Joyful Abode

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

The tour starts outside, because that is a big source of my inspiration. I am surrounded by rolling hills covered with ancient oak trees, and wildlife abounds just outside my door. We are visited daily by up to a dozen deer at a time, who graze and rest just outside our windows. Gray squirrels hide acorns everywhere, we hear coyotes on some nights, and have also sighted bobcats and foxes on the property. My husband loves photographing the birds, and he tells me there are more than 40 different species feeding at our nearly 2 dozen feeders. My favorite are the quail, and especially in the Spring, when they visit with their flocks of babies no bigger than my thumb. Both mother and father quail stick quite close to the babies. Once you get inside, you see a room that has a lot going on! It was planned as my sewing space, but after I decided to outfit it with a comfy sofa and TV, it has also become a favorite hangout, which suits me fine. I am alone here most of the time, but I enjoy sharing the space with my husband and friends, because I can be around all my favorite things and people at the same time.

Some of my favorite little things in the room are all the tiny bowls scattered about. They are made by purplepetunia.etsy.com and I absolutely love them. I also have a Wee Wonderfuls embroidery pattern there on my bulletin board. The big old china cabinet is where I keep all my handbag-making hardware, twill tape, and nylon webbing, along with my printers and such.

What do you create in your space?

I sew a lot of different things. My favorite is probably handbags and totes at the moment, but I go on apron binges and quilt binges from time to time too. I haven’t done much garment sewing for quite a few years, but I am starting to get an itch to sew some skirts and dresses, because there are just so many fabulous fabrics available that it’s a shame not to use them for everything. I like to try new things all the time, and I like to sew useful items. When I got a new iPod for Christmas, I was busy sewing up a case for it the day after. I really will attempt almost anything, although everything ends up having my stamp on it, because I don’t always follow directions well.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

I would say to be flexible. You won’t really know how the space will work best for you until you have used it for a while. It’s nice to have spaces that can be used in different ways so that you can adapt to your own way of working. With a little tweaking as you go, eventually you will arrive at your ideal space (or as close to ideal as you can get, given physical limitations of the room). I have rearranged my space several times as I get used to working in it. I originally had supplies for every kind of craft in this room, but sewing kept taking over more and more space until nearly all of the non-sewing projects had to move out. Just last weekend I acquired a new sewing machine which needed its own space, and that was the end of what I had been using as my paper-crafting desk. All of that was moved to a spare bedroom, and now sewing rules. I wouldn’t have known to plan ahead for this–I had to be willing to change focus over time.

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

I feel energized and ready to create any time and all the time. I love that there is really no separation here between creating and “just being.” It all blends together throughout the day (and well into the night). I feel most happy when I can see all my fabric at a glance, because I am inspired by my materials. I am not much of a planner–I often decide what to sew because I suddenly see a combination of fabrics that will look great together, or I have a special button that I want to use.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

I am an “out of sight, out of mind” person, so I like to have everything out where I can see it–tools, fabrics, notions. I like to work with a little creative clutter around me. But when a “little” turns into a lot, I am unable to make anything new until I clear the decks again. So I like to have some closed storage to hide the messiest bits. I guess my main challenge, though, is that I try to fit too much into my space. I love fabrics and tools, and too much is never enough. So I am always needing more storage. One of my goals for this year is to use up more of what I have instead of adding more to the stash.

What is your favorite quote?

I have this quote in my mother’s handwriting under glass on my desk:
“Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. ”
William Butler Yeats

My mom and I always teased each other about being descended from a long line of Irish worriers. Fortunately, we laughed as much as we worried.

