creative interpretation

a summer guild "assignment" we had was to read a book which mentions a particular textile skill, and create something using that skill which was inspired by the book. a read/create challenge you could say.

i've read the brothers grimm since my childhood (having a copy of the complete fairy tales of the brothers grimm), and several mention textiles; usually something to do with breaking an enchantment. one which i remembered well, and which had lots of possibilities, was the six swans.

here's the basic storyline: brothers become enchanted by evil stepmother, sister takes vow of silence for six years and begins sewing 5.5 shirts from asters (a flower), king falls in love with mute maiden living in woods, marries her, begets heirs which disappear soon after birth, maiden is accused of cannibalism by crazy mother in law, after third "disappearance" maiden sent to stake, at last moment saves brothers, vow is ended, proclaims innocence, mother in law dies, everyone lives happily ever after.

well, almost everyone. back to that .5 shirt; like any project which spans a few years, it's not quite finished when the deadline approaches. something about a sleeve. so, the sixth brother gets to keep a swan wing instead of an arm. a bit awkward, but hey, would you rather remain a swan?

i crocheted rather than sewed, but i wanted the finished piece to have more of a feeling of being crafted from nature. actually, i cut and spun the yarn from paper, then crocheted it. the wing was crocheted with a really cool paper yarn from habu i've been hoarding for years.

i figured the method used for creating the actual shirts was open for interpretation as i can't imagine sewing flowers together in the woods would be doable. they kind of skimmed over the details anyway. what did she use for thread? did she use the stems, or the leaves, or the flowers? how were they kept flexible after so many years? how were the shirts constructed? see, the way i see it is that the word sew could have been translated from a different word, like weave, maybe. it makes more sense for her to have woven the flowers into cloth, or knotted the stems into a cloth. that's the thing with translations and getting a story however many generations passed down verbally, there's a lot of interpretation and maybe the grimm brothers didn't know too much about the variety of methods found in the womanly art of the needle. it was written down during the 1800's after all. so there.

i'm thinking this would be an interesting series to pursue. i've got some ideas for the story all fur. well, we'll see where this thought takes me.

it's like a pea under my mattress

there's something i'm a tad bit irritated by. it's the severe lack of current fantasy "save the world" movies starring a strong female lead, aka a heroine. every time i begin to watch a movie clip that looks halfway interesting, it turns out to be overrun by young males going on magical questing adventures while their love interest girlfriend gets to be saved and amazed by their new powers. blech.

you can't say "because there aren't any popular books with strong female leads being written". that's not true. there's the books about jacky faber, or betsy in the undead series, any one of robin mckinley's books, or the works of patricia mckillip, anne mccafrey, and of elizabeth moon. they're there if you bother to ask anyone who isn't a middle aged male director where they are.

i can count on my one hand the amount of big budget fantasy films which were made in the last several years which have a strong staring female role who can save themselves thank you very much; alice in wonderland, underworld, pan's labrynth, the work of hayao miyazaki, coraline, v for vendetta. okay. maybe two hands. but still.

the ones with a leading cast of mostly males? there's the lightning thief, the sorcerer's apprentice, harry potter, transformers, star trek, the lord of the rings, star wars, the current batman franchise, spiderman, eragon, how to train your dragon, iron man, where the wild things are.

one's which were thankfully balanced; avatar, crouching tiger hidden dragon, pirates of the caribbean, x-men franchise, narnia franchise.

i love to watch and read science fiction and fantasy. i'm a woman. can't i have any awesome fantasy movies with strong female leads on the silver screen i can relate to and feel empowered by? i shouldn't just be stuck in the history department (though all those real women are awesome, and when are they going to do a movie about catherine the great?).

oh, and i loved the new alice, wacky wardrobe and all. it was visually amazing, highly creative, and more true to the books then most portrayals.

yuki 7

this fake title sequence is amazing! it's like watching an early 007 film merged with samurai jack, but done with so much flair and such aesthetic eye candy. i wish they really would make a film, or at least an animated short.
it's titled a kiss from tokyo and is incredible; for a film that's only a few minutes long, animator stephane coedel and creator kevin dart pack in suspense, intrigue, espionage, action, drama, deception, gun battles, and car chases. and i must say, the costumes are wonderful! especially the dress pictured above.

current books of interest

i tend to keep books that i look at frequently on my nightstand. they're within easy reach, and help me collect my thoughts when i'm exploring something new. i find that these books are also inspiring when one is in a slump. to list:

the cocktail: 200 fabulous drinks
(i love the illustrations by kat macleod)

urawaza: secret everyday tips and tricks from japan
(incredibly useful)

craft, inc.: turn your creative hobby into a business
(excellent resource)

the encyclopedia of embroidery techniques
(i've been using this for years, very good explanations)

mushrooms for dyes, paper, pigments & myco-stix
(mushroom dyes create extraordinary lightfast colors!)

