Art ADD works for me

I'll miss you, Sweet Tess

2011-12-18T00:10:00.001-05:00

Tess

When we rescued Tess 10-12 years ago, she came to us bald, except for her head -- she looked more like a lizard than a parrot. She had a broken claw and wing. She had been abandoned in an apartment when her owner skipped out on the rent. I don't know how long she was without food or heat before the landlord found her. She was one tough old bird to survive the horrible things that were done to her.

It was almost two years before she let us hold her and then, when she finally realized that we really could be trusted, she turned into a big ole snuggle baby. She loved nothing more than crawling up under my husbands sweatshirt and cuddling him while she got her rubbins'. She loved chicken and veggies and apples and bananas and chewing up the wooden playpen that my husband rebuilt for her every few weeks. She did great sound effects and said hello in both of our voices and make kissy noises and whistled the chicken song. She always gave a thank-you clicking sound when she got treats. She often shared the table with us at meal time and had to taste everyone's food to make sure she wasn't missing anything.

This morning I shared an orange and a cookie with her and she was happy, as usual. This evening, I came home and she was at the bottom of her cage, with no strength to stand. I held her and tried to give her some warmth and nourishment and in a short time I felt her very last heart beat on the palm of my hand and then she was gone.

Waiting for belly rubbins' from her favorite guy

With her comrades, Biscuit and Coco

Birds must go to heaven, right?

I mean...you always see them hovering around with angels in art...

Excuses

2011-09-21T13:52:00.000-04:00

Where have I been?
Nowhere, really.
I've been busy -- sorta.
Not much gardening this year. Six weeks of rain, then six weeks of temps in the 90's. Bleh.
Not much biking -- same reasons. Bleh.
Daughter and grandkids still living here... More bleh
Bought a trailer so I can take the Dog on bike rides -- he loves it! Hopefully we'll have some dry weather this fall.
I made a little bedroom into a small gym. Bike, rowing machine, treadmill, free weights and weight bench. Slowly getting back into that groove.

My desktop crashed and burned, but the Geek Squad was able to save most everything. Bought a refurbished tower.
Laptop appears to be suffering from some other fatal computer crap. More bleh.

Lots of studio organizing going on here.
I have dyed tons of fabric. I played with resists after reading Lisa Kerpoe's terrific series of articles in QA about Resists From The Kitchen. Lots of fun -- my favorite is the mashed potaoes.
Been making lots of new screens, did some more deconstructed screen printing, gelatin plate printing, made a bunch of small foundation-pieced wall hangings. Been painting fabric, making stamps, doing some lino-cut and woodcut prints. Started some oil paintings for next a solo show I'm doing next summer.
Took tons of photos.
Played with the Dog...um...a lot.


Can't even imagine life before Bugsy...

What I haven't done is blog.
I've wanted to. but I like pictures when I post and getting photos blog-ready on this new/used computer is a pain in my patootie.
So I'll try and 'get over it' and get back to posting, coz I really have lots to show you. : )

And the winners are...

2011-02-16T12:46:00.000-05:00

In all the fuss over the new sweetest pooch in the world (yes, I'll admit it, I'm totally over the top with this dog), I forgot to make the announcement!

There are two winners (just coz I'm soooo happy this week)...

Ann and Norma! Yay!!

So please email me at artgoose@yahoo.com and send me your snail mail and I'll get you fabric out to you ASAP!

My new studio companion!

2011-02-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

I adopted a 2 year old Bichon Frise last night. From the moment we got home, he has become my little white shadow.
Sweetest. Dog. Ever.

Look -- he likes fabric -- he's perfect!

He seriously need some grooming...

But look at that sweet face!!!

Snow, some ice and still more snow. And a give-away

2011-02-08T22:12:00.001-05:00

If you live near the Great Lakes, you know about the "Lake Effect". (Always said in awe and written with caps)
It has to do with the humid air over the unfrozen lakes causing crazy amounts of snow in winter. (Think Buffalo, New York)
"They" said on the news a couple of week ago that there would be no more 'lake effect' snow, because the lake (Lake Erie) was frozen. 'They" lied.
a) the lake was not frozen over (I drove to the shore and checked)
b) it's snowed almost every day since they said there wouldn't be any more snow.
c) and then it snowed some more.

