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I am very excited to introduce to you miss Leigh Angel. She is an absolute asset to Stencil1 and you’ll be hearing more from Leigh as she blogs her heart out here. Check out this interview with Leigh!

Interview by Betsy Todd

Is your name really Leigh Angel?
Yes. I come from a long line of Angels, including my great-great grandfather George Washington Angel and his wife Elizabeth. My parents named me Leigh after their friend who they thought was cool. I never met her, but I’ll take their word for it.

How did you come to work with Stencil1?
My good friend Betsy Todd (you might know her) introduced me to Ed after one of her band’s shows, and I loved his graphic stencil work. He was wearing one of his T-shirts with a stenciled fawn design. This was maybe 2004 or 2005, so way ahead of the twee woodland creature trend. A year or so later, Ed needed help writing the introduction for his first stencil book with Chronicle. I had just finished ghostwriting a book for a crazy person and was looking for a fun project. We bonded over a mutual love of acrylic paint and Keith Haring. I’ve since helped him write three books.

What do you do for Stencil1 and what are some of your favorite assignments?
Working with Ed, I get to do two things I love: writing and crafting. As a writer, I organize his ingenious, creative ideas and help him express in words what he would normally express visually. When we first started working together, we developed an intro and a brief history of stenciling for Stencil 101. Since then, I’ve written tutorials and created samples to illustrate some of the projects. I loved making the needle-felted pillow sample that appears in Stencil 201 and developing tutorials for 201 and the upcoming book. But my favorite was creating and writing my own knitting pattern based on one of Ed’s stencils, which will be in the new book coming out later this year. It will be my first published knitting pattern!

Ed thinks you are a crafting genius, how did all this begin?
Ha. Ed is a mad brilliant guy. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to work with someone as intensely creative and passionate about his art. He’s an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a living doing something they love.

My dad’s mother, Grandma J, taught me to cross-stitch in junior high, but I quickly grew bored and, frankly, annoyed with the flowery, homespun patterns available to me. In high school, I focused on singing. Crafts were too “girly” and not progressive enough for the burgeoning feminist-in-the-bible-belt I was becoming. So I just sang in the choir and plotted my escape. My real passion for crafting came later in life, when I moved to New York in the mid-90s.

I found myself missing that tactile experience of creating with my hands. I was a musical theater actor/waitron and started painting again to relieve stress. No empty wine bottle or flower pot or coffee table was safe from my paintbrush. I started looking online for inspiration and discovered a site called GetCrafty.com, started by Jean Railla. The message board introduced me to like-minded women (and a few men) who were interested in taking crafts beyond the frilly, squeaky acrylic yarn crafts of their grandmothers. Each craft was treated as an art form and came with a rock-and-roll aesthetic. I started working with collage and decoupage, making accessories out of duct tape, and turning my neglected vinyl collection into melted vinyl bowls. From there, I got into crochet and knitting and rediscovered the cross stitch of my youth.

Who taught you the “art” of crafting and who are your biggest inspirations?
Grandma J was devoted crafter of multiple talents. She did lace tatting, quilling, tole painting, cross stitch, candle-wicking, beading … the list goes on. For Easter, she would make these insane egg dioramas by blowing the inside out of the egg, cutting out a window from one side, and filling the egg with tiny fake flowers and grass and a little bunny or chick or angel. Then she’d decorate the outside with ribbon and hang them on her Easter tree.

Cut to NYC, winter, 1999: I was late for work, and I stopped by the tchotchke cart on 86th and Amsterdam Ave. to buy a hair barrette before my shift waiting tables. The proprietor, George Jackson, complimented me on my scarf and asked if I made it, which I hadn’t. He said, “That’s just garter stitch. Very easy. I could teach you.” I laughed, but he insisted. “When the weather’s nicer, you come back and I’ll show you.” So I did. A few months later, I showed up with needles and yarn, and we sat on folding chairs outside the CVS on Amsterdam Ave. and Mr. Jackson taught me to knit.

Knitting was something I never thought I could do, and then something I never thought I could master. With the guidance of my friend Monica Schroeder, who is supremely talented knitter, I have exceeded my own expectations. Every now and then, I pop in on George Jackson and show him my latest creation.

I draw inspiration mostly from pop art, pop culture, and traditional folk art. I love bright colors and repeating pattern motifs. Especially circles. Much of my work contains circles and pairs of things.

I’m especially drawn to artists who use traditional “crafts” to create outrageous and innovative works of art and design, like Sarah Applebaum, Nava Lubelski, and Andrea Dezsö. I also love the stitching antics of BeeFranck and Mr. Xstitch and my pal Florence Wang, who makes cross stitch paintings based on her own photography. Oh! Olek! I can’t believe I forgot her. I went freaking’ went apeshit when I saw one of her yarnbombs in person when my nephew visited last summer. He was all, “Wha?” And I was like, “Stand here. Let me take your picture with this crocheted bike!”

In my own work, I find myself going back to the crafts of my grandmothers, especially crochet and cross stitch, and making them my own. I just recently bought a candlewicking kit on eBay and I can’t wait to play around with it.

Do you prefer crafting over writing?
Not necessarily. I approach them differently and love them equally. Writing is like solving a puzzle. You have a million tiny ideas, thoughts, and sparks, and you know they all fit together somehow. The thrill comes when all those pieces make a picture. Writing is also how I bring home the tofu bacon, so I have to be pragmatic about it. Some days it’s less than magical, but that’s how it is with any job, even a job you love. I get equal pleasure from creating with my hands and some string and needles or paint and paper. Crafting is relaxing and soothing. Knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, and embroidery have a mathematical rhythm, similar to music, that allows me to shift my mindset. I love to put on my iPod or sit in front of the the TV with my needles and just unspool. I think that’s why I’m drawn to repeating patterns; the geometrical balance is calming.

