Stuff I’m Working On….

May 15, 2008 by

I am working this week. I am preparing for a fabric dyeing class this weekend at the Rend Lake Visitor’s center. I have been studying and writing my handout and getting kits ready.

I have also been playing/working in my room. My new best friend is gesso. A friend of mine had given me several books of home dec samples. Being the little hoarding and can’t-waste-anything person that I am, I have found a use for some of these pieces. I usually work fairly small, so these do come in handy. (When, oh, when will I work larger?) I am taking the large florals and painting them with gesso, then painting over that with the Adirondack iridescent paints. I love the whitewashed feeling the gesso does to the fabric. The paint is not put on solid, but a bit randomly. You’ll see. I am using these pieces to frame other small pieces of art. I like the look. Now to find a way to mount them for hanging. I glued (PVA, acid free) the gessoed, painted home dec fabric to matboard, but have stopped there so far. These pieces are not stitched yet. The only problem I see so far, is that the lovely gessoed florals are mostly covered up, but I do like the “framing” look of it.

I am thinking “Fragments of a Life”. What do you think?

Again using scraps…home dec fabric, gesso, acrylics, stamping, dyed craft paper, torn paper from a photo, screening, painted dryer sheets, hand dyed fabric, calligraphy pen. This started with a georgous earthy hand dye I wish I could repeat.

I think I will be adding more to this one. I am thinking more background texture. The home dec fabric pieces have a lovely ragged edge on one side (shown here on the bottom), from cutting them out of the book. I would like to utitilize that.

I am looking forward to soon spending a few days dyeing, painting and screening with soy wax out in my patio…if this cold, rainy weather ever clears up!

Filed Under: complex cloth, dryer sheets, new art Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday This ‘N That

May 10, 2008 by

It’s time to blog again and I feel a little bit lost as to topic. This week has mainly been a week of just doing a little of this and that and tying up loose ends on stuff. I can’t say that I have accomplished anything major.

I did manage to get a tote bag sample made up for a class in June so that I could deliver it when I went to Evansville on Thursday. You can see it at the bottom of the page, Classes In Evansville. I like how it turned out, all bright and cheerful. And yesterday I worked on blocks for another class I am planning for the fall, the 4 Patch Posy. You can see those blocks on the Coming Soon page. I have this group of girls from Indiana that are keeping me quite busy. You see, they have full time jobs, and they just love getting out for a day and coming to the shop, taking a class and learning something new. So it’s keeping me hopping, planning classes and making the samples. But they help out quite well. They choose the class and usually the date they can come. I just schedule it and get the sample made if I don’t already have one. Does anyone want to buy samples? I am getting quite a collection! I do schedule the classes several times to maximize the use of my samples.

I did do some playing around with some art earlier in the week. You see, I will be in a group exhibit at the Arts Council gallery in Evansville in August and have been mulling over what I will plan to put in and what I should make before that time for the exhibit. My workroom is full of scraps of cloth. I am such a hoarder. I even have started keeping the plastic tabs from potato bags, because when I look at them I think, I just know something can be done with that in my art! But my room (needs to be cleaned) has a tableload of “stuff” laying around so I played.

See? Discharged cotton, scraps of painted dryer sheet and painted white cotton with writing on it, a scrap of joint tape, black cotton, dyed paper. I must not forget the scrap of plasticized (from heat) onion bag. It was laying around…can’t let it go to waste. It’s too cool for texture. I really love the challenge of using my imagination and the scraps on my table. I think I could do it all day long and use up the scraps, but then I realize they multiply way faster than I can use them.

I am also working on this. I really like the red free motion zig zag stitching and I think I will find other ways to use this technique.

So what artsy things are you doing today?

Filed Under: dryer sheets, new art Tagged With: , ,

Wednesday This N’ That

April 30, 2008 by

Ahhh…..it feels good to be home and working in the, ahem, “studio” (aka the 9’x 9′ shrinking spare bedroom). The Arts In Harmony art festival is this coming weekend. I have been experimenting with some ideas, altering fabric, and going back to some pieces that have been started, but somewhere along the way I had gotten lost and did not finish it. First, the cloth, because it led to what I did with an unfinished piece.

I took this rather dark clean-the-brush-cloth….

….and turned it into this….

…took this fabric….

…and turned it into this.

See my new stamps in there?

I started this piece back in the winter (not so long ago). It is mostly painted dryer sheets, but there is some cheesecloth and scrim and painted fusible web in it too. I got to a place where I was not satisfied, but lost interest or got busy with other things. It needed more….more depth…more something.

Yesterday, I gave it a go using the same technique I did on the cloth. When you are a week away from a show, starting new work is not an option because of the time factor, but pulling out unfinished pieces and finishing them is! A show is a great motivator for getting stuff done.

I am much happier with it. I’m not sure it is done, but it sure is better!

Filed Under: collage, complex cloth, dryer sheets Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page