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

I love to read, especially outdoors on a nice day. My favorite reading spot is in a hammock chair that hangs from a maple tree in the yard. Often, the dappled shade, the warmth of the sun, and the swinging of the chair will lull me into a nap, and I love that, too. I tend to stay up very late, often until 4 or 5 a.m., so I’m usually a little sleep-deprived.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

Well, I could live without it, because I did for years, but my favorite thing is my built-in wall which has a huge cutting surface at the perfect standing height for me and a large desk. Under the cutting table I have four rolling carts with wire mesh drawers holding smaller pieces of fabric–I am a fat quarter collector–and it’s easy to pull out a drawer full of fabric to take to my sewing machine, or to roll a whole cart out for use near the machine. And I am addicted to my hammock chairs–I have several of them indoors and out. I find I can concentrate much better when I am in motion. If I’m not in a hammock chair, I like to be found sitting on the sofa with my husband Rick, watching “30 Rock.”

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

I have been reorganizing off and on for nearly two years in this space. Now that I have moved out most of the non-sewing crafting gear, I look forward to enjoying a lot of sewing here. I try to maintain that delicate balance between creative clutter and total mess!

Do you have a website we could visit?

I started blogging just last month, and opened my Etsy shops at about the same time. I have been on such a sewing bender that I finally decided it was time to see what would happen if I started putting my things out there for the world to see and hopefully, buy, so I can indulge my need for constant creating. I started with one Etsy shop, and then decided that I needed to split in two because the two sides of my creative bent don’t really jell into a cohesive whole. One shop is for my “serious” bags and totes, and the other is for my crazy experiments.

My blog is here. I find that I am loving being active in the online creative world. I have tried blogging a couple of times before and never lasted past three days or so. This time around, I try to blog every day, and the only thing that stands in my way so far is lack of time. I haven’t run out of things to say yet–I am writing it in my head all day long! I like to write about what I’m working on at the moment, and also want to include some real life most of the time, too. I have a million stories about growing up in a big family and learning to sew and cook from my mother at an early age. I realize with some disbelief that I have been sewing for (ack) about 50 years now! I learned to sew on the treadle sewing machine that now resides in my studio. Mom made school clothes for 5 children on that machine, and a few prom dresses, too. She didn’t get an electric sewing machine until I was in high school.

I get so much inspiration and joy from reading my long and growing list of creative blogs every day that I feel like I have landed in my true home.

I am happy to give Joyful Abode readers 10% off on anything until April 1. Just identify yourself as a Joyful Abode fan. I hope to be adding more items at a steady rate now, so stay tuned!

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

My little corner is in the sun room on the side of my house. It’s my favorite space in the house because of all the light and the lovely pumpkin color. Mostly my one year old and I spend a lot of time out here, what you don’t see in the pictures are her slide and big toy box about four feet behind my table! All of my essential are here, my mini ironing board, basket full of felt and fabric pieces, and my tack board. I try very hard (unsuccessfully!) to stay organized, and I try to keep my things out of reach of a lightening fast toddler.

What do you create in your space?

I create multi layer felt and fabric designs that I fuse, and then hand stitch onto baby and toddler t-shirts. I hope eventually to purchase a sewing machine and see what else I can make.  Currently I have two projects that I am working on. One is a line of zodiac symbol tees, using modern color combinations and bold graphic designs.  The other is a ‘read to me’ tee. I’ve just finished designing this one, and I plan to donate a portion of every sale from this shirt to public libraries. Books have always been very important in my life, and I feel reading to your children, and fostering a love of reading is one of the best gifts you can give them.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

Keep everything that you need in one place, as much as possible. Try to keep it out of a main traffic area so that no one else will feel the need to move your things around. Baskets and bins are a wonderful addition to help you feel organized, whether or not you actually are!

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

At the moment, chilly! It’s cold in New England in the winter, especially in a room mostly made of glass. I love this room and my little corner of it. It’s amazing how much my mood lifts when I walk into this sunny space, and see all my bright fabrics and even my daughter’s bright toys. It helps me keep the fun, bright, aesthetic that I am striving for with my clothing.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

Carving out a little niche for myself was not easy in a small house, but well worth the shifting of furniture many many times. My biggest challenge is not to let my work surface get totally overwhelmed by little bits of fabric and paper and left over threads. Oh, and making sure that nothing dangerous (i.e. pins, iron, scissors,) are in a place where my little one can get at them.

