Hey All,
It's true, I'm taking a look back at all of the work I've created over the last twelve years as Plentiful Designs, and at least one external drive is not even trying to load. That's terrifying. Due to this finding and others that included my photo-dump in the original site, I'm trying to back up as much as I can here in this blog.
In case you're new here, I created this site for my shop back in 2014, three years after I started up with Etsy. It was meant to be a way that I could share all of the work that had been created over the years Plentiful Designs has been in operation. Originally I tried uploading all of the pieces, but as you can imagine over the last twelve years, there have been far more than wix would freely allow. To give an idea of how far I’ve come, their limit as of right now is 500MB.
It is currently wild to remember where I’ve started versus now. There have been so many learning curves since then regarding both life and in business that it almost feels like the same adventure. Maybe it is. No matter what, it encourages me to keep going, to share my experiences… and maybe someday that will help others carry on within their paths, to be willing to follow the chances given rather than be afraid of them.
Back when I first started Plentiful Designs was a custom art studio. I catered to anyone with an inquiry, as always. I was open to doing all types of work within the traditional, digital and artisan crafts. Due to it, I always had my hand in something.
Here I’d like to show some of those pieces. First up, crochet.
I started crocheting after my husband and I lost our first son as a way to keep him with me. Let me explain. When everything happened and the hospital let me hold him despite my doctor’s malpractice, he came wrapped in a crochet blanket donated by a woman who had gone through the same sort of loss. I still have his blanket with me. It rests at my corner of the headboard. Having it has helped in some ways more than others. It gave me stability where there wasn’t in the beginning, so learning how to give that sort of support to others became my first initiative.
My mother in law taught me how to make this pattern:
I learned how to chain, single and double crochet, skip stitch, shell and how to slip stitch. It seems like a lot all at once but each one of the rows is a half circle. Seasoned crocheters would see this and say I kept the yarn too loose but for my first project and therapy given the circumstances, I know I did well and that’s enough for me. This blanket is still usable and usually comes out around Christmas time here.
For this pattern and many more please see Hookfully for an A-Z list of crochet stitches and patterns that other bloggers have created. Some are from the books, but I must say others are very tempting to try.
For some of us, like me, patterns are not for me. Personally, I can follow a pattern, but it’s hard for me to stay the course for long periods of time. Where I excel the most is when I’m trying something new.
New? What could be a new approach to crochet? Well, I see the medium as a way to create wearable sculpture as well as toys, so why not?
My approach has taken me on a great adventure with yarn. I’ve created hats that go beyond the usual beanie or skullcap. I’ve made dresses and embroidered them, baby products for photo shoots (the scuba set was the most fun for sure), small stuffed animals and decorations, as well as scarfs, appliques and more.
I’ve made blankets, sure, but made them into mosaic pieces instead of constant threads. I’ve made them into canvases with scenes and themes. My most favorite overall were sunflower blankets however. They are a labor of love and the most comfortable blanket I’ve ever made. I think part of the reason for it is because of the fact that the petals are not sewn together. They have an organic feeling to them that helps provide that added comfort.
Below are slides of what creations were offered back then in my shop.
While it sounds like I’m bragging, these endeavors came with so many challenges that I can’t help but be proud. By 2013 our second son was born. My hyper-awareness to him and the time in the early stages of being a stay at home mom produced were overwhelming. Completing projects or even having the excitement to start more in that state of exhaustion were huge steps forward even though they felt like steps backward. As my son grew and wanted to get into it with me, yarn became a toy, something to pull around the entire house and so needed to be a quiet time thing. Unsurprisingly, I stopped.
About the time that our daughter came into the scene I left the blanket making for her Mema, my mother in law, the one who started me on this journey. Maybe I’ll make her a sunflower blanket for her room this summer while we’re working on our summer projects.
Anyway, thank you to all for taking a look. My next post will go over other areas of design and how I got into digital.
Until then, I wish everyone all the best. KA
Bonus: I found a couple of pictures that were taken of the midriff and skirt made for a client in Ewa beach, HI, that aren't in slides. That was a big project and a lot to learn. Not that I hadn't made clothing before, but more about the inner-workings of the hooking world. (Not that... If you're not a crocheter, there's a lingo to it.) It was more about how other shop owners conduct themselves. It was unprofessional and I won't get much further into it but it was certainly an eye opener. My customer was amazing though. I couldn't have asked for a better experience, especially for that level of work.
Anyhow, without further ado, the midriff's skirt (I still have yet to find the pictures for the midriff itself):
I also have my daughter's Princess Leia costume somewhere. I have to photograph that If I can't find her first Halloween pictures. That's a story. We waited until about a week before Halloween to finally decide I was going to have to make the costume since the shop by us didn't have one. It's times like those where I side eye my husband and say, "It must be nice to be married to an artist." He's never disagreed. Smart man. I'll add the photos soon.
There have been others. I'll have to keep my eye out for. Oh! My son had a CMPunk Blanket... I tell you, the controversy over that blanket was terrifying actually. If you know the character, you know. If you don't, let me break it down. CMPunk was the best, well spoken wrestler in the WWE that I can recall, besides The Rock (back when I was in high school). Don't get me wrong, The Rock never lost it but boy, when we got back into wrestling CMPunk took our attention by storm. Now, I don't know all of the politics behind wrestling or exactly what happened. The story is best told by documentaries or himself on AEW, but when he left WWE, he kept his name. The whole persona, the character, everything belonged to CMPunk and WWE didn't like the fact that they couldn't stamp him out of existence after his contract was up.
Truthfully, its ballsy and I respect that as an artist, but it wasn't really something I could wrap my head around while I was designing a blanket after his logo. The blanket is my son's and was not for sale, however, I did put it up in a listing so that customers could see what I could do if they wanted a similar "drawing" style over top of a blanket.
Well, Matthew, a representative from WWE's legal team reached out to me to tell me to take it down. Little did I know someone took the link to my listing and posted it elsewhere, where... honestly, I don't know how many people had seen it. It seemed like enough to get corporate involved, but that was enough for me. It was settled that I could still show the work but it couldn't show up in a listing, and furthermore, no charges would be taken. Thank goodness...
It wasn't until later on that my husband helped me get a better understanding of just how far it had traveled around the web. I'll have to find the photo and add it later, but I found that to be pretty wild and certainly not something I ever wanted to repeat from there. All work since has been contracted for safety. There's no need to loose it all for a small one time sale.
For real now, I'll catch up again with photos when I find the above projects. Until then, peace and love.