back and forth project

Update

2009-09-21T09:52:00.005-05:00

Hi world! Miss us?

Since our last post in May we have been revising and waiting, revising and waiting. We do have interest from a publisher and we have been asked to revise the manuscript once more and add more developed faces to the characters. And... we are in waiting mode again until we get this round of feedback. Keep us in your thoughts and hold good wishes for Ruby and Esme. Above is Esme with her very sad face. I love it! There is no way that you could mistake her for happy. Good job my Sever!

Ruby and Esme have wings!!

2009-05-11T18:42:00.005-05:00

This is how we feel. We got the green light, we have an agent!

In just a few days from now Ruby and Esme will be landing on editor's desks far and wide. We should know something by mid-summer. Until then you can listen to Kathie and Bernadette's podcast interview over at craftypod...and then go on vacation and think bidding war for Ruby and Esme until you hear from us again!

enjoying the wait

2009-04-29T12:41:00.007-05:00

From Ruby and Esme

We are finally done with our illustration samples with text and are now waiting...for a word or better, a green light. No matter what happens we are in LOVE with this project and know it has wings. Can't wait to show you more.

Last Friday, Kathie and I spoke to a local group of senior artists called the Palette Club. We showed our work, talked about process and shared with them our back and forth project Ruby and Esme. Both of us had grins on our faces from the time we arrived and for days after the event. They were all so excited for us, told us what great "girls" we were and to keep up the good work. They wished us deep luck for this book and our long lives ahead (keep in mind we are not spring chickens) but...on second thought, maybe we are. Thank you members of the Palette Club, we adored our time with you.

faces and fonts

2009-04-20T07:51:00.009-05:00

Quick update. Last post we pitched the story and sample illustrations to an agent. She's interested!! Since then, Kathie added faces and we have been editing the story and trying different fonts out to see what the illustrations could look like in final form. It's not a go yet but we finally came up with a look we love and hope everyone else does too. A sneak peak below. Keep your fingers crossed, it's going to be an amazing little book to behold.

pitching is better than sitting

2009-02-25T21:29:00.003-06:00

Get your own - Open publication

How cool is this? I discovered issuu a while back but finally had the time to sit down and do it. We have been missing from this blog for far too long but we have not forgotten this project, quite the opposite! Today we pitched the story with the above sample illustrations. We are still throwing around the idea of self publishing but the costs have come in so high we just can't swing it right now. So, instead of letting this manuscript sit unattended we really want to see it in our hands, your hands, and most of all, in small hands. Keep your fingers crossed others want the same!

Rhyming and Raining

2008-11-17T21:27:00.003-06:00

More, more, more!!!! If we had an art show for you to see these up close, would you come?! Hope so. They are worth it.

follow the yellow brick road!

2008-10-29T14:05:00.008-05:00

back and forth they go!

Over the hump!

2008-10-23T13:07:00.010-05:00

photos by Sarah Bork Hamilton

Kathie brought over our new cover, can you stand it?! I would sleep with it if I could but I'm a drooler. :) I spent the morning with Sarah Bork Hamilton doing a Ruby and Esme photo shoot. Sarah, we thank you from the bottom of our toes up through our hearts for taking the time to give us your beautiful eye.

We'll be posting a few more layouts in the coming days. Check back!

it just keeps getting better.

2008-10-02T10:29:00.002-05:00

watch THIS!!!

Kathie is one of 13 featured in Handmade Nation. Visit the site to learn more about the film by Faythe Levine. The documentary will be released in 2009 but the companion book, that is equally enticing, is already available here! Congratulations to all the women involved with this film. Can't wait!

Hello?!!!

2008-09-19T07:52:00.005-05:00

Now I get why illustrated books can take almost a year to unfold to completion. Sometimes you just have to wait until the next solution arrives. Kathie and I went into the wormhole for a while trying to come up with the next step of how to add to the illustrations during the layout process. Summer came and went and we still hadn't connected. But now, I'm happy to say that through one of Kathie's other unrelated work projects she had a breakthrough and I am thrilled with the new background additions. This adds so much to the feeling of what is going on in each spread. Happy Friday to Ruby and Esme and all friends!!

