I’ve always worked with my hands. As a child it was embroidery with a hoop and sewing my own clothing. At around nine years old my mother taught me to knit, then there was a brief macrame obsession in the 70’s where I decorated my bedroom with intricately knotted macramé pot hangers into which I hung plants of various kinds. Later, when living in LA I worked for a tailor and watched how he would transform yards of material into the most elegant suit and was taught how to assist. Hollywood’s finest came to him.
Later is was fashion design, draping was particularly appealing because you could manipulate the fabric to hang in interesting ways on the human body, and then I began designing knitwear. Jewelry design and learning to solder and manipulate metals of various kinds, then hand stitching and now textile art, improvisational stitching, and all along the way there were forays into other things such as origami, painting, collage, throwing clay onto a wheel; always there’s been something to occupy my hands.
And then this morning I saw the following on my facebook feed:
“Grandma how do you deal with pain?”
“With your hands, dear. When you do it with your mind, the pain hardens even more.”
“With your hands, grandma?”
“Yes, yes. Our hands are the antennas of our Soul. When you move them by sewing, cooking, painting, touching the earth or sinking them into the earth, they send signals to the deepest part of you and you calm down. This way she doesn’t have to send pain anymore to show it.”
Are hands really that important?”
“Yes my grandchild. Think of babies: they get to know the world thanks to their touch. When you look at the hands of older people, they tell more about their lives than any other part of the body. Everything that is made by hand, so it is said, is made with the heart because it really is like this: hands and heart are connected. Think of lovers: When their hands touch, they love each other in the most sublime way.”
“My hands grandma… how long since I used them like that!”
“Move them my love, start creating with them and everything in you will move. The pain will not go away. But it will be the best masterpiece. And it won’t hurt as much anymore, because you managed to embroider your essence.”
By: Elena Bernabe of the wall of San Arte
Our hands. A friend of mine told me that she met a man who could tell the age of anyone who came to him. She said he didn’t look at her face or her eyes or her body, he looked at her hands, held them in his and then announced her age accurately.
There’s nothing quite like being woken in the middle of the night only to then not be able to go back to sleep. I took this opportunity to read. I read about Britney Spears and her ongoing battle to gain her full independence and then an article about how learning a new language will increase one’s chances of not getting Alzheimers. Lest you think me shallow, I just finished my french lesson. Je suis encore très fatigué, mais au moins je suis moins inquiet, which means: I am still very tired, but at least I am not so worried. Added plus, I may even be able to purchase a train ticket and find a bathroom when in France next year! Now to tackle a few pages of Marcus Aurelius.
In stitching news, oh there’s always stitching news(!) I’m working on three different projects simultaneously and am feeling okay about that. Usually this would make me anxious; I don’t like having lots of projects going at once, but at the moment, it’s fine. I have at least four other projects in various stages of completion, but have put them aside for now so that I can concentrate on these three.
And today is the 2nd day of my Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Scissor Case Workshop. We are beginning to stitch the Dorset Buttons and the stitching around the wool shapes. This is one of two workshops I will be teaching again in the fall with thread kits AND fabric kits now available!
I just posted a new video about using the Helix Angle and Circle Maker on fabric with mixed results. I think there are definite possibilities for this little gadget. Go see for yourself.
I did a major clean up of my work area because I’ve got a 2-day workshop beginning this afternoon, except that now I can’t find anything.
This happens more often than you might think. With the best of intentions I do a massive clean-up, methodically putting things away and then begin to work and can’t remember where I put things like my 6″ ruler or my chalk refills for my chalk pencil. So then I go on Amazon and purchase more.
By the time they arrive I’ve discovered where I put the other refills, the ones I spent at least an hour looking for and the whole reason why the I-need-to-do-a-major-clean-up idea seemed like a good one in the first place, and not only that, but realize I’ve got about ten more refills squirreled away in various places, like this little treasure trove. Who would have thought to look in there?! Seriously. And do you notice all the chalk pencils? They sell them as a 2-pack. Just saying. Obviously I’m not alone. These, the ones below in the photo? They’re the ones I carefully stowed away in this zippered pouch that I made last summer.
Here are the others, oh so carefully placed in this basket that I purchased from a lovely Senegalese man on the street here in New York City whose family makes them. (He doesn’t have a website, I asked.)
So now I have enough chalk refills to last a lifetime. Except that I’ve got them on “subscription” because they’re always breaking, which means I have to go on to Amazon and figure out the labyrinthian system by which they do those subscription orders and spend at least an hour trying to cancel the chalk refills. When finally I’ve figured it out and am about to hit the “cancel” button, another more ominous button comes up asking, “are you sure?”
What? No. How can I be sure? Who knows when I might lose them again and anyway they break so often. So then I decide at the very last minute that maybe I should just keep them, because you never know when they might come in handy and anyway I can’t be sure and that little button is asking me if I am, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure. I’m not sure at all, in fact I’m sure of very little these days.
Oh! And while I’m at it, it wouldn’t hurt to get another chalk pencil, because in this last cleanup I couldn’t find those either. And they do come in a 2-pack, how thoughtful, so… Let me purchase another one of those and I can even save a dollar by adding them to the subscription, except that’s silly because really how many chalk pencils can one reasonably use in a lifetime?
Evidently quite a few, if you’re me.
So there’s that.
Addendum: I resisted the urge to put the chalk pencils on subscription, though I did leave the refills on. I just thought you’d want to know.