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

First and foremost, I am a wife and a mother. I have a wonderful supportive husband and a daughter that makes me smile all the time. Before deciding to stay home with our baby, I was an Interior Designer, and I still spend a lot of time reading about design and thinking up new ways to make my home suit my family better. I love to read, and I love to eat. I’m not a great cook, but I am trying to learn.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

Honestly, my couch. I love to sit on my comfy sofa and watch my daughter play while I sew, or use the laptop to research visuals for my designs, and my new found attachment to etsy!

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

I would love to finish the attic of my house someday, complete with skylights and turn that into a studio for myself. Since that is a big dream, that’s very very far away, mostly I want to keep working in my little corner, and try not to overwhelm the rest of the house with my scraps of fabric.

Do you have a website we could visit?

I just opened a shop in December, in which I carry all my hand-stitched designs. I’ve been amazed by the fellowship and support that etsyians offer each other and I learned a lot from the other sellers. Thats it for the moment, but I have plans to have my own website eventually.

Joyful Abode readers are welcome to a 10% discount off any non-sale item in my shop. Please mention Joyful Abode in the message to seller at checkout.

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

This room is the top floor of my apartment. My boyfriend, Frank, and I pretty much got our apartment because of this room. We knew we would turn it into our studio/office space. The right side is Frank’s… and the ever growing left side is mine. The drafting table is from my Dad. It’s totally old school. When I was in elementary school, on days off, I would go to my dad’s office and draft restaurant floor plans with him on this table. Now it’s my crafty station to sketch out ideas, prep for sewing and ironing pieces, and put together orders. A lot of my ideas start from sketches and mock-ups on the table, then I move to my computer and scan anything in and work from there to develop the designs.  Don’t you love the chimney!?  There’s also a spot for Nico, the cat! He’s got a spot amongst the artwork on the wall!

What do you create in your space?

I create home decor and other accessories. Mostly cocktail napkins and coasters and handkerchiefs right now. They have a minimal design that adds a creative sensibility to the home or an outfit. I like getting a bit quirky with my designs so you’ll often see me trying to make designs out of household items and everyday “stuff” before bringing them to the computer to manipulate and stick on a napkin:)

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

Pick the best room in your home. Pick a room that you love just being in. I’ve tried putting together my creative space in the basement, but then I never want to spend time there. You have to want to spend time in the space, whether you’re creating or not. Surround yourself with lots of inspiration. Put up a cork board or a clothes line and pin up photos of what gets you pumped about getting your “craft on!” A sofa helps too. When i get frustrated about something not working out the way I want to I can just plant myself on the sofa and relax… then try again:)

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

It makes me feel great! It’s the best room in the house with lots of natural light… and during the winter months it’s the only room where i can get my dose of Vitamin D. I hang up lots of inspirational pieces to get me thinking about new things to make, even when I’m not actively making anything.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

Clutter! I’m a clutter bug. So I have to constantly work at storing materials and pieces properly and always finding homes for new items.

What is your favorite quote?

Mind your pennies, and your dollars mind themselves.

I don’t really know why but I quote this one all the time.

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

I work for an art service organization in Toronto, Canada and I work with visual artists to build their careers, market themselves, and find opportunities for them to get their artwork out there. I also love playing squash, cooking, working on my photography, and watching LOST and ANTM.
What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

My new Iron! I got a great new iron for Christmas… it’s #1 these days!

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

Growing my line of home accessories. I’m looking into table runners, throw pillows, and shower curtains right now. Also growing my business to including more wholesale.