Back and Forth Project interview on Craftstylish

2008-08-22T13:51:00.003-05:00

Remember that interview I mentioned with Diane of Craftypod? Well, it finally got posted over on craftstylish! A big thank you to Diane for helping us get the word out!

2008-08-19T13:15:00.001-05:00

while we're busy getting a new post together for y'all, please go here and have a listen.

Back to school Don't Shop; SWAP!

2008-08-14T10:18:00.005-05:00

Well my ladies Kathie Sever and Bernadette Noll ( pictured above) have done it again! I love everything about this event and please don't miss it if you are in Austin. This Saturday 10-2pm! I'll be there helping out and hopefully swapping and UPcycling away with my kids. Read a more in-depth article about it on Craft here.

WHAT: Don't Shop; Swap - Clothes swap on Tax free shopping day

WHEN: Saturday,August 16th. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

WHO: This event is being sponsored by the Future Craft Collective and The Zilker Green Committee

WHERE: Zilker Elementary School Gymnasium 1900 Bluebonnet Lane 78704

WHY: Because it's time for back to school shopping but we'd rather swap than shop. We can make a difference by utilizing what's already out there and minimize our impact on our already overtaxed planet.

Those that attend can bring their clothes which will then be sorted into various piles of gender and size and variety. In the style of Swap a rama rama, seen at last year's Maker Faire, we will have sewing machines lined up operated by seamstresses from the community who can help people alter and reconstruct the clothes they find in the piles.

We are hoping to alleviate the pressure on families to spend money they might not have and to buy things they don't need or want. There is definitely pressure applied to consume, to over extend, and it is our hope that we can help people realize that it's way more fun and creative to share what is already out there and for each person to define their own style - thereby making the idea of hand-me-downs and clothes swapping "cool" in the eyes of the kids. And "green" in the eyes of our planet.

summer, in retrospect, almost

2008-08-12T11:22:00.001-05:00

summer, in retrospect, almost, originally uploaded by ramonster cowpoke swankwear.

true, we've been busy doing summerish type stuff instead of updating blogs. we're here, returned and replenished and ready to fire up the workshop midnight oil....
for a cliff notes version of the summer at ramonster world headquarters, head over to my (kathie's) blog...
http://ramonsterwear.blogspot.com
but come back for more back and forth soon. we will, and this time we promise!!

Back to work!

2008-06-26T11:33:00.006-05:00

Hello all! We have both been away for a while. I went on vacation in the Yucatan, see some pictures here. And Kathie has been swamped with Summer and a husband off on tour in Japan. Ooh la la! It all sounds so glamorous but trust me, we like to refer to it as the privileged poor. We are both back and excited to be moving into the next step of our book Ruby and Esme. I am in the process of scanning Kathie's drawings and we played around with the beginning of an attempt at layout. It's all quite exciting to look at the possibilities. My favorite comment though was from my adorable assistant Emily after I showed her all of Kathie's illustrations and work. She said "Oh my god, can she just rule the world with a needle?!" Um...yes.

Friend Friday - Eight by Eight cont.

2008-06-06T07:34:00.007-05:00

January finished piece by Daria! So beautiful.

This is a continuation from last Friend Friday's project eight by eight. If you missed the first one you can scroll down or read it here. Again, big thanks to Blair and Daria for sharing such an inspirational way to connect and create! This week we hear from Daria Penta about her take on eight by eight.

"My favorite eight by eight project is whichever one I'm working on at the moment, which sounds coy but is true! Each month so far, I've had a very specific vision of the finished piece in my head -- either from preparatory sketches or from a sudden mental "click" as I started working with the materials -- & while I can't say that the end result has always exactly matched each month's imaginary splendor, I'm absolutely finding that with every project I'm stretching a little this way, a little that way, trying out new techniques & challenging my usual comfort zones. Right now May, with lots of embroidery, is my definite favorite. Until I get my June box. (That said, I am still really proud of my sewn wood grain from January - pictured above.)

