Karen Ruane

just a scrap of weaving

There is weaving happening in Alchemy (the girls not me), amazing weaving, innovative weaving....this little piece falls far short of that.

However.....it fits on this page and it makes me happy.

playing, doodling with my needle...

Following on from my post yesterday, more playing with little artist books. This is another four inch one in the making.

Creating these little pages, choosing embellishments to add, making little ribbons is I guess my version of doodling. It's relaxing, my mind can wander, it's immediately satisfying when you atttach a hand made toggle or a ribbon or a little piece of patchwork.

I would recommend this process being prescribed by your doctor.

I was in school this morning. Alchemy 2020 went live at 9am. The girls have their homework and I can breathe for a couple of days.

Can you hear me sighing from there?

And I could make these little dangly braids all day long....

 

patchwork page keeper

Last time I posted about this little book I mentioned I would need a wrap or something similar to hold the pages open as it refuses to stay open on its own.

My intention was to create a wrap which would be attached to the front cover and fold over any page.

Instead I have embroidered a little bookmark/page keeper using one inch hexagons and beads.

Now all I have to do is restrain myself from making one of these for every artist book in the house!

(if you are registered for my new class you should have received an email from me this morning and an invitation to join our private Flickr group. If you haven't received either of those can you please let me know)

stitching a notebook

I've had a lovely couple of days playing in my grids and guides notebook, stitching, cutting out page pieces, folding pages. There are so many more things I want to do here and I'm really happy I picked this one up again earlier this week.

After posting this little book a couple of days ago I heard from quite a few of you how you had been inspired to pick your own grids and guides notebooks up and work some more into them.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could share our efforts? With that in mind I have created a Flickr group for grids and guides stitching. It's an open group, anyone can join. You will find it here.

grids and guides

If there is a negative to constantly working in sketchbooks, artist books, ledgers and journals it's that one or two of them become neglected. I guess 'negative' is a little harsh, there really isn't a negative in any sense but there is the positive of having too many lovely books to work in.

This is my 'grids and guides' notebook which I haven't worked in for some time. Every time I post this notebook I get asked where you can buy it so the link is here....not on commission, I wish. I worked this little page over the weekend and below are a couple of images of previous pages in here. This book is so tightly bound it's impossible to flip or fold to show them alongside this work.

notebook pages

Beading an edge, before and after. Some of these images were taken before I added the over long beads.

I'm continuing to embroider this little notebook, working on each page in turn until I can't go any further. There is a new page in progress although I'm not completely certain I have finished this one yet. I see space for detailed colour studies, stitched colour studies, cross stitch, French knots, simple running stitches.

putting a book together

I was asked a question on Friday from someone who had taken my recent artist book class. It concerned these little artist books, the books which fall open and refuse to close, the artist books which I see more as sculptures than functional books. Anyway, I have been meaning to put another one of these together for quite some time now and that question gave me the shove I needed to get on and do it.

Up to now the pages only have pieces which have been made for quite some time. At least they aren't just lying around anymore but there's a long way to go with this one. I just counted and there are 35 blank pages to embellish, then there will be overlays. It's always a long game with these and that's what I love about them.

(If you are registered for September embroidery school which begins tomorrow you should have received an email from me this morning. If you didn't reeive that can you please let me know as soon as possible)

stitched books, ledgers, sketchbooks, story books,

Recording design, preserving embroidered samples, displaying stitched works....books. Be it a ledger, a sketchbook, a cloth book or a story book I appear to be consumed with all things book lately. The image today ....... the first page of a new cloth book,  a finished cloth book,  my ledger where I am recording design ideas in 'Ledgers, a record of stitch', work in progress for a new paper based artist book, artist books from my 'precious things cabinet' and a new notebook I have treated myself to in order to 'Stitch a Story' in my new class.

I've been thinking a lot about my work recently, where it's going (or not). Am I too flighty? Flitting from one thing to another without any connecting dots? I'm balancing those thoughts where I doubt myself with the teaching apsect of my creative life. Very often, as a teacher, you need to flit from one thing to another to cover all the bases for your students. I get that, I accept that and I am more than happy to continue in that way as my classes, my groups bring me so much joy but outside of that where do I want to be creatively?

Once upon a time it was all about white and wrapping cloths and historical reference. As time has moved on so have I. Colour and pattern are featuring more in my work and although it may not always be obvious to you the historical elements are ever present. Every single stitch I make is worked for both my Nanna's. I think about them every second I have a needle in my hand, that will never change, they are my link to my history, to my memory.

I guess what I am trying to ask myself is where is my consistency? my fingerprint in all this? Truth is I haven't figured that out yet. Self doubt is common when you work in isolation. All I can do is keep doing what I love whilst trying to focus.

Going back to my first utterings on here I think my love for working in book form is obvious. That will be my starting point, the first decision on my list of 'where I am going'. I'm never likely to become a master bookbinder and nor do I want to. I'm an 'embellisher', a 'titivator' so for now I will embellish and titivate book forms, that will be my new direction.

four little books

Four little hand made books, four little hand made books which have been ever present over the past few weeks. They are now listed in the shop.

It feels like the end of an era....but it isn't.

There is cloth being ironed and cut as we speak and I made a little book for ledger class this week too whilst in embroidery class we made a little pocket.

Books, pockets...I think I need to make a needlecase now.

embroidered cloth book

I'm quite sad this little embroidered cloth book is finished even though I am delighted with it, love it, keep fondling it. It's always the same when something which has been 'in progress' for quite a while is now complete. It's the end of something and even though I have lots of other things in progress at the moment I shall miss being able to work on this little piece as and when.

You might think 'well start another one'. I did consider making another and I may well do that in the future but for now I will just keep fondling and turning the soft pages.