Over time I’ve redefined some traditional terms. And invented others. This glossary is being compiled to clarify my personal approach. And to catch loose thoughts.
My Spirit Cloth Language system.
This page will be visible as I compile my thoughts. And then it will slip behind the scenes. The words underlined in red dots, sprinkled throughout this site, link to this resource.
A is for Alphabet Soup.
See also: click the moon for more... The Poetry of Process Waves are used a lot in my work.
A Large Cloth I started back in 2007, while studying Free Piecing with Tonya Ricucci. You can view the related posts on my old blog here.
B is for Basket. I use the Basket as a symbol for self, often referring to it as a Basket-Self.
But a basket is also an ancient style vessel, made carefully from what's on hand, often used to hold and carry food to others.
A place to keep things and nothings safe.
Human Wrapping Cloth.
10/21/22 But wait, that is so small, to only consider humans. Imagine a blanket of leaves. ( I crossed out Human)
Just to collect some thoughts... so I can tall the stories.
I think after some thought, I will use them as a symbol for transformation. Let me think about that some more.
There will be a page for this cloth soon enough.
An online class hosted way back in June of 2014.
Original workshop description:
This session of What if Dairies will follow my day to day creative flow. As I focus on weave. Weave as weave, weave and it's relationship to sewing, weave as a symbol. This is what I do. I pick something and think about it a lot and talk about that and make up a bunch of small studies and eventually my results end up as components in my work. Weaving and sewing are related in my world. This is not a classic weaving course. Although it will cover some basics of the process with the aim of presenting what weave is, as a structure. This is a free form investigation and you might follow along and participate or not.
I am never sure where these small journeys will take me, I just go... however it happens.
5/27/23 I am in the process of moving the content of this class to this site as I Reconsider Weave.
begins ends
A liquid applique circle of silk, so far, a place for my selves to gather and relax.
It is destined to become some sort of basket. Maybe just some larger self.
Link to an old post here.
And then some others here.
September 10, 2007 on the Spirit Cloth blog
hi! electric jude here
...because sometimes a sewing machine comes in handy.
some old rough pattern I had prepared for a workshop with kids.
I can describe this as an area of a composition that is broken up by literally breaking it up into pieces, as if it might be in some transition state. Becoming or unbecoming. There is an element of change then, and even uncertainty. What if that makes the nature of form clearer? Form is liquid.
November 13, 2006
layers
for my own reference:
i think layers are the most important element in my work. perhaps that is what has attracted me to the quilt as a medium. or why i hover here. it allows me the opportunity to explore this concept on all levels... functional (a personal requirement), conceptual and technical.
the functional part is a given. i am not interested in creating wall art. i want to spend my time creating something useful above all. so the element of layering in a quilt is on the simplest level is always present as a functional element for warmth, and then strength, followed by reversibility and of course repair ( most quilters leave this out!).
on a conceptual level layers fit well into the my concept of symbolism and magic. layers. what we see and don't see, what we can touch and not touch. the transformation from one to the other.
technical possibilities are expanded limitlessly with the use of multiple layers. way beyond a sewing machine. and so i stay unplugged, sewing through some layers and not others, trying to understand the nature of the fabrics, hiding things and exposing others. playing my game of hide and seek.
A component system based on my childhood colorforms, remember those?
Simple indigo shibori dyed shapes you might used to build a story in cloth.
Sold now and then in the Threadcrumbs Shop.
I also use black and white as a symbol for magic.
Magic is also the name of a large cloth very close to my heart:
More about this cloth soon. I ran a Diary Series Class about Magic which has yet to be re-released.
A plied cotton thread/ black and white, designed for a specific end use in the manufacture of cloth, way back when I worked in the textile industry.
It is fine and really swell for stitching, unlike a lot of bakery string style thread available for crafting. I have several samples here that I developed. I wanted to offer it in my shop, but the manufacture on a small scale is way too impractical and nearly impossible to source. It is very special and I call it magic because black and white is my symbol for magic. I do occasionally offer small amounts in the shop. You might mimic it by using a wrapped backstitch.
M is for Mending Star
(april 2018) I suppose this is a new symbol. I call it the Mending Star. I might trace it back to prior musings, But that will take me some time. Perhaps I am indeed reconsidering wishing. My stars became wishing stars along the way. Linked to hope more than anything. But romanticizing a fix for something isn't really a commitment to anything concrete. So I bring it clearly back to a type of patchwork. Such a simple and useful thing with a clear intention.
A quilt style block I often use as a story base, of course we can go further and put anything in the middle. Sun Cabin, Star Cabin, Heart cabin...
related post
First stumbled upon while experimenting with shibori dyeing, it needed a name.
A symbol for the Mystery of it All. I love how it confuses the normal logic
of day and night.
Then later a way to arrange time, and make a circle from squares framing time.
click to enlarge the little map of how it went.
A way to arrange time.
Needle in
Needle out
Once upon a time I said...“Needle chanting......so much of my stitching is free form, it helps me sometimes to exercise some discipline in the form of repetition. Often times it seems, when I look at samples of ethnic and primitive textiles, especially older ones, that the repetitive element is quite important to the effect that the overall piece has on me. I think it is partly the awe at so much time spent and the respect for the purposefulness and dedication it represents. And then it is the rhythm created by the consistency of the elements. Hand sewing seems out of place in our modern day routine. Mostly there is an effort to get the look of handmade through trickery and short cuts. I've chosen this rainy Tuesday in July to embrace the ceremony of repetition. I have been listening to the rhythm of the falling rain. The obvious simplicity of doing the same thing over and over soon becomes the not so obvious complexity that is contained in a tiny stitch. not one of those stitches is the same, and the small journey of the needle into the fabric and out leaving a trail of thought behind it, could be the journey of a lifetime if you pay attention. So it is not zoning out and losing oneself.... but being there and finding oneself in every tiny moment. The rhythm, surprisingly, is created not by sameness but by infinite differences with a collective purpose. And this has comforted me today. “
And there are so many answers to consider.
And then Remember.. the way the story might come back to you again.
I first considered naming it way back here.
Video Here
Also see Thread Beads
And posts in the category snow globe on my blog.
One of my first symbols, storywords.
It came from a doodle.
S special kind of energetic flow.
Pictured here on the Bird Robe.
Now also the new name for a large cloth I used to call Magic Cloth 2
An online workshop from way back but actually not the first one.
I created this class to compile my basic methods. The old class is available for now as is, but the server is failing me so I will be reconsidering it, updating it and moving it here as soon as I can. it may be password protected now and then during this process.
Link to class
so too much importance...Now a little shop for small works, leftovers, components, sometimes bases to stitch. Soon to be my only shop.
I whispered about windows once upon a time.
A big symbol I use a lot without even noticing. Let me gather my thoughts.
A start...A window is, as I have narrowed it down in my mind, a hole. A space. A place to see through. A place to look out. And a place to look in. That's where I start. And like a mask, it is a viewfinder, framing vision which creates momentary context. A point of view you could say.
I will be reconsidering windows. Because I am not finished.