Sven I Gabelbart - Sweyn I Forkbeard

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!

one, two, three...

new textile love token size: 24 cm. made from fabrics, thread, polyfil, comes with a handwritten paper tag saying: "come on take a ride with me, packed in a grey cardboard box

price: 35 EUR plus shipping, via email order info(at)herzensart(dot)com

wool stuffed

this viking girl is made from Harmonyart fabrics as well. She will also travel to the NY exhibition and is the first with a wool stuffing.
I found it not so easy to stuff her firmly without having dents and dints. But now she´s done. Sigh

six years dreaming

I´m dreaming - occassionally. Probably I´m dreaming every night, but it is not that often that I wake up and remember what I had dreamed about. I´ve read that a human spends a total of about six years dreaming, which is about 2 hours each night. Five minutes after the end of a dream, we have forgotten 50 percent of the dream's content. Ten minutes later, we've forgotten 90 percent of its content.

Unfortunately it is the "bad" dreams that stay in mind, those leaving you with a really bad feeling and making your heart beat faster when remembering them, while you´re hardly trying to forget them. But it will be exactly these dreams that you will be able to recall for years.

Blessed who´s got a dream guardian.... six years nice dreaming :o)

open letter

the Internet is a great arena for artists, crafters, designers and all kinds of creative people showing and sharing their wonderful creations with the world and finding their customers from around the globe. It´s also a wonderful source for finding inspiration. I really love to watch the works and work spaces of others and feeling being part of a hughe creative movement, embracing the world and trying to be an antipol to the mass produced and mass marketed. One can see an explosively rise of an indie craft scene. Many creatives found not only the chance to do what they really love, but also a way of making a tiny business out of it. I think this is an amazing development.

I started using textiles about three years ago, after I found the wonderful designs of artists like Rosa Pomar on the web. Being a painter at this stage of my artist way, I felt so inspired and I wanted to make tactile 3 dimensional art. My first creations came out a bit odd as I had nearly no experience in sewing (only had sewn a so called babydoll (nightshirt) at the age of about 9 in school which I never finished as I hated to work with the sewing machine and also hated that ten of the 15 girls had bought the same fabric like me, with a Sarah Kay dolls print for their first sewing project. So this was the tentative end of my sewing career, which should last for the next 27 years)

An old lady was living next to my door who was a seamstress, so I asked her what was wrong with my creations and she showed me that I had to clip curved seems, to make them smooth when turned right side out and stuffed. I made many drawings of possible creatures, that I wanted to transform into sewing projects.

It was all about drawing, designing and learning by doing. It took a while until I had found my own, personal style. Dolls with a simple shape, sleepy eyes and thick thumbs.
I can honestly say that I love my creatures every single one and there is nearly none of them after being finished that was not sitting with me in front of the TV, or even sitting in front of my bed so that I could look at it a while before falling into sleep (ask my husband). We are having a real deep relationship, my dolls and I :-)
In the last 2 weeks I got 2 emails from people telling me that they have seen my designs being used by others and SOLD. One email told me about a person selling on a German marketplace for handmade goods (that I also use to show my works) and one in a shop in Barcelona. (Please note: I´m not talking of these people who have bought the Softies book, where I have published the pattern of my guardian angel for PRIVATE use.)

Like I´ve said in the beginning of this post, the internet is a fantastic source for inspiration and I don´t want to miss it. But I think it makes a difference being inspired or to imitate.

I´m not the only one being copied, I know as I´ve read from other designers as well that they were imitated and other people and companies made profit out of their works. Do these people really identify with the piece of work, does it give satisfaction themselves? I don´t think so. There are unlimited ways for example to sew an angel and I really appreciate looking at variations of angels. It is the variety and the uniqueness that comes along with the handmade movement and that makes the world richer. I really don´t like to look at copies of my designs.

sometimes

but not today ...

* * *

first snow today...

just another pic

with eyes wide open

my life in the last days would have made a good example of Murphys law. But who wants to hear my complains?
Playing with fabrics led me to a new version of vikings that I´d like to share with you... It´s been interesting to see, how changing litttle details can have a significant effect and give a new meaning to a doll.
I´m sending some of these new vikings to this show don´t miss this:
art with polymer clay by Meredith Dittmar
and felted objects by Blyth

soft worlds

after the viking army got some female support last week, this week the first child came to life...

