etsy

Fine Art Prints – Abandoned Houses, Mid Century Modern Clocks, and Halloween Masks

Old House A: a decrepit small house that is 1.5 stories tall. The front porch has a rocking chair on it. The print is 8x10 inches in black and white.
| Leslie Born

Art has been a constant in my life. There’s no way to emphasize that sentence in a way that will fully explain what it means and the weight it carries.

I picked up a pencil at a very young age (I have a colouring book from when I was three, and it looks like I coloured it yesterday), and it was very hard to put it down when I felt like I needed to. I still have the “learn-to-draw” books that I used when I started drawing, and then I used them as reference when needed (they have been moved across Canada with me a few times!). When I would get stressed in university, my relief was to pick up a pencil and doodle, draw, design, whatever felt right at the moment. The best decision I made for myself was to do my minor in Fine Arts, I got to release that creativity into the world. I felt exhilarated with each assignment and I kept getting better and better (as one does with anything they practice).

Since then, I have always drawn or painted “just because.” In the last ten years I really started to focus on watercolour painting. I love it. It takes some skill, some technique, but basically I just play with pigment and water and I might as well be a toddler again. Again, just practicing and “playing” have made me more confident in the medium. I’ve recently discovered a “trick” in using pencil crayons and gel pens to get the highlights I often find myself wanting in my watercolour paintings, and so I’m very excited to try that soon. Recently I painted a Supermurgitroid Robot friend using watercolour paints, and outlined in ink. I did it because for ages I’ve been telling myself if I tried it wouldn’t be very good, and I had to prove that little voice wrong, and I’m so glad I did. I’m in love with that little friend I painted, and I really just have to stop telling myself I can’t – I currently am, and I have the paintings and art to prove it!

Abandoned Houses

Another love of mine is abandoned houses, very run-down houses, or old houses. I truly feel that they have stories to tell, they have voices, they have personalities. They have seen things that we can only imagine. I wish each house came with a little binder of all the people who have owned it, when it was renovated, what thought was put into its keep-up, and anything else it wants to share! Can you imagine what my one-hundred-year-old house could tell?! It’s amazing. I found some pictures of old houses on the internet, and felt their personalities calling out to me, so I began to draw their portraits. I feel like portrait is the only way to describe these drawings. They each have such massive personalities, and there must be stories behind the way they are. Here are a couple:

Old House A: a decrepit small house that is 1.5 stories tall. The front porch has a rocking chair on it. The print is 8x10 inches in black and white.
Abandoned House A, 8×10 inch black and white print.

Abandoned House D, a black and white print, 8×10 inches.

Mid-Century Modern Clocks

I have a fascination with mid-century modern décor as well. It is simple, but complex. It is bright, but muted. It seems to be all contradictions, and perhaps that is why I like it. It reminds me of all the contradictions I hold within myself, and why that is a good thing. I started drawing mid-century inspired clocks set to certain times that mean something to me. Like how I always seem to look at the clock at 12:34, how some people say to make a wish when looking at the clock at 11:11, and the time my child was born. I set them each against a mid-century modern inspired patterned wallpaper, because it reminds me of my grandma’s kitchen. For a very long time her kitchen had the green fridge and stove, and was completed with a brown and orange carpet! Very eclectic! Here are a couple of my clocks:

A mid-century modern clock that has a teal geometric shape and gold trim. The pale yellow face is set against a blue, yellow, green, and white wallpaper with parallelograms in a pattern. The clock is set to 11:30. The print is 5x7 inches.
Clock A set to 11:30, 5×7 inch print.

A mid-century modern clock that has a red wood flower and starburst details. The gold face is set against a green, yellow, and white wallpaper with half moons and diamonds in a pattern. The clock is set to 7:06. The print is 5x7 inches.
Clock B set to 7:06, 5×7 inch print.

Vintage Halloween Masks

Halloween is a very big part of my life. I love everything about it. I remember as a kid that we had the Collegeville costumes, they were masks with a plastic coverup that had an outfit printed on it. It was nice because we were often trick-or-treating in snow, so costumes always had to fit over snowsuits, and this one was one of the few that assured to. I chose my favourite six to start with, but my favourite vintage Halloween Masks of those are:

Vintage Halloween Mask – Clown

Vintage Halloween Mask – Cat

You Can Have One Too!

