A New Piece - Ruins I

I've had a lot of company for the last 3 weeks - my daughter and granddaughter, followed by friends from Seattle and last but not least - my sister in law and her hubby. It was great fun to say the least but studio time was not happening - making it that much more fun when I got back to it. This little piece was something I finished right before everyone came. It is based loosely on a technique I learned from a Wen Redmond DVD. I've always loved layering, especially using sheers.

 I started with a pre-stretched canvas.

 The back of the canvas is stapled and left intact.

 The center of the canvas is removed - it doesn't have to be a perfect job as it's covered up.

 Next, came the layer which would serve as a base and placed on the bottom of the canvas in the cut out area. I chose a very colorful picture which I printed on fabric. This was of an old ruin we came across while in Ireland last year. It was very bright and I thought would be effective with a sheer layer on top. I did layer it with a thin layer of batting and backing and then quilted it. The quilting really doesn't show that much but if you use a glitzy thread in some areas, you do get a wink of it as you look at the picture.

 A layer of organza was printed with another image and laid on the top of the canvas, leaving some space in between. The edges were finished with a darker fabric and brought around to the back....

 which was finished by hand and a picture frame wire attached for hanging.

And the finished piece - "Ruins I".

"The Boyscouts"

I started this piece a while ago, back and forth on the design wall. It just returned from a show I was part of at the NC Arboretum. I've always liked the piece, just one of those things where it got lost in the shuffle of other projects.

The subject matter is near and dear to my heart as it's photos of my Uncle Ted and my dad (his brother) in scout uniforms. The photos were layered on top of a rock wall and blended together in Photoshop Elements. The effect is subtle and you have to look hard to see the imagery of the boys. My uncle is in the top right corner, my dad in the lower left about 1/3 from the left side.

You can see it better  in this picture.

I did some screening along the top using discharge paste and felt I needed to break up the black area since the piece was dark to begin with.

I also added some tree branches at bottom left for more interest along with writing from my mother's autograph book.

 I started layering it but realized it needed more and also to be a little larger.

 I found this wonderful glitzy like cotton fabric with a very obvious weave which I thought would work...

and it did but it still needed more.

I tend to use and like darker colors on the edge to "contain" the piece and black seemed to work. I use all kinds of fabric as I'm after effect. Silk noil which is a heavier and nubby silk is what I used here. 

 I also added a more obvious face in the top to give it a more haunting look...

 and lots of glitzy thread along with monofilament.

And the finished piece which measures 17 1/2" x 20"H. If you're interested in purchasing this piece, please email me privately.
Judy

Small Studies - Leaf 2

I really like doing these small pieces, especially when time is limited and I want some instant gratification. I created this small piece a little while back,  but never got to posting it.  

I started with some hand dyed fabric.

Using my favorite leaf stamp, I stamped on silk organza which had been painted with Dye-na-Flow.

I loosely cut it out and finished the edge with a wood burning tool which gives that nice, dark edge to the leaf.

Using some marbled fabric from my stash, I combined it with very bright colors.

I used some metallic couching thread on some of the edges to add a little sparkle.  The transparent leaves were placed on top and stitched in place using a monofilament thread.  The stitching was done using the natural vein lines of the leaf.

Stamping was done on the yellow fabric to add some zing and the whole piece was placed in a pre-cut mat. It's quite a small piece but with the addition of the mat, it really has some presence.

Small Works - S'hrooms and Trees I

Back when nicer weather prevailed and I was able to walk outside, I collected mushrooms to use in Deconstructive Screenprinting - a wonderful technique I learned from Kerr Grabowski.
Currently, I'm working on a large piece using prints made from these mushrooms, nowhere near completion but in the meantime, I love doing these little studies with leftovers. They go together quickly and a good break from the designing process of a larger piece.

I was able to make quite a few of this print, all a little different as each print changes as the amount of dye released changes. I also had these smaller mushroom prints made from some different mushrooms both using the same color dye.

I used some blue fabric I dyed, then discharged using a silk screen pattern of cheesecloth.

I love to include writing in my pieces and screen it with an old family recipe. This one is for "apple cake" written by my grandmother - a fun personal touch.

My friend Val - an amazing artist, makes her own silkscreens. My favorites are those that add texture to the background. I love her dot series and was inspired to make something similar. I like to screen a sample on clear plastic to keep in the folder with the screen (my screens are made with a Thermofax which turn out very flat). This way I can lay the plastic over a piece of fabric to see how the design will work - a little more work up front but a good design tool.

The dots, I used on the blue and other areas, using a discharge paste. The "weeds" screen I used over part of the mushroom print. These pieces are really quite small - around 14 x 16".

I used Candlelight couching thread between the seams to offset the busy-ness of the prints. These prints are fun to work with, but they have a lot of energy. It's hard to find something that will work with them.

On the bronze piece, I used my favorite stamp/stencil - a gridded tape used in tile work. I think you can see the little squares on the left on top of the bronze fabric.