I love to expand on this viking idea and my soft creatures in general...
I´m thrilled of the idea to create scenarios, settings, whole worlds, soft worlds! So this is the beginning....

handmade is better!

chaos in the studio.... not to say in the whole house. It´s a balancing act to pass the way through without slipping on fabric pieces or stepping into needles lying on the floor. I feel the urge need of order and some neatness and that I must clean the studio before I can continue to create new "viking froeken" and viking . But instead of cleaning the studio I find myself sitting here, writing a new post.... hmmm

I´m in love with Diana Fayts cups, so I´ve ordered some for next year... (MICHAEL don´t read any further!!!! :o) ......obviously I´m in a consuming-handmade-goods-mood. A beautiful brooche from Vera João (I´m a big fan of her work) is also on the way and already arrived has Maxfield, worlds cutest art thieve, made by the gorgeous snoot maker Sweetnellie (Trish Millener). Trishs creations are one of a kind, they have this kind of nostalgia and make me feel living in a good world. Maxfield lived up to his name and stashed that little peep, as he wanted some company on his long journey. Thanks so much Trish!

This site made me smile.

I´d like to watch the Tomi Ungerer film "die drei Raeuber"

oops, we did it again

this is another "oops, we did it again" post, our last is a while ago now. But we thought this is the right time for a revival. Abough you see our brandnew herzensart jewellery :)

Little linoprints on organic cotton (no.1,3,4) and linnen (no.2&5), stuffed with Kapok, and woolen strings. (price: 10 EUR plus shipping/please send an email with the number, if you are interested in one. First come first serve!)

Thank you! x Friederike!

the family grows

yesterday was a wonderful late summer day. We spent the day in the garden, collecting apples, that drop down from the trees with a dull "plopp", having sweet apple pie and enjoying the sun.
This perfect day was topped by a surprise package flying in from Oregon ....... Pino {I´m sure you remember the story of the pie baking donkey} sent me this lovely package.

and what it hided inside was this gorgeous, cute, apron wearing donkey. It´s stuffed with lavender from the farm and smells heavenly! {art by Katherine Dunn}Pino, dear Pino, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

new path - new love

thanks to Sheree and Martje I´m breaking new ground. I´m exploring the world of organic fabrics. Textiles that are made of natural grown cotton, without dangerous chemicals and pesticids and using low-impact water-based printing.

new herzensart organic series:

viking no.24 and angel no.17 are made from wonderful soft natural grown organic cotton (Qualitex , Germany), organic flannel (Anita Pavani, Germany) and beautiful organic patterend fabrics (Harmonyart, USA & Organic Cotton, UK). I´m only at the very beginning of my new journey, but it feels good... green greetings, Friederike!

please vote

we had a fotoshooting for "Germany´s next Top Doll". In the beginning our girls behaved a bit camera shy, but after some coaching by Bruce Darnell, they warmed up and in the end they really loved it. tatatataaaa, here are the candidates. Please vote for your favorite! Thank you! yours, Friederike!

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this and that

I feel a bit sad and knocked down. I wonder if I should make another try to find out my roots. One and a half years ago, I was found next to this dumpster, set out, agitated and with loss of memory. After a few days, we posted bills in the surrounding area, searching for my family. But nobody ever called. I really feel comfortable with where I am now. I even would say I was never so happy in my whole life before - if I would remember - and most of the days I can deal with having lost my past, but sometimes... Shall I try again?

A while ago, somebody asked me to draw a sketch of my studio, it should be published on an art blog. I don´t know if this ever happened, but now I´m uploading this sketch here, otherwise I would have done this of no earthly use. Not that this would be the only thing done with no use, but...
Then... here comes Susi: not half as shy as her 3 sisters....

another not really happy looking sheep . Bye, bye for now, Friederike!

Vroni and Heidi

Vroni and Heidi like to go out for ride today. They are too shy to walk alone and need a protective hoof by their side. They are lovely little country girls, so I´d love to show them the big world, but first let´s start with the city of Cologne.

Vroni (black hair) - Heidi (brown hair)

It´s for the first time that we accepted a retail order. herzensart vikings will capture Chicago in a few weeks. We are so excited about that and will soon tell more.

Maybe more later, Friederike!

SPRING!

Update: these honeybunnies are longing for new homes. They are available here or you can also send an email, if you would like to adopt one :o)

I´m sitting on the terrace enjoying the sun on my skin and watching the first bumblebees visiting the narcissus. It´s spring again. I love this time of year, everything is so full of life, you wake up in the morning with the singing of the birds and the sun illuminates the home and soul. Even my new dolls are inspired by this airy time of the year. I´m working on a spring collection, one could call them modern bavarian dolls (hehe), they are wearing traditional costumes with pinafores. This is the first of this new series. What do you think about it?

But things go slowly in these days, I´m still not totally recovered, although it´s the 3rd week of being ill. I guess my immune system is not the best. I should work on it.

I love this textile sculputers of Karine Jollet

AND

I wish I would live in this house

Happy spring time! yours Friederike!