printing by hand
(very clear instructions, great scandinavian designs)

the art of manipulating fabric
(just received the other day, the vast array of techniques is overwhelming and exciting!)

kay nielson
(the illustrations make me drool, such gorgeous details and patterns)

tricia guild pattern
(the colors! the variety of prints! a flocked velvet cover!)

that's entertainment!

wherever would we be without movies? i'm pretty sure the majority of my generation grew up on them and though i'm not certain how much they were of influence to my everyday life, they sure did make my imagination sweeter.
i've been thinking over some of the films i want to see again. maybe they weren't as special as i remember, or maybe there are things i would get now that i'm older; but it sure would be good to revisit them. here's a short list (they're arranged from when i saw them, not when they were made) of some of my favorites that i would love to see again or have added to my library because i've seen them again and again:

1980's
_____
labrynth
the three lives of thomasina
bedknobs and broomsticks
return to oz
dot and keeto
seven brides for seven brothers
a christmas story

1990's
_____
shirley valentine
the adventures of baron munchausen
paint your wagon
stalag 17
spaceballs
benny and joon
the 5th element
meet joe black
toys

2000's
_____
v for vendetta
kung fu hustle
the thin man
love actually
howl's moving castle
danny deckchair
spirited away
that touch of mink
marie antoinette

what are some of your remembered movies that you would love to see again?

this i have got to see

and luckily it is the day after my birthday. sweet. i don't remember reading the book as a child, but i definitely remember it being big, and seeing it at the library a lot. the trailer is captivating and i love the song they used.
this has also given my brain fodder for halloween. i know for sure that i can sew a costume together before that time. i'm excited. i'll be warm and get to wear a crown. oh, yes, a crown.

oh, the pages we have traveled

so, for awhile there i thought all would be lost. there was this instance of an itty bitty hurricane scare where i live. i packed up the entire interior of my dollhouse, paperwork, various collections that are irreplaceable; and before i could pack my clothes, shoes, and meds, it all blew away (the hurricane that is, it went further east and north of us). we had one night of light drizzle and a sunny day to wake up to.
well, in preparation for the hurricane i went to the local library. if the electricity went out (which it would have) i wanted to be very prepared with no-batteries-required entertainment. as my at times unreliable, and unstable, good luck would have it, i came across three interesting books. they were completely different in taste from each other; one a novel of a beijing girl finding her place in life, one a continuation of a series i had thought to be over, and one that is a southern woman's comedic take on renovations.
when i arrived home that day, there was a fourth book waiting for me; one i had pre-ordered quite some time ago, a lovely fantasy novel that i instantly had to buy-excerpt unread. so that made four worlds i would be glimpsing into, and out of my tumultuous own.
over the span of several days they each were read. we'll start with the first.


in "belle weather: mostly sunny with a chance of scattered hissy fits" written by celia rivenbark, the author (a southern women) recalls her life during the renovation of an ancient antebellum house. the author has a witty, sarcastic, and thankfully intelligent voice throughout the book. needless to say i was very entertained and this book would have done well to distract me from the weather.


after the comedy, i needed a literary downer, so i choose the novel "twenty fragments of a ravenous youth: a novel" by xiaolu guo. and before you start thinking "downer ?" i mean a story that requires one to think outside of one's comfort zone. i like a lot of movies that come out of china, but this would be my first excursion into the modern day literature of china. i also am angered by the environmental destruction and unthinkable repetition of the negative aspects of the western world that china is currently engulfed in. so, i had to put these thoughts aside and try to see the world of china from a voice that comes from within their walls. it was easier to read through than i had assumed; actually very interesting and in many ways familiar. one can relate to the journey the young woman takes, of trying to find a place within oneself that fits into the world around you.


the third book was one i did not expect to see. it was the seventh book in a series that i have been reading for years, the "undead, vampire queen betsy" books by maryjanice davidson. this one is titled "undead and unworthy" and is a darker, but not any less sarcastic and biting, continuation of the story of a very unlikely vampire queen. this series is definitely a very good read. as to why i did not expect to see it? i had erroneously assumed that the author was done with betsy after the sixth book.


all i can write about patricia mckillip's "the bell at sealey head" is that to immerse oneself in her writing is like dreaming while retaining consciousness. she is one author who makes me very thankful that we speak the same tongue, for i do not know what would be lost in translation.

the magazine of my dreams

whilst browsing through a comic store, i happened across a yummy magazine. there was cotton candy hair and tempting macarons, delicate eye candy and lovely fonts. this magazine of whimsy was named "lula". and they've got my #.

wondertainment

i just finished watching Mister Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and i have to say that i simply adored it. there was a good mixture of funniness and sadness all wrapped up in a very poignant story. during several of the scenes i definitely felt like crying; but it was a good feeling because you know you just watched an occurrence that was bitter-sweet. i love movies that make you believe that all of the ideas you felt so strongly for as a child can still be possible in the realities of an adult.