Now to combine them all. It still has to be quilted which will be minimal and finished. It was a fun piece to make.

Fiber Collages

I've been doing little "fiber studies" a fun thing to do when you're short on time. While making the wedding gown, I often needed a break to work with some color and also something quick and easy. These are different from the fabric postcards as they're a little bigger and the edges are unfinished. They're a standard size so can be matted and framed easily. There is some machine stitching but mostly hand stitching using large stitches and floss or decorative thread. I've really enjoyed the handwork. I used to love doing handwork but developed a "benign essential tremor" many years ago. It's not life threatening nor does it hurt - just a nuisance. My hand is shaky which makes doing fine handwork a long lost luxury, but doing large stitching is fun and easy for me.
Many of my fabrics are those I made but will go back and add "more" interest to the surface. One of my favorite stamps/stencils is the material below, found at construction sites and used when laying tiles.  It gives the most interesting effect (see above, lower left corner).

And screening which is fun to use for overlays and also tones down areas of color.

Gauze is another great choice; it works like a transparent fabric. I like to pull threads from different areas and leave long threads. It's great for overlays.

I've saved stamps over the years from far away countries. My cousin was a missionary in Indonesia so I have a lot from there. I finally found a place to use them.

Been having fun.

Y2K and other good stuff

With the new year quickly approaching, I think back to the big "scare" of Y2K when we reached the new millennium and the panic that ensued - people saving water in big jugs? I never understood that. Everyone was preparing for the big crash of all our computers and other high tech stuff and so on and so forth. Does it seem possible that 10 years have passed since that amazing date in history? Were you doing anything special on that New Years Eve? I honestly don't think I was. My usual bill of fare is dinner, jammies and a movie on TV. I fall asleep before the New Year rings in; I figure it's coming in with or without me.
But as I recall, it was just a year before, that I started a journal quilt ending with the last week being Y2K. It was great fun to do and share and always well received at my lectures.  My dear friend Barbara Butler and I did this together; each with our own personal blocks and ideas and always ready to share with each other. This is a great project to do with a buddy or a group.
My finished quilt featured 13 blocks down and 4 rows across - a total of 52 blocks (and weeks in a year), how perfect! Each block was 6" wide x 4" high including seam allowances and the sashing strips were 2" wide including seam allowances. Each week I created a block to feature something significant for that week. I then created it in fabric, sewed, painted and embellished. Some weeks I was traveling a lot and didn't get to doing a block. I'ld let it go, wrote down the idea and got to it when I got to it.
So here are some of the blocks. This particular week I was redecorating a room, painting, etc.

I remember this next week so well. My daughter had just graduated from college and we did a road trip to NY city. The tree is the big tree in Rockefeller Center and the small gold "coin" is a subway token; you use them a lot in NY.

I've taught in Toronto, Canada a lot and on one of my trips, my good friend Sherry Davidson took me to the "Shoe Museum". Yes there is such a thing in Toronto and it's wonderful! It's a must see if you,re ever there. Sherry also collects teddy bears, has over 300 in her collection and the Maple leaf is for the Canadian flag.

The next block is very dear to me. My mother in law loved to go to lunch and each time she would visit, we did that a lot! One place we loved in downtown Atlanta, served the biggest sandwiches, you could hardly get your mouth around it. So here is that sandwich. The lettuce is green "crinkled" textured fabric.

This next block is funny and also very helpful. Apparently one year, I scheduled all my appointments for the same week. Yes - the gruesome ones. The first section is the dentist, the middle is a pap smear, mind you, I don't look at the instruments; this is totally from my imagination! The last section is a mamogram. I used to go to a doctor for a breast examination - that's all he did, all day long. My mother died of breast cancer, so this was an important thing for me to do twice a year. One time he asked if I had remembered to have a mamogram. I thought a second and replied with the utmost of certainty YES!, it's in my quilt! So there you go.

More blocks to follow very soon, so stay tuned and thanks for visiting with me. AND.....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Dyeing Silk Scarves

I've been dyeing silk scarf blanks for the last week or so getting ready for the Southern Highland Craft Guild Fair in July. The fair is held twice a year - the third weekend of July and October at the Asheville Civic Center downtown Asheville, NC.  It's a wonderful event we all look forward to.
When I work with silk, I use an acid dye which gives beautiful color and can only be used on silk.

The second step is to discharge color using a nature themed stamp. The discharged areas are overdyed and then stamped with a textile paint using the same shape as the discharged one. It's a 4 step process - what you're seeing is only the first step, and my favorite part - the dyeing. I love seeing white silk turn into such vibrant colors.

I usually do 3 colors on a scarf or sometimes 2 if the 2 colors melt into a pretty third color.

I work with several kinds of silk including China, charmeuse, crepe du Chine, chiffon and a blended scarf of wool and silk. Each take the color a little differently which makes the process more fun. For example, because China silk is so thin, there is a lot of wicking of color giving all kinds of lines and interesting movement. It's fun to see the dye move throughout the fibers.

Hope you can make the show.