Functional v. Nonfunctional

I went to the Hollywood Stitch N' Bitch the other night and was struck by the fact that I was the only one there who was making completely nonfunctional items. This was not always the case. Back (way back) when I was in my teens and early twenties, every item I made was functional. I crocheted and knitted many, many apparel items that I designed and wore. I was having a great time and my designs were getting lots of attention from my college professors. So, why the change? First, I wanted to get a MFA and teach (which meant I had to start making art for art's sake and not cool clothing - or so I was told). Second, I was becoming exposed to a whole lineage of artists using fibers as the primary medium in their art (Kiki Smith, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Annette Messager, etc.). I was awestruck. Thinking back, this was the turning point when I began to make items inspired by apparel, but were not really wearable tapping into that art historical tradition that evoked women's history, tradition and craft.

So, I began crocheting a series of bras inspired by the myriad slang terms in our vernacular used for breasts (i.e., knobs, knockers, torpedoes, etc.). I made over 20 bras and continued the theme by making undies. None of these items could be worn. I felt as if something magical happened. These items went beyond mere apparel and became art. I started to get a bit of attention through gallery shows and installations AND because of this I was accepted into a graduate program to pursue my MFA degree. I thought I had bridged the craft v. art gap. I thought I had made it!

Thus was the nature of my PROGRAMMING. Here I was, a chick in my mid-twenties pursuing an MFA degree from a prestigious art program that specialized (and still does) in abstract painting. Did you get that? Abstract painting? And here I was with my Rubbermaid bins of yarn and hooks! Not freaking paint! Don't get me wrong, I am classically trained. I know how to paint, sculpt, cast, weld, etc., but I didn't MAKE ANY ART using any of those processes! Anyway, the headtrip was underway and it lasted two years - every professor I had was trying to get me to put down the damn yarn and make some "high art" (I still find this strange because they let me into the place based upon a portfolio full of yarnage (yes, I just made this word up). I relented and started casting these big ole plastic and rubber sculptures. They were huge and toxic to create. To make a long story short, I survived my MFA program and started to teach shortly thereafter. Thus began the long process of my DEPROGRAMMING.

It has been eight years since I graduated from Claremont Graduate University. Eight years of trying to shed that "high art is not made of yarn" junkola! So, here I am making homicidal veggies and puppets....thumbing my nose at the art world! And I've been trying to get back to making something functional. Here is my attempt: a seven foot tall mermaid (she was supposed to be a wearable costume, but ended up an Amazonian, apparel inspired object). I tried! I really did. LOL






Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All rights reserved.

The deprogramming continues....

Belated Tattoo Friday Pic & Ode to David Spade

Okay Elizabeth...here it is! Even if it is late, this bovine still graces my lower backside!

Satisfies the "Flash Your Tattoo Friday" from Three Olives and Some Yarn.

On another note, I will be 36 years old this week. Yes, I am 36 years old and I have a big tattoo of a bull. Be nice people!

Anyway, I celebrated my birthday with my mom, husband AND beautiful daughter Magdalena (12 years old) at one of my favorite restaurants, Woo Lae Oak in Beverly Hills. My child loves it there because she gets to cook her $18 chicken breast cut up into very palatable pieces in the center of the table (and she has to cook every little morsel herself WITHOUT the help of any adult). Korean barbecue rocks people, even the overpriced Beverly Hills variety!

At any rate, my husband, mother and I were talking (and drinking a fabulous bottle of Chardonnay accompanied by tons o' appetizers) while my pre-teen starts to have adolescent convulsions next to me due to the fact that David Spade is just seated a couple of booths down from us. She was totally cute! Continuing...at which point she begins to mention all the play by play of EVERY episode of "Just Shoot Me" she has ever watched as well as the artistic merits of the movie "Joe Dirt". Are you getting this picture? The child is obsessed. So my husband (also an actor) says to her, go up and introduce yourself. She says, "No, no, no, I am too embarrassed, but did you know what I love about the movie, 'Dickie Roberts: Child Star'?"

Once again, we say to her, you're a kid, you can get away with going up to someone famous, gushing all over them and NOT LOOK LIKE A STALKER. Do it. Do it. Do it! So, my progeny, sporting a fushia fur poncho and fabulous Converse sneakers with flames marches up to his table, tells him she thinks he wonderful and asks for his autograph. The guy was totally gracious and signed the back of her business card from a local beauty supply shop (c'mon people, I don't carry autograph books in my purse)!

Can we all say that we think David Spade rocks!

Here is my beautiful child...this girl is PRICELESS!

Road Kill Korn & The Life Neurotic

Here's the elder member of the Vegetable Liberation Army, Road Kill Korn!


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All rights reserved.