So I've been doing a crazy amount of snow dyeing.
Hey, I couldn't get out of the driveway for a week -- what's a girl to do?
I've snow-dyed over 150 yards since the first of the year and I'm out of pfd fabric.
So, until I get more fabric to dye, I'm going to do a give-away.
Go to the New Fabric page (see the tabs at the top of the page ), leave a comment here, by Friday, telling me the number of your favorite piece and you will be in a drawing to win it.

Please make sure that I can reach you -- the last time I did this, I never could get a hold of one of the winners and had to draw another name.

When life gives you snow...

2011-02-01T12:06:00.001-05:00

Snow dye!

Another batch of new fabric (see New Fabric tab above), from 69 up.

Well, this can't be good...

2011-01-31T11:07:00.000-05:00

From Weatherbug -- black on a weather map seems extra scary!

Photo Monday

2011-01-17T14:33:00.000-05:00

Spent some time in the Metropark yesterday. We really are blessed with an amazing parks system in Cleveland!

Water carving it's way

Berea escarpment

From 60-70 feet above the river

Water falling

Lots of tracks -- favorite watering hole?

River dance (tilt you head -- you'll see it)

She stood about 10 feet from me

Keeping an eye on me while I snapped a dozen pics

Here she dropped down to the river but was still watching me

Under a bridge

We saw an 8 point buck and these were some of his little harem.

TJay walking on the river...made me nervous

Massive ice heaves already pushed up on the boat ramp near the lake. This is about 2 feet thick

Magic and Luminescence

2011-01-14T23:20:00.001-05:00

There has been a discussion going on at the QuiltArt list about snow-dyed and low water immersion dyed fabrics.

Of course every one's tastes and opinions are different. I like and use both methods. LWI is fine. Parfait dyeing is pretty interesting, but snow dyeing? Since I first tried it last year, it has become something purely magical for me.

MAGICAL -- that's best word to describe the excitement I feel when doing this method of dyeing.

At every stage it's interesting and the surprises that I find after the first rinse and again after washing are splendid. It's always a little bit of a let-down coming out of the dryer, even though I know that pressing is going to reveal what the fabric has finally come to be.

The part that is the the most beautiful part for me is when I find the light that seems to come from within the fabric itself, peeking out between layers of color making parts of the cloth absolutely glowing! It appears luminescent to me.

I found a wonderful definition of luminescence as used in reference to art last week -- about how and why certain colors appear to glow when they are next to colors that are grayed down. I can't find it now, but I kind of like the following more scientific definition too, in thinking about the way the snow dyed fabrics appear to me.

From the Free Dictionary

luminescence -- Process by which an excited material emits light in a process not caused solely by a rise in temperature... The colour, or wavelength, of the light emitted is determined by the material, while the intensity depends on both the material and the input energy....

Adj.

luminescent - emitting light not caused by heat

adjective glowing, shining, fluorescent, radiant, luminous...

Luminescence is caused by the movement of electrons within a substance from more energetic states to less energetic states. There are many types of luminescence, including chemiluminescence, produced by certain chemical reactions, chiefly oxidations, at low temperatures; electroluminescence, produced by electric discharges, which may appear when silk or fur is stroked or when adhesive surfaces are separated; and triboluminescence, produced by rubbing or crushing crystals.uminescence produced by certain substances after absorbing radiant energy or other types o.

Cool, eh?
I always have loved the way Edward Hopper made the light work for him to convey a mood. That's kind how I think of things when I paint on paper or canvas and that's what some of this cloth looks like to me on .
I see things in it.
Faces, feathers, flora, fauna.
Like this:

All of these photos are from this one piece of cloth:

The whole cloth

Can you see the glow?

Silly little birds and dyeing again

2011-01-11T01:30:00.000-05:00

I found these at World Market while I was Christmas shopping.

I saw them a year ago too and I've thought about them several times, regretting that I hadn't bought them. I never do that.

I didn't make that mistake 2 years in a row! : )

They make me silly-happy.

These will be my lucky birds!

Also making me happy -- more SNOW for dyeing!!

2011 Sketchbook Challenge

2011-01-11T01:17:00.001-05:00

Since I've fallen out of the practice of sketching lately, I decided to follow along with the Sketchbook Challenge. When I went digging for a sketchbook, they were all full, so I picked up a new one to start fresh. I found a really nice 9 x12 wire-bound Canson XL Mix Media pad. Good texture and heavy enough for watercolor or acrylic. But the cover was ugly.

