Beyond a Happy Brain

While photographing this vintage ribbonwork purse, my thoughts kept wandering back to a book I finished in August, What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite by David Di Salvo.

One of the most fascinating concepts laid out in the book was the notion that our brains really like things the way they are and don't like to be threatened.    Our brains develop schema, mental maps of concepts that we place together by association.  This is very helpful to our survival as we gain speed in evaluating new inputs so we can respond more quickly to them.  It's how we adapt and learn.

Our brains like it when new information fits into one of our pre-established schema, aka 'certainty bias'.  In fact, we crave certainty.  

When new information does not match our pre-determined schema, the brain is threatened and the reward center powers down.  In other words, it's uncomfortable and our brains will work hard to restore peace and harmony.

Though we may enter into a discussion with someone of opposing views with the best of intentions to be open-minded and really "hear" what the other person is saying, our brains will work very hard to selectively ignore information inconsistent with our schema or beliefs.  

In fact, the most shocking take-away for me from the book was that..

Our brain may not even hear, see or process the information at all...as if the information had never been transmitted in the first place.  (Here's a link to an interesting excerpt from the book if you're interested.)

Wow.  I've been missing a lot.  What a filter we have to overcome to take in new information!

So why, you ask, am I thinking of this book when I am photographing the beautiful vintage ribbonwork on this old purse?

I think it's because the process of photography...laying out the picture, selecting the angle in the viewfinder, editing the photos, gives our brains a second, third and fourth chance to take in information that we wouldn't have seen the first time around.

If someone had merely brought the purse to a meeting to share, I might have gotten the general impression of the beauty of the work.  I definitely would have noticed the uses for picot edged ribbon that were new to me.  But I would have left with just an overall impression.

But I would have left with just an overall impression.

Taking a picture allows us to re-see the image anew.  It allows us to study.  To go back over the image that we've looked at many times and find something we haven't seen before.  

And our filters, our schema, greatly influence what we're picking up in the photos.  

If I've taken ribbonwork classes, I might be focused on the ribbons and how they were sculpted.

If I'm a crewel artist, I might be interested in the colors and the shading of the leaves and how the blending of the silk buttonhole twist works differently than wool...  

If I have struggled to compose my own floral designs, I might look at the overall composition and its balance.

Maybe it's the texture; maybe it's the stitches...

I cannot predict what you will "see"...but I do know that none of us sees it all.  

I know I didn't see all the shades of brown, green, blue and gray threads used in the leaves and vines until I looked closer.  

I didn't see the thorns on the branches. 

I was too busy looking at the beautifully stuffed rosebuds and how I wanted so badly to make them.

And so we must work hard to see more than what is most obvious.

  

To push beyond our first impression.

And so...

Take a picture, it lasts longer.

And then...

Share it with someone.  

They may see something you missed.

Look again...

...what did you see?

Ribbon, Art and Candace Kling

It's not every day that I have the opportunity to learn from someone as knowledgeable and accomplished as Candace Kling.

She is a Master, and she is a sculptor.

For 30 years, Candace has studied textile collections held by museums and private collectors, intrigued by the underlying construction behind embellishment in costume and fashions.

Through her own pursuit of sculpting ribbons and fabric into art, she has acquired a knowledge of such depth and breadth, it is absolutely thrilling to a student wishing to learn.

And the fact that the room was surrounded by board after board of amazing examples was enough to make me hyper-ventilate in my exhilaration...

This workshop was intense for me.

There was so much information to absorb, so many techniques to observe and to try to imitate in making my own samples. It was hard to force myself to break for lunch or even the bathroom. (We joked that Depends needed to be on our supply list!)

I had many, many A-ha! moments.

But my biggest "take-away" was the idea that the fabric has to be sculpted -- that the fabric has a voice and, through the manipulation of a skilled hand, the piece can sing...

Candace's hands honored the ribbons...her touch was light...and she approached the ribbon as if she were sculpting fine porcelain, not fabric, into flowers.

All too often she would notice us pulling too hard, tugging and distressing the material, in our pursuit of the perfect bloom...and she would remind us to be gentle.

