The Great Studio Clear-Out of 2010 continues apace.

I’ve added another 58 magazines to my thrown-out tally and have found at least three missing books I thought I’d lost.

Still haven’t got to the fabrics yet. I’m hoping that by the time I get through the easy stuff and on to the hard stuff, my throwing-out muscle will be positively bulging like a body-builder’s bicep.  You’ll see me casually toss the fabrics that seemed so great ten years ago and effortlessly let go the patterns I bought when I first found out that making quilts no longer meant just cutting out squares from old clothes with a pair of scissors.

That’s the theory anyhow. Wish me luck for putting it into practice.

Meantime, since I can’t actually work in the studio, I’ve not been able to do much actual creating, although the ideas continue to plague me. I’ve had to start a special notebook just to jot down creative ideas that I’m not yet ready to explore in a sketchbook. So I don’t forget them. A notebook to list the sketchbooks yet to be created. It’s true. I’m weird.

Since my work is usually comprehensively planned out, I’ve been feeling lately that I needed to give myself permission to just play around more and see what happens. To not worry about the finished result. To try things a little differently, maybe do a little sampling. (Sampling is Our Friend. But one I don’t hang out with very often, I’m afraid.)

So it was wonderful (as always) to get to my monthly machine embroidery workshop with Angie last week and just have a chance to play around in front of my machine. And this is the result:

"Rastafairyan": organza, 'angel wing' & cotton threads on hand-dyed cotton

I’m calling her “Rastafairyan” because she looks like she has dreadlocks. She’s also a bit punky, I think, and definitely with a bit of ‘tude. I didn’t plan for her to be like that; here’s the quick sketch I did before I started stitching:

Quick initial sketch

So, yeah, she was a bit of a Barbie doll before I started. (Do they make Barbies with dreads? Now that’s something I’d love to see.) But I do love her hair. I’ve used corded whipstitch for hair before, in the mermaids on Pearls of Wisdom, but the difference in scale give a completely different effect:

Corded whipstitch mermaid hair

I’m going to do a little more playing with Rastafairyan, I think, and add a bit of context around her. And maybe make her a few friends to hang out with. I like the idea of teenage rebellious faeries hanging out on corners complaining that there’s nothing to do in the Wild Wood.

Anyone got any ideas for the rest of her crew?

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