felt by matte stephens

all together :D, originally uploaded by matte stephens.

matte stephens is a etsy star, and you've likely seen his paintings before online, or at one of his many art shows.

and now, he's making felt sculptures!

via design*sponge.

felt art by mummysam

check out these lovely pieces made by mummysam. using 100% wool felt, she creates soft sculptures with free motion stitching and hand embroidery.
i love the little felt houses, of course!
and she also makes flat works. she sells all of it in her etsy shop, and i first heard about mummysam via jars of cute.

yoola

i love these new pear designs from yoola, made of crocheted wire.

you may have seen the striking work of this israeli artist before, like these pomegranates. so pretty, and such a wonderful combination of material, form and craft.

yoola also makes smaller items and sells tutorials and kits if you want to try this fabulous idea yourself. in an article for the etsy stork shop makeover series, she talked about the process of diversifying her shop. i love that she weighed the pros and cons of making tutorials available, went for it, and was successful.

baba yaga houses by melissa sue

melissa sue made these wonderful houses inspired by baba yaga, a russian fairy tale i read when i was about 9 or 10 years old. i remember enjoying the story and being fascinated by baba yaga's house. via CRAFT.

these lovely objects are made by melissa sue, and you can buy them in her etsy shop, at http://melissasue.etsy.com.

the silvering path

tonight i saw an amazing performance, entitled the silvering path. it had dance, film, ninjas, a slug princess, and jaw-droppingly awesome fiber creations by mandy greer.

the film was by ian lucero and the star was dancer/choreographer/director and slug princess haruko nishimura, who is trained in butoh and co-founder of the degenerate art ensemble. it was dreamy and clever and fun.

and did i mention the wonderful fiber pieces, costumes and props? seriously good.

at free sheep foundation this weekend, fridays tickets are sold out, and they've added another show on sunday the 19th. get your tickets here.

monocol=awesome

you know when you find something new, that is just so perfect it makes you deeply happy? like your new favorite CD that you play constantly, or a new amazing artist?

this week, i discovered monocol. their tag line "art and pocketlucre via collaboration and skulduggery" should be the first clue that you are in for something great.

they make the excellent 'daruminals', a combination of the traditional japanese wishing doll (daruma) and other animals. i am already a big fan of the daruma's aesthetic, and i think the daruminals are just great (as if you couldn't tell)! the top photo is the paper mache version.

and then there are the prints. i don't know which one i love more, laika...

the polar bear...
or the deap sea diver? i can't choose, i love them all.

renegade roundup: beautiful objects

kindling is the chicago-based collaboration of brother and sister aaron and megan pahmier, who use local reclaimed wood to create lovely objects, like the vases above. you can see more of their work, including vases, vessels, picture holders, and candle holders at kindlingshop.com and in their etsy shop.
aaron is a furniture designer and builder, and megan is an artist and teacher (that's her work above).

up in the air somewhere is the work of chicago-based artist and designer susan dwyer, another renegade vendor with a striking display of gorgeous works. trained as a sculptor, susan creates ceramic and paper vessels inspired by industrial architecture, like the silo pitchers above.
and these simple pitchers as well. available directly from the up in the air somewhere website.