Animal Videos, Stitching, Dorset Buttons and a Couple Other Things Thrown in for Good Measure was the original title of this post, but that was way too long, so I had to shorten it.
A friend of mine (and of my mother’s) sent me this video, which of course I had to share. Thank you Linda! ❤️
I added a few Dorset Buttons to my Scissor Case, which I am now declaring finished. Seriously. I need to be stopped. However in my defense I had to wrap a whole bunch of rings in preparation for my advanced Dorset Button workshop that I’m teaching tomorrow and since I was already wrapping them, why not make a few more for the background of the scissor case? I mean, that’s just basic time management at work, right?
How fabulous are these? And I don’t mean that in a boasting kind of way, but more in an exuberant-whoopee-these-are-SO-much-fun kind of way…
These are going to be 5-day workshops once my website is finished and up and running. Did I mention we’ve been working away on that?!
AND this weekend I begin my Improvisational Workshop, which I’m just way too excited about and will need to sit in quiet, meditative, stillness for a few minutes, just to calm down.
Have you ever looked at a piece of cloth, stitched a few stitches into it and thought – well now what? That’s what this Improvisational Stitching Workshop is all about! It will answer the “Now what?” question that can loom so large. We are going to be discussing design, composition, adding different elements, colors, shape, line and pulling the whole thing together into a cohesive piece. I cannot wait. I’m so excited. Did I already say that?!A much larger improvisational stitching piece (44″ x 36″) that I have held off working on, but am SO excited to begin!
The Dorset Buttons Workshop was a huge success! As a result I am doing another and have added a Dorset Button II workshop for those who’ve completed the first and/or feel they have a working knowledge of how to make a traditional Dorset Button.
Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Workshop: Wednesday, March 24th 2-5pm EDT. $60. This includes a recording of the entire 3-hour class that you can refer to whenever and as often as you like.
This 3-hour workshop includes making a basic Dorset Button, various ways to start a new thread if your thread runs out at any point along the way, including while wrapping the ring. Adding different threads to make the spokes, as well as how to make the whipped woven center. We will then be adding french knots/colonial knots/drizzle stitches and Bullion Knots/Cast-On Bullion Knots around the outer edge. This workshop is hands on, and will take you through each step of making a Dorset Button for both left handed and right handed stitchers.
The second workshop is:
Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Part II: Wednesday, March 31st 2-5pm EDT. $60 This includes a recording of the entire 3-hour class that you can refer to whenever and as often as you like.
This workshop is for those who’ve already taken the Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Workshop and/or have a good working knowledge of how to make a basic Dorset Button. We will NOT be going over the basics, but instead will be going rogue, incorporating all kinds of other materials as well as changing the way we make the spokes so that you can make “tree-like” Dorset Buttons, as well as more abstract looking buttons.
For those of you who are interested in either workshop you must send payment via Paypal, Venmo or Zelle using my email address: ariane@arianezurcher.com and be sure to specify which class you’re signing up for. Be sure to tell me which you are signing up for or if you’re signing up for both, so I can reserve your spot. For those of you who live outside the United States, I accept personal checks, but you will need to tell me so that I can give you the necessary information.
Traditional Dorset Button leaving the ridge on the outer edge.
Once everyone had mastered that, we moved on to adding stitches such as french knots, a drizzle stitch and bullion knots and cast-on bullion knots around the outer edge.
A traditional Dorset Button with Cast-On Bullions around the outer edge. Using beads and buttons.A Dorset Button like this one will be covered in the Dorset Button II workshop.More Dorset Buttons Gone Rogue!
If you’re interested in either or both workshops, please leave me a comment or reach out to me via email to ensure you have a spot reserved.
For both classes you will need some rings, of any size, but to begin use the ones that are around 1/2″ or so as they will be quicker to wrap than if you start with something that’s over 1″ in diameter. For the Advanced class any size ring will work. Have threads of various weights and types on hand. I suggest both a #18 and #24 Chenille Needle, a tapestry needle in those sizes will work too, as well as a #3 and #1 Milliners needle for making wrap stitches.
I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love making Dorset Buttons. And like so many things that I fall in love with, I went head first down the Dorset Button Rabbit Hole and have yet to reemerge! So much so that I just taped and uploaded another Dorset Button video, which will be premiering later today.
Last summer I made my first Dorset Button video, but this winter I decided to make another, slowed down version, and then did another that is a deep dive into the dorset button and variations to it. That video is available to all my patrons who are on my Patreon page. It covers: how to secure your dorset button once you’ve created one. What to do if your thread runs out in the middle of making one, how to make all of the variations shown above, like the tree and creating stitches on the outer rim and using different threads and thread weights. So much fun!
The Dorset Button popular in the 1600’s was replaced by machine made and mass produced buttons in the 1800’s. However many of us who love to hand stitch also love the dorset button. It is not only a fully functioning button, it is also decorative and therefore can be used in a variety of ways. For my mother’s Making Waves: A Drawstring Bag (which I just sent to her yesterday) I used almost a dozen dorset buttons to embellish it. I love how it turned out, and hope she will too.
For my next design, I’ve been playing around with lots of different ideas and one of those ideas is how to use the largest plastic rings I have with some variation of the Dorset Button. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m going to keep playing and see what I come up with.
In the meantime, here are a few more close ups of some Dorset Buttons I’ve made in the last few weeks.
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