Eureka!! I have solved it!

Early versions of my Elements casket with a particular set of ladies with
the 'devices' in their hands.  Not too recognizable that this was the
elements Fire and Air.  Scrapped.

I wrote before last month about my design dilemma for my flat casket.  I wanted the Elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth) and had been struggling with getting the panels right for several years.

That flat casket is actually all covered with paper and the interior is 95% done.  I just have to install the pincushion top and the mirrors on the walls - the print is already in the thing.

So over the weekend I was tired after the 'nth' set of kids were here and gone (many sleep here over the weekends so it never ends - already know this weekend's set), I was laying on the couch - which I never get to do - and decided to play with the design again.  And what did I find in another file??  A set of the Air and Fire sides that I had 'lost' that Noah and I had worked on together.

Old Fire Side.  Hard to fill in more of this design.
Lots of fire...

So funny that when I wrote that other blog entry it was niggling me that I had somehow solved the sides but 'obviously' I was dreaming as I couldn't find them.  Duh.  So now three sides done and if I used wrapped cards for the back, I would only have the top to figure out.  I had originally put the four elements on the four sides and planned the top as the Queen of Sheba scene (ok, there was one iteration before that with Harmony under a huge arbor with flowers and fruits in stumpwork).

None resonated with me because I kept arguing with myself about who got the back!!  I didn't want to put Earth or Water on a side as their devices (thing that went with them like the grotto, fish, etc) were too rich for the limited space.  But I had a fight with myself over who had to go on the back:  Earth with the fun stumpwork fruit or water with fishes, grotto and in the end a SHIP!  So that was the sticking point.

New Fire Side.  I might change the phoenix to the dragon
for fun, but this chariot and horses.. that could be awesome!

Then, I thought I would abandon the back and put both into one panel on the front.  Do something geometric to fill the back to solve that problem.  It will be against a wall anyways!  You'll see that option below in the pictures.  Ok... ish.  Still not perfect.  Could work but I wasn't so happy with the way the figures look in the faces.  I know that the stitching totally changes the faces.  But I just wasn't fully there.  The top was loosing interest for me as well as the Queen of Sheba.

Old Air Side.  Can't just fill all the space with clouds.
So boring to stitch.  

I have to show you many (not all) of the iterations here so you get the idea of how many ideas that look almost fully formed get tossed in the process.  I think that many people working on their own design get discouraged after something they have spent a lot of time on gets scrapped, thinking they aren't cut out for this.  This is just part of the process and a very, very necessary part to truly figure out what you like and want.  Something that speaks to you enough to get started and stitch on it!  Clearly I have had this casket ready to go (now two years) and haven't put fabric on a frame!  And my family can attest to that box being in our family room several times with curling pieces of paper lightly taped to the sides - being in my 'space' so I can glance at it and continue to either 'like it' or be 'not happy'.  It once had all sides and friezes on it.  The Queen of Sheba design on top.  I mean... truly pretty much ready to go.  And yet it wasn't right.  So I have been back to the drawing board.  (Of course watch out doing that - Son #2 already claimed the casket as his own - previous to the stitching.  Seems he likes the idea of Fire).

New Air side.  Much better.  Lots of animals, a cherub,
less clouds but note that the clouds on this side are pretty well
matched by the clouds on the other side (Fire) so the
casket colors will be better balanced.  And the sun here
can have reds/pinks/yellows to balance out the Fire
colors that are also radiating from the middle of Fire.

So I got out the motif for earth and started playing with it in my computer program on the top template.  I would need to add a lot of material to make it full.  But it would need to go with the theme of earth.  So into Google and looking up 17th century etchings of allegories of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to see the 'devices'.  Lots of trees, fruits and bunnies.  So maybe I add sheep, bunnies and more trees.  Grabbing said parts of other designs I was making some progress.

Then I decided to go and look at embroidered versions of Earth from actual caskets and mirrors.  That could help.  I knew that the top of the Martha Edlin casket was done in the Elements so I opened that up.  Note that they are represented in the four corners of the top by the devices only - no ladies.  While it gave me some stitch/color guidance for the fire and air part that would be useful later... nothing to add.  Then back to the search page and that is when EUREKA happened.

I had just been working on judging and writing about the Casket Toy contest so 3-D was in my mind.  There on the screen was Queen Elizabeth II's casket at Windsor Castle that we had visited.  That 3-D masterpiece that we are all hoping SOMEONE will do so we can see it.

Final and beloved Water front.  I CAN'T wait to stitch this side.

