Knitting Nook A book nook to represent my making practice
This book nook is designed to represent myself as a maker. I am an avid knitter, and I make to practice slower living. In my book nook you will find cozy decor that represents the comfort I experience from knitting. You will also see pictures that represent my home decor in real life, and a clock without hands to symbolize the relationship of making to slow living. I find inspiration from knitting vlogs on youtube and had a knitting youtube for a while, so you find that is playing on the tv in the background.
To create this piece, I chose to use the technologies that most suited my desired end product and most aligned with my interests as a maker. I ultimately chose to use a laser cutter to create furniture pieces, paper arts to create miniatures and wallpaper for the walls, and fiber arts for the rug and miniature yarn pieces. I also lit the book nook with the provided fairy lights to give a warm glow from the ceiling.
Fiber Arts
The first thing that I created was a knitted rug. I thought that this would bring the room together and set the mood for my book nook, both in terms of the medium of knitting and the 'cozy' feeling I was trying to communicate. This rug is meant to be a miniature version of my own as the yarn is roughly the same color as my rug at home. I slightly misjudged the depth of my book nook because I measured the rug against the wrong (longer) wall, so I decided to make the fireplace flat to better make use of the limited floor space. I also wrapped yarn scraps and embroidery floss into miniature yarn skeins or cakes to create the impression of knitting.
Laser Cutter
The laser cutter was the technology I was most nervous to use, as I have found it challenging in the past. This time, I had minor setbacks but overall had a lot of fun making miniature furniture. I had to reprint my chair when a piece broke. I also resized the fireplace but realized that the resizing meant that the holes were too small to assemble the whole piece as intended. In the end, I just used the mantle to save space and was pleased with the overall effect.
Paper
The paper pieces were my favorite parts of this project to make. I loved creating miniature framed photos that replicated my own at home, and I loved the effect of the wallpaper on this project. I also created a mini fire that turned out well. I used cardboard to create depth for my clock and television. I felt that the paper created the personality for this project. The greatest challenges here were when I glued on my pictures upside down, and warping of my book nook. I ended up using wallpaper 'patches' to conceal these mistakes!
The most challenging piece for me to create was the yarn basket. At first, I had hoped to use wire to mold the basket. Instead, I cut and wove tiny strips of patterned origami paper together to create the basket. It was very fiddly throughout. I put a small piece of cardboard in the bottom for added structure.
Lights
The lighting was more challenging than I expected to attach, as it was being stuck to the ceiling and I did not want the lights to fall. I tried several types of tape before settling on gorilla glue duct tape.
Final Thoughts
To account for user experience, I left the light switch at the front of the book nook so that users could turn the lights on and off. The pieces of this book nook are delicate and not moveable, so interaction is otherwise limited for users.
Throughout this semester, we have discussed the radical roots of making and the disconnect between those roots and the modern makerspace. I have felt empowered this semester to identify as a maker - no expertise required - and to use my making as a way to push back against norms of consumerism and capitalism. Craftivism, the Design Justice Framework, and Data Feminism have most inspired my work.
This book nook represents me as a maker, and I look forward to displaying it on my bookshelf or in my yarn cabinet to celebrate myself!