Eight by eight is more about process than product for me. I find small projects with strict boundaries to be very freeing, creatively speaking, & having no control over my material palette is a fun twist. On top of everything else, the size is just about perfect -- I have ongoing fantasies of joining in all sorts of cool swaps that are out in the craft blog world, but in the end, a tiny little project that takes me a couple of days & I don't have to send anywhere is more my speed right now."

Thanks ladies!!! Be sure to visit the links below to see the upcoming eight by eight projects and to keep up with Blair and Daria!

eight by eight
Blair's blog
Blair's etsy shop
Daria's blog
Daria's etsy shop

Craft!

2008-06-04T10:38:00.006-05:00

Craft!
Originally uploaded by bookgrl

It was great to see everyone who came to the Craft magazine release party. I am in awe of how much Rachel of average jane crafter and Leslie of Stitch Lab are able to get done. Visit their blogs to get the full update on the party and who all was there! So many great door prizes were given away and the tables were overflowing with crafters! Mark my words average jane crafter will be the next big craft blog.

And check out Eat, Craft, Live by laura. She has an eye on her! including the two pictures above.

Friend Friday - Eight by Eight!

2008-05-30T02:21:00.014-05:00

I have loved each and every back and forth project but I must say this one deserves an extreme bowing of awe and appreciation. Blair Stocker and Daria Penta created Eight by Eight to showcase their year long exchange of materials and inspiration to create art, that if available, I would buy each and every piece. The good news is Blair and Daria have great blogs to put on your weekly read and etsy stores to shop! (listed at the end of this post) Thanks for sharing with us ladies!

A bit about the beginning project, "Eight by Eight is our year-long art challenge. Each month we’ll send each other an 8″ x 8″ box of materials; each month we’ll use those materials to make an 8″ x 8″ piece based on that month’s theme.

Over coffee one day we discovered that we were both restlessly wishing for a new project that would push us to rethink our creative comfort zones a little bit. We liked the idea of working small, within a specific theme, & with materials that we would not necessarily have chosen ourselves."

I have decided to split this project into two posts. Read below what Blair has to say about her favorite project so far and stay tuned to read Daria's comments next Friday!

Blair:

"The favorite of the projects I have completed for eight by eight so far was the one I did for March's theme of surprise color pairing (pictured above). Daria sent me the incredibly vibrant color pair of teal and orange to work with and I immediately knew that I wanted to visually "weave" them together, which is how I settled on the paper bag piecing method I tried, described here . That was one incredible satisfying project! As a matter of fact, I have it framed on my studio wall. It was complex, small (and because of that, doable), inspired, everything I'd hoped to get out of eight by eight.

FYI- My favorite piece of Daria's completed projects is actually April's, when square was the theme- . It felt like we'd developed some sort of rhythm after several months of back and forth packages. She'd really thought about how the pieces I sent to her fit together, used their commonalities to really feature the feedsack, vintage-y feel I was going for in the grouping. (Did you catch her mentioning how the red button was like a cherry pie? Perfect!!!)

Now that we are 5 months into eight by eight, I can reflect on how completely manageable this project has been for me. My husband and I have our own consulting business, so I don't have huge amounts of time to work on my personal creative projects these days. But these monthly projects can easily be completed in an afternoon. I turn on some music, look at the little sketches I've made throughout the month, and start in! We have very straightforward parameters and themes established, we seem to have different takes on similar aesthetics (does that make sense), so its a doable collaboration in many ways. It continues to inspire me to try something new each month."

eight by eight
Blair's blog
Blair's etsy shop
Daria's blog
Daria's etsy shop

Craft magazine party this Sunday 1-4pm!

2008-05-28T10:26:00.003-05:00

Rachel Hobson of average jane crafter and Leslie Bonnell of glitzkrieg are hosting a Craft magazine party here is Austin. Here is what Rachel has to say about it "This is an awesome opportunity for Austin crafters to connect with each other, have loads of fun and support local crafty businesses. We've also got some really cool special guests, including Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching , loads of awesome door prizes and a great hands-on craft project based on one from the current issue of CRAFT magazine . And more, more, more .... really!" Round Robin Press is also donating back and forth cards for door prizes and Future Craft Collective will have a little surprise for the give away bags. What more could you ask for! Hope to see you this Sunday.