There -- I fixed it

While I was working out what I wanted to do for the first month's them, Highly Prized, I finally played with the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II set that I bought last year. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to try these (it was my intention to use them on fabric). Water soluble wax pastels. They totally rock!!

Just to see what all the fuss is about this "new" form of doodling. I tried a few of these in a little 6 x 6 pad i also grabbed. I suspect doing these is a little like crack with a micron pen... I mean it's kind of fun and all, but it's a little addictive and I think I don't need another way to waste time.

If I want Zen, I'll go practice my yoga.

Well, maybe just a little tiny pad and pen by the bed.

In case I can't sleep...

This one cracks me up and makes me happy

Photo Monday

2011-01-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

This year I'll be posting scenic photos on Mondays.
Hope you enjoy them!

Last week...

Note the green grass and cavorting squirrel and sunshine...

Well that didn't last long.

This past weekend it snowed again and early Saturday morning I took my camera for a walk before most of the plows and salt trucks sullied the pretty snow. It was cold and absolutely beautiful.

Great textures

The sun trying to break through

Lots of nests in all the naked trees

You lookin' at me?

Fluffy

The snow in the quince looked like cotton balls

Another evergreen

And another -- looks like a weeping one

Loved this tree and its golden berries

Obviously not tasty to the birds!

Bits of blue peeking through the clouds

I got scolded by this raven and his pals

Nice lines

Blood red berries

Now off to put some of that snow to work on dyeing fabric!

Three Creative Studios Launch Party

2011-01-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

Three Creative Studios is having a Launch Party!

Terry Stegmiller and Vicki Welsh have started two new challenges. The 2011 Journal Quilt project and the 2011 Color Palette Challenge. Sounds like lots of fun and inspiration! I'm signing up for both.

AND there are some pretty sweet give-aways from Terry, Vicki and Sue Bleiweiss.

Check it out HERE

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

I planning on lots of color in my life this year!

Hope
your
year
is
colorful
too!

I can't feel my fingers!

2010-12-16T04:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe I need just a little break from the snow-dyeing.

My fingertips are numb.

And pruney.

And really colorful.

It's just stupid cold outside.

Remember that line in Kalifornia, when Brad Pitt said "Cold weather make people stupid."

That's me tonight.

I went to shake up a fresh quart bottle of golden yellow. A big ole bottle. But I hadn't tightened the lid. At all. Me and the laundry room are looking a little jaundiced now... What a mess!

Thank god it wasn't red!

I've dyed about 50 yards this week and when I do something that dumb, it's time for a break.

But also, I'm out of fabric.

Last night fabrics, all washed, dried and ready to press

Tonight's work, mostly cleaned up...

You know, The Break will only last until I buy more fabric tomorrow.

Oh, and check out the new fabrics by clicking on the tab above. I really like the new pages options. Hope you do too.

And so it begins.

2010-12-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

I've never been so happy to see the first snows -- woohoo! We only got a couple of inches last week, but I did scrape up enough of the white stuff, for two batches of snow dyeing.

Fabric soaked, scrunched and laid on screens last week.

Old plastic drawers (from those 'rolling organizers', you know -- the ones where the castors break as soon as you actually 'roll' them someplace...) for supporting old window screens. Fabric and snow in place, ready for some color!

Now it's all about the wait.

This old storm door screen is my favorite.

I can dye 8-10 generous yards on this screen over the double laundry sink.

click on photo for larger view

End of the bolt -- only about 20 inches, but so pretty!

To see more, check on the new Fabric tab near the top of the page.

Got a few inches last night, so back to it for me!

Another mystery block from Paper Panache.

Isn't he adorable?

Stamps!

2010-12-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

TJay brought me home some recycled rubber pads that are used under pallets at his job. They throw them away, but he thought I might be able to used them. He's getting good at spotting stuff that feeds my creative soul...bless his heart! These things are about 48 x 18 inches and 1/16th of an inch thick and pretty easy to cut with scissors. TJay sawed up some of his scrap wood for mounting and I was off and running!

Oh the possibilities!


I can actually fell the OCD kicking in -- lol!

Here's what I have so far....

I have a few hundred pounds of these sheets...

If anyone is in the Cleveland area, let me know if you would like some. I'm more than happy to share!

Happy December and 20% off!

