Hello! Welcome to this week's 5/5 link pack: 5 creatively inspiring projects (and/or people) and 5 ways for you to DIY.
🗣️ Tell me! Do you feed crows? This summer, I've started feeding the crows who hang around my house. At first, it was a way to entertain my cat, Otis, but now I'm obsessed with them. If you feed crows, reply to this email and tell me your tips and tricks.
👉 ICYMI: This puffy lampshade was the most clicked link in the last 5/5.
✨ 5 creatively inspiring things
1️⃣ Artist Salvador Dominguez creates colorful vessels with woven pipe cleaners. The vibrant life-size art uses a variety of hues to create patterns and motifs within the surface of the overall piece. The engaging works hold deeper meaning; the colors are a nod to his upbringing in southern California and Mexico, and his use of the material is a way to examine labor, trade, and craft.
2️⃣ Ema Shin holds hearts in her hands by way of textile sculptures inspired by our anatomy. Using embroidery, beading, and sculptural techniques, she creates elaborate sculptures inspired by the “untold stories of women.”
3️⃣ Two words: rogue mosaic. A Tiktoker who goes by the name Set in Stone Mosaics found a section of a sidewalk that needed some repair. So, they added some tile koi to it!
4️⃣ If I were near Nashville, I’d want to check out the Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories at the Frist Art Museum. It features nearly 50 quilts and coverlets made from the 18th century up to 2021.
5️⃣ It’s fun when embroidery gets sculptural. Valentina Lobos creates tiny people and worms that rise from tightly stretched fabric. It’s impressive the detail she achieves at such a small scale.
🪡 5 ways to DIY
1️⃣ Do you have a ton of yarn in your stash? This DIY shows how to combine skeins and create chunky yarn for arm knitting.
2️⃣ Something’s fishy (complimentary)… and it could be your crafts! These two sewing patterns look fun: a sardine pillow pattern and a cross-body fish bag.
3️⃣ This cross-stitch turtle pattern was one of the most-clicked links in last week’s 5/5. So, here’s another cross-stitch pattern that looks fun (and so sweet!): a mouse among daisies by Crewel Ghoul.
4️⃣ Cool workshop alert! Danielle Clough, aka @fiance_knowles, is teaching Candy Color Thread Painting at Maydel, an incredible craft store in Chicago (and online!). Danielle is a South African artist with a fun and vibrant thread painting style that, at one time, she would stitch over tennis rackets. The dates are Saturday, August 9, and Sunday, August 10 (although August 10 is sold out).
5️⃣ One of my goals this year was to find another craft that I love doing and exists purely as a hobby. Well, I think I found it: papier mache. Corrie Beth Makes has a ton of fun papier mache patterns featuring urns, trays, and wall sconces. If you’re curious about “how hard can it be?” Brynn Smith-Jenkins tried one of Corrie Beth’s patterns, and the results look great!
6️⃣ Bonus: Corrie Beth is the author of Handmade Houseplants, a book on making paper plants that I own and love.
Here's where to find me IRL this month!
🪡 Friday, July 18, 5:30 PM: I'm teaching a workshop called Pup to Patch at Coby's Cafe in Seattle (Queen Anne neighborhood). I'll prep a custom portrait of your pet that you'll learn to stitch in class. When you're done, you can turn it into a patch! I taught this class back in May at Coby's, and it was so fun. PS - you can bring your dog to class!
🛍️ Saturday, July 26 – July 27, 11 AM: I'm going to be vending at Urban Craft Uprising's summer show at Magnuson Park Hangar 30. There, I'm introducing a new embroidery kit: a dwarf bat patch!
Talk to you next week,
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Sara Barnes
Embroidery illustrator and writer
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