I have decided to share these creations as prints, and these art prints are available online in a few ways: through my Etsy shop (Hook and Line Wpg), through Art of Where, and now also through Society6!

Etsy

The art prints available through Etsy are printed by me (well by my Epson printer), and they are either printed on Stonehenge paper or a printable cotton canvas! (I posted a video of the printable cotton canvas in the Mid-Century Modern Clock post to show how neat it is!) They come unframed, which is a great option if you have a frame just waiting for a colourful art print to be displayed in it.

There are four Vintage Halloween Mask prints available on Etsy (clown, cat, bat, and Frankenstein’s Monster). All of the eight Abandoned House drawings are available, as are all five Mid-Century Modern inspired clocks.

Art of Where

Art of Where creates prints that can be matte or glossy, on wood or paper, or be a poster or paper print. Details on their prints can be found at the Art of Where website.

All six Vintage Halloween Mask art prints, eight Abandoned House drawings, and five Mid-Century Modern inspired clocks are available at Art of Where.

Society6

And as of this week, all of these prints are also available through Society6! There are many options at Society6, from framed to unframed prints, as well as metal and acrylic options!

All prints are available at Society6 in all of the many options!

I would really love for you to love the houses, clocks, and masks as much as I do. I’ve really enjoyed creating them, and feel their stories should begin to be shared! Perhaps you need a gift for someone who loves Mid-Century Modern decor, or your wall needs a gallery of abandoned buildings. Whatever it’s for, I hope that I can help you find it!

I have other ideas in the works, I’m figuring out a way to get some of my photographs accessible as prints, and items, so keep your ears to the ground and I’ll let you know when those are ready to go!

Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I really appreciate it.

Take care,

Leslie

Reflections

| Leslie Born

As I’m nearing this upcoming milestone birthday, I’m thinking a lot about the people and things that have inspired me.  How through all the thick and thin, I am who I am because of it all.  It’s actually why I don’t like birthdays really. However, this year I can celebrate having fulfilled a dream – I am a professional artist now! 

When I was five, my grandma taught me how to knit and I made my kindergarten transport driver a scarf for Christmas. I can’t imagine now what it looked like, I’m 90% sure that there were a ton of holes and that I only used scrap yarn, but the way he lit up when I gave it to him, I will always remember.

Then my grandpa taught me how to cross stitch. I embellished everything – tshirts, pants, made pictures, bibs, everything I could touch.

Somewhere in there I started drawing and couldn’t stop. I got a how to draw Mickey Mouse and Friends book, as well as how to draw cartoon people. I was hooked. I drew whenever there was a writing utensil near me – even those white stones that draw on the concrete!

Then I was introduced to fine art. When we went to the Museum of Natural History, I spent so much time asking whomever I was with about the dioramas and who painted them. I was intrigued that there were museums just for art.

I’m not sure when it was but I then found the Impressionists. I believe it was during an English class that we studied the Don McLean song Vincent. I was swept up in how they changed the face of art. They took art from the elite to the everyday. They changed the way we saw the world, how artists looked at the world. I learned art can change the world.  

I focused on art, until high school. Then I was kind of forced down a university track that I didn’t want. I ended up getting my Bachelor of Science double majoring in Mathematics and Statistics with a minor in Fine Art. Yeah. I listened to those around me that said art was an unsuccessful path. I still held on a little though.

Somewhere I forgot how to knit and started crocheting. I’d crochet friends’ babies blankets, and toys and trinkets. I’d craft Christmas decorations. I told myself someday I’d have an art room in my house.

When I met my future husband, he had very little knowledge of the art I was so enthralled with, and so I’d drag him around to all the artsy things I could find. Now he comes very willingly and I can’t wait to share this all with my little one.

When I got married, I made doilies for each table and they were part of the favours! I found so many amazing patterns, some so old they were from the early 1800s. They were my favourite to make because they made me feel connected to this way of making things. I feel grounded when I’m around things that have a history.