2010-12-01T17:37:00.006-05:00

It's snowing and I'm excitedly looking forward to more snow-dyeing!! Yay!!!
I need to make some space, so take 20% off of all the snow-dyed fabrics from last winter/spring.
Links to the fabrics are at the top right of the page.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! :)

No words, just cuteness

2010-11-22T16:43:00.002-05:00

Patsy and Edwina

Flower Pounding

2010-11-22T15:25:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday I went to our Metropark Quilt show and Karen Benke from the Little Red Quilt House in Medina did a wonderful demo on flower pounding. She's lots of fun and I hope to get over to her shop and see what else she might be teaching there.
So of course I had to run home and hunt for flowers and give it a try.

Not too much poundable stuff left...
The only flowers left were some Gaillardia daisies and a couple of mums and one little bitty geranium bud. But I did scrounge up some Japanese maple, strawberry plant, fennel, thyme, oregano, dusty miller and an unknown vine that worked really well.

I wasn't too thrilled at first...kind of 'meh'

But it turned out that flower pounding is one of those things where 'more is more'
And it's kind of addictive...must have more flowers.
Oh -- pounding herbs is the best part -- smells fantastic!

Finally online!

2010-11-19T17:50:00.007-05:00

My computer has been giving me fits this week and I have so much to say!!!

On Sunday, I drove to Toledo to meet up with Lynn (Fibra Artysta) at Tony Packo's for lunch and I just had the best time I've had in ages!
Lynn is a talented artist and a wonderful person, but I already knew that from our online friendship. In person, it was like finally meeting someone that you've known all your life. Yeah, that makes no sense, but it was like that. I'm German, Lynn is Polish -- so we grew up on the same kinds of foods and meeting up at a Hungarian restaurant was perfect.

We asked our server to take pics of us, but she was worried about getting caught holding my cell phone.
Looks like her hands were shaking.
We're much cuter in person and not so fuzzy...LOL!
Really.

Glen Campbell and Rosemary Clooney's buns -- they have hundreds of signed buns, from rock stars to Presidents!

We talked about everything under the sun and I laughed so much that my face was stuck in a smile for a couple of days. And I had to tell everyone at home, about how awesome Lynn is.
Lynn brought me a goodie bag with some thermofax screens and paint and I'm having so much fun with those. Now I get why everyone is so crazy about thermofaxes!
If you don't already know about Lynn, she has an Etsy shop (Lynn's Etsy shop) , where she sell screens and paint and will even make custom screens with your own designs.
And if you don't know how to use them or care for them, Lynn also has some great video tutorials here: video tutorials.

I did these with two of the screens from Lynn.
So easy and so much fun!

I haven't gotten away very much the last couple of years and my visit with Lynn was totally revitalizing. She's that kind of a person!
It was a great day for me and I'm really looking forward to the when we can get together again and play with fabric and paints.

Thanks Lynn! :)

Road trip!

2010-11-14T08:57:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited today!
I'm taking a road trip to Toledo to meet and have lunch with my online friend Lynn from Michigan. She has a wonderful blog and website and curates the Breaking Traditions exhibit. Check her out -- she's doing some very cool things!

From Wordle -- kind of fun

2010-11-03T12:32:00.005-04:00

Crazy sky tonight

2010-10-27T01:00:00.003-04:00

While we were having dinner, I glanced through the patio door and thought that the trees looked way too bright for six in the evening. so i grabbed the camera and ran outside.

Everything was lit up!

Looking west

Then I turned around and was treated to a fantastic rainbow!

Sunset rainbows are the best.

I turned back to the west and the sky was on fire...

More DSP

2010-10-27T00:10:00.005-04:00

This was on an indigo dyed piece -- pretty happy with this one

I just tossed some wooden cut-out shapes under the screen to see what would happen.
The shapes were too...I don't know, too solid.
Not what I want from DSP...

This was left on the screen after I used it on the fabric below.
I need more cheesy plastic doilies!

The only fabric from the parfait bunch that wasn't too dark to print.

Full progression of one screen -- 12 passes

Quilts for Kids

2010-10-26T23:57:00.003-04:00

These go so quick. The folks at Downy send you the fabric and you just supply the batting and the time to sew and quilt.
Downy Quilts for Kids

Never assume...

