Friday Favorites

Drawing Class Update:  Second week in my drawing class.  This week we have drawn examples of positive and negative space in a composition and one and two point perspective.  I am not the best in the class but am not the worse either.  I can live with that. Did I tell you that the instructor is Emily Wolf Walker? She is a fiber artist which is exciting for me since I consider myself to be a fiber artist.  Here is a link to her portfolio.

Friday's Favorites
Gloria Hansen had an adventure in snow dyeing. She shows lots of pictures and even better, links you to the directions so you can have your own adventure.  I love her idea of soaking up her spills with the watercolor paper. That will be very nice for other projects. Anyway, if you need snow, let me know.  I have extra I can send.

Have you checked out the ArtCloth Network?  It is a group of 30 fiber artist who love transforming plain white cloth into works of art. The art is the cloth itself and not the garment or quilt created using the cloth. The Network has room for a couple more fiber artists who are willing to commit to their high requirements for membership.  Me, I think membership would certainly be a wonderful opportunity to increase my surface design skills.  Take a look at the site and the application.  Due date for applications is March 15th so you have time to ponder the commitment before leaping.

Lisa Kerpoe is a very talented artist and has great ideas for silkscreening.  Her blog does not give lots of details (she teaches classes, you know) but the pictures tell their own story and really inspire me to try new things.

Melanie Testa is in need of some warm, soft hats to keep her noggin warm for the next few months.  For more information please read the post written by her friend, Leslie Tucker Jenison.  Maybe I will send her one with a doodle made with the folded ruling pen she introduced me to.

Wen Redmond shares a new technique for surface design using Elmer's glue.  I have not tried it yet.  I have checked out her free videos on her website and have found a couple of other techniques to try too.  If you are in the area you might also want to go see her "collaborative solo exhibit" in the Lincoln Levy Gallery in Portsmouth NH, February 4-25.  The link gives you more information about the show.

Constance Rose has started the tradition of Surface Design Tuesdays and shows us her results on Wednesday. This week she discharged black fabric with thiox paste.  Lovely results. I definitely think the "And Then We Set It On Fire" group needs to spend a month on discharging!

"Falling in love again, what's a girl to do? something something something. Can't help it." Again, I have fallen in love with one of Jane LaFazio's pieces, Dreaming of Venice.  I bet Emily Wolf Walker would love this piece too.  Take a look at her pictures, including some very nice close-ups, then follow her link to the tutorial for making it.

Shibori Review

I can't figure out how to post these pictures over at "And Then We Set It On Fire" so I am posting all my all shibori pictures here and giving them a link.  Hope you don't mind looking at the pictures again.  If you want more information, you could probably search the label shibori and come up with the original blog.

 

This little quilt was made by a friend using my shibori fabric.

I didn't make this one.  It is part of a sari that I bought.

Abby, Nathan, and Tristan

Recently my grandson, Nathan, was in the hospital with pneumonia.  He was still able to sport some style wearing one of his tie dye onsies I made him for Christmas.  He is getting some hugs from his brother, Tristan, and sister, Abby.

Second layer

First layer was purple silk then multiple layers of soy wax and dye.

Next layer included red and blue Decolourant.  Unfortantely, the red is more orange than red and when mixed with blue turns brown rather than purple.  It is a nice brown but not what I had expected for this piece.  Here is front and back. I'm loving it.



Results from Play Date

Last Saturday the five of us in our play group got together and played with soy wax. Well, 4 of us got to  play.  When Beth plugged in her electric skillet she blew the fuse and got to spend most of the rest of her day shoveling out the basement to get to the fusebox.  Sorry, Beth!  Anyway, here are the two pieces that I finished.

This one I liked just the way it is. It is a cotton fabric.  The next one is silk.  I love the shades in it and have plans for a second layer of decoulorant to finish it off.  Sorry the picture is so shiny that you can't see all the lovely detail in the colors.

Friday Favorites

Have you noticed that you get to ride along with me in my journey to be a better artist?  I mean, the blogs I find the most interesting are those which lead me further along my current artistic path.  I hope  you  also find them of benefit.

Currently I am taking a drawing class.  Only have met twice due to holidays and snow days but I am diligently practicing in my sketchbook using pencil.  Here is a photo of homework for my class.

I  am planning projects translating my pencil on paper sketches to ink on fabric.  And what do I find?  A post by Terri Stegmiller on the attributes of the Pentel Gel Roller for Fabric.  I have a WIP baby quilt on which I want to use that pen!  The background is a cerulean blue shibori pole wrap.  I have silk screened fish on it and want the pen to give details to the fish.  Don't you think a little boy would love that?

Connie Rose has been reorganizing her quilts and has donated a few and reworked a few.  Since I love a couple of my quilts but feel that several are not quite done yet, I always pay attention to ways of reworking them to release the magic I feel is just below the surface.  I think Connie was very successful on her Discharge 2 rework.  Connie also mentions the book "The Painted Quilt" by Linda and Laura Kemshall.  I have that book and need to give it another look.  The technique that Connie wants to try is painting already quilted quilts.  My IT quilt that didn't get finished this month was going to use that technique.  When I finally finish it, I will report back.

Are you a follower of the Quilt Rat yet?   She gives a great tip on washing yardage and another on a solution to marking a quilt block.  I always love to visit her site just to see her marvelous doodles.  Such talent!  Anyway, I have a bolt of fabric waiting to be washed and then dyed for my Nancy Crow Workshop.  I am definitely giving the washing tip a try soon.

