Life is tough, but you must me tougher

Do you ever feel like the whole world is against you? 

Or that you are cursed or that when things are going well there is someone who watches and says: "Really? You think this is going to work? Try this." And sure enough something happens and what started like a great thing becomes a problem.

People tend to try to make you feel better and say: "Bad things come in threes." I think they missed out the zero in the end.  

Instead of listing all the horrible things that have happened recently I dug out these and try to follow their lead :)) x

“Life is tough, but you must be tougher.” 
~Unknown

Fall seven times, stand up eight.  

~Japanese Proverb

 

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” 
~Einstein

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” 

~Winston Churchill~

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.  

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

 And isn't this last one so lovely?

When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.  

~Barbara Bloom   

 

Learning A New Language

I've been learning a new language in the last couple of days.

 I wish I could say it is romantic French or beautiful Italian, but no it is more like this:

"CNAME"

"DNS records"

"TTL"

"SPF"

"PTR" 

etc. etc. etc. 

Looks familiar? 

Well it doesn't to me!!

For those who know about computer language I am sure each of these terms means awful lot, but for me it really is a new, and very annoying language.

All I am trying to do is to get my old web address to take you to my new website, which I've nearly finished building. 

Now building the website didn't come without problems either. Why is it that you never get the real deal before you actually start using a service that you just paid for?

When you are looking example websites (provided by the company you are thinking of using, shall I name and shame?) they are so beautiful and you think this is brilliant, but as soon as you start, the cruel reality slaps you in the face when "the computer" announces that you can do these things, which are about two, by using these simple tools over here and anything else you can do by just simply customizing HTML, CSS code etc. 

And of course if you do some HTML coding it is totally up to you and the provider cannot make sure that anything will work. Well of course they can't and I am not asking that, but surely they could have been a bit more clear in the beginning that these website examples are created with some customized coding. Or indeed they could have mentioned that you would have to buy another template to get anywhere near to those results.

So thanks a lot Big Cartel.

Having said all that, maybe it is a good thing. Now my website is very simple, very clear and in a way it has been a good spring clean that I intend to carry on.

Have a look and see what you think:

http://mirjamidesign.bigcartel.com/

Hopefully once I've learned this new, exciting (ha-haa), language I will be able to lose bigcartel from the address.

And to finish off I have to agree with Ludwig Wittgenstein:

"The limits of my language means the limits of my world."

Maybe a little bit of computer language learning wouldn't be so bad after all.... Would certainly open up a totally new world! :)

P.S I think I should add here that now that I've had my little complain about Big Cartel, I must admit that they are pretty good especially if accepting all above and I shall let you know how I get on when the website is up and running.

When I started Mirjami Design I had two options:

1. To sit down and make a business plan. (All good, proper business people to that :)

Or

2. To sit down and do this and embark on a journey that I had no idea what I was doing!!

(Look at it! It's a far off from what I am making these day! Looks like some deformed horror film character!)

 What happened next was that I learned as I went along. It is not the greatest way, but boy you learn from it!

It is a painful way and once you've gone through all silly mistakes you really wish you did stop for a minute right at the beginning and thought through what you were doing. You, well I, would have saved myself a lot of headaches.

But maybe that is the way it is.
If you, I, did think it all through I would have never been brave enough to go ahead with it all.
Also if you think too much about practicalities and put your business hat on too tightly you will kill the flow of creativity.
What you really need is a good balance and if possible have someone to keep you in check! I certainly wouldn't have been able to make it without some harsh love from the nearest and dearest of mine :)

Not too sure why I decided to start here, although it is of course an obvious choice since it was the beginning!
But I've been having such a bad time lately that I have really started to doubt if what I do is really the best thing and when those doubts arises it is nice to look right back to the beginning and from there, from this little bear (he's about 8cm tall when sitting) I see again what I saw then: a promise to reach something different and special to me.

I wanted to create something that made me feel like I am a magician turning something as boring as white piece of felt into something that has a life of its own that shines through its character.