2010-10-26T23:34:00.006-04:00

I found some mx dyes in the back of the studio fridge (not a food fridge -- don't worry) and I assumed that since they've been there for several months, they would be weak. I wanted some lighter colored fabric for DSP, so I stuffed a couple BIG jars of with fabric and layers of dyes and set them on top of the water heater for a few days.
Well, the fabric is nice enough, but it's all too dark for screen printing. It's actually much darker than in the photos. I guess the dye was still good...

DSP on indigo dyed fabric

2010-10-26T17:23:00.003-04:00

Discharged shibori

2010-10-26T16:19:00.004-04:00

This was Kona black and about the longest I've ever left the bleach on.
I really like the pattern

This was Kelly green cotton sateen and it discharged to blue and then pink -- weird!

Rusty things

2010-10-26T16:11:00.003-04:00

Some little tin tree cutouts

The pot holder was a little disapointing

Keys

More keys

More keys

Last ditch

2010-10-26T16:00:00.003-04:00

I made a plaster cast of the fish and I'm not sure where to go next with it. Latex? That polymer clay that bakes up flexible? I don't know.
I'm pretty much over it at the moment, so I think I'll just set this aside for a while.

Gyotaku, Part 2

2010-10-21T00:40:00.006-04:00

Well, the mold-making is on hold for the moment. When I removed the latex from the fish, the latex dried and shriveled so badly, it would be impossible to cast it with plaster...

So I decided to go with direct printing, before fishy starts to smell bad...

Here are some of the results

This fish is about 11-12 inches long

I used Luminiere paints, which gave the prints a nice iridescent shine.
Halo green, halo purple and halo red

Pewter on indigo shibori
Black
Teal and halo red
Halo red with teal fins

This may have been the first one

Ghost print

Gold paint
Fish is back in the fridge (after washing off the gilding).
I have one more thing to try.
Tomorrow, I'll mix up some plaster, spray the fish with WD40 and lay it on top of the plaster, before it sets up. If I get a decent impression in the plaster, I'll try making a rubber half-fish.

If not, I give up.
Maybe

The Motherlode and still bouncing

2010-10-19T21:59:00.004-04:00

Sweet item on Craigslist. A local screen printing company has gone to all metal frames and was getting rid of their silkscreens. I came home with 65 of them.
It was all I could fit in my vehicle...I got some mad packing skilz. :)

38 of them are18 X 21

And the rest are 22 x 30

I haven't even printed the screens from last week..but these are so BIG!
I had to do just a couple

I used this dishrag to clean up rust yesterday and threw it on this steamer rack and bubble wrap, after I charged the screen and lifted it.
And did some discharge too
I'll wash stuff and show some results tomorrow

Gyotaku

2010-10-19T21:44:00.003-04:00

I'm not giving up till it starts to stink...thank God my Husband loves me so much...

It really is a pretty fish -- look at that face!

Now I'm trying latex -- the kind you dip tool handles in.
If my results turn out okay (fingers crossed) and you decide to try this at home, use a respirator and nitrile gloves and do it outdoors. REALLY toxic stuff. Really!!

Here's my little guy with the third layer of latex.
I think this may work...

Here I flipped him over after drying to see how bad the stuff seeped to the back
Not bat at all!

After pulling the latex off the detail looks pretty good.
I'm doing the other side (he doesn't stink yet...) and I'll try plaster casts after a couple of days drying time.

Still bouncing around

2010-10-19T21:32:00.005-04:00

I bought a really cool looking fish at the West Side Market the other day.
My plan was to make a rubber mold and then cast with plaster and make Gyotaku prints

This doesn't work...

No detail at all and the garage smelled like urine -- ick

I had this sitting out all summer to rust.
And it took all summer
But I'm rusting fabric, so now the garage also smells like vinegar.

All over the map this week!

2010-10-19T21:23:00.003-04:00

Crazy week so far...

Started out with charging screens for DSP

I've been gathering texture items all summer
I can't wait to see how this cheesy plastic doily comes out

There are some great designs on the bottoms of food containers
I accumulated a whole pile

Worked on some jewelry

Walk in the woods

2010-10-17T20:15:00.005-04:00

I love the Fall
The color and smell of the leaves and their crunching underfoot.
The clarity of the air, especially after such a hot humid summer -- what a relief!

Such wonderful textures everywhere

Floating colors

A quiet place along the river

Mmmmm -- peaceful

A seriously toxic looking shroom

If you climb the 135 steps up the cliffside, this is your reward

Shale cliffs

The only sound was me...gasping for breath

Juniper berries?