Ruby and Esme - Oh how I love thee!

2008-05-21T08:53:00.006-05:00

I am so excited! This book has reached a point where the manuscript and the illustrations are unified in the most perfect way! It's all coming together exactly how I wanted it too and I can barely stand the waiting. I wish we could show you everything but then that wouldn't be much fun. But as a little sneak peek we have decided to show you the beginning of the story (below) and one of kathie's latest painstakingly intricate embroidered illustrations (above). Kathie now has a stack of these that are each as lovely as the next, and once you see the final story mixed with kathie's work you will understand how incredibly heartfelt and meaningful this book has become.

Kathie and I are now working on the manuscript together and we have begun the editing process with our good friend Liz. We are meeting this Thursday for final sketches and manuscript tweaks. I'm bringing a lot of information I have gathered on self publishing vs. traditional publishing and then we will be sent back to our corners until our next scheduled date for the big final push! Stay tuned!

Ruby and Esme

“I don’t want to walk home by myself,” sighed Esme.
“Take my hand,” smiled Ruby. “We’ll walk together.”
And so they walked, back and forth and back and forth, because neither one wanted to walk home alone.

“I like your striped socks,” said Esme
“Thanks, I knit them myself. I like your monkey socks!” laughed Ruby “Want to trade?”
And they did. One each.

my art crush

2008-05-14T21:37:00.004-05:00

Susan Rothenberg has, ever since the day i first saw her painting butterfly, 1976 my sophomore year at college, been my super-hero favorite art crush. My graduate school application portfolio would, embarrassingly, prove my slavish devotion. (Can you say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?)
To this day, if i see anything of hers i have a visceral, physical reaction- it's hard not to. There are other painters that i love, Alice Neel, Philip Guston, just to name a couple. But i have unflinchingly answered the question "who's your favorite artist?", a tough question that normally would be almost unfair to ask, with the same answer since that day in 1992.
I found this quote, for which i could find no author, but which perfectly verbalizes the experience of viewing a Rothenberg painting;
“In her painting the body meets the world in the form of an emblem, like a sign in the sand, formed hesitantly by a person attempting to represent something for the first time. She opens in us a new kind of perception, joining our intuitive inner selves with external reality.”
Joining our intuitive inner selves
with
external reality.
No small feat for paint and canvas.
Here's to never outgrowing our first hero crushes-
who are yours?

Friend Friday - back and forth Crown Sonnet!

2008-05-09T07:43:00.010-05:00

Wow, this is no small back and forth project. I'll let the writer, Liz Garton Scanlon take it from here. Sit back and enjoy! Thank you Sara, Laura, Tricia, Liz, Andi, Tanita and Kelly for sharing this amazing piece!

"Six months ago, seven bloggers – most of whom had only ever met virtually – came together to write a poem collaboratively. A back-and-forth poem, if you will. The bloggers, all women, live across the country and beyond. They are authors and teachers and mothers and poets, and they are either brave or crazy because they decided to write a Crown Sonnet together.

A Crown Sonnet uses the form like a bead on a necklace – stringing together seven in all. The last line of the first sonnet is used as the first line of the second sonnet; the last line of the second sonnet is used as the first line of the third sonnet, and so on. Those repeating lines are the thread the necklace hangs on and, in the end, what ties the whole piece together. The final sonnet starts with the last line of the sixth sonnet and ends with the first line of the very first sonnet. A circular feat, in rhyme and iambic pentameter to boot.

So the Poetry Seven (who also called themselves Poetry Princesses because they were sufficiently charmed with one another and this epic task) drew straws and began – each writer working at her own pace, with ample time granted for fear and denial. Along the way they agreed the poems would be about teens – and for a teen audience. And they agreed to embody the themes of tribe and identity. Beyond that, they were left with the proscribed form and the blank page.