My life hasn't been easy (a lot of illness, sadness and tough times) and I suppose creating my little characters have given me joy and hope to carry on.
I suppose in a funny way (and totally bonkers way!) these little creations are my way to fight back in the though world and I must say that nothing makes me feel like I'm achieving something when my creations bring a smile to someones face!

Now that must be worth more than a boring business plan :)

This latest bear I've done is a little different from the first one....

A new promise...

Aren't promises made to be broken?

If so there is not much hope for this coming promise or maybe it is a perfect excuse if I can't keep my promise....

It is a very simple promise...

I WILL TRY TO UPDATE THIS BLOG REGULARLY.

There, that wasn't so bad at all! Although if you read that carefully I left many get-out clauses in it.... Buy hey, it's a start right?

What I am planning to do is to look back how Mirjami Design came about. What has actually happened in the last three years? Like how did it all really start,  how I became a supplier for Liberty or Colette and how is it all going at the moment. 

I feel like the months and dare I say years have gone by and a lot of it has kind of settled into one big pile of cat played (or our mad terrier torn) cob of wool. And it is not even just one tangled mess, there are other bits hanging from it and many loose threads... Doesn't sound pretty, does it?
But now I would quite like to untangle it.

 This may not be the most exciting journey for you, but for me it is essential. 

I mean look at these boxes of thread I have!

Drawer full of thread that I use... It's particularly fun trying to get of the bobbins :)

Another beautifully organized box of thread....

And another warning: I am putting all my fears and embarrassment to one side about my English language, which is not very good. Full of mistakes and sometimes it all comes out so strangely that it is even hard for myself to follow what I am trying to say! I'd love to say it is all because English is not my mother language, but that would be a lie.... Try to read my Finnish and you'll see it is even worse! I just find it hard to keep to the rules and regulations of proper language!

Previously I would read and reread these posts and get them proofread many times too before I felt comfortable to press the publish button. But from now on it is just going to be how it is.

So please consider this as my spoken word and ignore all the mistakes and skip along when things get too hard or even better let me know and I'll try to explain it all again! Although that could be a long, long road. I do have a tendency to revert from my course very easily...

And just to mention, before you get totally confused,  I also tend to place commas where I think a lovely little pause is needed :)

So there we are, the new journey has begun and hopefully it will be a good one and in the end all my thread will be organized like this box that I hardly use!

Luxurious Leather

Leather is a material that harkens back to early man, who we know depended on animal skins for many aspects of his life such as to provide clothing and shelter. In fact there is something satisfying when you start working with leather, knowing the long history of dependence that humans have had with this most fascinating of materials.

Laura choosing hides with Will from A W Midgly & Son

                                   

Before I decided to use leather in my new range of large contemporary craft animals for Mirjami Design, I wanted to find out more about the production of leather to see if it would fit in with my ethical stance on materials. Fortunately I found a decent local family run supplier by the name of
A W Midgley & Son who advised me that all their leather, as well as being a natural product, is also a by-product of the food industry. Safe in the knowledge that animals weren't being killed just for their skins, I began to use these beautiful Antiqued tan hides for my new creations!

Ozzy the Giant Leather Owl of Mirjami Design

 

 

 

There are many stages to the production of leather hides including flaying, preserving, grading and tanning. And while the chemicals used in these processes have some environmental impact, they are necessary to ensure the final product is fully cured and safe to use in the many industries that use leather. While I am using leather for my artwork, it is more traditionally used in the fashion industry, in the upholstery of furniture as well as in a myriad of other niche areas such as in the creation of saddles, and cases for shotguns.

Floor to ceiling hides of all grades and colours in the warehouse

There are many benefits of working with leather for me. It is tough and durable and has a pleasant scent. Also each hide is slightly different and the subtle marks and blemishes add to the characteristic uniqueness of each one. In a way they tell the story of the animal of which they were a part of. In this way, since I am once again creating animals with the leather, I hope the characters of my own creations can embody some of the resonance of the original owner of the skin!

Laura Mirjami working her Magic

Tour of the Studio

I had a very nice Spring clean yesterday in my studio and here is a little tour of the space!