No herons today

Half of this tree broke away. The split looks like a grumpy old man to me

Cool and crunchy

Love all the branches reflected in the water

Reflections of clouds.

My favorite shot of the day

After the bath

2010-10-13T02:36:00.004-04:00

After the indigo.

They looked good wet, but lots of washout on the indigo. Time to feed the vat and try again.

Left side is after ironing between sheets of newsprint,
I really love this piece -- wish it was bigger!

More wax removal. Maybe next time I'll use some lightweight printing or watercolor paper instead of newsprint and add some washes to the paper with dye leftovers...

Next -- the boiling pot.

Overdying, batik, indigo

2010-10-13T02:09:00.001-04:00

Since I have the indigo vat going, I figured I might as well batik and over dye some other pieces that I wasn't too thrilled with. I think my favorite tools for batik are potato mashers. I have about a dozen and I use them for all sorts of surface design applications.

Also some stamps that I made with wood and nails

Fabric tacked to a frame that DH built me. I used to just work on another piece of cloth or a towel, but this makes it so easy to see if you have good penetration.

Mashers
Two sizes of maple leaf cookie cutters for this pattern

Masher and a stamp

Masher on a clean up rag -- very 3-D looking

Nail stamps

Masher and stamp

Mashers

I hit this one again after I make a new stamp I've been thinking about

Googly Eyes...

2010-10-13T01:58:00.005-04:00

Maybe I've seen this Christopher Walken sketch one too many times...

My felting machine

The old singer

My Juki

And the embroidery machine

Two small quilts and a chip off the old block

2010-10-13T01:50:00.004-04:00

After Van Gogh

15

I'm teaching my grandson to sew. 10 years old and he made himself these PJ pants!.
His next project is a quilt...
'Atta boy!

Missed a couple

2010-10-10T01:27:00.003-04:00

This was made by wrapping and binding glass marbles.
Very large and very pretty

I have no idea how I did this...
I didn't realize how much I liked it until I pressed it
Every 'no-longer-there' stitch shows

Indigo results!

2010-10-09T23:52:00.006-04:00

Something about this indigo makes me want to slow down.
Contemplate how to use this cloth...
I don't really care to make bed quilts too much, but this seems to want to be made into a bed quilt -- a very special one.
It will take a very long time to make, I think.

I had such high hopes for the clamped pieces,
but the indigo didn't penetrate very far at all.
Just enough to let me see what might have been...

I used different fabrics, but many of these were Kona Premium 200 count muslin, apparently too dense for clamping...

And maybe I was a little too shy about manipulating the cloth while it was in the vat, for fear of getting too much air into the vat...

This piece was just pulled up at the center and wrapped with thread
The detail of the threads is really lovely.

Pole-wrapped -- only the very outside layer took the color.

Spiderweb binding. I had a lot of trouble untying this piece
and wound up with a couple of little holes

This came out very light and lacy looking

Karamatsu stitching

More pole-wrapping

This was kind of a squared off Karamatsu stitched piece...sorta
I like it very much

This was made by stitching wavy lines around small stitched circles.
One of my favorite pieces

No idea what I did here...

More stitched circles.

My big blue heart
Maybe the center piece for a bed quilt for us.

Rust and indigo

2010-10-09T23:39:00.004-04:00

I put some cloth into the vat, that I had previously rust-dyed and I was very happy with the results. Rust and indigo go together beautifully!

Originally rusted on re bar

The indigo 'took' kind of strange on this piece, but still pretty cool.

First Indigo Vat and Shibori

2010-10-09T22:56:00.006-04:00

I finally started my indigo vat. With the Jacquard kit it was very simple and painless. Mix the jar of synthetic, pre-reduced indigo with 5 gallons of water. Mix the chem pouch with warm water, dissolve and add the the vat. Stir, cover and wait. So easy...sometimes a no-brainer is just what I need. Last winter, when I wasn't knitting or snow-dyeing, I spent many pleasurable hours hand stitching, tying and clamping patterns into cloth that would enter this vat.

Ready to lift the 'flower'

First piece in!

First batch oxidizing

Turning blue

Clamping patterns

Some of these were pretty hard to manipulate in the vat

Like this monster...

