that gives an overview to their craft, tools, supplies, and life. So often books show big beautiful pictures but as we all know - there is only so much room when a photograph takes an entire page. This book almost reads like a good blog post of yesteryear profiling and sharing visuals.

Congratulations to Melanie on another gorgeous book. It is clear that she put her life and soul into this book and we are all the more fortunate for her energy and devotion to the project. 

You can listen to a podcast with Melanie being interviewed by Abby Glassenberg here. 

Melanie is currently on a Book Tour to share Making a Life. You can see the schedule here. 

If you are a fan of craft and art books, I am quite sure you will love this one. Put it on your Christmas wish list or treat yourself immediately. 

Thought Process + Some Links

I have been typing away all week on the keyboard of my computer working on the re-writes for my editor. It is a slog. Many years ago, I read a quote from Patricia Wells, one of my fave cookbook authors. She said something about you have to just sit there and do it because if you don't, it will not get done. As my Farmer says, half the battle of success is just showing up. (BTW, it looks like PW has her 15th cookbook coming out in March.)

So this week I am planted on my butt and showing up. I'm hoping I can finish by end of next week. Fingers crossed. 

I have a little ritual I do when I write. After I finish a section, I get up and walk around. Maybe put a load of wash in. Then I check my email (I have noone to talk to) and see if anything looks interesting. I get a lot of newsletters and don't read most of them but once in a while something will look intriguing. The other day I read HonestlyWTF and saw this in the side bar. 

Kind of stopped me in my tracks and I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. I went to a website for an Italian furniture company called Cappellinin and then found this. 

A different version of the same chair but painted and covered in a kind of dappled, daubed, stippled fabric and paint treatment on the wood. Then I found this short video. Very mesmerizing. This would be easy to do but the choice of colors would be key.

Later on in the day, a post about Bradley Walker Tomlin came in and I couldn't help but think his work looked like the fabric. 

I thought about other special chairs I had seen in my life. Do you know about Orkney Chairs? Amazing to think they are woven out of straw harvested on the Island of Orkney. 

I found a video of the weaving process. A little tedious to watch but skip through it. 

I will continue keeping myself planted - working on this book on pattern. I hope you all are having a good January. It was 55 degrees here today and on Saturday it is going to be 7. Lots of very nasty slippery ice. Sounds like lots of crazy weather all over the country. Stay safe. 

Lucy and Terri's Farmhouse

A few months ago, photographer Rikki Snyder was in our area and we got together for breakfast. We were talking biz, photography, publicity, etc - all the stuff you talk about if you are doing what we do being self-employed people trying to make a go of it. Rikki volunteered to help me with the video shoot at our farmhouse. Since she would be traveling here to help me out, I thought it would be good to find her another photography gig in the form of a home to feature on Houzz at the same time.

Photo by Rikki Snyder

I don't know lots of people's homes around here. Folks in New England tend to stick to themselves. In NJ where I grew up, it wasn't odd for someone to stop by and visit. Here in New England, that isn't actually done - without an invitation. At least that's how I see it.

The kitchen table set with Lucy's pottery - photo by Rikki Snyder

Sometimes you have to break the rules. Rikki and I stopped by unannounced at our friends Lucy and Terri's house. Terri is a delivery room nurse who helps us out on the farm sometimes with lambing. Lucy is a potter. I knew their home was nicely done and included many special handmade touches. I also knew that Lucy had a killer pottery studio which would photograph beautifully. This winter, Rikki and I dropped by at Lucy's studio door unannounced and we approached her with the idea of having their house photographed by Rikki for Houzz - just like our house was in 2012. 

Terri and Lucy's charming home is now live here on Houzz.

The porch with one of Lucy's vases - photo by Rikki Snyder

You will love all the handmade touches they have added. Take the time to read how the kitchen was transformed. These women are clever DIY-ers, gardeners, and chicken farmers. Their home is warm and inviting, not pretentious nor overdone - just what a New England farmhouse should be. 

Here is a photo of Rikki and Lucy after the pottery demonstration Lucy did for Rikki's camera. What a great creative day for all of us. 

Enjoy everyone. I know Rikki and I enjoyed our day documenting their splendid warm and welcoming home. I've put the slide show below if you don't have time to pop over to Houzz.