When the first writer wrapped hers up, she passed it onto number two, and it moved this way for months – growing by fourteen lines each time until finally, it was finished. Or was it? These are writers, after all. Endless tweakers of all things wordly. And if they were going to share their efforts with the world, they were going to revise their efforts.

So they dumped their Crown into an interactive Google doc and went at it. And this is when the real back-and-forthing began. They questioned and commented and praised and suggested. Meter was corrected, rhymes toyed with, voices refined. Fear and denial were nowhere to be seen! No time for that, with sweat on their brows and hand tools chipping away at things.

Until, before they knew it, they were satisfied. And they donned the necklace and trotted it out on their blogs. Liz shared the entire Crown – in celebration of national poetry month. Kelly explained the mechanics, Tanita - the theme , and Tricia and Laura discussed the process. All seven were almost giddy with accomplishment, see Sara and Andi's here and here.

But it was more than that. Sure, they’d completed a crown and were already contemplating the launch of their next project, but there’d also been the added, unexpected delight of intimate connection. Sara, Laura, Tricia, Liz, Andi and Kelly had been wallowing in the joy of their own literary salon – virtually. They’d each amassed fat email folders full of hilarity and critique and friendship, and they’re not giving any of that up anytime soon…"

Cutting a Swath
Sara Lewis Holmes, Laura Purdie Salas, Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Liz Garton Scanlon, Tanita S. Davis, Andromeda Jazmon and Kelly Fineman

As shoes untied, you drag frayed words in trail
Behind your name; unlooped, they flop up steps
And trip your stride, and blacken blue the depths
Of day; from light to dark, from deep to pale,
Undone, you fall; unknown, you pass or fail.
In halls, you thread the holes between your debts
Unpaid, and those who shove your name in reps
Against the rails of crowded stairs. Inhale
The stench! Keep true your shoes! The ups and downs
Will yield a path to out beyond, to where
The mirror turns, and those who hid their marks
And stumbled most will dress and march in gowns
On paths unfound, on tracks, unnamed, a pair
Of laces, ends unbound, leaps free as sparks.

As lacy skirts, unbound, leap free and spark,
the prom girls surge in silk through streamered space.
They orbit round in endless tethered chase
and ride the DJ’s pounding sound through dark
around a nova. Can you see the mark
she brands on planets trapped in her embrace?
There’s just one sun. You risk her hot disgrace
unless you dance in place along her arc.
I can’t revolve and spin in cosmic time.
I won’t resolve to tread another’s trail.
I’m blasting free, eclipsing all my past.
I’m leaving stars and velvet queens behind.
I’ve torn away my atmospheric veil
to fly through life’s grand chaos, bright and vast.

Flying through life's grand chaos, bright and vast,
the tide of days leads down a path unknown.
I know not who I'll be when I am grown,
but want to live a life that's unsurpassed.
I wish to speak in words both true and fast
(when sideways glances make me feel alone
or handsome smiles imply I've won the throne),
while keeping every secret to the last.
But I commit my heart with pen to page,
my feet to races not yet known or run,
my life to every opportunity.
These dreams I hold are bound to come of age,
cannot be stopped and will not be undone,
because they live and breathe to be set free.

Because I live and breathe, to be set free
from each presumption of my proven name,
released from excellence and bland acclaim,
is neither choice nor possibility.
Embracing expectations hungrily,
I place each gaping hour in a frame
and persevere beyond the reach of shame
within this endless valedictory.
But quantitative claims define one bit
of me. Much deeper, stretching ‘gainst my skin
with all the effort of the waxing moon,
the greater self to whom I must commit.
It’s time for me to feed what’s been starved thin –
my name will be too small to hold me soon.

My name will be too small to hold me soon.
Unnamed, traversing now this darkling plane
called school. Fey, fickle, Royalty arcane,
Bequeathed with charm and crowned with mystic runes,

Their sorcerous hold upon the madding crowd
Points social scepter, friend or foe to choose.
Those Named hold sway: I do hereby refuse
To be so owned; stand rowan-straight, unbowed.

Swift, fleeting, “Shadow” is my sobriquet.
Invisible. To none allegiance owed,
My scholarship I practice, moments seize.

