fiber (diversion): knitted organs
mostly unknown fact (unless you’re a particularly astute reader with a devilishly good memory): i’m sickeningly, hopelessly facinated with the biology of the human body. in my free time, i literally devour books on medicine, human biology, and watch everything interesting on the same on the telly. i wanted to be an MD when i was a wee girl.
couple that with with my thing for all things fiber…and you can see why i am obsessed with this knitted brain, heart, and intestines by artist sarah illenberger:
i think the use of yarn to fashion faux organs is a particularly sensitive, deeply metaphorical choice with a dual meaning: said yarn is soft, it’s gauge delicate, echoing the equally delicate nature of our innards, sitting protected in our body cavities. but conversely, the choice to sculpt these organs out of yarn with the medium of knitting suggests strength: our organs are resilient, tough, capable of keeping most of us ticking, thinking, moving along in a myriad of ways daily, and for decades.
see also: this slightly less poetic looking (though equally as cool) knitted digestive system by matie trewe (via craftster.org)
April 2 2008 | Posted in uncategorized
April 2 2008 at 7:45 pm
tea hobbyistI love how the veins over the heart spread…almost in a dainty manner.
April 2 2008 at 8:07 pm
allisonthese are all great, but the heart is especially sublime. i love it.
April 2 2008 at 9:01 pm
hannahthese are so wonderfully delicate even though the organs serve such a huge purpose in daily life. soft and scrunchy, i would like to wear them in my hair or on a jacket.
April 2 2008 at 9:40 pm
StephanieWoah, I would love one of these. show em off during bio lecture and have the other bio nerds just gush as i did.
April 3 2008 at 12:34 am
lisaoh my god. so amazing. wow.
April 3 2008 at 1:35 am
AllyWow– I love this post, and your descriptions.
April 3 2008 at 5:25 am
lady covetedbeautiful!
April 3 2008 at 8:49 am
MarketaTricia,
This jewelry line is right up your alley
http://paraphernalia.nu/
April 3 2008 at 9:10 am
triciamarketa: thanks for the link!
i already know about paraphernalia, in fact, i actually posted about her work about a year ago: http://bitsandbobbins.com/journal/2007/03/20/if-money-was-no-object-10/
April 3 2008 at 9:23 am
vasiliisaThese are amazing!
A Finnish artist you would probably find interesting is Anu Tuominen. She does a lot of work with found objects, and crochets and knits.
I didn’t find a web site but you could do a google images search if you like. Or maybe I should blog about her :).
April 3 2008 at 10:28 am
paperthinwallsi love these!! i crocheted a [slightly-larger-than-] life-size anatomical heart [ seen here ] complete with veins for my valentine this valentine’s day. the ones you show here are slightly more subtle, but they are of course gorgeous! hooray for organs of the yarn variety!
April 3 2008 at 7:11 pm
RhoWow. That is too cool!!
April 4 2008 at 8:59 am
MarketaTricia,
I had a feeling you already knew about Paraphenalia.
{love the huge shoe in that post}
Just for giggles check out these guys…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixedspecies/sets/72157602786662028/
April 4 2008 at 2:25 pm
stereoke!wow.
April 5 2008 at 5:23 pm
Prêt-à -Porter Pwow!!!!!
April 8 2008 at 7:27 am
Needle Exchange » This Knitted Brain is everywhere and now it’s here[...] [...]
April 8 2008 at 10:12 am
LaiaOh I love those. They would look great as brooches.
April 8 2008 at 11:16 pm
WendyBLove these.
April 21 2008 at 4:33 pm
MarieWOW you heat guts too?! Yay!
My friend Karrie made a life sized inside out costume once. Apparently she made one for Blythe too:
http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit/blog/2007/10/30/creepy/