N.B. Teamies! If you have a fresh listing from the week gone by and you would like to be in with a chance to make it to the fresh five, forward your listing to Sarah by Thursday!
I have yet to meet an artist who doesn't recognise what I call "The Fear Factor" stage of a piece of art. You know that feeling when the piece is going so well, that to place the next brush stroke, patch, stitch or whatever will surely ruin it. I know that I have been literally paralysed with creative fear. Often for weeks at a time and sometimes I have avoided finishing a piece altogether in case I wreck what is surely going to be my "Masterpiece" with the capital M!!!
I have been mulling over this thought for a while now and would like to share some thoughts for getting through this block. For that is what it really is. A block.
In the above Poppies painting, I was stuck for almost 2 weeks with this fear. Every time I went near the painting I got so afraid of what to do next that I would down brushes and find something else to do. That was ok the first week as I had some other creative stuff on the go and classes to prep for, but week 2 saw my house getting some serious cleaning! Look, let me be frank here, even my oven got cleaned. Now I would like my in laws to think this is normal behaviour for me (I mean the cleaning) but to all you creatives out there, you can see that this was seriously eccentric behaviour. On any normal day, normal for me anyway, painting would win hands down over oven cleaning for sure.
Going to bed one night I prayed for inspiration on getting through this block when the following thought popped into my mind. IT'S ONLY A PIECE OF PAPER. Now, I cant count how many occasions I have consoled my students with this piece of advice, but I had forgotten to follow it myself. Then I thought," even if it goes horribly wrong I can use it as a practice piece and redo over fresh." So next morning I went into my art room and fired up the ole brushes!
There are many more illustrious than I with wonderful advice on this sticky old problem. To quote just a few,
Julia Cameron, author of the wonderful "Artists Way" ; "Remember that is is my job to do the work, not judge the work."
George Tooker; "Painting is an attempt to come to terms with life. There are as many solutions as there are human beings"
Joseph Chilton Pearce; " To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
Robert Motherwell; " In the brush doing what it's doing, it will stumble on what one couldn't do by oneself."
Albert Einstein; "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."
Since we have started our Crafty Ireland team in August, we have gone from strength to strength, gathering new and wonderful artists and craftspeople to our team, making it easy to know that you are shopping Irish!
But Etsy is a big place, and sometimes it can be hard to find us! So, here is a basic and simple way to ensure that you are buying Irish this Christmas.
Step one: On the Etsy home page, you will see at the top a search bar. The left bar has a drop-down menu, you can choose Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items and Seller.
Step two: Choose All Items and then on the second search bar, type in "craftyirelandteam" and hit Go. You will then find all sorts of goodies from our Irish team!
Easy peasy right???
Now, if you wanted something specific, say jewelery, all you have to do is add the word "Jewelery" to "craftyirelandteam" and then all the jewelery that we have on our team will pop up!
N.B. to all Etsy Ireland team members(sellers): Do remember to tag all your items with "craftyirelandteam" so that you will show up on the search!
6 evenly sized squares of paper - preferably white, for the colour of snowflakes; printer paper is fine, or try drawing pad paper. The size of your paper square can vary from 4" to 10" (10cm - 25cm). The paper should be of a good strength to hold up the snowflake structure.
Scissors
Tape
Stapler
Steps : :
Fold each of the 6 pieces of paper in half, diagonally. If the paper you're using doesn't make a perfect triangle, cut off the edge that sticks out (rectangular edge) and make it align perfectly.
Cut 3 lines each side of the triangle from the folded edge making sure not to cut through the unfolded paper edges. The cut lines should be parallel to one another each side and come close to meeting in the middle but not touch; leave a small space between them. To make this easier, you can fold the triangle in half. This way you'll cut both sides at once, making a very symmetrical snowflake. This might not be suitable for thicker paper, since the number of layers makes it difficult to cut through.
Unfold your paper and turn it so that the diamond shape is facing you for working with.
Still keeping your paper diamond side-up, roll the first two innermost paper lines together to form a tube. Tape these two pieces together. You should see triangle shapes on each side of the roll.
Turn the diamond over to the other side. Take the next two paper lines and pull them together on the opposite side of the tube and tape together as before. This will be a more rounded shape and wider than the first tube.
Keep turning the paper and joining the paper lines together on opposite side until all paper lines have been joined.
Repeat this process (steps 3 - 7) with the remaining 5 pieces of paper.
Join 3 of the completed rolled pieces together at one end (draw together with your fingertips) and staple together using the other hand. Do the other 3 pieces the same way. Now you will have 2 pieces consisting of 3 strands or "arms" each.
Staple the two new pieces together in the middle. You will almost have the snowflake shape by now.
Staple where each of the 6 arms meet. This ensures that the snowflake shape is pulled into place. See illustration at top for the finished snowflake.
Acknowledgment: Thanks to LizMarie's Make a Snowflake photos on Flickr for the majority of the photos displayed here & for additional ideas for improving the instructions.
Hi there, my name is Sorcha Gillett. I was born in Dublin, in the month of October, making me the typical daydreaming libran that I am :) I now live in the South West of France with my lovely boyfriend, where I design girls surf prints for Rip Curl. In my own precious free time I live to paint and stitch. Mum always says I was a magpie of a child, hoarding all that was bright and shiny and silky and soft. My treasure chest grew with me. It inspired me during the years I spent studying fashion and printed textile design at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. After graduating it supplied me with the materials I needed while working as a freelance illustrator and handbag designer in both Dublin and France. Now it forms the basis for my first collection of one-off art pieces. My unique style incorporates transient inks, powdery acrylics and the gems, crystals, vintage leathers and antique lace I have accumulated over the years. Inspired by the animated beauty of wildflowers, I have threaded these elements together to capture the precious moments in a young girls life that mark the beginning of the end of girlhood. Please click on the movie window below to see a painting come to life from stitch to finish, turn it up loud, the song is the best part ;)
Now let me introduce some of the ladies! All the ladies delicate features have been hand-stitched in embroidery thread, their hair is appliqued leather and their backgrounds and flower detailing are antique fabrics from my treasure chest. All my ladies come in purse friendly prints, which are available in my etsy shop. And now especially in time for Christmas gifts, my prints have a buy 2 get a 3rd of your choice for free deal! Visit my website to see more lovely ladies.
Clodagh
Goodbye
Molly
Marla
Lily
Ava
Kate
Clementine
Conor Kissed Chloe
Fall's First Kiss
And now here's a little surprise... if you would like to win a print of your choice from my shop then pop over to my Dandelion Daydreamer blog, click follow this blog, or click add on the facebook link and then comment here and let me know what lucky lady you would like for your home sweet home. Thanks for looking everyone :)
This is the official blog of the Crafty Ireland etsy team - we represent over 80 crafters, artists and designers based throughout Ireland. You can find links to these online shops in the drop down list below. We hope you enjoy your visit and happy shopping! ;)*
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