interview with Abby Glassenberg

February 28th, 2011

cover of the artful bird by abby glassenberg

Fighting one illness after another postponed my stop on the Artful Bird‘s blog tour, we’re finally better and I’m so excited to share my interview with Abby with you. Abby is not only a talented plush artist, but a generous artist as well: she often shares her sketches and mistakes and let’s us in on her creative process on her fantastic blog, While She Naps. Recently, she has been teaching her readers how to think and sew three dimensionally in a series of posts on sewing soft toys.  Abby is a wonderful teacher and makes beautiful soft sculptures, which makes for a pretty fantastic author of a pretty fantastic book.

crow by abby glassenberg

What made you want to make soft sculpture and toys?

I love thinking in three-dimensions.  The challenge of making my sketch come to life as a stuffed fabric toy or sculpture is something I can’t resist.  There are so many options, so many beautiful materials and interesting techniques that make it all come together.  It just makes me happy to sit down and try.  And when it works…man, that’s thrilling.  I feel like I could explore softie making forever and never be done.

How do you choose what kind of birds to make?

Each bird came about in its own unique way.  For instance, I was out on a walk with my kids in this little nature preserve behind our house and found a piece of tree bark. It was a good-sized piece and was totally intact except for a round hole that had clearly been pecked by a woodpecker. I brought the bark home and made a woodpecker to perch on it.

The flamingo was a dare. Could I balance a bird that was leaning over?  Yep.  Fun!

The chick was all about the materials. I thought it would be cool to sew a  bird from fluffy terry cloth.

So each bird has a story to tell about how it came to be.  I just try to be open-minded and not be afraid to accept a challenge.

flamingo from the artful bird

What roll do mistakes play in your process?

Mistakes are part of each and every sewing project and they are hugely important, no matter how aggravating they can be at times.  Each bird pattern started as a prototype.  I drafted the pattern, sewed it up in muslin and then stuffed it to see how it looked.  Then there’s an editing and redrawing process to fix the mistakes in the prototype.  Sometimes the second draft doesn’t quite work either and more editing and redrawing is needed.  I try to constantly remind myself that even if something ends up in the garbage, it is not a waste of time.  I may not be able to totally fix it now, but in a few days or weeks or years the solution will come to me and I’ll try again.

And hey, sometimes I make beautiful mistakes!  The head on the raptor started life as a doll’s head.  I had it all sewn up and stuffed on my desk, but the doll’s body just never materialized.  So I sewed a bird body instead, attached the doll’s head, and voila!  A new bird was born.  And I rather like him, too!

raptor by abby glassenberg

I love how you often use contrasting thread to make your birds. Was that an accident or a conscious design decision?

I think it was an accident the first time it happened, or rather laziness on my part.  My machine is nearly 20 years old. It is a Bernette 330 and the Bernina dealer is really far away from  my house.  As a result, I was lacking in basic supplies for many years. For instance, I only had one bobbin. What a huge pain! One day I had a dark thread wound around it and didn’t want to unwind it to switch threads for a white bird because that would have been a big waste of thread.  I just threw caution to the wind and decided to sew the bird in dark thread. When I had it turned and stuffed I really liked that each seam was visible. I like that you can see the maker’s hand in the finished piece.  After that, contrasting thread became a regular design element in my work.

Do you feel like you’ve given away all your secrets in your book? Or do you have plans for more books?

I had no problem giving away a bunch of my secrets in The Artful Bird.  It is amazing to see people making their own birds now, and I’m thrilled that my techniques can be used and adapted by anyone interested in fabric bird making.  I do have a plan for one more book. It is actually an idea that pre-dates the idea for The Artful Bird.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

gallery of bird makers in the artful bird

The profiles of other bird makers at the end of the book is such a lovely and generous thing to do. How did it come about?

I have been inspired for years by the four other fabric bird makers that I feature in the book and I really wanted to include their work so that readers could share in that inspiration.  I was so excited when all four of them agreed to participate. Having a conversation with each of them about their processes for making fabric birds was amazing for me.  It really was a highlight of the eight months that I worked on the manuscript and projects for the book.  I owe each of them a sincere thank you.

