Finally, the creative process:
After months of spinning, painting and crocheting, I finally have enough material to make my big work.
For this work, I worked on the floor as my work table was not big enough. A construction tarpaulin underneath guaranteed it would stay clean.
Not only do I like to surround myself with wool….My faithful four-legged friend knows exactly where to lie: in the way.
The books from the bookcase helped a little to glue on the white middle piece:
Preparing for a huge piece of work
My next project will be a very huge piece of work. On the one hand, I just like to make something that is impressive, on the other hand, I don’t know what to do with all the smaller works that I can’t get rid of. They’re in the attic now and I’m going to take them apart and reuse them before the moth gets in. “Kill your darlings” is what we call it.
I’m going to use the strings I wrote about earlier but I’m also just going to felt all kinds of cloth.
For that, wool needs to be dyed and I am once again pulling out the boxes to see what materials I have prepared before.
In the process of wool dyeing and felting I use an old washing machine that I bought and keep in the garage. This one is solely for my textile work.
I made a bag out of a cotton pillowcase where I put the wool I want to rinse in, so that no wool gets into the washing machine. It used to have a large zipper in it but it has since broken. Now I always sew the bag together with a thread before the whole thing goes into the washing machine. I’ll have to look for a new long zipper again, that would be handy.
Further with the strings
vezelkunst“Further with the strings”bewerken
After the adventure with the chicken wire mesh, I decided to find a similar base that would be easier to handle. I went in search of a fishing net, like those that often decorated teenage rooms in the 70s/80s. Unfortunately, that turned out to be out of fashion and I had to use a net that was designed to be stretched along the railing of your balcony so the cat wouldn’t fall off! Never knew such a thing existed!
This net is made of polyester and has holes measuring 3×3 cm. It is ideal for weaving in although I must say that you have to put some effort into making the holes lie straight, it pulls somehow.
I sewed the cords together at the back and glued another piece of fabric behind it to make sure it would stay in shape and not hang out.
The result was this:
I sewed the eyes on later.
Website problems
vezelkunst“Website problems”bewerken
Help, I did something wrong that caused the title of my blog page to change to: “The Butterfly Effect”. I have no idea how to change it and think it’s a waste of time. It’s as if the universe thinks I can’t avoid it: this butterfly effect must and will happen. I’ll just resign myself to it for now…
Beautiful world
vezelkunst“Beautiful world”bewerken
So that’s how it became. I think it’s beautiful. Around 30 people have expressed their dream of a more beautiful and sustainable world and tied it to a butterfly. There were more people at the market but many found it difficult to just formulate a dream.
What does your more beautiful world look like?
Butterfly effect
(= the fact that in a chaotic system the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can lead to a hurricane in America)
Today I have been busy preparing for a sustainability day in our village. For the occasion I made a globe of felt:
On a styropor ball with a diameter of 50 cm I glued a piece of felt. The original size of the raw sheep’s wool I laid out was 150 x 450 cm. With a felt machine I made a piece of felt, which I crumpled into each other so that folds (mountains and valleys shall we say) arose. These I have sewn on the back, after which the whole is glued to the ball with bookbinder’s glue.
I have made a large number of butterflies, where people can tie a rolled-up piece of paper on the back with their dream for a sustainable earth. People may fill these out tomorrow at the sustainability fair and attach the butterfly to the globe with a head pin.
And now hope for the butterfly effect!
Chicken mesh
vezelkunst“Chicken mesh”bewerken
Of course, you’re wondering what I’m doing with all those cords?
My first work with the cords was this: Island with Volcano, made from chicken mesh and various types of string.
In it, in addition to wool cords, there are strips of denim fabric and strips of boiled wool. It even contains camel wool, which I found in a local pasture where camels are kept! (In Holland, can you imagine?) Chicken mesh can be shaped easily, which makes it ideal to work three-dimensionally. At the back there is some rigidity applied by means of tiewraps.
I am happy with the result. However, I did not necessarily enjoy working with chicken mesh. Maybe that’s because I like the cuddly aspect of textiles, which is in stark contrast to the stiff and unruly chicken mesh. It has hooks that can hurt you, and I also had to frequently stand in awkward positions. So how to proceed?
How to crochet a cord
vezelkunst“How to crochet a cord”bewerken
I have a nice knitting spool, one with a large hole that fits comfortably in the hand. Separate pins are included so you can use up to eight or five pins as you like. However, I run into the fact that spool knitting with thick/rigid wool is still difficult.
It takes too much physical effort, and I’m afraid that I’ll strain my muscles if I do it for too long. I don’t feel like an overuse injury!
Fortunately, I found a video on youtube that explained how to crochet the same cord with a crochet hook.https://www.youtube.com/embed/MALxybENjfE?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=nl&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
As long as the crochet hook is thick enough it goes smoothly by itself and takes much less effort. No one will see the difference!
By the way, I now see that on youtube there are many more possibilities to crochet beautiful cords: have a look at them …!
Spoolknitting is awsome
vezelkunst“Spoolknitting is awsome”bewerken
I spent the first three months of this year just spoolknitting and crocheting cords. An ideal job to do in front of the TV or during boring Zoom meetings! The result was this: a huge amount of material to make a work of art out of.
Wonderful, what a richness!
A textile artist’s wanderings
vezelkunst“A textile artist’s wanderings”bewerken
Hello, my name is Tineke Schonck, I am a textile artist mainly working with wool. I am living in the Netherlands, with my husband and daughter of 16, and with our ever-curious dog Yente.
In this blog, I want to share my process as an artist, with all the uncertainties and pitfalls I will meet. To me, the process is more important than the final outcome. At the same time, the process is not what people see when they go out looking at pieces of art. I have nothing to hide. On the contrary, I think that artists can profit from looking at each other’s world and craftmanship.
My workshop is in the backyard. At the moment, it is still fully cleaned up because we recently had an art route in our village, where people could take a look in the artist’s workshops. I will post a photo of my workshop when it is more representative as to its neatness. For now, the outside will do.
Vezelkunst 