She taught that each hand will sculpt the same ribbon differently. And each fabric and or ribbon will react differently to the same technique.

So just as oil paints and watercolors behave differently in different media and under the practiced hand of different artists...so too does ribbon.

Because we were learning, we made large samples so we could see and remember all of the techniques that were covered.

Candace uses a padded, covered board similar to a bobbin-lace pillow to sculpt her work. To improvise, we used empty fabric bolts to pin and sculpt our samples.

Over the three days, we filled up three cardboard display boards...

And they were all beautiful and varied from student to student and ribbon by ribbon.

My samples are very special to me and mark the beginning of a new journey...

In pursuit of the artful ribbon.

[Note: Candace's book, The Artful Ribbon, is out of print but you can still buy copies through Amazon or other used book dealers.]

Road to Ribbonwork: Week 4 of 4

This is the last of four Monday posts where I'll show pictures of pieces of antique ribbonwork that I have in my collection while preparing for a ribbonwork workshop with Candace Kling in November.

I saved my favorite piece for last...

I love this ruffled pink ribbon.

There's a luster to this antique ribbon that we just don't see in our modern silk ribbon.

And again, you can see from the back of the work, that the ribbonwork components are made separately and then applied to a background.

Next week, I'll be heading up to Connecticut for the workshop.

I promise to share as much as I can. Happy Monday everyone.

Road to Ribbonwork: Week 3 of 4

This is the third of four Monday posts where I'll show pictures of pieces of antique ribbonwork that I have in my collection while preparing for a ribbonwork workshop with Candace Kling in November.

Today I'm sharing three ribbonwork sprays. None of them are in very good condition but we can still envision their beauty once when they were originally constructed.

I always enjoy seeing how the leaves were stitched. In this case, three stitches only using an ombre green ribbon and attached using a silk-wrapped cord or wire...

All three of the sprays are built on a piece of buckram separately to be applied to a garment at a later time.

The one below has really faded but it's one of my favorites...

Mainly because of the shapes of the leaves.

They're round like geranium leaves.

And that little bit of curved stitching on the ribbons for the calyx of these buds?

It's the perfect touch.

And the last spray today is one of the sweetest...

I love how it's wrapped and constructed similar to the techniques we would use for real flowers; using wire, pips and silk thread to wrap rather than florist tape.

I think I love all the pips and stamens used in this piece the most...

I hope these little sprays have given you some inspiration for your own work.

Happy Monday everyone!

The Road to Ribbonwork: Week 2 of 4

This is the second of four Monday posts where I'll show pictures of pieces of antique ribbonwork that I have in my collection while preparing for a ribbonwork workshop with Candace Kling in November.

I absolutely adore these berries that have been individually made and applied to the edge of this lace. I have one piece that is attached and another piece that is unattached to any lace, more like a garland...

The colors have faded quite a bit but I the overall effect is pure delight.

I believe the berries were made by stuffing bits of silk satin ribbon, capping them with silk ribbon and sewing them together with silk buttonhole twist...

*sigh

Happy Monday.

Road to Ribbonwork: Week 1 of 4

This is the first of four Monday posts where I'll show pictures of pieces of antique ribbonwork that I have in my collection while preparing for a ribbonwork workshop with Candace Kling in November.

I don't have many pieces but I enjoy studying the methods and manipulation of ribbon to accomplish different effects so I thought you might too.

I love the twist of this ribbon to form the basket bottom...

And the use of wrapped wire to give the basket its handle.

And for those who like to look at the back of the work...

The piece was made onto two pieces of buckram...one for the basket and one for the flowers...then sewn together.

And check out this beautiful example of an Antique Ribbonwork Lingerie Case courtesy of Cathy Kizerian on Crazy by Design. It's wonderful and shows two interesting methods for making ribbon roses.

Do you have any antique examples to share? Just leave a link on this post and I'll reference it in my next post.

Enjoy your Monday everyone...

P.S. Thanks for all of your love and comments about Jack, his date and the corsage. Luckily, he and his friends aren't interested in reading a needlework blog *wink...