Problem solved.  No more symmetry issues on the top if I make it stand up like that.  And what better for an inspired 3-D scene on the top than the Earth Mother in all her glory.  I almost leapt off the couch to get stumpwork forms (then remembered I was tired) to make a cornucopia.  I went to bed happy and totally inspired.  I have the first two fruits already done.  This is something I can work on between other stuff.  Do a tent stitch side, make a few leaves and put in a box, work on the short casket project, take a break and make a small rabbit.  Put in box.  Before I know it - I will have all the elements of the top done by the time I get the two caskets done I am working on now.

I am sooooo excited.  Stay tuned for something amazing in a few years.   And did this flat casket start out being something that would be so fantastic?  Not at all.  It wasn't to be my opus.  Perhaps it will be.

Tricia

First Water Panel - on the back

A version of Earth and Water on the front panel

The element Earth from a mirror frame.  Hard to
work into a top as it is so asymmetric.  But I do
like the bunnies and the fruit basket (fun to stitch)

The Earth Top on my computer screen developing as I had my Eureka moment.  She will be sitting on a
mound.  There will be fruit trees around her.  Little animals like on the QEII casket.  OMG I am salivating just
thinking about it!

Top of Martha Edlin Casket with Harmony surrounded by Water, Fire, Air, and Earth.  

Close view of Royal Collection casket with the three dimensional stumpwork scene on the top.  Oh my gosh can
you just IMAGINE Mother Earth sitting there with a cornucopia and fruit spilling out.  Weak in the knees!

Contest Awards - Other Medium!

I am waiting to hear from three award winners for permission to show their items on the blog and then we will get started... but before that, sometimes it is fun to see what people do in other mediums.  3-D printing is big in this house and there is something called a 3D Doodler that allows you to draw in plastic in the air (it is fun).  So click here to see the awards for the doodles of the year for their creative contest.  You will be amazed what people can do!

Tricia

Grand prize winner of 3D doodler contest by Cornelia Kuglmeier.  This was made from molten plastic coming out
of a pen...amazing

Design Always Evolves!

Recalling my posts last month about "Getting Started" and some of the realities of designing something for yourself, I had to repost this photo from our NING conversation board.  Janet Brandt has been working on a very original design for her double casket for a few years and is getting closer to completion (the back is in embroidery progress right now).

Janet Brandt's Amazing "World of Possibilities" Casket (copyright Janet Brandt).  Stare at the picture of the mockup and the finished piece for awhile and compare the starting design with the finished piece.

If you haven't been able to follow her blogging about it, now is a great time to catch up.  Janet is an accomplished professional designer, author and artist.  So 'a pro'.  So it is highly useful to look at her mock up for her casket which incorporates the design idea she was running with when she started.

Those of us who are used to starting at the point where the designer has finished the project and is now writing the instructions for us to make a copy are usually unaware of the extreme level of uncertainty of the design/working process.  Many think that those who design start out with a fully completed vision.

I have to laugh (a nervous one) every day as people who want to do the June stumpwork short box stitch-along pepper me with emails, asking for the 'materials list' so they can buy the threads now.  The answer from me:  I have no clue.  That is the point, it will be designed as I go.  Do I have ideas?  Yes.  Do I have a line design?  Yes.  Do I have first-run prototypes of new threads on my table this very minute trying them out for it?  You bet.  But I won't have a list for a panel until I finish it myself.  And I won't have a good clue until I finish that first panel which will be the basis for the 'scheme' for the entire casket.  I have ideas of what I want to do and want to use.  But it might just happen that when I place it on the panel, the color is too washed out or the texture is just too low.  And then I will have to figure out a new idea.  That is how it goes.

So that is the theme of this year's Stitch-Along - Just Start.  There is absolutely NO WAY you can have a plan that you can stick to.  None of us are that talented.  Janet is one of the most talented people I know and if you carefully look at the mock up of the casket and the final piece, you will see some huge changes - almost unrecognizable from the first idea.  And note that the side of the mockup is blank. I am sure that Janet had an idea of what she wanted, but hadn't yet put it on paper enough to paste it to the side.

Now go back to the first blogs about this project and start to follow along with her.  There are just some amazing pictures of the process and discussion of trying out ideas on her mockup that you MUST look at if you are working on designing your own casket.  You will hear of many abandoned and changed plans and how the piece grew - and I am sure it grew to encompass more than what she had envisioned at first.  In fact I know it did as I know what is inside.  Every baby step results in new ideas, new confidence, and exploration of new concepts.  You will see that sometimes the idea totally changed and sometimes the idea has modified scale and details.  And in some places, the idea was yet to come - but she STARTED.  Yes, you could be scared off by the dates (late 2013) and she is still working on it.  But I know if you asked Janet, she wouldn't at all say that it is a bother and she is tired with it - she is having FUN.  (When you see the inside...you know she is having FUN).  When I got the first full 3-D shoes done in stumpwork I was literally squealing around here! It can be both frustrating, challenging, time consuming and FUN.