I never meant to get sappy in this blog. It’s just things that have been on my mind a lot lately. I realized how long I’ve been drawing and crocheting and dreaming of having these shops so that I can share what I love to make. (Even though 5 years ago if you said I’d have a strange robot portal open and I’d have a ton of new robot friends I wanted to share with the world, I would not have believed you at all!) I’ve got some exciting new robot friends coming up – I’ve been inspired by the people who have inspired me (Frida Khalo, Vincent Van Gogh, Anthony Bourdain, Johnny Cash, and more). I’m also in the process of designing some new bags for my Etsy shop. And none of this would have been possible without those who inspired me. Sometimes history feels heavy, but that’s the responsibility I feel I have to pass this knowledge along and to keep the memories and stories alive.

I mean it when I say I want to make sure I have a good story to tell in the end, I want my little one to understand this responsibility and to pass it all along somehow to the next generations too.

Thanks for being with me friends. I hope you are all taking care and maybe have a moment to reflect and think about those who’ve inspired you.

Take care,

Leslie

Hi, My Name is Leslie and I Love Colours

| Leslie Born

I freaking love colours. I love the chemistry and physics behind colours. I love that ancient peoples painted with fruits, berries and dirt that were the colours they wanted to depict. I love that in our digital world there are so many options for colours. I once learned the HEX formula for colours because I thought it was so interesting!

There are so many facets to colours! I’m sure we all know the primary colours, then mix any 2 primaries to get a secondary colour (orange, green, and purple), and mix any secondary colour with a primary to get tertiary colours (chartreuse, amber, vermillion, magenta, violet, and teal)!

Then it gets really interesting:

  • The primary colours are actually made up of a cool red and a warm red. This article from Just Paint describes warm and cool colours well.
Rainbow Colour Wheel – Warm
Rainbow Colour Wheel – Primary
Rainbow Colour Wheel – Cool
  • There are colour families: warm, primary and cool. When looking at the palettes above, it’s like you can feel the warmth from the top one! Primary colours are thought to be neutral and are generally used for the basis of all other colours. Cool colours invoke that wintry, icy feeling. Note how the HEX codes are similar in each family.
Complimentary Comparison: Primary Red & Primary Green vs Cool Red & Primary Green
Analogous Comparison: Cool vs Primary vs Warm

I think a colour’s family is one of the most important things to remember when creating a palette. If I’m trying to create a harmonious, calming sunset design, I don’t want to have a jarring difference in colours that will take me away from the feeling I’m trying to create. The same goes for painting a house.

Colours can also be grouped in other ways:

  • Complementary Colours: They are opposite each other on the colour wheel (red & green, orange & blue, and yellow & purple)

Fun Fact: Scrubs are green to help doctors see better in the operating room because it is the exact opposite of red on the colour wheel!

  • Analogous Colours: They are directly beside each other on the colour wheel.
  • Triadic Colours: They make a triangle on the colour wheel.

Our digital world allows us to make colours into numbers so that we can translate what we see on our screens!

Primary RedHEX #FF0000R255 G0 B0
Primary BlueHEX #0000FFR0 G0 B255
Primary YellowHEX #FFFF00R255 G255 B0
Fun Fact: My current favourite colour is #E2b541 – the background for my Supermurgitroid Robot Friends

And all colours get built using special formulas based on this!

My favourite place to play with colours is the Coolors website. (Unsponsored, just absolutely love it and want to share.) It boggles my brain how someone has figured out how to make this amazing database of colours! The site (and app) allows me to create palettes, save them, export them to Procreate (and others), explore colours, find families, and copy the codes so that I don’t have to remember #437da5! It’s a colour lovers paradise!

I hope this has shed some light on some interesting things about colours, and maybe you’ll find Coolors as useful as I do! I could go on about colours for days, so let me know if you have any questions!

Take care,

Leslie

Crocheting Using Vintage Patterns

Two crocheted flowers are set on a barrette.
| Leslie Born

A few months ago, I injured my finger and haven’t been able to crochet until a few days ago. I’m very glad it’s feeling better because I got to go through my patterns and yarn and try to decide what project to start. Honestly, sometimes I get so caught up in looking at the patterns, figuring out the yarn I could use, and getting lost in colour combinations, often the project doesn’t normally get started.

