It's Been Too Long

Moving just sucks. And I think I have one more big one in my distant future, the last one for this lifetime. Until then, I'm working to get back on the creative wagon. No more excuses, dilly dallying, or whining. Back to work. The past two days have been productive but I usually can't get to all that's on my list. But each day, I do a little more and today, I made myself work on dolls in the morning. Which I did. Started three new doll heads, worked on three heads that I'd started ions ago, added a forehead and chin to Frank's monster, redid a box skellie, worked on my Beach Creep, and continued work on a doll I started from a Deanna Hogan pattern. I drove around the neighborhood and didn't get lost. Had lunch and now I'm doing my posts.

This is the step that always gets me caught up in doubt. I'm working in a new medium, not quite sure of myself or what the heck I'm doing, and I'm fighting not chucking everything. Why? Because nothing looks like anything that I have in my head. So I keep telling myself that it's just the beginning. Cut myself some slack, let the clay dry and do the next step. Let things dry? Yes... I can be impatient and I'm working on that too. I'm trying to remember what a friend told me to think of when I'm working on my projects. Make it Suck! That way if it does suck, I won't be disappointed but if it looks pretty awesome, I'll be surprised.

I also got back to my Redwork. It's a particular type of embroidery that started out using red thread called Turkey Red. The country, not the bird. Seems like they created the first colorfast dye for the color red. Now women could embroider things and launder them too. There are all sorts of designs out there. I took a workshop from Beth Dix of Primrose Lane in Black Mountain, NC. It took me a couple of tries to get the hang of it again but I really like doing it. Now you can use any color thread you want. My first piece was a leaf using a variegated thread.

The piece that I'm working on now has the Turkey Red and a darker overdyed red. I've gotten a little further but this was the pic I had available at the moment.

And here is one of Beth's pieces. As you can see, she used different colors for each thing and colored in the spaces using crayons. This piece has been set into a quilt.

Hopefully, I can say that I've gotten a good new start to getting back to making things. There's going to be a lot of pushing myself. And spring is coming. The calendar says it's here but the temps say otherwise. Stay tuned.

#redwork #turkeyred #paperclay #dolls #monster #embroidery #skellie