The Maddening Process of Art

Greetings, gentle readers!

I am today going to tell you all about the strange creative process I go through in order to create my strange art.
As some of you know, I am currently making hats (Queen of Blood) with needle felting and just general oddness. This was started up because the doll’s torso was taking FOREVER to dry. (Hat Progress) The hats are all entirely one of a kind, mostly because they’re art and not a craft. They sort of have a mind of their own you see.

I will often start out with an idea. So, I grab my materials and start work, intending fully to realize this vision I have had. You would think that one day I’d learn. You see, that is where things change. Once i’ve started a hat or a doll or anything really... suddenly it takes on its own mind and I must work with it otherwise it’ll end up ugly. This is of course how I end up with real moss on hats.

My sister had a boyfriend in high school who told me something that I took to heart and have always considered when doing art since. The hilarious part is that he was just messing with me, but it was true. I was doing drawing lots then, and he said to me that you have to look at the page and then see what it wants to have drawn on it. Interesting advice, but so useful in the long run. Now, a good ten-twelve years later, I am applying this to fibre arts. Sculpture and fabric work exceptionally well for this.

Take the queen of blood hat for instance it began as a totally different concept. I was going to have a sculpted anatomical heart and a spoon involved. Then I began, and the vein happened, and then I liked it without any spoons, then I thought it looked very queen of hearts.. so I was going that way with it. But THEN it started looking vampirey. . . so somehow it ended up this way. I am very pleased with it... but if I had just forced my original vision on it, I might not like it as well I think.

This is another prime example, though it’s by no means done. (The Moss Hat) this is the moss-hat. It began ENTIRELY different. I was going to make a sort of low topper which would be greenish and all that, but then it just started becoming UGLY. I shifted things around a bit, made it a small hat, then it began to look mossy rather than camo, so I added some moss... That gave me the idea to sculpt some toadstools.. so I did that, and they are on there. Probably there will be some porcupine quills on here and maybe some faerie wings. . . it should be epic and STRANGE.

The same process generally goes into dolls as well. They are sometimes even worse about having their own minds though. I end up talking to them a lot and asking them questions as I make them. Fun when they answer!

I’ll be making more hats in the near future, and keeping you all apprised on the progresses. I also am going to try to blog a bit more often. Next entry will be a short story if all goes as planned, and then I may do a feature of an etsy shop I love.

That’s all for now!