Two sweet bags in 1/12 scale with hand braided cord trim.

When you work in smaller scales, it often becomes apparent that you need smaller scale materials-materials that aren’t always easy to find, if they exist at all. In attempting to recreate the small embroidered bags that were popular in the 17th century, I found myself looking for fine scale cords for handles and drawstring-type closures. Perle cottons can be found in various sizes can be found, but they looked out of scale. You can, and I have done a lot of twisting my own cords. It is fairly easy to twist cords from the same threads the bags were stitched with, and sometimes that is a suitable choice, but in this case, I was hoping to find something a bit more complex, as the original cords were quite ornate, using metallic threads and multiple colors. The aha moment came when I was looking through a book entitled 200 Braids to Twist,

A marvelous handbook on braiding, looping, twisting and weaving cord trims.

Knot, Loop or Weave by Jacqui Carey. When I first got the book, I had worked through some of the braids with various yarn and cords just to learn the structures, but now I wondered what would happen if I worked them with thread. Voila! perfectly scaled cords and cords that matched perfectly as I could use the same threads the bags were worked in. Including a single strand of metallic thread would give them a bit of sparkle as well, the perfect accent. Altering the number of threads used or the weight of those threads provides infinite variations to the cord’s thickness as well, enabling me to braid a thinner cord for the draw-string that closes the bag and a thicker cord for the handle.

Three braided cords in various color combinations.

Another adaptation forced by the smaller scale is the use of metallic threads in stitching. These two bags were worked on 72 ct silk gauze and I have yet to come across any metallic thread that can be stitched on such a small scale, either it isn’t fine enough to pull through the material, or the act of pulling it through shreds the fabric or the metallic coating on the thread. The work around in this case, was to couch a very fine metallic thread in place on top of the work.

Full size print at the bottom, scaled down onto 10 mm silk habotai in the middle and 8 mm silk chiffon at the top.

There have been many occasions, in my miniatures career, when I was hard pressed to find materials in a fine enough scale to work convincingly in 1/12 scale. This has been somewhat eliminated by advances in home printers and the materials now made to run through them. Some of us have been printing our own fabrics for a few years now. I have just recently started doing that for the miniature shoes I’ve been making. Up until now, I had used what materials I could find in the stores, a few…and I had needlepointed my own designs, slow and expensive! Now, with the investment in a few sheets of paper backed silk fabric, I can scan fabrics from my own stash and scale them down for miniature usage. It has greatly expanded the choices I have available, for my shoes, and for many other projects.

1/12 scale shoe made from a scaled down version of the fabric it sits on, printed on 8 mm silk chiffon.

Many other media are now available for use with inkjet printers. A company called Papilio makes water slide decal paper as well as several types of clear static cling and vinyl sheets. They also have rub-on decal paper and, should you or your miniature dolls require it, temporary tattoo paper as well as a few other interesting choices. Think of what you can do with the decal options…no more frustrating attempts to hand letter signs on wood or windows.

They have some sample packs available, just the thing for figuring out what you can do with the new options, I’m sure there are many uses yet to be dreamed up.

I found my silk fabrics at Dharma Trading. They have a nice selection of weights in silk and cotton fabrics as well as other media for inkjet printing. I’m looking forward to seeing in what other ways my printer can help with my miniatures.

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Most of us will readily admit that we derive inspiration from the work of others (see the previous post), Austin Kleon puts it a little more boldly in his book, ‘Steal Like an Artist’. According to Austin we’re all thieves. Everybody does it, he claims and he quotes the bible as proof that nothing it orginal…Ecclesiastes 1:9, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ And, as he says, once you realize that you can never be completely original, you are free to accept the influence of others, filter it through your own prism and turn out work that is uniquely yours.

From that provocative first chapter the author proceeds to share a number of methods that will encourage you to develop your own creativity. Each succeeding chapter tackles an interesting method or approach, from encouraging copying, to maintaining other interests, sharing your work with others and just generally getting down to business. There is a saying I’ve been running across a lot lately…fake it ’till you make it, and Mr. Kleon espouses it as well. Start making art and keep at it until you find your way.

Its an interesting read and thought provoking. I’m keeping this one around, I can see it coming in handy next time I hit a creative wall.

The book Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

I have quite a library of books in my house, most of them having something to do with textiles and design, which are the creative areas I am most interested in. I do read the occasional novel, and once in a while some non-fiction, for, as I will readily admit, I don’t have all the answers. This may explain why I am currently reading ‘Active Hope’, a book subtitled How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone.

As the titles suggest, it deals with the topic of the current planetary crisis, global warming, depletion of oil deposits, mass extinctions, and how we, as individuals and as like-minded groups, might deal with those issues in plausible ways without being so traumatized by the scope of the problem that we do nothing at all. BUT, before you stop reading, labeling me as some wack-a-doodle, hippie type, this book has so much to offer about dealing with and achieving success with any problems facing you in life.

After the holidays many of us hit those winter blues and it is sometimes hard to kick it back into gear. One of the first big issues the book deals with is gratitude, with suggestions for beginning a gratitude journal, and including information from scientific research that suggests keeping such a journal can have a ‘profound and reliable impact’ on your mood.

There is a section on creative imaging to help tackle problems big and small. Want to start a search for that new job you’ve been dreaming of, there are techniques that will help you break that sometimes overwhelming process into more manageable tasks.

Yes, it was written to help you work through the process of dealing with global issues, on a personal level or larger, but I found the book very relevant in many other ways. And to save on global resources, check to see if you can borrow it from your library before spending money in a bookstore-unless of course, its one of those Mom and Pop stores that could use your patronage for survival!