herzensart journal

some tasks others can do better...

2008-07-17T11:14:00.008+02:00

excerpt from Craft Inc. "Being a small-business owner means doing many tasks yourself, even if you might not be very good at some of them. So you should focus on hiring people..." for tasks others can do better.

Thank you so much to my friend and photographer Bogi Bell for capturing great moments with her camera. This is the second shooting Bogi did for me and again it was so much fun and so relaxing to lean back and enjoy watching her acting with Emil (5 years old) and Emma (5 months). I could not resist to share a few pictures with you.

Emma and Emil are the children of a customer of mine. We had not met before, all our conversation was done by email so far. But when I wrote her, that I was looking for a little "viking-boy" she immediately agreed to meet us and lending her kids for the shooting. A big thank you to the parents of these two amazing sweethearts. Emil and Emma you are great. THANK YOU for your modeling! I´d love to adopt you, think of it! :o)

S:T:O:L:A

2008-07-09T16:29:00.007+02:00

this beautiful stola is a gift from Cornelia. I love to recieve handmade gifts, they are of the most value for me, as they are created from the bottom of one´s heart. Somebody is taking the time to make something specially for another person. That is an act of love. Vielen Dank liebe Freundin!

This morning when I just thought about searching for a successor and new partner for Friederike!, I decided better to go to a dermatologist to end the thriller in my head. I lay awake this night convinced of having 2 melanomas and that my end was near. Now one of the 2 "making-me-crazy-melanoms" had to go, the other one the doctor allowed to stay. Ok I will blog a little bit longer...

Amsterdam

2008-07-07T16:49:00.008+02:00

some impressions from the weekend and fair (no.1-8 at the fair "kleinefabriek", no.9 & 11 dear friends, no.10, 11-17 my works exhibited, no.18 my love, no. 19 & 20 the Grachten

Our trip to Amsterdam was so good. We spent a short but great time together.
This time we even did what tourists do and made a canal boat tour :)

The fair kleinefabriek was amazing, although I had not expected that most of the exhibited items were kids clothes. My knights and horses are displayed at the entrance of the fair, it made my heart beat faster when I first saw them....

39

2008-07-03T11:35:00.004+02:00

it´s my birthday today. My mom must have been already 3-4 weeks pregnant with me (which I´m sure my parents didn´t know at that time) when this picture at their wedding was taken. This pic is one of my treasures, as it reminds me I was made in love. My parents won´t read this post, but I´m sure they feel that my heart is filled with gratitude.

30 minutes...

2008-07-02T16:15:00.007+02:00

...to make a garland
all you need is: fabric scraps, thread, a long ribbon, a sewing machine (sewing by hand might take a bit longer :))
The fabric pieces are sewn into a folded ribbon by using a zig zag stitch. I used conventional fabrics, so this garland is not really waterproof, it also will fray out, but I´m sure it will survive the summer.
Inspired through ninainvorm & Sophie Cuvelier (through Debi)

weekend pleasures

2008-06-29T10:25:00.003+02:00

Seascapes 1 & 2 by Elaine Pamphilon

finally...

2008-06-26T15:05:00.005+02:00

Jaques de Molay and his horse Josephine, Bertrand de Blanquefort with horse Bernadette, Gaulliaume de Chartres with Geraldine and Pierre de Montaigue with horse Paulette have started her ride to Amsterdam today. The magic horses, will bring their knights safe and sound and hopefully right in time to their final destination. Good luck friends!

b & w

2008-06-25T17:22:00.004+02:00

blurry..... like my head today

colors of the week

2008-06-23T17:05:00.006+02:00

this week is going to be black and white

preparing for an exhibition at "kleine fabriek" in Amsterdam (06.-07.July ´08), accepted at short notice and spontaneously.

Color restrictions: black and white, due to the motto of the mini.store exhibition (video of the last exhibition)

The Merfolk

2008-06-18T17:36:00.005+02:00

"They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom. But the sailors could not understand the song, they took it for the howling of the storm. And these things were never to be beautiful for them; for if the ship sank, the men were drowned, and their dead bodies alone reached the palace of the Sea King."

Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid

The Merfolk are living deep underwater, beneath oceans and seas. They are known for their romantic and poetic hearts, reflected in their incredibly beautiful songs. Their spoken language is Mermish and is used only above water. It is simplistic and heavily aspirated, a combination of coastal human dialects mixed with Mersong. Below the water the Merfolk communicate in a series of whistles, fluting sounds and sonic pulses which humans cannot hear. It is said that whales, dolphins, and other large fish also hear and comprehend this language (inspired by "the Merfolk" on Santharia.com)

Merman, seen on the coasts of Dublin [size: 46 cm tall, made on custom order]

happy weekend!

2008-06-14T11:30:00.002+02:00

enjoy :)

pretty little things

little treasures tree

2008-06-12T10:20:00.008+02:00

I made a "treasures tree" which stands now in my studio. I´ve pinned little gifts, cards and purchases onto it. The tree reminds me every day of all that great, creative, amazing people out there I met, many through flickr and this blog. THANK YOU!

from left to right:

1. brooche from Sara Lechner

2. moo card from my friend and artist Bogi Bell

3. postcard left Margaret Oomen, postcard right Beate Knappe, fabric swatches from Harmonyart , horse gift from an old friend ,

4. little card for Friederike! from Katherine Dunn

5. bird sculpture by Elisa Lataster, green cat from Wishes and Heroes, and again the postcard from Margaret Oomen

6. moo cards from Marci Senders

7. little guardian angel from my dear friend and artist Cornelia Rose, postcard from Kirsty Campion

8. lamb puzzle a gift for Friederike! from Green Wellies

9. fabric ribbon from Shula and Mym

10. birdie from Trish Millener (Sweetnellie) , little heart from erykah

11. horse by Carla Sonheim

12. hang tag by Graça Paz

parts of the pics have been cut off due to the mosaic making, but you can see the whole series and single pics here

Discovery of the day: Tara Whitney photography

color

2008-06-11T15:16:00.004+02:00

an urgent need for color forced me to give the corridor wall a new paint.
Out of the same urgent need for color I tried to convince my hairdresser today to change my hair color to red. He won.

Also not so colorful but pretty oldsouldolls

gimme milk!

2008-06-10T07:48:00.004+02:00

or I´ll send you to Vallhall

Emil... chief of the local baby viking tribe

protected

2008-06-09T16:17:00.007+02:00

"Paulette Petit Point" knew that she was best protected by her personal guardian angel

the order of the Knights Templar

2008-06-06T12:53:00.006+02:00

the most exciting ideas often flash up when there is no time at all to start realizing them at once. So most of the time they have to wait, are soon not interesting any more, or being forgotten and lost.

But this time not..... although I´m filled up with orders, I had to take a break. A Knights Templar doesn´t accept to wait...

new herzensart design:

Odo of Saint-Amand, Bernhard of Tremelay and Hugo of Payens with his horse Charlotte are available on my website (section art toys/Kleinkunst). Thank you!

in the garden

2008-06-02T17:00:00.008+02:00

1. in the garden, 2. in the garden, 3. in the garden, 4. in the garden, 5. in the garden, 6. in the garden, 7. in the garden, 8. in the garden, 9. in the garden, 10. in the garden, 11. in the garden, 12. in the garden

we´ve got a new camera...... still learning.....but some pics haven´t become too bad and the best shots and some nice corners of the garden we want to share with you.