It is likely that your piece will result in growth of you as a stitcher - you will look back on things you did before and love them - but you might just cross the line from stitcher to artist without even realizing it.  :-)

It has been gratifying to follow the progress of many of the people working on the Cabinet of Curiosities and remembering back to their early emails and postings and getting new ones now of their experimentation with thread X and stitch Y and their mastery of it, frustrations and what they now 'see' in the old pieces and can make very informed and educated comments about what was happening historically because of their experience.  Tremendous, tremendous growth.  It is just so cool.  And I see so much more 'playing' happening now too.  That is the artist in you all coming out.  Very freeing.

So with that - I am going to start showing everyone the entries into the Casket Toy Contest next week.  They are playful as toys should be!

Winners of 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

So I have had a chance to post all the winners of the Christmas Giveaways...

A. Hewett, NY
K. Cloutier, IN
K. Jenkins, Australia
R. Fields, NY
I. Barnett, New Zealand
J. Bawn, UK
M. Long, Australia
J. Carolane, Australia
A. Zemkajute, Lithuania
J. Wyatt, Canada
K. Hamilton, TX
M. Dillow, OH
R. Homiller, TX
L. Herrmann, CA
P. Fowler, TX
S. Lambiris, NC
B. Coffman, PA
C. Robinson, IA
D. Brower, MD
S. Goad, VA
D. Courchaine, CT
A. Hamilton, DE
T. Dove, DC
D. Autorino, NJ
G. Posnett, MD

Congrats, Happy New Year and a magazine will be showing up in your box soon!

Tricia

Join Stitch Along with Trinket Box!

If you have been sitting on the sidelines because a full sized casket was just out of reach, perhaps a smaller Trinket Box (still a casket!!) is what you are looking for.  The Silken Tent Stitch Trinket Box is now in stock and available for order, as well as the scroll bar frames needed for it.

If you want to do one, I can add you to the NING site where we chat, share pictures and encourage each other!

Tricia

Vice President of Logistics, Paper Division

I opened my email this morning over a groggy cup of tea as my husband rushed to drive a child out to the bus shouting instructions to the other about what to add to his robot control system logging once he got home from school.  And yes, I didn't find that out of the ordinary.  But then I found the following in my email as a uncommented note from said husband, who other than being the Head of Waste Management Receptacles and Lead Driver for Transportation of Second Child, is the Division VP of Blockage Removal.  Not to be confused with his very important job of Large Insect Management.

Consumer Reports ratings on toilet paper efficacy.

Romantic.  A few years ago I must have laughed until I cried driving home listening to a NPR segment on parenting and romance.  The guests were discussing the transition from deep, meaningful conversations as soon-to-be engaged partners to screams down the staircase holding out a naked soiled child on 'where the heck are the baby wipes!!!'  She went on to describe how being married with kids turns you into the CEO and COO of Family, Inc.  Conversations and text messages become terse discussions about logistics, supply chain management and how to make your 'employees' less whiny.  Sexting...PLEASE...just say you will pick up milk and get the kid from tutoring and I will swoon!

Yes, that is my life.  Add to it the robotic teams and we are not only the Executive Team for Family, Inc. but Board Members for a very-young, energetic and slightly disorganized product team at a new 'start-up' in our basement.  My sister-in-law brought people over here on Thanksgiving to watch us like we are the 'Nerd Show' as we inter disperse pleasantries to our guests while cooking with advice to the kids who were running around the Turkey trying chaotically to develop a control system for their robot while taking short breaks for 'street-rules' Twister (don't ask).

So it comes back to his romantic email on toilet paper.  As head of blockage removal, he has been quite frustrated with the physical plant we purchased a few years ago and has been lobbying for the purchasing department to make serious changes.  A change in ceramic throne to a more powerful model still didn't seem to change the issues too much.  A load of golf balls - yea - total fantasy advertisement!

There was a very short lived investment in new Japanese technology to eliminate the need for paper.  But as I pointed out - don't give these kids a device they can hack to play tricks on each other.  I was overruled, but vindicated.  Very quickly the 'What is this?! and What does that button do?" phase resulted in many walls being wet.  So it was moved to a very private bathroom on the third floor in the Executive Suite.  Yes - don't automate too many tasks for the minions, they rebel.

And the professional blockage consulting team we brought in yesterday now warned that we might have to dig up part of the basement if their camera system found a serious problem in the pipes.  Seems that the basement has an added bathroom that might be at the wrong elevation.  Combine that with 20 kids using it several times a week, and well, you have a continual problem now resulting in shower backups as well.