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Thank you so much Abby!

craft in at the capitol

February 24th, 2011

By now I’m sure most of you have heard about the protest going on in Madison, WI.  So this month, in lieu of our regular wine and chocolate and stitching and bitching craft night, we tromped down to the capitol and crafted for change.

I’m going to refrain myself from political speeches here–though by the signs it’s quite obvious what my politics are–but I will share some pictures, because it was amazing. The capitol was full of spirited drumming, moving speeches, the kindness of friends and strangers, and so many awesome hand lettered signs.

The sign behind her says:

what we think
what we know
what we believe
is of little
consequence
compared to
WHAT WE DO

I don’t know anything about spinning, but I know that this is one super cool spinning machine.

hey look! it’s me.

kaua’i

February 16th, 2011

We are finally home. And while I would like to say it’s wonderful to be back, my kids seem to have come down with all the illnesses they missed while we were away, so I am too busy nursing three very sick and whiny jet lagged kids to even know where we are. I only have a minute of quiet while everyone naps, so I thought I’d show you a bit of where we were.

we stayed in our friend’s amazing house.

we hiked up to..

amazing views.

we went to the beach everyday it didn’t rain (this is a crappy phone picture, but still!)

and we ate amazing food. It was an amazing trip. How could it not be? We are incredibly lucky to have such generous friends who live in such an unbelievable place.  We are offically screwed for all our future vactaions.

A quick shout out to all the awesome bloggers who kindly took care of this space while I was away: Anna, MaryJo, Julia, Rae, Holly, Erika, Abbey, Lily, and Eerika.   They baked and sewed and drew and photographed all that is the best about winter. Made winter look like paradise.

As we are enjoying amazingly bright and brisk winter weather here in Helsinki today, I decided to take a walk in the little forest across the street. So, I dressed in my warmest clothes (it’s fairly freezing outside!), grabbed my camera and headed off.

bright blue

On sunny, very cold days like this, the sky becomes an almost unreal bright blue. The photo above hasn’t been altered in any way (except to resize it), the sky really is that incredible, intense blue. In the forest it looks like the blue sky has dyed all the shadows blue as well, while the snow basking in sunlight is a blinding bright white.

through the snow

tall trees, covered in snow

And oh, the snow! We haven’t had this much snow in decades, and it’s quite impossible to describe the vast, enormous amounts of snow that now cover everything in sight. As I discovered when I got a wee bit too excited about taking close-up photos of snow covered trees and ventured off the path, the snow is now very nearly waist deep where it’s still untouched! This great amount of snow has completely changed the landscape, making even the most familiar places look new and different, and the little forest across the street has become a winter wonderland, like something out of a fairy tale.

snow shadows

Still, no matter how amazing all the snow and the forest are, the cold that had been nipping at my nose and freezing my fingers finally drove me back home to snuggle under a blanket with a cup of hot coco. :)

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I’m Eerika and I live in Helsinki, Finland. When I’m not getting stuck in snow drifts in enchanted, snowy forests, I make soft toys filled with rags and oodles of personality, draw and take lots of photos of my cat. You can read more about my work and my life over at my blog: Rag Pets.

Staying warm: a few crafts from the snowy north

This sweater mitten tutorial from five green acres changed my life this winter.  I’ve made about 20 of them, for friends and family.  They are satisfyingly quick, economical and most importantly warm.  This set was for a family who has an annual camp out on a frozen lake, I have yet to participate but I thought their digits could use some extra protection.

Insulated Curtains:  a must have for a drafty old house that sees 4 months of  winter winds that come from the north. These curtains were really simple to make too.  Heavy Ikea fabric and a quilted mattress cover, that had been torn by the washing machine, made for an simple panel curtain.  Made a bit longer than the windows so it can be tucked on the sill to keep drafts down.  Not the fanciest thing I’ve ever made, but it has made the most difference.

Minor improvements every year keep us treading through winter namely a netflix membership and lots of wool.  I hope you stay warm too.

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You can find Lily over at tenfingersworkshop. She blogs about motherhood, sewing, making art and part time homesteading. Stop by for a visit!

Thank you meg for letting me guest post for you this week!