Photo by Rebekah Robinson- latest comments Nicola- 7 October 2009
Fun Fun Fun! No Daddys, no Bluebirds.
But this brooch is definitely worth a good go. It's interchangeable conditions are much like life. Nothing is static. Change stirs our hearts and minds and challenges us. We need it and it keeps us alive and real.
The best thing about this brooch though is that if you look closely on one of the 'accessories', Zarah has crocheted part of one with a magnificent electric blue plastiki (Google Plastiki the environmental boat sailing around the world...) thread.
Just gorgeous! And of course the hyper-yellow colour was the winner of the day.
So.... I'm a loser.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not compatible with this brooch.
After the noisy excitingness and vish-ual extravaganza of the launch evening at the Gypsy Tearooms, Bobo & I went across the road to Malt, where I promptly lost one of the six (!) pieces...
Arghhhh! The weave of the piece which happened to be my favourite one, must have been open enough to allow it to slip off... and not into my cleavage where it conceivably could have gone!!!
But all was not lost, thank bloody god, and it turned up on the floor after a panicky search. I think this shows something about me as well as the brooch, I must have been preoccupied...
Soooooo, this harrowing experience did colour my first brooch wearing month.
I did wear it a couple of times though, including to my work where I paraded it in front of the other architects. I got quite excited about nestling some of the pieces inside others. I like the pick'n'mix aspect, and that the pieces are like little hats or crocheted shoes and use lots of different threads. Not really my colours of choice normally though, I must say. My flatmate thought it was just weird. It's not what I would normally gravitate to but I can think of some people who will love it.
I told loads of people about what we are doing and felt very proud and arty and cultural...
As I write this Kate, the new wearer is getting excited about how to wear it and it's bringing back fond memories!!
That's funny, I too am a loser. Within days I had lost the 'stay' that keeps the brooch safely attached to one's lapel. Fortunately I raised a different brooch in my collection and could continue to show off this crocheted self-configuring little number!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling this brooch may be my favourite. It is the control freak in me coming out. Of course I want a brooch I can change with my mood and with my outfit. Because you have many individual pieces that you include, or leave in the box, you're in control. Perfect!
"What a great idea", people would explain. "How cool that you can choose which piece to wear."
Everyone agreed this.
Everyone also agreed that customisability was outdoing beauty however...
"It's not the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"It's fine except for that flouro yellow bit."
"Perhaps less of a rainbow of colours would have been better?"
Yes, it's a bit garish... but bold is beautiful to me... I kind of like my chest getting that kind of attention.
As individual bits of crochet they're quite intriguing and I took to taking the brooch apart for anyone willing to watch and learn. The individual parts took on a life of their own:
"It's like babies nappies."
"Or mini beanies."
"They're so cute. Crochet is so IN right now!"
Personally my only gripe was how to manage pinning it onto what I was wearing without the top heavy design doing a small somersault on my blouse. After initial more tricky threading of the wire in and out... I took to a new and more convenient approach that the jeweller may disprove of: I wore it upside down.
Stay hidden on the backside of the blouse.
Good thing the second stay stayed.
If only this brooch was staying with me.
Lucky messenger episode #2: Zarah's brooch
ReplyDeleteI have been eyeing Zarah's work for a year now and was excited to get a chance to wear her brooch(while delivering it of course). This brooch is a 6 piece set. First, let me state that I am a huge fan of amorphous blobs, and this brooch, a family of crocheted blobs, had me at hello. But it was the colors, oh the colors that sealed the deal. On their own, I could take or leave them, but the combinations are truly bizarre and brilliant. One single blob is hot pink, fluro (neon yellow) and magenta!?! How fantastic. Even an avid 80’s fan would never be caught dead in an outfit all of those colors
This brooch strikes a nerve with me. As a teenager I never quite matched, this awkward adolescent hurtle turned into a personality trait and like a badge of honor I pride myself on mismatching outfits to this day. So this brooch really fits my personal fashion philosophy. I enjoy that this brooch is crocheted. I think that its strength lies in its domestic references clashing so strongly with the outrageous color scheme. Yippie!
So it seems I absolutely love wearing little hand made blobs. I love the way you can choose which bits to wear each time. I love the all colours... actually not all the colours. I confess I've avoided the neon yellow. I want more blobs..... green, purple, orange blobs. I must learn to crochet.
ReplyDelete"Uh huh, looks like a pile of scrap wool", is what I thought when I opened this month's little blue box. A few days later after a closer look and spending an hour fiddling with different combinations of the various crocheted components I was wearing a new combo most days.
ReplyDeleteThe 'blobs' are amoebic looking vessel forms using different threads - silk embroidery thread, blue plastic string, wool and acrlyic 'wool'. The threads are different guages which warps and twists the shapes as they morph from fine stitched silk thread to thick wool with fewer stitches in a row. My favourite combo was a fluro yellow synthetic wool shape with a small protrusion emerging from inside the vessel sitting alongside a tiny finely crocheted rainbow silk thread shape.
I twiddled about for ages when attaching the brooch to clothing, not quite getting it right until the end of the month when I finally twigged it was logical to have the end-point of the finding inside the clothing and attached the little plastic stopper there. I bent the pin - sorry - trying out different angles and being slow to figure out how much of each blob to thread onto the pin and be able to attached it to clothing.
It is winter, so most days I wore black clothes and the bright coloured blobs I chose looked great (I'm not a fan of blue so tried to keep that colour to a minimum) I'd like have had a wearing of this brooch in Summer too because it would suit flimsy floaty frocky gear.
Other people appreciated this brooch with every comment being positive. I suspect the 'crafty' look of this brooch fits with fashion sensibilities at the moment so everyone was comfortable. It was easy to wear and I wonder if the fewer comments I received this month was possibly because people are used to me wearing an assortment of brooches nowdays or they were relieved after the golfball(!) or maybe because, it was just right. When something is just right, it all balances so well that the viewer is not drawn to either notice or make comments and that is a subtle but sure sign of success.
In the depths of my handbag I've found some scratchy pencil notes that appear to be observer's comments that seemed super-interesting at the time but upon rereading might have been perceived through a rose filled glass.
ReplyDelete"The multiple pieces set it apart from the other brooches"
"Hey, it is interchangable - there is not limit to the combinations" [obviously there is a limit because there are 7 'bobs' excluding the finding"
There are a couple of blurry photographs where the brooch has been disguised in a tablecloth pattern - strange but true
Fun Fun Fun! No Daddys, no Bluebirds.
ReplyDeleteBut this brooch is definitely worth a good go. It's interchangeable conditions are much like life. Nothing is static. Change stirs our hearts and minds and challenges us. We need it and it keeps us alive and real.
The best thing about this brooch though is that if you look closely on one of the 'accessories', Zarah has crocheted part of one with a magnificent electric blue plastiki (Google Plastiki the environmental boat sailing around the world...) thread.
Just gorgeous! And of course the hyper-yellow colour was the winner of the day.