One man gathers....

So I have been soo busy a stitchen away on another new collection.  I am super excited about this one.... which always worries me a bit!  It seems the collections I love usually don't sell as fast, and the ones I am more nervous about go like hotcakes.... go figure?  This collection is titled **Snow Sparkles**  It is very pixie ethereal feeling, lots of pastels, ruffles, flowy fabrics....  and of course some NEW nuno felting!!!

I have been obsessed with nuno felted clothing for quite some time now..  Frequently gazing with awe on etsy at miss FeuerUndWasser and miss Frixiegirl (CHECK THEM OUT!)  I have been studying for months watching many youtube tutorials and figuring out how I could incorporate this amazing technique into my artwork.  With my love of colors, texture, and design it seems a perfect fit!

I went on the hunt for some small little farms to buy my fibers from and found several that assured me their Alpacas and sheep were pets, loved, named and treated so kindly!  I just love how this new medium plays apart in my creations and I hope you will too. 

I feel like my design has been growing and changing so much in the last years.  I worry that some might think I am lost or scrambling as a designer, but in truth I feel like I am growing, exploring and taking risks to bring new energy to my pieces.  I am evolving and changing and so rings true to my designs.  I don't want to become stagnant in my designs or in my life!  I of course still feel the pull of many of my original designs and will continue to do them, but I enjoy adventuring out on a creative limb now and again! 

I am so often inspired by other artists on etsy... I swear I am in awe of all that people can create with their minds, hearts, and hands..  This inspiration naturally flows into my work at times, it is natural and for me part of my design process...  I always change things up to fit my design and never copy.... but I can't deny that i get inspiration from other creative minds and I am not ashamed of it or try to hide it.  Some people get defensive of this and claim things as their own.  I respect that, but I do believe ,especially in fashion, that we can only claim ownership to a design aspect for a short time before it is a natural process for others to follow suit.... and that's how we get trends.  I do not believe in copying peoples designs in their entirety but when I see someone do something similar to my design with their own twist, I am flattered &  honored!! I hope other artists start to see that too and understand that sometimes we all pull from the same creative energy and like the same ascetic.  So much of what we all design is just twists on designs from the past anyway... I am almost sure that every design has roots going way way back.   Not sure why I am going off on this tangent here, but I sometimes see on discussion boards people complain about having things "ripped off" of thier design ~ It frustrates me.  I do of course Agree completely if someone takes EVERY aspect of a piece and replicates it exactly and claims as their own... that's no good at all...  I just think working together, having compassion for each other as artists and bouncing off of each others creativity is beautiful!


The last thing I wanted to write about was my idea to branch out a division of Namaste' Creations for my upcycled items. I have so been enjoying turning worn out things into fresh new items that I plan to create a new esty shop for my upcycled and vintage finds, separate from my handmade pieces of art.  I hope to do this shortly after my next collection is posted and have some fun new upcycled items to post there.... that brings me full circle to the title of this post.  My new store will be called One Man Gathers... a division of Namaste' Creations....

which direction to go??

Well I have begun a new collection and it is pulling me in two different creative directions....  It started out with the ideas of a message within... I was thinking of doing pieces about coming together, unity.... "we are all in this together".... "love is the answer"... etc... etc...  They way my passion and mind always goes.  But the first piece I did has a night moon/stars feel and I am picturing it with one of my new skirt designs with a Luna moth on it.... so this has me thinking maybe I should be taking this collection into a theme of the beauty of the night...  owls, moons, stars, nocturnal animals.....dreams....  hmmmm..... we shall see.  I would rather have too many creative directions than not enough!! right????  I want to incorporate alot of my tribal weaving into this collection.  I have a design for a throw on sort of layering vest that I am pretty excited about, we will see how the pattern comes out for that.  And I want to do some big bold bib style necklace for this collection... so lots of work to do... I will keep ya posted!

The beginning of my blog!!

Hi everyone ~ well I am attempting to post here on my new blog page about my work and creative process....  but today I am just finishing up with photo shoots for my collection **Vintage Love** and so I am working on taking photos, cropping them, placing them in the proper folders and writing up the descriptions for the pieces.... I think this process deserves some attention since it really goes unnoticed once the lovely threadies are posted!!! 

For all my other artistic web business owners you may know all about how time consuming and important the photos are!!! Because I put soo much love, thought, and energy into each piece I feel like the pictures are what really brings it all together and conveys the artistic point of view I was going for in each piece... so I really stress about capturing the perfect image for everyone to see.  My sweet models put up with my craziness about this and let me take lots and lots of pictures!!

 Then there is the cropping and turning and storing of the photos in my computer which usually involves several glasses of yummy coffee, tea, or wine and some good music because it can take a good 3-4 hours to complete!  I love looking at all the photos and seeing my creations on real bodies of my beautiful models!! It's very rewarding (even more so when a piece finds it's home!!)  

I always spend time working on my names for pieces... sometimes the name of the piece is there from the very beginning other times it doesn't show itself till right before I am going to post.  Each collection unfolds differently and I will try to share with you how each one does. 

For **Vintage Love** It all started with the vintage fabrics I was finding in my thrifting ventures.  And I knew I wanted to do coats and bags.  The rest unfolded from there.  The elephant bellbottoms were inspired from a conversation with my sons speech therapist about how when she was young she loved the huge elephant bell bottoms and wore hers all the time.   That sparked in me that I should definitely include some of those in this vintage inspired collection.  I feel like most of the time the divine points me in the right direction and I am just a conduit from which the love and creativity flows from the above.. 

Well I hate to not go on and on as I could ~ but I have to get my little peanut pickle pants boy Lennon ready for his YMCA class this morning so it is time to get moving!!!  Thanks to whoever reads this!! I love you all and am forever grateful for your support of my art!