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!

Body Parts Strewn on the Kitchen Counter

So, the latest fun things going on in the Tatterpunk’s life . . . .include body parts all over the kitchen counter, Art, Winter Solstices, and teeth!

Some people are Crafters, some people are Artists. It is interesting, talking to so many people on Etsy, because it has really let me see the difference between artist and crafter. I for instance, consider myself an artist. I make things because I need to make them, true they are multimedia works, or accessories, or generally things people would consider “crafts” but it’s all about the approach. I don’t do it to sell them. If I did, I think I might have gone crazy and quit by now considering I’ve sold all of ONE pair of glovies (though in one month, that’s pretty good).

I make things because I have to make them. Because I want to create some sort of illustration of the things going through my bizarre and insomnia-addled mind. I just happen to have a shop where I sell them. Therefore I don’t care if they’re marketable pieces or not, or if they scare the crap out of everyone who sees them (in fact that would be awesome).

I think that many folks who still consider themselves “crafters” are probably also artists, but I think the difference lies in the approach. What I consider a “crafter” is someone who makes things to sell specifically, lots of the same thing maybe. Thoughts?

I bring this up, because recently I began using teeth in my pieces. Specifically the Spirit Medium Ruff ( the Ruff ) and the Jenny Greenteeth cuffs ( The Cuffs ). I love these pieces, but initially when I showed the former to people, they started suggesting that I use canine (sharp pointy not dog) teeth instead of molars, because “molars are just creepy.” That sorta bugged me.  . . lots. It got me thinking though, that I really don’t care if this stuff sells - I mean.. . I do . . .because I need money (lots), but I don’t because it’s just my art and I’m doing what I love.

I guess I should explain the body-parts too . . . I’ve decided to make a few art dolls. . . or try my hand at it anyhow 0_o. I’ve been sculpting the head/chest, lower arms, and lower legs out of Paperclay. I have three dolls made. See if you can see what’s odd about the picture at the top!




Happy Yule folks!

The Faerielands and what one may find there

As is customary with any first blog - or first thing that I do in general. I am writing this at 2:07 in the morning. This ensures that the utterances shall be in a word - quite mad.


To begin I will tell you what to expect from this blog. That, my friends, will be my first task here. I will expound upon the future contents of this working and allow you to know its innermost secrets. . . . . or I will just babble on about that for three sentences without telling you anything useful >_>

In this blog I will post anything and everything that I deem awesome. Tatterpunk, I might add, is a whimsical, dust-saturated fashion.... like shabby chic steampunk. It is filled with desaturated colours, tattered old lace and silk, faerie-like, carnivalistic,  and frayed. I came up with the term myself and I'm hoping it catches on. . . . I will most likely post about my newest crafts on Etsy as well as about other shops or blogs that I think need to be blogged about.

I also expect that there will be strange carny lore and urban ironside faerietales within these tent-walls. I am a bit too sleepy to make much sense anymore so I will stop this post now.

Goodnight, Gentle Reader. May you awaken on a bed of moss.