What is your dream job (paying or non-paying)?
My dream job is write and craft full-time, traveling the world for inspiration, which I’m doing on a small scale now. Someday, I hope to be able to ditch the day job, but as the wise Lisa Adams once said, “you have to fund the dream.” I would love to live part of the year in New York and part of the year in Rwanda, crafting it up with the Ubushobozi girls!

First craft project you can remember making?
The first project I remember “learning” was a plastic canvas needlepoint basket. My Girl Scout troop took lessons, like basic sewing, quilting, and needlepoint, at a sewing shop called Stitch in Time. The shop was in an old Victorian gingerbread house painted pink with white trim and had overflowing flower beds in the yard, and I LOVED it. I was not very good at quilting; I remember being very frustrated that my stitches were uneven on the first try. But I excelled at the needlepoint. My basket was red and white with a heart for Valentine’s day (I imagine they all were.). I was so proud of it, and I kept it for years.

Favorite thing you ever made with Stencil1 stencils?
I’m torn between the rocking chair I just tricked out in December and the t-shirts my nephews and I made when Stencil 101 first came out. It was such a blast painting with them and watching them get creative. Laine chose the buck stencil and was very precise with his painting, making sure he stayed in the lines and using the “right” colors. Levi chose the buck too, but made it his own by giving it blue eyes and a red nose. He also put the doe and fawn on the back of his shirt, giving the buck a family. And Luke, our little punk rocker, went totally renegade: sumo wrestler on one side, luchador mask on the other, both in a combo of black, teal, red, and green. The kid’s got an eye for color.

Any craft disasters?
Oh. So many. Especially knitting disasters. There was the cute ’20s cloche hat that ended up looking like an English bobby hat. The mittens that came out two different sizes: one normal hand and one giant meat-hook hand. Of course, the disasters are often the best teachers. My favorite hat, the one I wore all winter, did not come easily. I must have knitted, frogged*, and reknitted that thing seven or eight times with two different yarns and four different needle sizes before I got it right. I was determined that pattern would not defeat me. Now, I have a better understanding of knitting mechanics—and a super cute hat!

*frogged (frog) is a very technical knitting term that means to undo your knitting work or “rip it.” Get it? Rip it. Rip it.

How did you become involved with Ubushobozi Project and how did your trip impact your life?
Well, I cyberstalked you and Dolinda for about a year after you guys went to Rwanda to work with the Ubushobozi Project before I gathered up the courage to jump into the volunteer fray. As a lifelong activist, I know how enthusiastic people can be at the beginning; I wanted to be sure I had the time and energy to devote. I started by selling Ubushobozi-made bags at a craft fair, but I really wanted to go to Rwanda. It never occurred to me that I had any skills to offer the girls. Then you suggested I teach them crocheting or knitting or cross stitch or anything crafty. I was flabbergasted and thrilled! And once I was there, and met the girls and the staff and Jeanne [Ubushobozi’s founder], I was hooked for life.

I knew it would be a life-changing experience, but almost a year later, I still don’t think I fully grasp how much my life has been effected. I think about those girls every day, like they’re my family. I miss them like I miss my nephews and friends who live far away. Their passion and unbridled creativity is inspiring. Before our trip you told me, “they want to learn everything,” and they do. They soak up anything you offer. They have an eagerness to learn and try new things and fail and try again I have never seen before. I felt reinvigorated to learn new techniques, for my own edification and to share with them.

The best gift I got was discovering that Africa is full of individual people with agency, with hopes and dreams and capabilities to do anything they set their minds to. I mean, intellectually I knew that, but we in the West are inundated with images and stories of Africa as a big land mass where everyone is poor, and it’s always hot, and the babies have flies on their eyes, and they’ll die if we don’t save them. What I learned, and am still learning, is that Africa is a continent of countries and cities and people of varied economic status, who don’t need me or anyone to tell them to change this or do that or live this way. They only need what we all need: a little support for the journey. And Ruhengeri, Rwanda is a cool 60 in the evening. You’ll need a sweater.

Is it true that you gave a Golden Girls cross-stitch as a thank you gift?
Indeed, I did! You and Dolinda went above the call of duty friendship and as travel companions, answering questions, calming fears, and replying to endless emails leading up to our trip to Rwanda last summer.

Tell us about the private crafting lessons/workshops you’ve hosted (ie Bitch & Stitch)
In the early to mid-aughts, I hosted Stitch and Bitch nights at my pad to get my crafty peeps in a room and see what everyone was up to. It was a mix of boys and girls, needle arts and paper craft, gluing and painting. I never knew who would show up or what folks would bring. I’d make my famous sangria, put on some music, and we’d get our craft on. It was a blast.

Work and other commitments put SnB to the side, but I still meet up with a few friends who knit occasionally. In preparation for my teaching trip to Rwanda, I held practice knitting and crochet classes to get comfortable teaching. I’ve taught folks to knit in the past, but only one-on-one. Friends dropped in for a beginner class of the techniques I planned to teach the Ubushobozi girls, and we had a mutually beneficial good time.

My goal is to do more crochet and knitting classes in the future as Ubushobozi fundraisers. People can give a suggested donation and come for a series of classes or on a drop-in basis and all the money would go to Ubush. SnB for cause!

Is it true that you’re amazing? Because both Ed and I think so.
Aw shucks. I’m rubber and you’re both glue.