I skipped over pants and shorts to get to the T-Shirt, so that my doll would have a top to go with her skirt. I chose a varigated yarn that I thought would match the skirt. IRL, it matches better than the photographs. The color changes didn’t work out as well as I hoped… I wanted the turquoise up higher on the shirt so it had a different color right next to the blue.
Sol LeWitt was an artist who worked in many mediums. and was known for his association with the conceptual art and minimalism movements. As you know if you have been reading my posts here, I am interested in generative art. While Sol LeWitt was not a digital artist, he did do some interesting work in algorithmic art: his Wall Drawings . LeWitt believed that the idea behind a work of art, rather than the act of producing it, was the actual art work.
The next article of clothing in the Crochet You book is a cute skirt with a scallop trim on the bottom. I liked this blue color with the hair and skin of the doll. I also have a varigated skein of yarn that I think will look cute used for a tshirt to go with it. The skirt is worked in continuous rows around, except for a few rows at the beginning.
The first clothing pattern in the book was for Underwear. Because I’m not using the same weight of yarn called for, it required a bit of experimentation, but I settled on ILTY from Hobby Lobby in white, and a 3.75mm hook. The pattern is simple and works up quickly. However, the way the “legs” were done seem a bit awkward to me. The pattern is worked from the bottom to the waist.
While working on another project (stay tuned!), I came up with this. It’s not what I was shooting for, but I think it’s kind of interesting. It looks a bit like a city street map from a time before urban planning. What is going on here is that a single particle is placed on the canvas in a particular position and with a particular direction. At every iteration, the particle moves a small amount in its given direction.
I posted the first installment of this project on March 4th. Finally, after almost two weeks, I’m back on track. Unfortunately, my whole family came down with a nasty virus, and we’ve ALL been sick, including me! I sincerely hope that is in the past, and I can move on with this project! When the body is finished, the next step is to give the doll hair. A kind of wig cap is crochet, creating “rows” by only using the back or front loop of the rows.
L-Systems can be used to draw plants! To make this work, we need to add some capabilities to our Turtle structure. Up until now turtles could either move ahead or turn. To draw plants, we need to be able to save a turtle state, do some drawing, and then move the turtle back to the saved state. This has the effect of magically teleporting the turtle to someplace it has already been, restoring its position, direction and color.
This spread is in the Micky Mouse journal I made last year. One year ago, on this date, the kid got her braces! She chose to have hot pink bands around the brackets, but the technician wasn’t paying attention and she ended up with purple! I found this image of Minnie in my stash with a big smile, so I modified it to include the braces. I showed it to the kid.
Let’s look at L-Systems ! Also known as Lindenmayer Systems, after their inventor, Aristid Lindenmayer , L-Systems are sets of rules for manipulating symbols. They consist of an alphabet of symbols that can be used to make strings, and a set of rules used to transform those strings. When fed a starting string, it will produce a sequence of new strings based on its rules. This was originally a way to formally describe the growth of fungi, algae, etc.
Crochet You
I’ve had this book on my shelves for a while now. I finally felt like I could handle the patterns, so for the last week, I’ve been crocheting the basic doll. I used I Love This Yarn (from Hobby Lobby) in the “Fuzzy Slippers” color. I use this color a lot to make doll bodies. I don’t mind that it’s varigate shades from white to peach, and I think it makes an interesting doll body.
Turtle graphics are a form of vector graphics. In its most basic form, there is an object that moves around the canvas, leaving a trail as it goes. It’s called turtle graphics because you can think of the object as turtle with a pen strapped to her shell. The turtle can do two things: 1) move in a straight line for a certain distance, and 2) rotate to face a new direction.
It has taken a lot of persuasion to get Maize to appear… she is extremely shy! Maize, partner to Trout, is a Corn Singer. She plants, waters, and cares for the tribe’s corn crop. She sings to the stalks so they grow tall and strong. She sings to keep away pests. She sings so the corn provides a bountiful harvest for the tribe. Maize takes her coloring from the dried ears of native corn.
Today, we’ll try to come up with something interesting based on the noise concepts we discussed in the last two posts. We’ll put some dots (which we’ll call particles) randomly on a canvas and have them move according to rules based on our noise functions. This will create streams of particles; we’ll be able to see their paths on the canvas. In a fit of not-very-creative naming, we’ll call our project Streams.
Last week we talked about noise, specifically Perlin noise, which lets you vary a value randomly but incrementally, leading to a slowly changing value. We used it to draw the outline of a mountain range, but it can be used anywhere you need a value that changes a tiny amount at a time. Conveniently, this also works in two dimensions. In 2-dimensional noise, the x and y axes each have their own noise, and (and this is important) they are not the same.
This is Trout. He is one of the tribal hunters. He specializes in fish tickling and various aquatic foods. Fish tickling is a skill that requires immense patience, and careful movements. His coloring is designed to camouflage him so he can glide through the streams, rivers and lakes to find his prey. This Impkin has Type 2 Arms* with the Standing Body Type 2*. His head fin is actually two Fin Ears* stitched together, back to back and then sewn to the head.
This is my current Impkin. He’s in a partially completed state because I didn’t get anything done last week. Instead, I’ve been riding the Vertigo Merry-go-round, which is a lot of no fun. However, I am pushing through, slowly, to what is normal for my life. So far, this Impkin has Type 2 Arms* with the Standing Body Type 2*. I loved this yarn as soon as I saw it in Hobby Lobby.
Sometimes you just want to make some noise! In drawing terms, that means you don’t want a boring straight line; you want a straightish squiggly line which looks hand-drawn. Or you don’t want a flat surface, you want it to have some texture. You can generate these kinds of effects by adding some random noise, but how? There are a couple of ways to do this. We’ll cover some simple examples here.
This is a Sky Singer. Sky Singers are the keepers of the day. They watch the skies for signs, to pass on to the Earth Keepers and the Plant Growers. I often see many mythical creature impkins posted in Megan’s Crafty Intentions Facebook group. However, most of them are elven, forest, or magical beings from more northern European ideology. I wanted to take this mythological concept in another, more tribal direction.
Welcome to February! This month I am focusing on a theme of Romance. Valentine’s Day is February 14, so it seems appropriate. I’m going with roses and other flowers, pink, red, white and gold, hearts and other items associated with romance. Above is the cover I’m using for my micro art journal. I used this one last year and I liked it so much, I’m going to use it again.
I’m so happy to introduce you to Ellowyn Hortensia Elephanta, a Prima Ballerina. If you know her well, you may call her by her nickname, Ellie. She has Type 2 Arms* with the Standing Body Type 2*, along with Large, Round Ears*, and a lovely curved Snoot*. She also has a small, thin improvised tail with a few hairs at the end. Since she is constantly dancing, you will usually find her dressed in her favorite Tutu* and wearing a Wide Crown* with golden touches.