 

From outside.

 As you walk in.

Turn right...

 then left...

then right again...

 and carry on!

 Artist Faisal's lovely lino cut 'Willlos' and some greeting cards based on the other original linos.

 And a few new experimental cushions... hand printed, based on Faisal's original lino cuts. All displays on the side window.

 My workbench.

 More little animals!

 Workbench again.

 Little Pixie that lies on her bed underneath the sink and barks at the customers most of the days (very annoying).

 My workbench from my side.

And from outside the window that looks inside the Brewery Arts corridor.

 Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Mirjami Design Tagine

It's been a long time since I've been here, sorry. And the warmest welcome to the new readers! Not much to read, but hey – maybe the New Year will bring new changes and I will write more.

These days my favourite thing to do on Sundays is to cook. To prepare a roast or a casserole, have a tipple or two of wine and let the cooking dissolve all the stress of the week. Perfect.

My all time favourite used to be a roast chicken or lamb and then to make a delicious curry from the left overs, very yummy.

However, a couple of weeks ago we discovered the magical tagine and now the Sundays are all about tagine, tagine, tagine!!! Love it and couldn't rate it more highly!

As I was getting the initial stages of tagine cooking I smiled to myself of the realisation how it resembles all a bit too much of Mirjami Design!  We got instructions to cook our tagine from Larry at the Golden Fleece in Stroud and lamb is now our definite favourite.

The basics are these: pour a good lug (a lot and lot) of olive oil to the bottom of tagine and then cover the bottom with a layer of onions followed by marinated meat and a pickled lemon. Let it to cook slowly for a couple of hours and then add your vegetables and carry on cooking for another hour or so. And there you are – the most simple, but the most delicious meal!!!

So as I was layering the bottom of the tagine with sliced up onions I thought this is just like my business and all the work involved. Larry who gave us the recipe, calls the layer of onions "the sacrifice", because the onions will protect the meat when cooked so that if anything gets burned it will be the onions. Poor onions :(
It made me think how many things I have sacrificed to get my business running....

However if the tagine is well looked after, making sure the heat is not too strong and it is left alone unrushed, the onions will only get dark brown and caramelised adding the most amazing flavour to the whole dish. If rushed the result will be a burned bitter mess.
So a good solid foundation is the key....

Then I thought about the meat. The best is if you can marinate it a night before. Again the key is not to rush it, but also choose your spices well and use good quality meat. It might be more expensive now, but what a difference it makes in the end.
The good ingredients make always a better result....

Also what is added this stage is a pickled lemon. Cut it into a few segments and cover with meat. It will gently cook away, releasing lovely lemon flavor and in the end it will all dissolve only leaving the skin behind. Absolutely delicious! But if you put too much lemon in, the whole dish will taste a bit like lemon scented washing up liquid. (Not that I've tasted washing up liquid, but trust me this is what it would taste!)
So basically, don't over do it or you ruin the lot!

The next stage is to do nothing for a couple of hours. Maybe go and read a book, walk a dog, take a bath, do what ever you want to do, but don't disturb the tagine! Let it gently simmer and do what it is meant to do.
Sometimes it is so easy to over do things. And also, the best things comes for those who wait :)

After a couple of hours it is time to add vegetables. I used simply a humble butternut squash, a red chilly and whole garlic cloves, a pinch of salt and a generous bunch of fresh coriander. It is very tempted at this stage to pile up all sort of vegetables, but I think simplicity is the key. Otherwise the flavours will get lost and it is easy to forget what it was that you were making...

An other hour or so and voila – it is all ready! Perfectly cooked meat, surprises of succulent garlic cloves, tender squash and a hint of fiery chilly. Serve it with couscous and why not to add a few side dishes to bring out even more flavour from the main dish. Maybe make a cooling cucumber yogurt as a side dish. A piece of flat bread and hummus, maybe a few olives and the meal is fit for a King!

So simple and delicious, but it all must be planned ahead, use good ingredients, execute with love and cook slowly without rushing it through.

P.S. In no way this is a perfect authentic tagine recipe, but it works for me :)