Small magics my cold iron will displays,
Four years I serve. I pace this treacherous road,
My eyes, now disenchanted, my soul free.

My eyes now disenchanted; my soul frees
one stifled cry – then peace behind the door.
My room, my sacred space above the floor
is all that shields me from their strident pleas.
They've chosen out the path of life for me;
their scholarship a prize I would ignore.
I spurn the grind of their required score.
I cut them off. I beg them. Let me be!
I mark the time and hide myself away,
no greater plan than lay about and dream
within the walls that guard my fractious will.
My music pounds. The restless shadows play.
Light curls across a ceiling cracked and mean.
My window opens past a well-scarred sill.

Through open window, past a well-scarred sill,
on gritty shingles sheltered under eaves,
I take in cool night air; my anger leaves
with every ragged breath that I exhale.
Your words, a thousand stinging papercuts,
lose power underneath the watching stars.
I see your reigning planet, red-light Mars,
horizon-bound and fixed. Your self-made ruts
preclude adventure or a change of course.
Is this the future that you want for me?
A mediocre life filled with travail,
a boxed-in life of sameness and remorse?
I choose to free myself of your debris:
I’m not afraid to leave you in my trail.

gratitude banner

2008-05-07T22:24:00.001-05:00

gratitude banner, originally uploaded by ramonster cowpoke swankwear.

i thought i'd post this picture of the sever family gratitude banner here this week- it's a back and forth project between family members!
the idea was brought to us by the truly inspired master of family ritual, bernadette noll , who created a gratitude banner for her family- a place to honor all the blessings, big and small, that touch our lives. she and i decided to run with this idea, and to teach a class of 8-12 year old girls about making these for their own families, which is what got me to go ahead and follow through with making one- i had to make a sample to show the class, after all!!
there are pockets for each family member, as well as one for all extended family and community and one for the universe. these pockets provide a place for writing down something that strikes gratitude in your heart, and thanking whatever or whomever helped to bring said energy to you by delivering them a little thank you note on the spot.
writing down the gratitudes not only solidifies the wonder that bubbles up when you start realizing how many reasons you have to feel grateful, but talk about generating reciprocity! it's amazing how having the intention to give thanks inspires the same intention in those around you! they are so filled up by the little notes that appear in their banner pockets that they in turn begin to notice and document all the myriad daily reasons we have to step back and say "holy batman, THANK YOU!!!"
and i also love that it's all done in the sweet and unique artwork that is an individuals own handwriting... i love picking up a note from my 7 year old, in her still emerging pen, knowing that not only will the meaning and depth of her words change and evolve as she grows, but the mark that she makes as she grows will also evolve.
thanks again, bern!! we love you!

Friend Friday - why do you keep sneaking up on us?

2008-05-02T08:57:00.003-05:00

Well, heck! There are a few friend friday projects coming but Friday keeps dropping in on us unannounced and we have been so busy around here that we can't even ask her in for tea. Please keep checking back in as there are some inspiring projects full of effort and big whopping ideas coming - starting next week!

As for Kathie and I, we are honored to have been interviewed by Diane of Craftypod about Ruby and Esme's back and forth process. I'll post the interview once it's out!

Now go play with Friday because we can't!

blankity blank

2008-04-30T11:20:00.001-05:00

blankity blank, originally uploaded by ramonster cowpoke swankwear.

i love painting over bad paintings. it's easier if they're not your own paintings, but it's more cathartic if they are. so here we have the same canvas that i posted last week. but now not only is it all ready for something new and full of potential, but it has a secret. it has a layer. a little bit of ye old "if at first" weathered wisdom.
i've always loved that aspect of painting. it's kind of like how many licks does it take to get to the inside of a tootsie pop- but in reverse. and not as hard on your teeth.
i'll let you all author your own metaphors about life from this, they seem almost too cliche to type, but hell, they're true, eh?
here's to layers. and learning to die to the past while allowing it's lessons to inform our present.
well i did say ALMOST to cliche to type. sorry. couldn't help myself.