Hense the experiment.  The professionals claim to have been here a dozen times in 2016 and since said professional now politely asks about the progress of our team, I am thinking - yea... I know him too well!  Either that or he is secretly thinking he can retire early if this robot team keeps advancing in competitions - extending their seasons and the number of times he gets to visit us a year.   So, they routed the system again and last night the VP of Blockage Removal officially took over on Paper Procurement to see how many days we could last before professional services were again required.  Hence the email to choose reasonable products to store in each rest room based on use profile.  I mentioned that I didn't study all those years to get my Ph.D to be reduced to cardboard.  So I played my 'key to the Executive Suite' card and chose something a bit more refined to be squirreled away for private use.

The last meaningful email he sent to me was one that I really did appreciate.  It was sharing a Quora essay on picking a spouse.  The writer said that marriages are severely tested when you get into this Family, Inc phase as the stresses either break you or make you stronger (i.e you learn to laugh at all this crazy stuff).  He suggested that no couple be allowed to get engaged until they have gone camping or backpacking somewhere for two weeks.  No resort.  Real backpacking.  Stuff will go wrong, really wrong.  You will get wet, have blisters, be exhausted, and look or be ugly.  The author said how his girlfriend (now wife) and another engaged couple went on said trip in the Rockies and how the other guy was so ugly and disparaging to the woman about not keeping up, wouldn't carry her pack and did nothing to help her cook over the fire.  They are now divorced while he and his now wife managed to get along while deciding not to be friends anymore with the jerk.

My husband and I took a backpacking trip to Europe in grad school with a friend (over the protestations of my father of me traveling with two guys) and yes, it was full of big time stresses.  Especially having the friend along.  The day after I had the car and managed to get it stuck in an intersection on a bridge over a river next to a walled city - totally stopping traffic in this bucolic Welsh town with my limited manual driving skills, we were barreling down a country road as the friend, driving, was desperate to keep on his three towns a day schedule and we were missing all the heather.  My husband screamed STOP THE CAR from the backseat and ran from the car with his camera, needing 30 minutes of peace in the field taking pictures to recompose himself.  Nightly we roamed the restaurant menus trying to find somewhere to eat to keep us on our $15/day budget.  We lost a lot of weight.  I went home after a month as I couldn't afford to stay and he stayed with our friend for another two months...and promptly asked me to marry him when he got back to the USA, saying that it was so much more fun when I was there with them.

So he told me he would take me on the rest of the trip I missed for our honeymoon,  where we promptly had enough misadventures to make any listener pee-their pants laughing and would make an awesome travel disaster book.  Think Amazing Race but a bit more hilarious, no camera crew and worse accommodations (yes, he had stand and plop quarters into my shower to keep the water running at one).  After my father picked himself off the floor laughing once we returned, he got all sober and said if he had known - he wouldn't have let us go.  As a parent, I can concur as the summons I got a few years later to appear in court in Prague to testify against the mob would say that we had a few adventures...  And yes, we survived all the stresses and finally got promoted to CEO and COO of Family, Inc where we repeat said stressful adventures but with whiny kids in the backseat and talk sweet nothings about the qualities of toilet paper.

My oldest just started dating and informed us he has a girlfriend.  I slyly invited her over during robot work while we had guests and were running around crazy to get ready for the little teams competiton so we would be at 'our best' to see if she could handle it.  Already thinking about college girlfriends joining us on trips to see how it goes.  Like an early job interview for CEO of Family, Inc - cause with my son and our family, it won't be all roses and diamonds I can tell you!

Tricia

P.S.  As I blogged this, I got a call.  Typical.  A simple Uline order of cardboard boxes for the next kit pack has turned into another stressful day of supply chain management at Family, Inc.  Instead of being sent by UPS, the new trucking company asked me what loading dock I wanted my pallet delivered to.  Ugh...the lady on the other end pretty much freaked when I told her they were going to a residential zone and I have no forklift.  Time to call the electrical company to see if their truck is legally allowed down my street as I don't know the answer to the question 'how tall are the electrical lines there'.   One solution as the semi won't be going down my driveway is to leave it all in the street for the Robot Team of strong teens to bring in for me.  So I gotta now think of a clever ploy to get them to carry it - something like seeing who is 'man' enough, that often works.

Ah....if it was just roses and diamonds.  Sigh.

Casket Toy Entries

I have gotten many entries into the contest and have set them aside for about two weeks as I clear out the backlog of orders for everyone - since so many are doing the Stitch Along, there are many who are getting things they need right now!  I know in about 1-2 weeks I will be able to set aside 1-2 days to carefully read the entries (being dyslexic I have to set aside calm and quiet time to digest things correctly) and the entries are so stunning that I want to give them my undivided attention!  With kids around at night preparing for this weekends competition - I haven't seen 'quiet' since before Thanksgiving.

So I can't wait to start sharing the amazing pieces and pictures with you all soon - such a creative bunch out there!

Tricia