Do you have a website we could visit? 

www.avrilloreti.etsy.com

www.avrilloreti.blogspot.com

Tell us about what we see in your photos.
The fist photo is my storefront. It is not the ideal colour for me, but it would cost far too much to rip out and change, so I live with it. I’ve also included the view of my main work area and my back workshop area. This is quite a mess as I am always moving the larger tools around. In here I have a polishing motor with extraction, a vacuum pump for degassing silicone rubber compounds and investment when I am casting, electroplating unit, lathe, drill press, rolling mill, enamel kiln, tumbler, magnetic barreller, pickle pot, photo area, ultrasonic, sink. It is also a storage area for other tools and stationery.

What do you create in your space?

Anything in silver, gold or platinum. I have many skills under my belt so there are a number of techniques that I use. I set my own stones and will undertake re-modelling of old jewellery, repairs or new commissions.
The majority of my trade is bespoke, where I will design and create a piece exactly to the clients’ brief.
I also create jewellery and silverware to sell in the shop and on Etsy.

In addition to the jewellery, I make my own cards using my own artwork which are sold in the shop and I am slowly adding these designs to a new Etsy shop.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?
Plan, plan and plan. I had been thinking about my own space for years. I was always looking at shop fittings and other retail outlets to see if there were any ideas I could use in constructing my own space.

The shop was to be split into two. One half for a workshop and one half for a retail space. I wanted the retail space, quite simple with just some high level shelves, so customers didn’t have to stop to look at things, and some glass cabinets built in. Again quite high so you could look at them easily without bending over.

The workshop came about by just planning where all my tools would go. This was just an evolution of my old workspace. I learnt what I needed at hand, what I used frequently and what was rarely used.

The one thing in all of this, was that I had to make my own fittings so that a) they suited my needs perfectly and also b) I couldn’t afford to employ a shop fitting service, so it was all DIY.

In addition to the shop and workshop area, I also had to incorporate a meeting table. I have lots of clients who will drive on average up to 2 hours just to get to me. This table serves as my office space when I am doing paperwork and also my design table when I am drawing.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

The biggest challenge was finding a suitable shop in the first place. The search took about 18 months. With many sites being either too far away, too small, too big, in the wrong neighbourhood. It was important that the site ticked all the boxes of what I required and that I didn’t just jump into the first property that was available.

What is your favorite quote?

I am a terrible procrastinator, so mine is quite apt, “Is doing what you are doing, getting you any closer to your goals?”

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

My typical day starts first thing getting the kids up and off to school, which means I get to my shop at about 9am. I then do the school run in the afternoon, so I can only work until 3.30pm.
 
The whole being a dad thing then kicks in until about 9pm. Sometimes I will try to promote my business on line or I might do some sketches and or drawings as I find that quite therapeutic.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

My wallet. My wife bought me a lovely little wallet that has a pen and notebook. I am always drawing little sketches, or writing design ideas down, so I am never without pen and paper. I love it.

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

Ideally I would like to have a larger space, but it is all down to the location. It is so hard to find a building the suits your needs and at the same time, for it to be in a nice neighbourhood.

Do you have a website we could visit?

So many. I have my personal website. The majority of my trade comes via the website and is primarily bespoke engagement rings and wedding rings. I will undertake any commission in silver, gold or platinum. So I make anything including; tie slides, cuff links, money clips, brooches, piercing pieces, rings to suit all occasions, bookmarks, silverware…. The list is endless.

I have a Flickr account which I have only just opened, my Blog , and my Etsy shop. I have also opened another Etsy shop where I intend to put up some of my artwork.

Then naturally I have my shop located at 127 Singlewell Road, Gravesend,
Kent, DA11 7QA, UK

All of which keep me quite busy.

As a special promotion, if you mention this code at the time of ordering (APRIL2008) I will give 20% off my prices at http://chrisparry.etsy.com

This discount will be valid until the end of April 2008.

If you’d like to keep up with these inspiring features, you can subscribe to Joyful Abode using your favorite subscription application, or add the feed as a friend on Livejournal. If you’re interested in having your creative space featured on Joyful Abode, let me know by commenting here (and be sure to include your email address so I can get in touch).

