Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Yarn Art with MeeksSandyGirl

 

Eco-friendly materials for jewelry abound if you are open to the unconventional. A renewed interest in the old textile crafts like crochet and lace has percolated into other unrelated crafts including jewelry. Some amazing work has been done 'recycling' the old time crafts into something novel!

I'm happy to feature Sandy Meeks of meekssandygirl on Etsy, who has that rare combination of skill, talent and creativity to make something truly unique. I was astounded at the amazing work when I first visited her shop and later thrilled to learn that her cashmere yarn comes from upcycled sweaters!

She makes a variety of items including necklaces, bracelets and brooches as well as non-jewelry items like hair clips, corsages, scarfs, hats and mittens. Remember the bacon and eggs baby mittens from my last post?

Here's what she had to say:
I was an art major in college when I met my husband in 1992 in our painting class (he too is an artist). We have 2 children, ages 14 and 3. We reside in Hot Springs National Park Arkansas.

What are you most proud about and why?
Of all my pieces I have made, I really enjoy the sculptures, where I can put as much tiny details as I can!

What is your favorite piece?
It would be hard to choose between my heart mansion, and my Beatles inspired sculpture of "The Fool On The Hill"





Many of your flower pieces are based on real flowers with their accurate names - am I right in assuming you have a passion for plants/flowers?
:) It is not me that has the passion for flowers, that would be my late Grandmother, who had about a hundred green thumbs LOL!"

And yet look how true to their names these flowers are!

Dianthus Necklace




Pink Fuchsia Necklace




What inspires you?
I love Art Nouveau, the shapes, the curved lines, the botanical nature about it, Mucha is my favorite artist of that era.

Why have you chosen to use recycled yarn?
When I first started to recycle yarn (about 12 years ago) it was because I craved nicer quality yarn but did not have access to it in my hometown.

What do you hope to accomplish in the new year?
I really need to get more organized LOL!

I love how each piece has a pattern developed for it's unique design needs.








She really had an eye for design and color:

Cherry Blossom Necklace


Yet another style of crochet is used for these next pieces:

Cherry Necklace


 Lemon Necklace


South West Necklace


More of her incredible yarn sculptures including my favorite: an underwater scenery complete with a tropical fish dangling from a coral via fishing wire!

 






The Beatles themed sculptures!




 


 

Notice the octopus' little watering can:)


Visit her shop meekssandygirl for more one-of-a-kind eco-friendly yarn art!

Thanks for reading!

6 comments:

  1. I love this! Sandy is an inspiring and truly lovely, warm person. I love her Beatles sculptures...my favorite is For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.
    You couldn't have profiled a lovelier person.

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  2. I love the colors! Her work is amazing! I took art classes with her way back when , and she is a cool gal to boot!

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  3. I love to crochet, but I have never seen such intricate pieces. Very impressive and beautiful! :O)

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  4. Her heart mansion was on Etsy's front page - that's how I found her!

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  5. I am so humbled and honored to be featured on your blog, thank you so much for appreciating my work :) You are a doll, Nat!!

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