posted December 17, 2011 08:00 PM            

Does anyone else here like making arts, crafts, sewing, etc.? What kind of things do you like to make?

I've found if you have your thoughts and concentration in the "right" place, you can make something really special. As if you can draw/paint/stitch your feelings or attitudes into what you are making. Does anyone else have this experience?

My grandmother was a baker and always said that every baker could use the exact same ingredients and exact same supplies, but their cakes would all come out different because of their moods and personalities - and if the mood was unpleasant, the cake would fail. I think the same applies to creating just about anything. It's a mysterious thing, but I've found it to be true.

Any thoughts? If you are creative, what do you like to do and how do you go about it?

posted December 17, 2011 08:04 PM            

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What is Your Own Greek Myth?

posted December 17, 2011 09:18 PM            

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posted December 18, 2011 03:45 AM            

Thanks for the replies.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lei_Kuei:
Question: Has your username anything to do with this video game?

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No, afraid not. Funnily, I didn't even know of the game until I googled my own username. :lol: Is it a good game?

There is kind of an esoteric art-related meaning for the name actually, which fits with the thread in a way. The town I live in is called Victoria, which is also the name I chose to call myself. It's a nice name IMO, but not a very nice town, sadly. A small town, rather disadvantaged and hopeless. However, there is something rather strange and eerie (and often ghostly) about the place.

I have made it a personal, ongoing art project to try to capture the feeling or "unseen" quality of the town through drawings, stories and photographs and other mediums (and hopefully to find some beauty as well) The project is called "Victoria Phantasmagoria" and it seemed a fitting pen name, too. The act of creating (or at least attempting to create) art has been a real comfort. Plus, the project has allowed many opportunities for spiritual growth.

Through this and many other things, I've felt the sense that a mysterious "something" goes into creating whatever it is that you are making, besides just talent, skill or personal taste. It shows in the work... but I don't know what to call it! Is it spirit, soul, a vibration, a resonance, something else? I especially love handmade things, because there is such a sense of the person who made it.

Teasel, I know what you mean about having a hard time finishing something because you can't relax. Sometimes it helps to put on some music that will calm you or lift your mood, nice scents or something that concentrates your attention in a good way for you. Or sometimes there is a change that needs to be made in the project to get it going in the right direction. Well, that helps me, anyway. That being said, I have a closet full of half finished projects that didn't quite work. :P

Good luck on getting it done!

posted December 18, 2011 08:19 AM            

i had an art education all my life and came to a conclusion (for now) that i want art to be my hobby, and not my job. i was largely disillusioned by the art world now, although it depends on countries and regions. all in all, money and bureaucratic procedures proceed nurturing talents and ideas, and the funding go to *artists* regardless of how much skills and potential they have. also after post-modernism it has arrived at the status quo where new ideas are exhausted and we just recreate old ideas, not that new is always good.

anyway, so i can draw and paint to begin with. i'm good at it, although not at the master level. i was pretty advanced in the university that teachers just let me draw on my own while they taught other students. other students came to me to learn from me. which was flattering but i wanted to get better myself so i was frustrated. i guess from a certain point, getting better is only doing more and learning from my own self. i still do illustrations but not figure drawing unfortunately! (so my level stays where it is!)

i also sew and crochet (and embroider a bit). i'm self-taught and use this skill for my daily needs. because i've lived in my nerd fantasy world of 1920s for the most of my adult life, i sew most of my clothes in the style of the Twenties. i've done (and still doing) extensive researches on the era and my passion is to recreate it as much as possible. i don't collect 20s vintage or anything (not that i can afford that), because i want myself to be part of the era, not the other way around. i make them for practical uses.

in that same spirit, i also love to find discarded furniture on the street or dump and repair them. people throw away crazy stuff, especially during winter into the snow, why??

i can also make hats and shoes, but don't have the right tools to properly use these skills.

i can also silversmith, but this also, i need the right tools. at the moment i make jewellery more inclined to artisan style that doesn't require special tools.

i also make killer pies and quiches! yumm!

posted December 18, 2011 02:22 PM            

Did you know the lead Actress they used for the Cutscenes was called Victoria

Well since you said you weren't aware of the game then no, I suppose you atleast consciously didn't know

You can read up on the game if you are so inclined but, in short it was an early attempt at capturing the spirit of what has grown into the "Survival Horror" genre of the video game industry.