I don't have this guy's story up on the website yet, but I hope to get that done this weekend.

On another front, I've been rearranging my studio/"we don't know where to put it so it's been put in this room" room before work for the last three days. Okay, let me preface this with a little bit o' history. I am neurotic. There, it's out there. Now, the level of my neurosis is such that I get up every morning an hour and a half to two hours earlier than I must get up to get ready for work so that I can clean my house/organize stuff around the house/feed my zoo/etc. So, in a neurotic fervor I've been trying to get my stash under control, for the past three days. I am pretty good about keeping up with this, but occasionally it still gets out of hand. The reason for my sudden need to organize the not organized is that (i) as I stated above, I am, you guessed it, neurotic and (ii) I will be moving in a month or so, give or take, and I am desperately afraid of NOT having enough plastic bins ( I love plastic bins - I will be erecting a shrine to Rubbermaid soon - pics to come). So, I have been trying to gauge how many more I will need to buy before hard-core packing ensues. Big problems right? For one who is neurotic, you betcha!

This brings me to my next issue...we will be moving. I HATE moving, but it must be done. The hubby and I are in the process of purchasing an overpriced condo in West Los Angeles (we currently inhabit an apartment a couple of blocks away from where we are buying). We wanted a house, but in our 'hood crackerboxes (we're talking 1000 square feet) are pushing 1 million bucks (oh yeah, welcome to LA). And we can't move further out (the infamous Valley) because I won't go to work if I have to commute and well, my family likes food so I don't have much choice. I HATE commuting even more than moving! So, we are getting a 1700 square foot condo, fixer-upper (yes, we have to overhaul the place because right now it is pretty much "early ugly" or as I fondly refer to the current decor, a visual nightmare) for an exorbitant price that takes my breath away, really. So, my usual state of level 5 neurosis has been kicked up to level, oh, 8 or 9 (I'm being conservative).

I don't know about you all, but for me, when I am in this state of mind, crocheting is my lifevest. I work out all my neurotic anxiety with hook and yarn. And for me, the smaller the hook and yarn the more complex the pattern, the more likely I am to lose myself in the process, thereby quelling my current state of "neurotica" (yes, I know this is not a word). Hence the sudden need to crochet mini-things and my much beloved filet crochet. I have a couple of filet UFO's that have been sitting for months crying out to be finished. Now's the time to pick those up (one of them is my filet crochet opus - all the lyrics to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious") and make some headway.

Anyway peeps, I wanted to say thanks again for reading my blog and posting comments. I REALLY, REALLY appreciate it!

Chicken Nugget

Here's the newest edition to my nekked chicken family:


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

This bathing beauty is just two inches in height! Yep, got right down to it with size 8 DMC pearl cotton and my little hook (size 0).

I seem to be crocheting small things lately. Last year everything was life-size and WAY larger than life-size (i.e., the squid). There is no more room in our small abode to store large pieces. However, we are moving to a much larger home in a few months so maybe I will make some more huge pieces. For now though, this is working for me.

Ceci n'pas une Cheez-It.

Yes, I have completely lost my mind....


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Weekend Maelstrom

Plans for the weekend:

1. Finish the newest member of the Vegetable Liberation Army (I will post pics of him as soon as I finish).
2. Make headway on a few other WIP crochet, sewing and book making projects.
3. Dust the house and do the laundry.
4. Clean bird cages! This little guy (named Lox) is pestering me to get with the program. He is sitting on my shoulder right now and whispering in my ear, "You better get it together Lady. We have a need for seed."
   
   
   
5. Visit my mom to celebrate both of our birthdays and Mother's Day.

I wonder if I can get all of this done????

Take a Ride with the VLA!

Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

The Vegetable Liberation Army invites you to visit their new headquarters on the web!

You can read details about Killer Korn and Bludgeoning Bell Pepper so far. I still need to post background information for the remaining members. Take a look and let me know what you all think.

Lots goin' on over here guys! A little scattered due to a lot LESS crocheting and a lot MORE computing than I'm used to.

Hey, have I alluded to my felt addiction? I don't think so. Well, check out one of my puppets (oh yeah, I LOVE making puppets)! This guy is a secret agent working for the Department of Agriculture who is after the members of the VLA. Anyway, he is made entirely out of felt and embroidered with pearl cotton. All of my puppets are hand sewn (and most of them are more puppet-like than the big "oven mitt" form below...LOL). I do have a sewing machine, but sadly, I don't have enough space to set up a sewing area. Anyway, I really like hand sewing so it's okay for the moment.

Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Finally, I REALLY, REALLY need to buy a Crochet Dude messenger bag! I love Drew! What a riot!

monstercrochet.com

I've been silent, but busy during the last week trying desperately to launch the Monster Crochet website. Needless to say, I have a html knowledge base of -10, however that has improved from the -100 state I was in before embarking on this blog odyssey. Anyway, I hope to get back to serious bloggin' this week (right after I finish reading the shopping cart module for the website). I am smiling on the outside, yet screaming on the inside....

Anyway, despite my digital pain, I will get that site up and offer a plethora of creatures and stories to behold, some for acquisition and offer cool freebies such as patterns. It'll be fun (if I survive)!

Filet Crochet The LadyLinoleum Way - In The Beginning

First up, thanks so much to everyone for your comments! I have been making this stuff for so long with little to no input (other than, the usual "You're so weird Regina" comment). Needless to say, the comments from you all are welcome and refreshing. Thank you so much!

Onto the subject of filet crochet. It is very, very easy. If you know how to make a chain and double crochet, then that's half the battle. The other half of the battle is reading a chart. A chart is basically graph paper where squares are alternately filled in and left open creating an image.

Depending upon what size thread you use determines the stitch content for each square and the amount of rows completed (the gauge). I like to use DMC Traditions (size 10) for large pieces like the skeleton. I could go smaller, but I like having less rows and stitch content per filled in square. With size 10 thread I get 4x4 squares per inch.

Blocked squares using my gauge above consist of one dc to begin the square, one dc to fill in (center stitch) and one dc to end the square. An open square consists of one dc at the beginning of square, ch 1 for opening (center stitch) and end with one dc. When working across a row, the end dc of a square is the beginning dc for the next square (don't increase stitches). I know this sounds confusing, but it's really not. Hint, if you look at a piece of graph paper, each vertical line is one double crochet and each space in between the lines are filled in with another dc (thereby blocking out a square) or have a chain one connecting it to the next dc (thereby creating an open space). Stick to that visual and you will be fine. Whew!

You have the basic building blocks. Now, how do you chart an image, you say? Well, I go to the art store near me and by 18"x24"pads of 4x4 squares per inch graph paper. Then I either draw a basic sketch for the image I want to translate or use a found image.

Let's take the skeleton for example. I knew I wanted each bone to be its own doily. So, I used found drawings of each bone (why recreate the wheel when you can google the image you want and print those), took those to my copy machine at work and enlarged each one to life size (after business hours...LOL). Then I cut each bone out and traced each one onto it's own sheet of graph paper. Here's the part of the process I do in front of the tube watching the Scifi channel: I filled in each bone by coloring in those squares making up the bone while leaving the space around the bone open. Now, because I am working with a series of squares, my outline of the image tends to look like an staircase on LCD. No bother. When the image is crocheted the outline looks amazingly smooth. I like borders around my filet crochet doilies so I fill in my desired amount squares around the image (usually two squares thick by however long) thereby creating a clean outline.

When charting I use a good ole number 2 or 4 pencil with a gum eraser. Mistakes are easily rectified using these tools. Please note that I use my initial tracing guideline as just that, a guideline. After I have charted an image, sometimes it looks weird so I have to add more filled in blocks or reduce said blocks to make the image "read" better. Afterall people, it's art not math!

I cannot emphasize this enough. ANYTHING can be charted. You can chart letters and numbers, intricate lacy patterns, your cat, whatever! It just takes time and patience. Experiment! For instance, I have been charting and filet crocheting all the lyrics to supercalafragilisticexpialidocious (this is my filet crochet opus). The sky's the limit with this process!

Whew! Well, that should get you started. Next lesson (if I haven't bored you to tears already): how to read a chart and go from paper to doily!

Recliner Skeleton

I am a huge fan of filet crochet. There's just something about following a chart I really like. It's kind of like a big puzzle. I love it!

Anyway, I am really into skeletons (throwback to my days as a teenage goth I guess). So, I've made two life-size skeletons in the past year. The first was made entirely from filet crochet. The second is made from felt, hand sewn, double sided, jointed and embroidered (I will post this one another time).

Today I am posting pics of the filet crochet skeleton. All the bone doilies are life-size and tacked onto a recliner with doily screw pins. I used DMC Traditions in white (lots and lots of thread). I make my own charts and document the stitch pattern as I go. This guy was in the show with the squid.


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Besides Crochet....

I have pets. Who am I kidding? I have LOTS of pets. Today I spent most of the day tending to my birds (there are 9 of them - oh yes, n-i-n-e). Anyway, the weekends are heavy cage cleaning days. I wash all of the bowls, cage grates, guano residue off of the cage facades. My birdies have free run of our home from about 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm nightly so there is always bird, um, err, residue to clean up.