Check out Lucy's pottery here. She makes beautiful dishes, serving pieces, and foodie related pottery. She also makes stunning cremation urns for loved ones which are available in her Etsy shop. Her work is impeccable. I love her green glaze and have a few pieces myself.  

My Houzz: Handmade Coziness in a Potter’s New England Home and Studio

Fabric Printing Retreat - Wrap Up Part Two

Busy week this week here at Leyden Glen Farm. It's a few days late in coming but I wanted to show you all what the students did at the Fabric Printing Retreat here at our farm last weekend. Here is a group shot of everyone with their bags and printed fabric. Don't they look like a happy crew? And that Winston snuck himself into the photo!

I love teaching students how to design. In the beginning, most of them have doubts that they can design by themselves. As the hours progress, they are digging in deep - talking about why something works or doesn't work. It is so much fun to see their confidence progress as the day goes on. 

Robin made this bright and happy bag.

Kim made this floral bag in aqua and green tones. I love how it matched her checked shirt.

Michelle went with a heart motif in many colors and combined it with some happy circles. She started with one distinct idea, made a few stamps to print from and then it morphed into this one. I love that!

Minh designed a graphic design. She will be coming to the Crewel Embroidery Retreat in August and wanted to print a fabric to embroider upon. She made 2 different versions but somehow I missed the photos. You can see one of her prints in the photo above. When designing for adding embroidery, it meant that she had to think about space for the stitches to be added. She had to make a design that would suit the embroidery - similar to my Paisley Pillow from a month ago or so. 

Here is Nancy's bag. She began with a motif idea that she photographed in Peru. 

This photo shows the stamps Nancy used. 

On Day Two, Nancy added some black lines to define the shapes even more. 

Rosie designed and made many, many stamps. Here is a close-up of the fabric she printed. Stunning. So colorful. 

This year, I am offering both one and two day options for the retreats. It seems like the right thing to do since some people do not want to stay overnight and don't have enough time to be away from their families. I must say though -- the students who stay for the second day really do absorb more and learn more - as would be expected. I had 4 students on the second day. We got so into printing and designing that I totally forgot to take any photos. Day Two gives each student the option to specialize in a second type of printing OR to just keep going with what they were having fun with the first day. 

Cynthia finished printing this long piece of fabric. 

Then Cynthia printed this bag. 

Nancy made some new print versions using her stamps from the first day. I think she will be using these as napkins or pillow tops. 

Robin and Rosie did block-printing and designed and carved some beautiful blocks. I forgot to take photos! Here are some block-prints I carved so you get the idea. 

I will be offering the Fabric Printing Class again this summer July 18/19. I don't have the website ready yet but I will let you all know when it is ready for registration.  Mark your calendars now if you would like to come to the farm and join in the fun. The announcement will be first made on my "Once in A While" Newsletter which you can sign up for at the upper right side of my blog. 

Fabric Painting Weekend Wrap-Up - Part 1

Good morning everyone. I made it through the weekend. The old farmhouse was clean and shiny and my guests arrived on Saturday morning bright and early. The first 2015 "Getting Stitched On The Farm" Creative Retreat was a huge success. Funny thing was --- it wasn't exactly about stitching - it was all about fabric and color and design. But you know what you can do with fabric, right? Stitch it. 

I had a full class of 6 women who came as far as Minnesota, Chicago, and many from the Boston area. Two of my students were "repeat offenders" - how incredible that they would come back and travel so far. I was honored by all their presences. My friend Cynthia (as in Roslindale Library Event Organizer) came early and we cooked and baked up a storm on Friday evening. She did the lunches while I taught. Thank you a million Cynthia! 

In the morning after a quick tour of the handmade decoration in our farmhouse, I introduced the printing concept, some basic fabric design, the paints and materials. We got right down to work. Here are the girls cutting shapes and building their own individual printing stamps. 

It is a messy process and maybe a bit intimidating if you haven't designed much before. They got through it though - with flying colors. 

We had a delicious and colorful lunch - with Julia keeping us informed of Royal Baby #2 with live-streaming updates.  

After lunch, we went back to the studio to start the fabric printing. This is when the inner artist/colorist in each person came out. I love to see what each student comes up with. Each design was so different from her neighbors. 

