Niho Mano

In my early college experience, I painted. I was very drawn to geometrical shapes, primarily triangles, and finding ways to make those shapes blend into and sometimes even disappear within a very organic background.

I am a big fan of Stargate Atlantis. One of my favorite characters in the series is Ronon Dex, who was portrayed by the actor Jason Momoa. He has a tattoo on his forearm that consists of rows of uniform triangles. In researching it, I found that it is a Hawaiian symbol called Niho Mano and is meant to resemble shark's teeth.

"This is a classical motive of Marquesian tattoopatterns. It can be tattooed on nearly all bodyparts. Often it is part of black stripes. There its tattoed borderareas. Niho-peata can be translated with sharktooth what is comprehensible if you look at this pattern. Niho means tooth and peata is a genus of sharks. A related genus is called mako or mano that’s the reason why this pattern is named different if another genus is chosen for example on Hawaii its sometimes called niho mano or nio mango."
Tikistyles.de :Polynesian symbolism, tattoos from the southsea and native marquesian culture


I have been wanting to return to some of my early work with triangles, only this time in a textile medium. I haven't decided yet if it will spill over into anything cross-stitch, but have started some sketches for an art quilt. I would like to putz a little with discharging fabrics.

More to come!

Nathaniel-Little Snowballz

Nathaniel is the latest in the Little Snowballz series. I just finished him today and the pattern will be available off the website next week once I finish the cover work for the chartpack.

Next piece ready to go. A new addition (and long overdue, I've been told by a few fans of the series)to the Flakey Friends line.King of the Mountain featuring our yellow stocking-capped snowfriend proclaiming himself King of the World! Or in this case, the top of the snowpile, which is the exact replica of the one sitting just to the right of my drive right now!

Finished

Finished up Frostbite, Fred & Ferdinand today and have Q-snapped and done the editing on "Nathaniel", the "N" of the Little Snowballz series. He's named after my son and is wearing a stocking cap much like the one he use to wear when he was my little guy instead of the tall almost sixteen-year old he is now!

Frostbite, Fred & Ferdinand

Tomorrow is the start of the new semester and I am really looking forward to my classes. Continued work with the Adobe Creative Suites software, a class that will help me start to put together a portfolio of my graphics work, a web development class and the one that I am just bouncing in my seat over, a straight up honest to goodness drawing class.

I am fortunate enough to have Thursdays and Fridays free of class, which means I will have more time to play in the studio. I might just get to the stack of 'if I only had time' projects.

On the stitching front? I am almost done with the stitched version of my Habitat for Humanity card, and have named the three snowy fellows "Frostbite, Fred & Ferdinand". I am stitching it over two threads on a wonderful new Jobelan from Wichelt Imports. Christmas Green. And it is without doubt green. I've also worked in a few Kreinik metallics into this one, #4 braids along with DMC flosses and am hoping to complete the piece by mid-week.

Molly of the Little Snowballz

Molly is finished! The "M" of the Little Snowballz series is stitched over two threads on 28ct. hand-dyed Pink Dahlia jobelan from Wichelt Imports. It, like the others in the series, uses only 8 colors of DMC floss and she finishes at 54w x 96h. She is named after my daughter.

Charting new designs and finishing another

It has been a good couple of days.

I am backstitching "Molly", the next of the Little Snowballz. I hope to have her finished and up on the website by the end of the day tomorrow. There are two new designs ready for stitching, and I can't decide which to pick up next.

Nathaniel, the "N" in the Little Snowballz line is ready to stitch, and I also have the cross stitch version of the Habitat for Humanity card design prepped as well. I am leaning toward that design a little more, what with the last two releases being Little Snowballz.

Today was also spent charting other new designs. I have a new Flakey Friends design almost finished and ready to slip into the rotation, and thumbnails for a few 2010 charts were scanned and colors selected.

Another Little Snowballz Completion

Lucy, the latest Little Snowballz design, has been finished. I am working now on Molly Lorraine, named after my daughter. She's a quick stitch, and I hope to have her completed by the end of the week. It just depends on how bogged down I am after holiday nomming and how much snow I am stuck shoveling! Woke up to three more inches of fresh powder this morning, and weather reports indicate that we could get up to eight more on Christmas. I am grateful for family in town and snowtires.

I finished all the gifts for my family and am really pleased with how everything turned out. It felt really good to do things with my own hands, even if when I started out going "handmade" this year it was because of puckered purse strings.

I have "roughed out" my design plans for 2010, and have set a goal of four new releases a month. The year will see a wrap to the Little Snowballz series, hopefully by early summer. I have had requests for another Lil Flakes, which would make a total of four blizzards. There will be a few more additions to the Fern Folk Series, and quite possibly a few more Flakey Friends.

I've also found myself drawn to the beauty of English gardens and the secrets they might hold. Wee folk, gnomes, fae, and bugs with brightly colored, gossamar wings. Spiders spinning webs of silk, delicately woven strands that catch the sunlight just so. I would like to capture some of that magick, some of that 'saw it from the corner of my eye' feeling in a new series of designs.

I do believe in faeries.

Off to find coffee and Q-Snaps. Happy Yule, One and All!