Maybe you´ve recognized that the blog has a new banner. After 3 years of blogging Friederike! and I agreed that it was time. We decided to call this blog "herzensart journal" from now on. We will keep on posting about our working process, what surrounds us, inspires us, what we love, or drives us mad etc.

our love bus in print
beautiful tiny buildings, to read the story behind this art project makes them even more beautiful

Sven I Gabelbart - Sweyn I Forkbeard

2008-05-28T07:51:00.017+02:00

viking sculpture "Sven Gabelbart" (viking no.66): diverse high quality cotton-, linen- & hemp fabrics, acrylic felt, leather, coconut buttons, pearls, wool, rattle, stuffed with polyfil. ca. 43 cm tall

988 to 1014 A.D., son of Harald I Bluetooth (whom Sven dispossessed of the crown).
Sven was king of Denmark and a master of robbery and pillage. Chances are that he coined the famous phrase: "let´s go pillage, harrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
But on the other hand Sven had a tender disposition and clung to his childhood. His double axe, was a fake. In reality it was a a baby rattle which he kept in memory of his big-boobied nanny (and first love) Frida. By the way, the rattle did a good job confusing his enemies in battles.

+++++ E. & E. I hope you like your viking?+++++

The education of little vikings started at a very young age. Even viking babies & toddlers became aquainted playfully to axes by giving them soft axe rattles.... new herzensart design: "axe rattle for little viking warriors"

made from soft cotton cord and terry cloth, rattle inside, stuffed with polyfil.

size: about 25 cm tall. prize: 25 EUR. Available here

Thank you!

circles

2008-05-25T15:20:00.015+02:00

circles for new Drakkar pillows

... there´s something satisfying in circles ...
they are so.............. organized...... .....................at least when the studio is a mess
more and more circles

I tried to change the layout of this blog without saving a backup of the old one before. That was a stupid idea! Now, some strange things happened and some links in the menue are lost, I hope I can fix this again...

little Chinese boy

2008-05-21T17:38:00.005+02:00

this doll was made on custom order. I don´t know the little boy in person, as he is living in Hong Kong. The doll is based on photographs, so it´s a kind of a portrait doll as far as this is possible when working with fabrics and in herzensart style :) I hope his mummy can see her little boy in the doll anyway.

chic with aprons

2008-05-19T10:41:00.009+02:00

aprons "enjoying a renaissance as a retro-chic fashion accessory" wrote the Wallstreet journal in 2005. And that is true. Aprons are not only comfortable, but also sexy!

We are supporting the Pino Pie event on June 28th with this apron.

Thank you all for your warm comments and welcome back on our last post!

comments - welcome back!

2008-05-16T15:00:00.011+02:00

I missed the "hello" from new visitors, the comments of my true readers, I missed your feedback and I missed the fun in a way. I´m on withdrawals, so I decided to activate the comments again. You are welcome to tell me that you are as happy as I am :) I guess you are? :D

In bed with a viking :) - published in "the dailies - Stephanie Congdon-Barnes"

I got mail from Portugal with one of Graças beautiful saint dolls and a magazine with an article about her fantastic, colorful home. You can see one of my dolls sitting next to the bed (I´m stolz wie Oskar!)

I´ve been asked giving a workshop in handmaking toys at the Willekeurig festival in Groningen (Netherlands) in July which sounds like lots of fun. Unfortunately I can´t make it at that time, but maybe that offer speakes to you, let me know.

The opening night of the mixed nuts exhibition in Adelaide was great, as Kirsty who organized everything told. It´s the wish of the publisher that we don´t show any pics of the nuts before the book is published, hmpf.....

the old apple tree...

2008-05-11T07:37:00.013+02:00

lying under the old apple tree...a beautiful visual essay inspired by Urgelt's reading of the poem by

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

cups and plates

2008-05-08T14:55:00.005+02:00

from Diana Fayt...

I ordered them by the end of last year. Diana is a busy artist (for good reason) and therefore it takes as long as it takes. I think her work is beautiful!

Mademoiselle Josephine and co.

2008-05-02T10:01:00.007+02:00

Josephine is a fancy french Mademoiselle, charming, always neat as a pin and with a faible for classic leaping dance...actually I like the combination of green with pink / purple. Mademoiselle Josephine is available

The order for a shop in France is finished as well now I´m looking forward to find time for new creations.