Rust, Found Objects and Things That go Bump in the Night

Okay, well maybe not things that go bump in the night, but you gotta admit - it was catchy! I'm in this wonderful little group with others who love and adore fiber like myself. We share ideas, techniques and have the most amazing "Show and Tells". Carol Sloan - a wonderful mixed media artist created this wonderful book in a box. Her imagination to create such an interesting piece just blew me away. I could have poured over it for hours. The box is created with found objects, handmade papers, personal objects that Carol found or had in her collection - all very meaningful. The twig on the left is a real twig. The teeth on the right are from crab claws Carol ate and yes boiled and cleaned to make suitable to use as an attached object.
The little figurine at the bottom was in her collection - real bark on the top and all kinds of wonderful beads. Notice the sides with the "old fashioned" tape measure, haven't seen one of those in years.

On the top are rocks shaped like a heart. Carol is always on the look-out for rocks in the shape of hearts.

The front of the book

Really pretty doilies, words and cheesecloth

Carol makes little bags out of sheer fabric to hold small rocks, buttons and other memorabilia.

And words lots and lots of words.

Patsy showed us her amazing stitching and trapunto work. Patsy dyes all her own fabrics and creates her own designs. She also has a line of DVDs on machine quilting that will make a believer out of anyone, they are in a word - fabulous!

Patsy uses a product called Liquid Stitch. I'm interested to try this; it sounds like a time saver and also very effective and easy to use. She has used it on the piece below and stitched the edge with her "EKG" stitch.

And I promised you rust and you shall have rust. This is a scarf my friend Nancy made. It's China silk with rust. I think there's really some interesting patterning.

Nancy's philosophy is anything "white" should not remain white. She is a colorist and really good at it. Batting, fabric, "unknowns" from the thrift store - nothing is exempt once it reaches her hands.

So in case you're wondering what created this wonderful shape, here it is found at a Thrift store.

So Nancy gave this to me and now it's my turn to use it, can hardly wait to see what I get. I'm also starting with some silk.

And then onto the lesson for the day - "Anyone can draw or doodle". I've always said I can't draw my way out of a paper bag, but Carol proved us wrong. It just takes some practice. She brought along all her supplies to share, watercolors, erasers, pencils, it was great fun, very addictive and freeing.

A fun day!