Still Stitchin' 5-23-06

Stayed up until 5 AM a few nights ago and got this cranked out. The rest of the cover stuff is easier and will go quicker once we get to it. Unfortunately, we're about to leave for a two week trip to Texas for the Kerrville Folk Festival and it'll be hard to get too much done on the road. We'll try though!!!
When I get back from Texas I'll tackle the biggest hurdle, which is stitching the fiddle, mandolin, and guitar on the back cover. Hopefully we'll be done with everything by the end of June and have the CD released at the end of July. Honestly though, I'm just going to work as hard as I can on it until it gets done right. This is truly a labor of love that I'm creating just because I think it's beautiful. I'm lucky to get to spend time on stuff like that, and I'm thankful!

Peace,

Art Update 5-17-06

Well, I didn't get as much stitching done as I wanted to this week. With distractions like setting up my online press kit, having to pump some bad vegetable oil out of my tank in the middle of the night, and getting a band together for my shows this week, it was hard to find the mental energy to tackle the intimidating task of stitching the "Zane Williams" lettering.

One of the scariest parts was transferring the design to the cloth. The disappearing pen we have wouldn't give us enough time to stitch it without re-tracing, so it had to be drawn with a permanent marker. PLUS, tracing the little details was impossible because of how thick and dark the cloth is. A breakthrough came when I visited the local stitching shop, Metamorphosis. They suggested poking holes in the design, laying it on top of the linen, and making a dotted outline of where I need to stitch.

This worked pretty well. I shopped around for a fine-tip blue marker that didn't bleed into the fabric too much, carefully taped the design on top of the fabric in just the right spot, and with fear in my heart.....I put polka dots all over my precious fabric.

And it worked! So far, anyway. I was finally able to get to stitchin', and I stitched the entire "Zane" yesterday.

I doubt I'll get much more done today---I've got a rehearsal to prepare for and a show to do tonight. If you're in Nashville, I'm playing tonight at 9:00 at the Douglas Corner (with a full band) and Saturday 9 to 10 at Christopher Pizza Company. Gotta run! Peace!

Art Update 5-10-06

With enough design work out of the way to get started stitching, Jodi and I put the linen in the frames about five days ago....

And, we got to stitchin'!! Each of us have done about 3 to 5 hours a day, for a total of about 30 total hours so far. I got these SWEET reading glasses at the dollar store, and they magnify 3.5 times so I can see those little holes without straining....

Now some artists might be embarassed to put a photo of themselves like that on the internet---and to those people I say: Well, I can see your point. But back to the stitching!! We finished all the song titles, which make up a large part of the back cover...

Let's zoom in a little to see that handywork....

And, we got some good work done on the front cover as well. Next week this is going to be MUCH better-looking. Trust me. Stitch on!

Art Update 5-4

We'll, we're working as hard as we can. I've pretty much got the design work done, and we're just about ready to start stitching. As usual, I ended up having to do some things the hard way....I wanted a backstich font with letters 7 threads high, and couldn't find one at the library or online so I ended up adapting/making my own.

Here are the song titles on graph paper...

I did get some cool books at the library that gave us some good stitch ideas... We also got a neat little couch out of a dumpster on our alley. Here's Jodi putting both free items to good use...

And our practice cloths are getting a workout.

The project is taking over our entire living room, and spilling onto the kitchen table...

The design work is definitely slow going---I don't know if the stitching will be any faster or not, but we will definitely have some parts stitched in next week's update. I'm excited!!! I'm a dork! Peace,

I WON, with your help!!

Got the good news last night when I checked the John Lennon website at about 11:30---I WON the Lennon Award in the Country Category for 2005! Thanks to your support, DiscMakers is going to print up 1,000 copies of my new CD for FREE (saving me $2,000). Obviously the timing couldn't have been better on that---I promise I'm working as hard as I can to get it finished! I'll also be signing a single-song contract for "Hurry Home" that comes with a $5,000 advance, which is money I can use to promote the CD and give it more of the push it deserves. Plus who knows, maybe they'll get "Hurry Home" recorded by a big name artist so it can reach a nationwide audience.
Last but not least---and I try not to think about this part too much---I'm now in the running for the "Maxell Song of the Year" prize which is a whopping $20,000 cash AND a pat on the back. That decision is made by celebrity judges and will be announced on July 13th. Hope my buddy Kevin Bacon puts in a good word for me. :)

Well, this is all thanks to you guys. It really is. "Hurry Home" has been a special song to me for a long time, and now it's the title track of a CD that is very special to me, and it's getting the recognition it deserves. You guys gave my snowball a push when it was just a little bitty thing WAY at the top of the mountain, and if we keep pushing and really get it going, all of it's future success will be because of you. Thanks for your time, and for your support. My gift back to you will be the best record I can humanly make---one that I hope will enrich your life in some small way. Back to work! Peace,