Love this flag exhibit. I want one….

Moved home to the Mitten.

Found an outstanding creative director for Nest in best friend and roomie of awesome, Megan Shay.

Built the Carlton Saloon into a home far outreaching everything I would have expected.

Created a new collective of makers, Collective Wings. http://www.facebook.com/CollectiveWings

Made new lovelies out of leather and hemp.

Dyed countless pots of fabric and yarn.

We also achieved a project that I’ve been working on for over a year, the folding of  thousand paper cranes.

But it hasn’t just been the things I’ve made or the places I’ve gone.

The highlighting factor of 2011 was the people.

Littlewings moved home to one of the most loving, supportive, and beautiful networks of people I have ever known. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by a tribe of amazing people who are creative, intelligent, and welcomed me home with open arms. Without all of you, I would have never been able to rebuild my life here in the Mitten, and I am truly grateful for everything that all of you have done.

A few shout outs:

Megan Shay Roach: this lady is has probably been there more than anyone else. She has kept me inspired and smiling despite all the craziness, and has made sure that I never stop making. If I was Momma Welcher in Savannah, then this girl is Momma Roach here in GR, and is always the firecracker under my ass that I need to keep truckin’.

Emily Gremel: Also has been there more than anyone, right tied up there with Megan. The other sister in the trifecta of sisterhood, Emily has kept me even-keeled with sound advice and thorough research and thought, both in my business and in my personal life.

My Brother: Oh my brother, your wisdom is all that I need. And Oh my brother, don’t you worry about me. Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, don’t worry about me.

There are so many others around me who have been there, who have helped me grow, helped me see, or most simply and maybe more importantly, simply helped me laugh.

I wanted to fold a thousand paper cranes by myself originally. It was something I conceived in total solitude, an etherial pipe dream in my monkish existence that was reality only a short year ago. There’s a dreamy, stilling beauty to it, and I wanted the pure aesthetic experience of entering up into a thousand of them, all white, in that day lit attic stairwell.

But the dream changed.

There are so many roads I have travelled the last years. Birds migrate on their endless sky roads, moving in a cycle, a path, a rotation, like a boomerang. The birds made of maps came to capture this meaning for me.  I thought about the legend, that folding a thousand cranes would bring love, luck and prosperity to the folder and those around them. When I started, it was a silent meditation as I folded cranes in the attic.

But the dream changed, and the flock began to change. I knew I couldn’t do it alone, fold all these cranes, and actually see this vision come to life. I asked friends if they would be interested in helping. Mike was already into origami, and I knew he would be interested, but who else would really want to help me fold a thousand paper birds for an art project? Then Megan wanted to learn. And then Emily. And before we knew it, everyone that entered the home we were building at this time learned as well, and everyone wanted to help contribute. We were making that love, luck, and prosperity happen for all of us, as a collective of friends, family, makers, creators, thinkers.

2011 was a hell of a year for a lot of us. We finished the installation for New Year’s Eve, the culmination of thousands of hours of work, tons laughs, lots of teaching, and a fathomless amount of love.  Nothing could have been more appropriate to bring in the New Year of 2012. Everyone that made cranes, that contributed something to this project, I am so grateful that you understood. I feel like we get each other a little better now.  To Art is to Be. We all arted together a little bit here, everyone leaving a little piece of their being in this beautiful collective flock. It’s not a logical thing to do, nor does it have a true “purpose” in a scientific sense; but some of the most intelligent people I knew understood the value of enriching those moments of being with aesthetic beauty and more importantly, friendship and love.

I thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart. May your 2012 be blessed.

rummy, jameson, cowboy boots, and plank tables.

I’ve been hibernating with the boys lately, and taking to their style.

Lost in the coming winter, wondering…

lace grows dusty in the back of the closet, hoping to glow someday under that warm gaze once more.

and littlewings follow the seasons migrations and always return….

Recently, I’ve done some variation sketches on the Wedge Moccasin Boots that I’ve been enjoying and thinking of applying into future work.

Just some sketches for your enjoyment.

variant with no strap but keeping back zipper

removing the zipper and the strap for a simple pull-on style.

a final variation that keep the strap for leg adjustment, and removes the zipper to create a pull-on style.

Next Up: Finishing MY boots and the deconstruction of a pair of vintage cowboy boots….

Live artfully.

It’s time for the change.

In returning to my blog, I’m returning to an old project, now in it’s next stage. I’m in the process of reconstructing my favorite boots. Previous posts show the process for these boots, of ripping apart an old pair, making a new pattern, and building them new with top materials. I did a lot of experiments upon them too, including a foam inner core layer for the sole and a foam inner sole for the foot cushion. I also wore them almost everyday for two years, and I think I can safely say there are about 50,000 travel miles on those boots, with all of the roadtrips, hiking, and city adventures I’ve taken the last couple years. Suffice it to say, I beat the crap out of them. Now, to fix them again.

the boots on their final day.

beauty in the breakdown.

hand stitching the new toe box into place.

lasting the new inner support layer

ready to last both outer layers

both outer layers lasted!

words to walk with me always.

ready to be sealed into the soles.

I wrote this a year ago today:

Bird that flies
why can’t I?
I should like to pick up,
lift off
Soar to
the clouds and sun,
and be free.
Free to leave,
no regrets,
no commitments.
But my feet are weights
I stand
lonely on the
ground.
I observe jealously
the bird’s free
flights of fancy
I walk, plod
in travels.
Someday, my
boots would like
to speak
But for now,
we journey in silence.

Time to move forward from old days and ways.

Welcome home to the Mitten, Littlewings.

“when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only as a reflection as in a mirror; soon we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love- these three, but the greatest of these is love.”