Badges from the Sourcery

Sistahoodz online maven, Christina Budeweit has been working to create less waste in her upcycling textile artist's studio. Working with thrifted knits, the rockstar coats are some of the better known pieces that she has made but she is happy to be able to use the resulting smaller bits left over, into other retreasured offerings. Here is an example.

Taking memes off our technology and inserting them in real life, check out the badges she makes when she's not incorporating left over textiles into whimsical yoga cats and funny bunnies.

Its upcycling, its painting with the palette life gives you.

Any way you look at it, its inspirational. The timelessness of hand stitching, a vintage art in itself, the combination of many different mediums, mostly thrifted or rescued from the cultural waste stream, all combines to make little portable art delights.

Here is the second in the 'BPH Series' (Black Pointy Hat) commissioned by a sista who is a great jeweller in her own right. Honoured she would want some of my humble efforts...

One more ... a commish from NY state... Fig Leaves Pads is celebrating their 3rd year with a little memento she had me make for her.

What is your badge going to look like? Message me on FB!

 And this is how these commemorate special dates...

The Sistahoodz Sourceress herself, walking her talk...wearing the Czarinahood, custom made and cashmere.

Some Regal Sleeves for Regina Chillin with Sista Neila

I went to Uni with this amazing sista who is a creative force in her own right when she's not holdin' it all together. She's doing better these days and I am so thrilled that I was happy to throw a bunch of Sistahoodz love and creativity into every stitch.

She gave me the colour palette to play with for each set of sleeves and let me run with the ball. I love it when folks know what they want and I pick up on it.

How close was I, Neila?

In the post tomorrow...

The red sleeves have a secret. If you can guess, you may get that feature on future sleeves of your own... Shhh... don't tell, Neila!

Sourceress Creativity

My creativity is only reined in by my ability to access raw material. Never having been one to dally in 'fine art supplies', I have always been the one who looks at a pile of what others view as nothing, and then I reorganize a component of it, and VIOLA ICI, we have art/design/form meets function and something useful, unique and beautiful.

Here then, is an assortment of the different ways I get my art therapy fix on...

Walking beaches requires a meditation that keeps me upright as sand and the surf are an uneven surface to walk and my equilibrium is challenged on the best of days. By looking closely at the ground, I discover all manner of treasure in the form of sand eroded beach glass that I've learned has been called 'mermaid tears' . I combine this with different filaments/threads/strings and a combination of knitting/crocheting/knotting/macrame/needlepoint and beading to make novel necklaces for summer gifting.

 Give rosebud art a try this summer. Collect wild and domestic buds when they are just opening. They keep well in tupperware or a baggy if you add a damp bit of tissue and keep them out of direct sunlight til you can work with them. A long needle, thread and your creativity and you have a beautiful gift to share that lasts all year as well as smells marvelous. (Try one in the car)            

There was a t shirt that I bought the year my son was born (ask me the story of the power failure and c section by candlelight after a state-wide power failure during my labour) and I kept it for years. When he was an adult, I hated the thought of losing it and it was showing a lot of wear but the poster on the thinning shirt was so historic with the volcano erupting and the location of the t shirt's provider, the Anchorage House of Harley, was such a big part of my life in Alaska, back in the day, that I made it into embellishements on two shirts for him. 

    

 

Here you see the front of the tshirt's design, it even had the hospital Dan was born in...

And here is how I appliqued the back to a dress shirt. I used lots of random zig zag machine embroidery to affix it... whether or not  he ever wore it, I have to guess, but I am sure pleased with this way to recontemporize a treasured memory.

I enjoy bike riding and have made sure that my bike is distinctive which I suspect deters thievery. After losing my previous bike to theft, I took it upon myself to dress the new bike so it will never be mistaken as being unloved. Meet 'Comet'. I now have a little bag I keep in the front on the handlebars for my little canine ptsd companion, Maggie...

This was the first attempt at mounting something and was a hurried job combining my little backpack with a few bungee cords I keep in it and Maggie adjusted by curling up in a little ball with her head poked out. Her little ears flapping as the trail flew by, is one of my best memories of the summer.

My travels have me bringing all manner of minutiae home to do something with later. Here, I have incorporated beach stones, a couple of chips of blue glass mermaid tears and some waxed linen filament to make a component that was added to a collage quilt for a Victoria BC project last summer. My first Victoria Art Gallery informal installation!

 

How about some little tiny dragon mittens for that sweet child on your gift list? I crafted these for a friend's son who was fascinated with the creatures. No pattern, just whipped 'em up.

How about those stash buster projects that you always intend to get to? I enjoy winging designs with my stash busters and pick up thrifted yarn in my travels that allow me to create hostess gifts on the fly for the kind people who let me hang out with them while I pass through.

I also make a lot of upcycled knits but there are previous posts about those. These are just a few of the other things I like to create to keep my mind and spirit fed.

  

I will put the graphic arts I enjoy dabbling in on another blog of its own but here is a preview...

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Or friend me... Christina Budeweit ... innovative Resourceress, at cher cervix.