Books+Embroidery+Snowmen= Happiness

When I was a little girl I can remember having bronchitis every winter and my parents would let me have books in my bed. I would slowly read each page, trying not to fall asleep. Happy and miserable at the same time. The year that they put the tiny black & white portable TV set in my room, I knew I must be dying.

That's how I felt last week as I sat in front of my computer, dressed in gown, robe and slippers all day, sipping tea and taking slugs of Dayquil. I discovered my new favorite website/blog. It's full of wonderful and delightful content. The Rag and Bone Bindery Boutique and Blog just blew me away and as I coughed and wheezed and sneezed and fought going back to bed, I read through the book categories on the Blog and fell in love with some new artists and their work. It seemed too good to be true, but as I revisited it all week, I became confident that it wasn't just a figment of my medicated imagination, but a really wonderful new resource for work I had not seen.

Tamar Stone writes books with fabric and embroidery. Corsets become the paper as she writes with needle and thread.

_{the untitled pink corset book 2000 photo by Tamar Stone used with permission}

I find her work to be unique and interesting. Like coming upon an old vintage trunk abandoned in the woods, opening the lid and gently lifting out corsets that tell a story full of mystery and sadness.

_{What to wear Vol 1 2004-2005 photo by Tamar Stone used with permission}

I love books. I especially love imaginative and unique books that make me think about what a book is. Tamar's work does just that. It challenges me to go one step beyond my preconceived notions of words on paper and move out into the realm of imagination where anything is possible. I love her message and wish I could see these corset books on exhibit. Maybe someday. Hey, Ringling, can you call Tamar?

Please visit her website and view her collection of Corset, Bed and Paper Books.

_{Taking to Bed 2007 photo by Tamar Stone used with permission}

I also found her mentioned on the Mr X Stitch Blog. Mr X  is quite a wonderful embroidery Blog and if you haven't visited his site (Jamie) be aware that it isn't your grannies embroidery, but some contemporary (and sometimes contemptuous) embroidery as social commentary, as an art form, as a form of fabric graffiti, as a rebellion, as a tattoo on the fabric of social awareness...well you get the idea. It's radical embroidery, man! Totally awesome in it's extreme manly maleness. Who let the boys into the stitching room? Ha, ya gotta love the smell of testosterone in the morning. Anyway, they are together at a show across the pond titled Beware of Embroidery and oh, how I wish I could go.

When I wrote Tamar for permission to post her work and photographs on my blog she shared something else that I just have to show you. Her husband, Bob Eckstein, wrote a book about The History of  the Snowman. Check it out here at You Tube and Buy one at Amazon. I love snowmen and am sad that I have to go make mine in the sand at the beach. There's something about their fleeting lifespan- here one day, gone the next, that makes me want to say a prayer for more cold weather so they can live another day. Maybe I can do a series of embroidered books on snowmen I have adored and tie all of these themes together in a neat little bundle of blog love.

Maybe I'll just curl back under the quilts and dream of gossamer threads and linen stretch tight, waiting to receive the needle threaded with silky strands of colorful threads... Thank you Rag & Bone, Tamar, Jamie and Bob for sharing your stuff and making my world a better place.

happy dreams of creativity,

calamity kim