On Monday, I made this for dinner:

Nothing exciting. It’s frozen cheese ravioli topped with jarred Alfredo sauce (into which I dumped a huge amount of frozen spinach) and accompanied by frozen garlic bread. See? I don’t always cook from scratch!

Well last night, we were slated for leftovers, as per the menu.  But there were only 3 raviolis left!

So I made it evolve. I cooked some random pasta (a couple handfuls of rotini, a handful of farfalle, and a handful of shells) and threw it in with the ravioli, which I cut up. We also had leftover pasta from the guy’s lunch a couple days ago, so I threw that in too.

I used the same sauce (we did have lots of that left) but I mixed in some bacon. See, we forgot how much we had in the freezer, and when it was buy-one-get-one-free last week, we got 2 more packs. We now have five pounds of bacon. Well, four and a half after this meal.

And when I was photographing this, I decided it would be tons of fun to serve pasta side dishes in individual ramekins instead of glopping it on plates beside the entree.  Seriously, how faux-elegant is this? It would be even better if I had tiny forks. I must remember to add tiny silverware to my wish list.

And you’d think there would be no leftovers… but you’d be wrong.

Bacon grease is a leftover, right?

So I just had to make some of my honey-cornbread. Which is best made with bacon grease in the bottom of the pan. But I made honey cornbread muffins. Basically, about a tablespoon of the grease goes in each muffin cup, and you only bake it for 15 minutes. Other than that, the recipe is the same (except that I didn’t have any milk, so I used water instead, which tasted just fine).

I’m sure the cornbread will be gone soon, and this particular leftovers chain-of-events will end.
If I were fully into the idea of chili, I’d make a pot of chili and crumble the muffins over top of individual bowls, but I’m not going there right now.

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

My studio is located in the garden level, or first floor, of our row house. Its main components are:

My new cutting table, which is a great old drafting table that I got from a family in our neighborhood who were giving it away. I’m still pretty proud, a month later, that I managed to figure out how to put it together without having to call them back. It’s got two big drawers underneath—one holds all of my measuring implements and trusty rotary cutter, and the other holds thread, a roll of fusible interfacing for appliqués, and a box of my tags/business cards/Etsy cards.

My screenprinting table, which used to double as my cutting table. It’s really a folding plastic table (originally purchased for our backyard pig roast last summer!), tricked out with a wooden top that I screwed my hinge clamps into, and wooden risers under the legs to save me from massive chiropractor bills.

My burly, ancient ironing board, found on Freecycle.com, which holds the trusty iron that I’ve had since high school.

My sewing table, home to my 1965 White sewing machine, which I bought on Ebay after cashing in some of my childhood savings bonds. The kitties who watch over me as I work perch above the sewing machine, and my supply jars—the scissors and other cutters in an old marmalade jar, pens and pencils in an old mustard jar, and small implements in a vintage espresso cup—live next to it.

The fantastic wooden cabinet that I rescued from my husband’s grandfather’s attic. I keep my finished goods in the drawers, and my inks, some of my fabric, and shipping envelopes in the cabinet part. The rest of my fabric is kept in the Elfa drawers that sit atop the cabinet, which my friend Mona gave to me when she was cleaning out her apartment.

And the extension of my studio is our backyard, where I line dry all of my fabrics after washing.

What do you create in your space?

I make napkins and coasters out of repurposed fabric. I mostly use secondhand bedding (sheets, pillowcases, bedspreads), though I have found some wonderful old housecoats as well…. I look for anything with an appealing pattern with a vintage feel (whether that be vintage 60s or vintage 80s :)). I screenprint each item with one of my original drawings. Right now my motifs are foxes, cats, and llamas. I also just started a monogram line, in which I will print one or two (or more, if you want!) hand-drawn letters on to the goods.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

Don’t expect it to ever be perfect! Mine is definitely a work in progress, and I think I will always be tweaking it. And try to set it up somewhere with as much natural light as possible, it has so many advantages: Lets you see true colors, makes for great photographs of your work, and keeps you happy in the winter…. Also, always be on the lookout for free furniture and equipment! Freecycle.com and the “Free” section (under the “For sale” header) on Craigslist.com are great resources, as are relatives or friends who are cleaning out their houses or redecorating, and the sidewalks on large-item trash days… It makes me really happy to know that 90% of the things in my studio are secondhand, and at least 50% of them were free.