As the students worked, I could see the wheels in their heads turning. Some abandoned their original ideas and moved onto new ideas. Some carried through with their original ideas. 

Change and decision making is part of the design and art process and one that I find so important for learning. 

Tomorrow I will share the finished work that the students made. 

This class was such a success - filling up in rapid time. I'm going to offer it again this summer. Maybe you might like to come to the farm and learn how to print fabric. Watch this space. Better yet - sign up for my newsletter on the upper right side of my sidebar. I announce new classes first on my newsletter.  

Thankful for My Colorful Home

I can't believe how fast 2014 has gone. The holidays are fast approaching. We will be hosting Thanksgiving once again so I've got to get into cleaning action. Ugh. Most of the year, our dining room is used as a shipping room, inventory room, and general catchall. It is always a chore to move everything out to get ready for the big meal. Here's the general look of it today!

In about a month, I should be receiving a first copy of my upcoming book Crafting a Colorful Home: A Room by Room Guide to Personalizing Your Home with Color. 

I am really anticipating holding it in my hands, looking at the colorful images, feeling the pages. Seeing our home in print in a book is going to be a serious thrill. I hope it is well-received but that is out of my hands. I have written several books but thus far, CACH is the most personal. The book shares many of the different crafts I enjoy and teaches a whole bunch of techniques that most people do not know I do. 

Here's a little preview for a super simple project called Hanging Embroidery Hoop Lanterns over on the Roost blog. Isn't the photo gorgeous? All the photos were taken by the super talented Rikki Snyder (who BTW has been doing a lot of food photos for the NY Times - go Rikki!) These lanterns are made from wooden embroidery hoops. The shades are sewn of remnants of block printed fabrics. They are very easy to make (no sewing machine necessary) and they add a bit of a festive atmosphere to any space. To make them into lanterns, run some holiday lights down through them. See the Roost blog for a PDF of how to make them. 

I'll be selling signed copies of Crafting a Colorful Home on my website. I'll let you know when I have the page live. Of course I would love to sell you one and sign it for you. Retailing my books used to be a helpful chunk of extra money which I rely on. Unfortunately those sales seem to have almost disappeared since many people are now used to buying via Amazon and other third market vendors.

I found a very interesting blog post written by Dianne of The Crafty Pod entitled Is It Worth It to Write a Craft Book?. Diane has spelled it out perfectly - about the money involved, the time needed, the amount of effort and therefore lack of ability to keep other parts of your business going because you are so engrossed in THE BOOK. This post has come at a time when I am thinking again about the possibility of doing another book, researching ideas, etc. Reading the post has made me really think about whether I should even think about doing another book. Thank you Diane.

Sunflower Inspiration

I've been harvesting the zinnias and sunflowers and bringing in bouquets to enjoy every evening. I love the weather this time of year and all the luscious color but I do get bittersweet about it all because I know the end of the growing season will be here anyday. If I don't pick a bouquet each day, I get all antsy, knowing that my opportunity to look at all this beautiful flora is so short. 

I also take a lot of photos of the garden. It is so nice to look back on the beauty in the dead of winter. I am continually inspired by all the color combinations and the shapes of plants and blooms.

A few winters ago, I had a bit of an accident. I was taking photos of a pizza just out of the oven and set the hot pan onto the glass top a coffee table on the porch. Really, I wasn't thinking. All of a sudden I heard a crack. Giant oops. The heat of the pan had cracked the table. 

I was never wild about the glass top because it always got dirty, full of pollen, road dust and general country grubbiness. I had a piece of birch plywood cut to replace it. That flat surface was just dying to be decorated. A while back, I got to it. I chose a simple sunflower motif, used some acrylics and latex and painted some sunflowers. I used a waterproof sealer to protect the tabletop.

Here with the inspiration laid atop it. 
 

Now we have sunflowers all year round on the porch. If the motif is too garish and bright, I cover it up with a cloth. It has worn really well too and adds a bit of cheer to the porch. 

 

The arrangement that is on the tabletop was something I made when I harvested a massive bunch of zinnias. The concept was a colorwheel of zinnias and although it isn't exactly a colorwheel, I does show the bright shades. Here's a close-up. I used a bundt pan and layered all the stems so they held each other up. The arrangement lasted at least a week and it looked so pretty on top of the painted table.