Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hyperbolic Crochet--Geometry Comes to Life

This was a great surprise to happen upon while surfing the net! I found pictures of a coral reef all done in crochet when researching the Great Barrier Reef. I then HAD to follow it to the crochet sites that taught you how and why these great projects came about. I learned a great deal in the artistic form of the crocheting of many of the hyperbolic structures and feel vindicated with my reasoning of certain theorems I was told were not correct in 10 th grade geometry.....They are in fact correct now!! Life does have its moments!!! Anyhow, here are some pictures of my own "coral reef". It is tiered this way as it will be part of a display unit for my market bags and "going green" products for craft shows. Here are a couple of the sites to go and check out: http://theiff.org/, http://crochetcoralreef.blogspot.com/ and others







I'll keep adding more pieces as I go along to use up my scrap yarns but I think this is a pretty good start. I'll also get some better close-ups of the individual pieces too.





























































Shoes, art and other quirks of nature

Victorian Boot Cathederal

Glass Slipper Palace


Shoe Bridge Manor




Classic Pump Cottage



Wellington Boot Lighthouse


Thongs Intimate Apparel

Earth Shoe Rock Emporium


Prussian Boot Cat Emporium--Puss In Boots!


Imelda's Place

Achilles Sandal Restaurant


Casual Loafer Retirement Village


Going Home--Mom's Ruby Red Slippers


Pilgrim First National Bank

Sporto's Service Station

Waders Fish Market


The Geta Tea House

Equestrian Boot Estate

Swashbuckler Pawn Shop

Flippers

Western Boot Saloon


Mule Train Station


Toe Shoe Theatre

Elven Cobbler Bakery


The Sloppy Slipper


Penny Loafer Manor

Muckluck Lodge



Clog Port Inn

Platform Plaza

Wedge Way Apartments


Work Boot Grill

Well, at long last I have put my work online--am missing Stilleto Place (it seems to be unable to copy or upload)--So Lori B. it is now YOUR turn!!!! All of these drawings were worked with a .05 mechanical drafting pencil and each one took less than an hour to finish (most were done in about 30 min.). It kind of amazes me that they all just came together and when I was finally done with the collection everything fell into place for my gallery debut as well! The glitches in the middle were handled by STAPLES and a great team of people--A printing company totally messed up the preliminary samples and as I had a busted eardrum, less than a week before gallery opening of the collection, I was, to say the least, in a PANIC!!! All in all because of their SNAFU I saved over $2,000 and was thrilled with STAPLES and their efficiency and expertise.






Sunday, May 9, 2010

Homes of Hope birdhouse project

Here are some pics of the little "birdhouse" I did for the Homes of Hope project...












As part of their rehabilitation from substance abuses men are taught some basic building skills at a local center and this is one of the designs they use. Local artists are then called to decorate the all wooden structures and then they are auctioned off at a benefit dinner. I decided to make mine look like a beach house as the open window design of the house reminded me of a little cottage on the ocean or lake somewhere. I even sprinkled real sand over the base and added 3D embelishements like the seashell used as a light fixture, the moss as seaweed, and the little fabric curtains for the windows.
It was a fun little project and has inspired me to paint a series of building blocks for a castle out of the many wood blocks a friend gave me to do something with--and now I know what it is.....that is IF I can keep the box of blocks away from Scooter's gnawing habit-he's eyeing the box as if it's his own private stash!