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

I feel really proud of being able to put my own creative business together. It’s been a really long road for me to get here. And granted I’m just starting out, and who knows how long I will be able to maintain it, but at this moment anything is possible and it feels awesome.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

Keeping the cats out.

What is your favorite quote?

“Dreyfus once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls…. For me they will always be glorious birds.” - Harold and Maude

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

My other job is full-time mama to my 3-1/2 year old, Wile Taylor, seen here enjoying his favorite food, sushi.

He, my husband Stephen, and our cats Truck and Lulu and I live in the Clinton Hill/Bed-Stuy area of Brooklyn, NY. In my early 20s I spent five years as an editor at a small publishing house in Manhattan, which was not a career that I had aspired to, and eventually became one that I really didn’t enjoy. So I got out of that and started studying textile design at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology, in Manhattan.) Six months before graduation, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant! So after I finished school, I spent a few years at home with the little man. But this fall he started preschool, and I started Cakehouse. I love to cook (I was briefly an apprentice chef before I was an editor), shop at the farmer’s market, listen to music, peruse thrift stores, go dancing with my girlfriends, watch Project Runway and Friday Night Lights, read the New Yorker, and root for the New York Mets.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

My darling MacBook. It’s my file cabinet, notepad, photo studio, research library, communications hub, and entertainment center when I need a break.

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

Sometime in the next 2 or 3 years we are going to do a major renovation (and reorganization) of our 100-year old house. And when that happens, I will be able to move some of the non-Cakehouse items out of the room, like the bookshelves, and the two enormous towers of shelves full of albums (record, not photo)…. I am fine with the fact that as long as my studio is in our house, I will share my space with our home office space, so there will always be filing cabinets and a desk and our home computer somewhere in my office. That to me is a totally reasonable trade-off to being able to work from home. But I’m looking forward to having some things take their leave after the renovation, which will give me room to stretch out a little bit.

Do you have a website we could visit?

I have three homes on line: The Cakehouse website, which has all the info about what I do, why I do it, how I do it, and where to buy it. My blog, where I post about some business stuff and some personal (though not too personal…) stuff. And my etsy shop, which is currently the only place to buy Cakehouse goods.

See more photos of Kristen’s creative space.

I am happy to offer a 10% discount to Joyful Abode readers. Simply don’t pay when you checkout at etsy—instead, email me letting me know that you found me through Joyful Abode, and letting me know how you’re going to pay (Paypal or check/money order), and I will send you an invoice with the 10% discount factored in.

If you’d like to keep up with these inspiring features, you can subscribe to Joyful Abode using your favorite subscription application, or add the feed as a friend on Livejournal. If you’re interested in having your creative space featured on Joyful Abode, let me know by commenting here (and be sure to include your email address so I can get in touch).

Is it too late in the day for a Self-Portrait Tuesday?

I haven’t done one in forever and I’ve been meaning to… I’m cheating though, because I took this picture over the weekend.

I’m a generally photogenic person, but I don’t think this is one of the better pictures of me (like, I wouldn’t put it on hot or not. haha) but I think it’s a nice picture. I’m squinting because it’s crazy-sunny, so my eyes are screwed up and there are weird shadows on my face, but whatever.

I like the beach wind in my hair, and that you can see the earrings I’m wearing (I love them!) and my wedding rings. I like all of the beachy grasses in the background, and the blue sky. I wish you could see my necklace, which is the four-leaf clover necklace I got for me and my sisters (there are 4 of us).

