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.