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Author: NLS

Quipu or Khipu…

I freelance for a software company that produces products for speech therapy and learning disabilities. I am currently making my way through a database of words to be included in some apps.

I collect words and phrases to use in my work. I integrate them by using Morse and Tap Code. The code isn’t straight forward I refer to the code by substituting color, a variety of knots or stitches, and metal or plant bits.

When I ran across the word quipu I liked the visual structure of the word. According to Wikipedia, “Quipus (or khipus), sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices historically used in the region of Andean South America.”

The image is from the wikipedia site. Can you see the code?

wiki_Inca_Quipu

I find the piece visually beautiful. But it is so much more. I recently listened to a Richard Feynman recording in which he discussed the difference in the way people appreciate nature. When I view the example of Quipu I think that it is lovely as an artifact, then I wonder how does the fiber feel and smell, what kind of fiber was used, how were the knots made, how has the work survived… And after thinking about those qualities I think about the context. Then I view the piece differently, but I still find it quite beautiful.

For more information-

Wikpedia

Frank Salomon Pages, Dept. of Anthropology University of Wisconsin

Gary Urton & Carrie Brezine, Khipu Database Project

Just a Trim…

I don’t enjoy the whole hair salon experience so I typically don’t have my hair cut very often. My hair had been cut in layers and as often happens, a section in the back was noticeably a few inches longer than the rest. I tied my hair in a very loose ponytail and asked my husband if he would trim the long section to make it even with the rest. I followed that with cut a little at a time. You can always trim it again.

He said sure. Then I heard the crunch of my ponytail being cut off followed by the shock of this on the bathroom counter.

HairTrim

The shock wasn’t about the current length of my hair. Hair grows. It was, where in the definition of the word “trim” could something like this happen? How many times do you believe that you are communicating with another person only to find that while the language is the same, the words used are understood differently? Or when describing something, the image you have in your mind is nothing like that of the person you are talking with?

What is the solution to these misunderstandings? Perhaps it is to ask more questions and really listen to the answers. And don’t blame the other person for the misunderstanding. Two people were involved in the dialogue.

Valentine’s Gifts 2012

I like to make fun holiday gifts for the kids in my family. I gave felt a go and realized that I am not one with it. The same was true with buttons. I use binding, embroidery, weaving, and knot techniques in my work so I decided to use some of those techniques to make Valentine’s gifts.

I have been collecting rocks to send to my nephew to add to his collection. This rock is quite heart-like, so I bound it with red rayon embroidery floss for a necklace, or to hang on the wall.

StoneHeart

I have been binding washers to use for code components in some of my pieces. This is a detail of a piece titled, Make Your Own Luck. I used two washer sizes. The color of the washers replace dots and dashes and the smaller bound washers the spaces between letters within words and between words.

LuckDetail

This is a detail that has the washers without binding for spacers and with half binding or full binding to correspond to dots and dashes. The Piece has the full text, “See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, Do no Evil”. The border is coded, “Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse”.

DoNoEvil

A couple of years back I saw this blog post at thesmallobject.com using washers to make a necklace based on the work of Anni Albers. This is a photo from the blog post written by Sarah Neuburger.

NeuburgerPhoto

Here is the link to see her great instructions.

So, I got to thinking about binding washers with embroidery floss and then stringing them together with a braid. This is what I came up with. It isn’t chocolate but I think the my niece will like it.

ValentineBracelet

I made some Shrinky Dink bits to use for greeting cards. Realized when I was binding them to the cards that if I made the cord a tad longer the lot could be worn as a bracelet.

ValentineCards

Some of my work can be viewed at GirlArtist.

Eating Crow…

Do people actually eat crow?

Crow Times

While I was in Ohio staying at my parents’ house I found it necessary to search through the local phone book. It is hard to believe that some people still have dial up and a connection so slow that leafing through a phone book is quicker than attempting a Google search.

In the phone book between Human Services and International Calling is the Hunting Guide. I grew up with a father and uncle who hunted, but was still shocked to see the approved list and times for killing animals.

I couldn’t keep myself from scanning the list for the dates acceptable to kill rabbits. Most of my adult life I have shared my home with house rabbits.

Nora

After the initial shock, I noticed a couple of things that seemed especially odd. The words muzzleloader and primitive in context with killing deer and the schedule for unlimited crow killing.

According to some hunting sites, it is possible to kill 10 to 100 crows in a single morning. Even though recipes for preparing crows are posted, crows are described as tasting bitter and gamey. They are also viewed as carrion feeders making them undesirable for consumption. And they don’t taste like chicken.

A couple of additional things come to mind when thinking about crows. The first is the documentation of crows using and making tools to access food.

Another thing is the idiom “eating crow” and humiliation. And then there is the association of crows transporting the souls of the dead to their next realm.

There are some crows hanging around our neighborhood. They roll walnuts around on the roof to break open the shells. If that doesn’t work for them they throw the walnuts off the roof breaking them open on the concrete steps.

New Year 2012

2012 January 1

The tradition continues with a trip to the beach on the first day of the new year. It was a gorgeous day. The temperature was 75º so the scarf, mittens, and hat I received for Christmas was left at home.

HNY2012

I do love my straw hat. My brother gave it to me when we were in South Carolina for our sister’s wedding in September of 2001. The scarf has been with me even longer.

This year the search for holey rocks continued but the search broadened to include smooth rocks without holes and textured rocks.

Rocks

My six year old nephew has a collection of over 130 rocks. For Christmas he sent me some of his artwork.

Will's Art

As a thank you, I am sending him some rocks to add to his collection.

Box of Rocks

Going to need a larger box.

11211

1 January 2011

The Beach Tradition

HNY2011

My one tradition is to visit the beach on the first day of January. Take a photo, rather like those yearly school photos. See nature at its best, the dichotomy of creation and destruction by the ocean. And perhaps most important, the search for holey rocks.

Holey/holy, and the superstition that a rock found with a hole in it brings the bearer good luck.

HNY2011