I have amassed quite a few patterns over the 20 plus years that I’ve been crocheting; I got many of my grandparent’s patterns and others have passed on their older generation’s patterns to me. I’m very grateful for this because it feels like a piece of them carries on. I adore seeing their handwriting in the margins as I flip through. I have patterns from the 1800s, patterns written in German, written patterns with no pictures, graph patterns – I think it would be so interesting if there were a museum for patterns! (If there is please let me know, I’ll add it to my bucket list!)

A great challenge is converting the old pattern’s materials and supplies into modern day ones. I have many patterns that call for Coats and Clark or Daisy mercerized cotton – items that can be found, but often are expensive or difficult, and I always worry I won’t get enough for a project. Converting is much easier for yarns than it is for crochet cottons, so I wanted to share what I do.

In this chair set pattern, it calls for Mercerized Crochet Cotton size 30, and a crochet hook size 10.

Unfortunately, it’s not the same as the current thread size 30 available, so we have to do some conversions.

Currently the most common crochet cotton thread sizes are Size 3, Size 10, Size 20 and Size 30. Size 3 is the thickest thread, Size 30 is the finest.

Crochet Cotton Thread SizeCrochet Hook Size to Use
Size 33.25-3.5 mm
Size 101.6-2.25 mm
Size 201.15-1.25 mm
Size 301 mm

All Free Crochet has a great crochet hook size chart that I use because it has both yarn hook and steel or thread hook sizes.

So in looking at the chart Steel/Thread Hook Size 10 is a 1.3 mm hook. I would use a current size 10 crochet cotton for this pattern because I’ve found it’s best to round up.

Jumbo the Pink Elephant (which has been on my to-do list for a while) calls for hook size 0.

Looking at the hook size chart, Size 0 is 3.25 mm. In this case we have some options!

We could use a current size 3 crochet cotton, yarn that is fingering weight 1, or yarn that is baby weight 2!

Doily patterns are very versatile – as long as the size of the hook matches the weight of the yarn the pattern will work – but that’s another whole topic for another day!

I hope this has been a bit helpful!

Take care,

Leslie

Why Hook & Line?

| Leslie Born

I admit, I wish I had done a bit more research before throwing everything into this name.  It made sense to me at the time though. Because I wanted my Etsy shop to be like a general store, a place where I would be able to share all of the fun things I like to create, I wanted a name that I thought covered all of that. I kept coming back to Hook & Line – a crochet hook, and the line of the horizon or the line of a drawing.  I doodled the graphic and was pretty pleased with it. I made up labels and a bunch of other materials before researching Hook & Line on Etsy and finding myself among a bunch of fishing related shops – which makes total sense now 🫤.  (It also taught me to do a bit more research for when I was getting Supermurgitroid ready.)

However, I do still feel a connection to it.  I feel at home when I’ve got a crochet hook or a pencil in my hand. It feels natural to have a paint brush creating shapes that become lines.  I am proud of the things I make and just as the name is personal, with each item I make I share a little piece of myself.

I really enjoy all kinds of crafts, and learning all kinds of techniques. I love crocheting something warm for someone, living in a place where winter is strong and long it’s an act of love for me. I love taking photos of flowers or nature, my grandfather enjoyed gardening so much and I feel connected to him in the garden. I have a bit of an obsession with books, and bookmarks to use in them – so I wanted to celebrate that by creating fun bookmarks.

I really truly hope that anyone who purchases one of my items loves it as much as I loved making it.

Take care,

Leslie

A preview of some of the items in my shop:

A peek inside my mind!

A picture of Leslie, the artist behind Supermurgitroid by Leslie, and Hook and Line Wpg.
| Leslie Born

Hi! Welcome to a site that is a peek inside my mind; it’s a little bit full, and a lot of fun! I’ve been wanting to share my ideas with the world for a long time, I just didn’t really know how. I think I’ve got that sorted out now!

I love making and creating. It doesn’t matter if it’s yarn crafts, recreating a really old doily from a pattern created in the 1800s, drawing, painting, creating paper crafts…truly I just love to learn new things, and ways to get the ideas in my imagination out.

I don’t know where this journey is going, but I’m really excited to find out. I’ll be updating information about my two shops, I’ll also be sharing ideas I have, works in progress, and anything else that I come across. I really hope you’ll join me!

Take care,
Leslie