The Erosion Bundle Project is being hosted again this year by Kris Henderson.  I participated last year in putting a bundle out but never made anything from it.  I hung the material and it really didn't change much. This year I have several lovely pieces of metal including some old hinges I am going to add to the bundle and then I am going to lay the bundle on top of one of metal sculptures.  I bet I get some markings this year!  I'll show pictures when I get it bundled--maybe on Saturday.  Join the fun, if you want.  It is really interesting watching everyone's bundles.

Jane LaFazio had a wonderful day of monoprinting on a gelatin plate.  I tried that.  ONCE.  Not inspired.  But obviously there is wonderful art to create using the method.  Jane shows her results and they are worth a look.  Maybe I will try and talk my friends into playing with monoprinting one more time.  Beth? Rosalita?  KC?

I am not really into Block Lotto but I do have a ton of scraps I need to get rid of or use up.  The block for January would be a playful pattern to use some of those scraps.  Now I just need to have several more snow days when I get paid to stay home and quilt!

Quilter Beth needs your opinion on how to finish her project.  I am especially excited because she is considering using some pieces she has shiboried--the technique of the month for "And then we set it on FIRE".  You go girl!

LuAnn Kessi at May Your Bobbin Always be Full has posted a wonderful tutorial on how to cord bound edge your art quilts.  She has some other tutorials if you want to spend the time cruising her blog.  In this one,  she has a tutorial for the technique I used in this art quilt.

Have a wonderful week but before you sign off for the day, don't forget to complete your entry form to win a Janome and make a comment at Fibra Artysta to win a thermofax screen.

I got in!

I got in my first juried art show!  It is Volusia: Wrapped in Fiber in Florida.  I am excited!  Wooo Hoooo!

Friday Favorites

Thank you to everyone who told me they missed my Friday Favorites when I was dealing with holiday stuff.  And thank you to everyone whom I have mentioned in the Friday Favorites who thanked me for mentioning them.  No, really, thank YOU for posting great stuff!

I usually love to read Elizabeth Barton's comments and this entry on grids in contemporary quilts is no exception.  I find that my work tends towards being grid work.  Like Elizabeth, I suspect it is because I come from traditional quilting and that is how my brain works now. But being aware of it will help me to think further outside the box, I hope. And don't miss reading this one about editing your less than amazing work or this one about using photographs for quilts designs.  I think reading it would have been helpful to our "Interpret This!" group as we struggled (okay, I struggled) with turning photographs into fiber art.

Cas Holmes is a guest artist on the The Sketchbook Challenge (to which I have yet to commit).  She gives her 20 point guide to keeping a sketchbook here.   Her 20th point is the same point that every artist on the site has also stated. " Finally, stop worrying if the drawing is 'good enough' or what others may think. You are drawing for your own reference, it is only for you and a reflection of your though processes."

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites are late this week but it has been one of those weeks.  Little brain power left at the end of the day to cruise websites.  Finally, I think I have everything in place for the students to start school on Monday.  Now my brain can think about other stuff.

What do you think of this heart for Friday Favorites?  To me it looks like some guy flexing his muscles trying to impress his lady love.  Are you impressed?



First blog that tickled my fancy this week was Arlee's bondaged wrapped banana.  Arlee is having so much fun wrapping cloth around EVERYTHING to see what will happen that she is really drawing me into the ecodyeing world.

Vicki is making journal quilts.  Not altogether sure what journal quilts are.  I have seen the term alot but still not sure.  Anyway, this particular quilt is made up from scraps from other projects--my favorite kind of quilt.  I do look forward to see what else she will make. But then, I love looking her her homedyed fabric also.

Judy has also been playing with dyes and gives a good show and tell about dyes with soy wax from the Jane Dunnewold and Lisa Kerpoe video.  I have not tried the method yet but it is on my list.

Since I am also a lazy gal, I am going to send you over to Lazy Gal Quilting for some exciting links she has posted.  I haven't watched it yet but I want to see the video about making quilts from saris.  I have a couple of old saris destined for quilts in one way or another.

Don't forget to check out the shibori on And Then We Set It On Fire!  The month has only started but already several of the artists have experimented and posted their process and results.  Last night I bought some new PVC pipe and will be playing over the weekend. Check in there next week to see my results.

While I am sure that there are 1000s of other wonderful things out there to see, my head is tired.  Send me some good links if you find them. 

Pocket Frogs and Eco Dyeing

My dear husband gotme an Ipod Touch for Christmas.  I am having difficulty learning how to do everything I want to do with it but I found a free game called Pocket Frogs.  The good news is that I am on Level 10 now.  The bad news is that I have little else to show for my time since Christmas.  Just what I need, another addiction.

Brownie also gave me a lovely poinsetta plant.  I planned to enjoy it for a while and then see what results I would get wrapping it in silk and boiling it.  Well, one of the major branches of the poinsetta broke off so the time schedule got moved up.  Here are the results.  I love it!

I also had a dozen red roses waiting to be boiled that I got from my hair dresser.. She had gotten them for an anniversay present and I asked if I could have them for a dye project when they were dead. By the time I got them, they were good and dead.  That was before Christmas and I was busy so they got put aside.  Since I already had a pot of alum water boiling, I wrapped the dried leaves and petals in silk.  I wasn't sure what I would get.  As you can see no clear leaf pattern but lots of color.

Both of the prints were done on white charmeuse silk.  I cut the silk 60 inches long and then split it down the middle to make two 60" x 22" scarves.  I wrapped the material with white thread before boiling it so that I would have matching thread to give the scarves a rolled hem.