My Work

Inspired by the work of Susanna Bauer I began my hunt for the perfect magnolia leaf.  I found it in the shape of a heart on my mini magnolia we planted this spring on our patio.  My craftsmanship needs work, my holes I punched are a bit shaky, but I really enjoyed working this out.  

I pressed the leaf under pressure for a couple of days then used an awl to poke my holes.  I've been saving some cotton string that I indigo dyed in our Glennis Dolce workshop last school year, found my grandmother's smallest metal crochet hook and crocheted around the leaf.  Then I looked for another string that would compliment the piece and did a bit of edging.  You are looking at the back above and the front side below. 

I also tried working on a rubber tree leaf.  I pressed it flat as well but after I hung the finished piece on our Xmas tree at school it really started to dry up and wrap.  I actually really liked the effect.

I tried one more leaf since, using another small magnolia leaf and actually cut this one into the shape of a heart, so that I had a crocheted heart ornament for each of my children this Christmas.

Thank you Susanna for your inspiration!

Susanne Bauer - Mixed Media Artist

Another new inspiration that I found thru Art Propelled is mixed media artist Susanna Bauer.  Again, her work is right up my alley.  She finds leafs, twigs and rocks and turns them into intricate works of art with her fibers and needle skills.  I recently purchased a leaf from her very much like the one above.  It also arrived from Fed Ex in a similar condition to the piece I posted yesterday after paying an enormous shipping and handling fee, for Susanna lives in Cornwall, England, and the package had to travel a long, long way.  Fed Ex, let's get it together!  

I borrowed these excerpts off Susanna's website with her permission:

"I go walking

I find a leaf, a piece of driftwood - or sometimes it finds me.

I take it home and its new life begins.  

This website is about the work that started alongside my career as a modelmaker.

I have worked for the television and film industry for over 16 years, making objects like King Arthur's chalice, cheeses for Wallace and Gromit, miniature buildings, robots and spaceships.

I have always been driven by a great love of making and working with my hands and over the years have acquired a broad knowledge of materials and techniques.

Most of my pieces are small sculptural objects often based on found natural materials. I like giving time to the inconspicuous things that surround us and often go unnoticed, paying attention to small details and the tactile quality of objects. Appropriating traditional craft techniques like weaving and crochet as a means of sculpture brings a contemplative element to the development of my work. I am interested in unusual combinations of materials, the experimentation with fragility and strength and the individual stories that evolve and shape themselves in the process of making.

I was born 1969 in Bavaria, Germany, and have lived in England since 1996 where I used to divide my time between London and Cornwall.

Since 2010 the West Penwith area of Cornwall has become my permanent home and inspiration for my work."

Susanna Bauer