Saturday 17 July 2010

More Naked Cycling!

naked cycling


After my feature the other day I was contacted by some lovely people!

Sara from
SewCreativeBySara send me a lovely message and would like to offer my readers 15% discount on a seat cover if you mention the A Crafter At Sea blog when you order!

So go get yourself one here!

Also,
Melanie aka mellovelo of Bike Bums deserves a second mention as she is sending me a pirate seat cover! How awesome is she?! Go check out her stuff too!

Thursday 15 July 2010

Naked Cycling!!

I got into an interesting Twitter conversation with GoingPlacesToo this week. She had seen naked bicyclists in Seattle celebrating the beginning of summer and it reminded me of some naked bicyclists I'd seen in Vancouver a few years ago. It turned out we had had the same thought - What kind of bike seats are they using?! GoingPlacesToo kindly looked up bike seats on Etsy as our conversation escalated and I just had to share some with you:

Miami Theme Bicycle Seat Cover by mellowvelo Frankenstein Bike Seat Cover by kalleenFleur des Lis bicycle seat by madebyjulianne Bicycle Saddle Cover by SewCreativeBySaraVintage Upholstery Bike Seat Cover by BeatriceHoliday Blue Wool Bike Seat Cover by EmilyCrochetsPants

Left to right, top to bottom:

Florida Theme Bicycle Seat by mellowvelo
Frankenstein Bike Seat Cover by kalleen
Fleur des Lis bicycle Seat by madebyjulianne
Bicycle Saddle Cover by SewCreativeBySara
Vintage Upholstery Bike Seat Cover by BeatriceHoliday
Blue Wool Bike Seat Cover by EmilyCrochetsPants

Let's get those bikes out and be green people!

Thursday 8 July 2010

Shisha Mirror Work

shisha vintage

Section of a traditional wall hanging with shisha mirror work


As I mentioned before I am very interested in Shisha embroidery. I was going to write a blog post on it, but as I searched I found that many people have already gone over the subject and done a better job than I! So instead, here is a few links and artists I think you should check out if you are also interested in this subject.

Shisha means little glass and is the process of attaching round mirrors to fabric. The mirrors were placed in significant positions on clothing to ward off evil spirits and the evil eye. They were also used on decorative textiles to place over doorways etc to keep out evil spirits and on sacred textiles.

shisha 1

My own shisha experiments with bottle caps

Penny Nickles

Penny's work was what first lead me to Shisha. She has produced some beautiful pieces like her invisibility mask here and my fave experiment here

She also wrote an amazing article on Shisha for Mr X Stitch which you should read
here

shisha 2

Detail of my shisha work

How to Shisha

There are several tutorials online about the process of Shisha. I learned the technique from Joyful Abode here. It uses lots of photos and is really helpful.

Stitch Magazine posted this diagram on their site to show you how to Shisha with
instructions here

shisha 3

An alternative shisha stitch

Design

On the Pakistani Embroidery Blog there is a different version of the stitch (pictures above)which you can learn to do here
I really like the shape of this version, but it hides more of the item being attached.

Sonie from Sonie's Embroidery World offers free square Shisha patterns
on her blog here, which I might have to have a go at!

beer cap belt WIP

Beer Cap Belt WIP


My Own Shisha Work

I have been experimenting with Shisha myself as you have seen from the photos throughout this blog. My main reason for the experiments was for a belt I am working on.... so above is a sneak preview of the work in progress... keep your eyes peeled for the finished product!

mirror

Shisha mirror work at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London