The husband and I went to Pensacola Bay to get jars of sediment for my dad-in-law (who is a hydrologist and wanted it for experiments).

The guy got the mucky sediment (knee deep in cold water) and I explored the shore. I found some crazy stuff.

These fish didn’t look like they’d been eaten by anything… wonder what’s up with them.

And acorns are not usually something I expect to see on the beach.

I just noticed, you can sort-of see the 4 leaf clover necklace in this picture.

Shisha (the Hindi word for “little glass”) embroidery is also known as mirror-work or abla embroidery. Originally, pieces of mica were used as the mirrors, but later, thin blown-glass pieces were broken and used. Today, small mirrors are commercially available for shisha embroidery. If you use these, make sure to file the edges first so the mirrors aren’t sharp.

I like using paillettes, those large sequins with a tiny hole in the side. They’re extremely lightweight, not sharp at all, and readily available in many colors. They worked perfectly in my “Local pride” apron. I also think it would be really neat to use coins from around the world in shisha embroidery.

I’ve recently gotten really into playing with embroidery, and I decided to at the very least do this one tutorial to share my love of the art form with you all. All you handcrafting/DIY-type folks, get ready!

1. Gather your materials. You’ll need fabric, an embroidery hoop, a sharp needle, a shisha mirror (or paillette or coin), and embroidery floss.
   
2. Secure your fabric in the hoop tightly. Thread your needle and knot the end of your floss.
   
3. Place your shisha on the fabric, and secure it with a crossing of foundation stitches.
   
4. Now, duplicate the foundation stitches, but turned 45 degrees… like this.
   
   Until you get this.
   
5. Now, you could leave it at that, and decorate around it. It’s pretty secure and it looks pretty, right? But if you’re more interested in creating a solid frame for your shisha, continue. Poke your needle up through the fabric beside your mirror.
   Then, slide your needle under the foundation stitches, from the center toward the edge.
   
6. Pull your needle through and tighten the stitch, then work one backstitch right next to your mirror.
   
7. Now, your next stitches will be like blanket stitches. Again, thread the needle under your foundation stitches from the center to the edge, but make sure your thread is looped UNDER your needle as you pull the stitch tight.
   
8. From now on, when you work the backstitch after your blanket stitch,make sure to initially poke your needle through the previous backstitch. This will create an attractive chain around your shisha.
   
9. Once I get mine shishsa started, I like to take it out of the embroidery hoop. You can if you want to, but you don’t have to. Keep working steps 7 and 8 around the mirror.
   
   This is why I like to take it out of the hoop. It allows me to sort of bend the fabric backward to have more control over my backstitches.
   
10. Keep going until you’re finished!
    
11. Are you proud of yourself? You should be! You could stop there, or you can decorate it some more (back in the embroidery hoop for this). I started with a border of turquoise chain stitches, to match my paillette.
    
12. And then… oh look! The shisha is shining with happiness!
    
13. I finished mine up with some delightful little french knots.
    
14. Enjoy! And join the flickr group to show off your own shisha embroidery.

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

I have a passion for stuff. I make stuff into art.
Found images, antique stores, garage sales, used book stores, thrift stores, people’s garages….. In my room I wanted to have ample space to spread out and make a mess, but also a space where I can be inspired and display the work I have made. I also display the items I have that are interesting in themselves, but just waiting to be made into art.
I’m in my junior year of college and I live at school most of the time, and but this room is in my parents’ basement. It’s kind of like camping out in a cave. It used to be a sewing room/ workshop/ storage room… but since junior high I started begging my mom to let me move in there. Long story short that involves a lot of rearranging… I live in the basement. It’s my favorite part about coming home.
In the model, which I made for a class, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite parts of the room, being: the wall covered with my artwork, the collection of random glass bottles, the rag rugs, and the antique turquoise tulip chair. In the real room, my favorite parts are the bed (excellent mattress), the large amount of floor space, the bookshelf filled with art books, magazines, newspapers, novels, boxes of junk, my chunky necklace collection on display, and my art that is all over the walls.