It chose a very round about way of doing things as regards game design which was its biggest failing IMO. However it was at a time where they were still tinkering with the technology end of things and trying to better find a cross over between interactive movies, and video games, the result was a whole series of these types of projects. Which as it turned out was a major "design cul-de-sac" -nods-

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Getting back on topic if I may, I do feel that yes, your grandmother was exactly correct in her reasoning, smart woman indeed

The act of creation, is in IMO nothing less than an extension of ones soul/life force energy projected into a material existence. And its not a case of the creator losing energy by doing such, its the complete opposite, the creator is literally manifesting there own thoughts as pure energy from the void and converting/splicing it into what they are doing -nods-

Anything created in such a way is usually exceptionally beautiful/tasty/whatever

H.R Giger as an example, one could say he produces horrific looking pieces of art, yet regardless of the style, one cannot help but be captivated by the man's absolutely beauty if his ability to invoke his own energy as art

I for one think such is gorgeous, much like the soul of the man himself -nods-

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posted December 18, 2011 07:42 PM            

Anongrl10 - Sorry about the confusion - my ramblings can be confusing even at the best of times. *blushes*

Kudos on your jewelry making. Perhaps you have a natural talent for it?

Lechien - Agreed, that is a very impressive set of skills. I guess in a way, where I live artists have complete freedom, because there is no public support for the arts at all. Well, sometimes a city organization will hire a painter, but only to paint regional subjects (usually cowboys and ranches) Since I feel little affinity with ranch life there's no chance of any job there.

It's so neat that you have taken the 1920's as your personal style, and have the skills to create it. I understand about practical use vs. collecting. I've found a few items from that era at rummage sales (costing almost nothing since no one had thought to call them "vintage" (what a difference a label makes, eh? ) but they are just too fragile to use. What are your favorite elements from the 20's?

Also, totally agreed about the cast off furniture! It's one of my great pleasure in life to find cast-offs and paint them or rework them somehow, give them a new life.

It sounds like art and craft are an integral part of your life, not something to look at but to be lived in. That's awesome.

Lei_Kuei -That sounds very interesting about the game, I know very little about game design. From what I've seen, I had the impression that it was rather dark, maybe scary...so I'm intrigued but a bit nervous about it - I like spooky stuff but I'm also a big chicken But I will play a game if it holds enough interest with a story and plot.

Thanks for your explanation about how creation manifests itself. That's a very astute way of putting it, and I think you nailed it.

I've heard the story that it's a tradition for weavers in India to leave a mistake in the weaving to give a place for their feelings/energy or whatever it is a chance to escape and not be woven into the object - for instance if the weaver was heartbroken, then her sadness might become part of the object. I don't know if the story is true about the intentional mistake, but it makes sense to me.

True about Giger's art. It's very distinctive...you see it and you know it's him. In some ways I think he was ahead of the times - or more accurately right on the cutting edge. When I fist saw his work in the early 80's, it seemed so alien and mechanistic to me, but now seems seems to reflect so much about the psyche of the modern world, and especially internal workings of the cyber-world. (That's just my opinion - I'm not clever in the interpretation of art at all)

posted December 18, 2011 08:53 PM            

It was made in 1995 so... Its rather dated lol, and unfortunately its not exactly a timeless classic, its a piece of video game history to be sure, an important milestone even, but ultimately Id say skip it lol...

A much better, and more all round mature piece of work would be the "Silent Hill" series of games...

Hmmm didn't intend on segueing the thread down video game memory lane but, your name dictated such That and the fact I creatively work in that particularly industry hehe...

Once upon a time I even worked for Sierra (Same company who published"Phantasmagoria") on the test team for F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate

-giggle-

Good call on Giger, was definitely ahead of his time even some 30 years ago, and thank the gods he was around when they were working on "A L I E N"

Woohoo!

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posted December 20, 2011 06:31 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by VictoriaPhantasmagoria:

It's so neat that you have taken the 1920's as your personal style, and have the skills to create it. I understand about practical use vs. collecting. I've found a few items from that era at rummage sales (costing almost nothing since no one had thought to call them "vintage" (what a difference a label makes, eh? ) but they are just too fragile to use. What are your favorite elements from the 20's?

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i like the 20s as the period when women took the step to free themselves. in previous eras, there WERE women like Isadora Duncan, Colette and George Sand in art and literary world who stepped out of the traditional women's bounderies for the freedom of expression, and during the 20s this culminated among the common women as a form of fashion and practicality, and with changes in the society like the right to vote. i care less about the feminist aspect of it but the fact it became the universal idea that was the first step into the modern era. it's from this decade on that we can feel that the people who lived then were much like ourselves, unlike Edwardian era and before it feels like the people belonged to another part of history.

Twenties was experimental and adventurous. i think it's very Sagittarian (= me). but i made a chart for the dawn of Twenties and it's actually Capricorn with Libra SC. it has Mercury in Sagittarius and it's trine Jupiter in 11th house. Libra AC really makes sense and also Capricorn Sun is the 20s inclination to practicality. it was around this time when many of the things we use nowadays, like TV, kitchen electronics, beauty products and electronic devices, cars and airplanes and all these things either were being developed or becoming adoped for common uses.