I love these little winged creatures. They are an insanely happy, chattering flock that love nothing more than to sit on our shoulders, pick morsels off of our dinner plates, pull the evil yarn from my hands so that they may have their heads massaged and will wing-wrestle one another to be the first in the shower with any human who will have them!

As I said before, we have several birds: three cockatiels, three budgies, one rosy bourke (Australian grasskeet), one Senegal parrot and a rescued white dove (who is madly in love with the rosy bourke parakeet). Today I introduce you to my three darling cockatiels:


Shadow


Petey


and Stormy!

Attack of the Giant Squid!

Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Okay people, so I crocheted this 25 foot long (yes, it is that big) squid (and yes, I agree with you, this pic is terrible) and needless to say, that's a big ole project! I used Sugar n' Cream cones of butter cream for the body and light green for the feeding tentacles. I used single crochet for the whole dang thing and stuffed it with those bean bag pellets. So, it's kinda like a really large "Beany Baby". Well, sort of!

I showed my big crocheted pieces (this squid, a life size pirate, a life size mermaid and a life size filet crocheted skeleton) at a local college gallery last March. Mostly students saw the work and seemed a bit flabbergasted by it all, but what the hey! This ain't your granny's crochet!

El Churro

I cannot really tell you why I am into crocheting personified food items lately. However, I am having fun making these guys. Here's the newest member of the growing "food chain", El Churro!


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Magdalena - Creative Genius

My lovely and talented 12 year old daughter is addicted to Sculpey. After a particularly fruitful Sculpey-fest last weekend, we decided to make a trading card for one of her newly created characters. His name is Loogar and he is a monster with a fear of humans. Loogar is awesome. And I am not just saying this because she is my progeny!


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Me talk pretty!

Apparently my college degrees have merit!

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

However, like any born and bred Southern Californian, I do use the terms "dude", "like" and "totally" incessantly!

Customized Crochet

Well, the Vegetable Liberation Army experiment has pushed me into a new way of working that I will dub Customized Crochet ("CC"), which consists of taking an already crocheted item (usually purchased for a low, low eBay auction price) and adding crocheted elements of my own design (i.e., big bloodshot eyeballs on found crocheted veggies).

My newest creation is made from a found crocheted chicken-thing-a-majigie (I've no idea what it is supposed to be - maybe a cover for Easter eggs). Upon first glance (on eBay) I knew that I must have it. I also intuitively knew that this chicken needed two things: chicken legs and big ole' eyeballs (um, er, that's four things). So, literally upon receipt, I started work on my poultry-themed masterpiece.

I fashioned the armatures for the feet out of pipe cleaners and crocheted a cover for each foot using a size 10 variegated pink to white crochet thread (the name of which is escaping me) in single crochet. After crocheting a foot I continued on with the rest of the leg extending it as long as a ball of thread lasted (about 4 1/2 feet). So far, so good.

Tall, skinny chicken needed more. This chicken was made to cover something (it looks like a miniature tea cozy). So, why not transform this yellow hen into a costume for a frozen chicken! It took me a couple of hours to create the "nekked" chick. I added small crocheted eyeballs to the head for the finishing touch and a new and well, not exactly improved, but definitely interesting chicken was born!




Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

More Character Trading Cards

Here's more of the Vegetable Liberation Army member trading cards:






Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

All were made from crocheted vegetables purchased at ebay auction. I crocheted the eyeballs using DMC size 8 pearl cotton and on some Laura Wasilowski's hand dyed size 8 pearl cotton (I love her hand dyed thread). I added limbs to some using scraps of felt and added doll house sized garden tools, kitchen tools, etc. for their weapons. Lots of fun!

Killer Korn Trading Cards

Here is the ring leader of the Vegetable Liberation Army ("VLA"). He is made from found crocheted vegetables that I purchased at ebay auction. I added the crocheted eyeball and his corn holder "weapons" and voila! A homicidal veggie! Submitted this guy to April's A Month of Softies.


Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

Big Blue Crocheted Alien

Copyright 2005 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

This guy is 5'6" tall and would make a lovely addition to any alien-friendly household.

Aliens and Squids

I made two of these aliens (one of which I am listing on ebay). They are really big rag dolls that I designed and crocheted. I tend to work either really big or really diminutive. I also keep really detailed pattern directions so that I can reproduce any object when desired. I usually use single crochet as my "workhorse" stitch. I use sc mostly because it is easy to "sculpt" with this stitch. The only time I heavily use double crochet is in my filet work (of which I have tons). Reminder to self - Post filet pieces to this blog!

Anyhow, I am back to working small (after a whole year of making monstrously huge pieces - like a 25' giant squid, all crocheted), using mostly crochet and doing some sewing too. Oh, and making a few books, some trading cards and paper dolls. I like to keep busy!