A General Introduction

It occurs to me that people who use Blogspot may not be familiar with me already. I like to believe my minor amount of e-fame has given me recognition, but I know in reality I'm just another voice looking to be heard. So, here is who I am:

First and foremost, I consider myself to be an artist. Experience has informed me that most people take this to mean that I paint. Indeed, I am a terrible painter and shouldn't be let around the stuff. I am an artisan, working in thread and needles, often throwing beads into the mix. I'm selling many of those creations through Etsy, [here]. My main crafts are cross-stitching and beading, and on occasion I've tried latch-hook, embroidery, punch-needle, glass painting, foil-scratching, embroidery on paper, and drawing. I wish that I knew how to knit and crochet, and some day I hope to learn to make quilts. Doing all this, I've slowly learned to do photography (digital) of small objects up close, and how to edit those photos to show true color or remove blurs.

Original artwork by dA's cosmicbound, pattern designed and stitched by me. [On deviantART]

Beading gets its own paragraph, since I'm so versatile with it. There is, of course, the usual stringing of beads for jewelry; I did necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Nothing fancy there, I got away from making jewelry when I got to the complicated stitches. I do hardly any looming though I know how to do it. I like to blame my lack of a decent loom but in reality I just don't have a lot of use for one. I've recently become more accepting of peyote stitch, which even though I think it's a risky stitch (one bead breaking is a lot of effort lost) it is very versatile and can be used in many things.

All the bead dresses I've done as of this posting. [On deviantART]

My main bead stitch is herringbone, which I use to make those bead dresses shown above. The original designs are Japanese, which I would really like to stress because I don't want to take credit as the original designer for something I am not. I put the information everywhere but it seems people still mistake me for the one who came up with it. I have created custom patterns (such as Eumelia, Kerria, and soon-to-be Alicia) but these are based on my knowledge from the original Japanese.

Another part of me as an artist is that I am self-taught. Things like painting and drawing were taught to me through Jr. High to High School art classes, but never caught on with me. Beading, sewing, and the other items I take on, I teach to myself. Often these instructions are in languages I can't read, such as Japanese, so I must take on the effort of learning through diagrams or other means.

Pretty much everything else about me that isn't related to my being an artist is secondary. I was a student up until December last year (graduated with my Associate's of the Arts) and rarely enjoyed any of it. The rant of how I feel about the education system is for another day. I am a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, etc, to my family, which is incredibly important to me, but not my prime existence. I hope some day to have children but I couldn't honestly tell you it's a goal I'm looking for any time soon. For the time being I am a cat mom to a loving rescue cat, a black short-hair with green eyes named Abby.

The rest, I suppose, are afterthoughts to who I consider myself to be; little things that I list off in my head when people ask what I like. I'm a casual gamer, which is to say I play a lot quite often but always on easy mode. Games range from The Sims and Harvest Moon to Halo and Dead Space. I tend to lean towards RPGs like Dark Alliance and The Elder Scrolls. I used to play tabletop D&D but my storyteller has long since been removed from my life. I enjoy to read, fantasy genre usually. I collect dolls, Barbie mostly, historical fashion references, things with roses or butterflies on them, and really enjoy sparkly items. My music is not limited but I definitely learn towards progressive metal and rock.

I'm sure that isn't all of it, but I think that's a good introduction to who I present myself to be. I hope this is a successful adventure and that you'll all enjoy following along with progress of my artwork.

Pinky
Ashley Mae