MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Box Progress, Plant, and 'D'




Here you go Arlee...a picture of the base and leaves of the mystery plant. Yes, it has a light smell and it appears the stem (at least at the bottom) is quite woody. It's very tall and gangly too. Our elderly neighbour keeps giving us plants for both in and outside and has no clue as to what they are and nor do we, obviously!
I *think* I'm finished with the box top now, unless I decide to add more to it. Unfortunately the camera doesn't quite pick up how sparkly it is in real life. Don't forget you can click on it to enlarge it.
'D' today -
1. I hate to use the word 'disappointment' but it seems to be what I'm feeling at this moment about the box top. I set out to work outside my comfort level and, to a degree, I've done that. However, I wanted to go a whole lot further beyond what I normally do and something seems to stop me. I keep coming back to perfectionism and downright fear that people won't like it. (This is not a plea for nice comments either - I'd much rather you give me suggestions on what I should do with it now!). Don't get me wrong - I like it now, but really wanted it to be more 'out there' and can't seem to get to that point.
ns.

OK folks. Over to you. Any suggestions of what to do with my box top or should I leave it alone? Please comment with your opinion!

4 comments:

  1. Awww gee you say the nicest things AM.
    I know what you mean when you say "outside your comfort zone" because when I did my first Altered book I found it hard to paint the pages "messy" looking I wanted them all to be neat and tidy.
    But I persisted with messy and was happy in the end.
    That was no help whatsoever to you was it!

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  2. a. take the faces off----they are a different "feel" b. add more graphic hand stitching c. make the buttons look like they were tied on, with embroidery thread ends trimmed to whiskery tassels

    d. the plant *might* be an oleander--do NOT let the cat eat it.

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  3. when I took a course on creativity one of the ideas we explored was the fear of failure -- how that immobilized one from trying something, as one might "wreck" it.... IF that's what's going on re the box one exercise we did might help -- it involved starting with a fabric or something you actually disliked, so it wouldn't be a shame to "wreck it" as you already didn't like it.... the wall hanging I made startgin with "dislike" fabric is now one of my favorites -- still don't like the fabric in it, but must admit it allowed me to stretch in ways I hadn't before... Just an idea :-)

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  4. The plant looks like a oleander to me too.
    I would propose something like quilt pixie. In our workshop last Satturday, we were invited to let drop fabrics and threads on our piece and see what happens, not only that but to try the most improbable ones, those that do not comply with the color circle, those we do not like, etc...
    Droping them gives also new idea on how to fix them, e.g. to use their shadows. For threads made of several strands of various colors, it me may a good idea to remove one color, or to add one by mixing them with another thread.
    Just ideas that were far beyond my comfort zone, but I must say they do work.

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