What do you create in your space?

In this space, I turn my massive stockpiles of stuff into art. Usually on the floor.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

I opted to hang my art on the wall for 2 reasons. 1, it’s a mini-gallery to show people what I’ve been up to. 2, it’s GREAT for storage, paintings take up significantly less space if they’re not all stacked up.

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

This space is one without a roommate and one that is truly mine. I have a lot of ownership and privacy here which is important to me.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

Keeping it clean.

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

I’m an art student at North Park University in Chicago. I teach art to underserved teenagers in the inner-city at a drop-in center called Graffiti Zone (new site on flickr!). I’m discovering a thing called kitchens and cooking… growing out of good ol’ milk and cereal. I’m also a hopeless internet addict.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

Sweatpants and a bandana.

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

My next move would be to be in a permanent space with 100% of my belongings in one spot (I’m tired of moving!)

Do you have a website we could visit?
I have a flickr site that I update very regularly. I have a new etsy site that I sell a little of this and that at. I also have a blog.

I’ve read all sorts of tutorials and how-to instructions for making a homemade lightbox for photographing things… and I’ve tried a couple of them.

The cut-up-a-cardboard-box-and-line-it-with-tissue paper thing didn’t work out for me. It felt flimsy and didn’t even yield decent pictures (for me, at least).

Then I combined some different thing I have read, seen, and heard about, and came up with a pretty decent solution to my macro photography woes.

You will need:

• one of those milky white/clear storage containers, like Rubbermaid or Tupperware or whoever makes them
• several clip-on lights. You can use what you have, or buy inexpensive ones from Lowe’s or Home Depot. Make sure you get some that will handle the watts of the bulbs you wish to use. We don’t want to start a fire!
• Stuff to clip the lamps onto.
• A power strip to plug all of the lamps into.
• Light bulbs. I’m using full-spectrum “GE Reveal” halogen bulbs. They have a halogen bulb within the regular outer bulb, which is nice because you don’t have to worry about getting your fingers’ oil on the halogen part and making it explode.
• Some sort of background material. I bought a white poster board and a black poster board.
• White fabric for diffusing the light.

These are the lamps I got. I think they were 7 dollars each. There was a smaller size for 6 dollars too.

My light bulbs. Like I said before, they have a halogen bulb inside the regular glass bulb. Very cool.

I’m clipping my lights onto random things, propped up by other random things… it really doesn’t matter because those aren’t ever in the photos (unless you’re writing a tutorial on how to make a light box). The containers kept falling over, until I stuck some weights in them. Now they’re good to go.

This may seem like common sense, but plug all of your lamps into a power strip. The awesome part is you can leave all of the lamp switches on, and just use the power strip’s switch to turn them all on and off at once. It’s a little thing, but very cool.

Here’s my general set-up so far. The box is on its side with the background material in it, and lights clipped all around it (and one on top). I guess you can tell I’m not using my tripod, because it’s over there on the left looking lonely.

Make sure your white balance is set to the correct setting (for my box that’s usually the tungsten setting… or I’ll do the manual setting, in which you just point the camera at the background, click, and then it’s set!) That will take a pretty good picture, but there will be some glare. This photo is unedited.

If you want to reduce the glare, take a piece of fabric…

And drape it over the lightbox, between the lights and your product. I just kind of threw it on top, but if I were feeling perfectionistic, I would smooth everything out. I’m still obviously not using my little tripod, as you can see it in that picture, looking sad.

That’ll give you a less glare-y photo, but slightly darker.

Which can easily be fixed by playing with levels in any photo editing program.

It may not be perfect, but it’s way better than what I had before (stick the product on a background and try tons of angles and light sources to try to get it to be well-lit and good-looking).

Works for me!

I took all of my stationery photos using the light box, too. Very helpful, and I’m happy with the results!