Some pole-wrapped pieces

Oxidizing on an old sweater drying rack

Paper pieceing

2010-10-09T21:28:00.004-04:00

Linda at Paper Panache makes up the cutest mystery paper-piecing patterns. I don't usually use other peoples patterns, but these are always a fun surprise to work up.

I love this last one

And one for TJay, since he's a trucker

Crazy moon or moon crazy

2010-10-09T21:17:00.007-04:00

TJay got me a crazy mega lens for the EOS and I was using it like a telescope to look at the moon in August. (yes, I know it's October...)

Very cool

I don't recommend staring at the moon for over an hour, like I did. I couldn't sleep most of the night and was all out of whack for a couple of days...

Other summer bits

2010-10-09T21:02:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I griped about the heat like crazy, but now I miss it...

Best summer double rainbow -- we watched it for almost an hour!

New batch of raspberry wine

Morning glories on the new trellis
I started an indigo vat after looking at these...

Something tip-toed through the pollen

Oh -- there he is

I got these seeds from TJay's Grandpa
Anyone know what this is?

The trumpet vine brought us lots of hummers -- they buzzed my red hair a few times too

Prettiest Canna

White squirrels of Oberlin

2010-10-09T20:37:00.003-04:00

We were out for a drive and I wanted to stop at the bead shop in Oberlin (oh-surprise!)
Since I had the EOS along, I thought we'd take a look in the park to see if the white squirrels were out and about. We just saw this one and it was not at all camera-shy!

Awwww... how cute is that?

Showing us her dance moves...

Monorail squirrel

Odds-n- ends

2010-10-09T19:52:00.004-04:00

Best mushroom of the summer...or maybe a nekkid fairy butt

The awesome trellis TJay built for me!

Fountain repairs

Gigantic fuchsia

Cutest babies in the world!

Summer critters

2010-09-21T12:54:00.002-04:00

We took a ride along the coast on one of those few tolerable days this summer. Lots of herons at the Lorain pier.

So graceful...these were not as easily spooked as usual. Guess it was even too hot for the waterbirds!

Huge wingspan

Why I had no roses this year...

This little guy cracked me up...shaking the feeder to get seeds.

But then it got too hot to bother.

Screen printing on fabric with a hand-cut stencil and dye paste

2010-05-23T01:18:00.009-04:00

The stencil and the part I cut out. I cut these from heavyweight stencil film.

First prints using a silk screen with dye paste.

I liked it so much that I grabbed a pile of fabric, gave it a quick soak with soda ash and kept at it.

A print printed off of the print. (say that 5 times really fast)
I was a little heavy-handed with the dye, so I pulled some ghost prints.

Another panel

Using a brayer to take the ghost print with a second piece of fabric.

Backyard buddies

2010-05-23T01:05:00.003-04:00

Not sure if that's a Beatles haircut or if he's wearing a visor.
Maybe Hollywood shades?
Sure cute though!

Second generation of the season and destroyer of precious berry bushes...
Still cute...

And Momma Squirrel is prepping a nest for her baby(ies)

Direct prints w/ lino-cuts and deconstructed screen prints

2010-05-23T00:45:00.006-04:00

I used a couple of my lino-cuts to load some screens with dye paste and this was a direct print of I made to use up the dye left on the lino.
Kinda cool -- much different then the original prints on paper.
Looks like a moose sprouted up under the tree...

Dye left on the other piece of lino printed onto fabric

Here's the screen print version

The screens for the rest of these were just made by loading the dye paste over a bunch of big buttons. I really like the way these came out.
Kind of a steampunk look...

More Shibori discharged fabrics.

2010-05-23T00:08:00.006-04:00

Black Kona with bleach discharge

Detail of a sort of spotted animal looking piece.

Field of tall dry grass maybe.

Little pieces. these are each about the size of a silk screen. I made these when I was loading the screens for deconstructed printing.
It's just the dye paste left on the stuff I used underneath the screens.

Decontructed screen printing results!

2010-04-28T00:00:00.007-04:00

We had guests here to visit my uncle and for cake and coffee today and it was all I could to keep from rushing them out of the house so I could get to my screens...LOL!

All set to get started -- I was sooooo excited and I had nine screens ready!

Off to a good start, I think...

I was really happy with this. I have plans for it already, but I need more like this!

Some of these were not so thrilling, but like Rayna says in her book -- you can always go back in and do more with it.
I don't even know what I was thinking.
Black on pink??
The only time you see that in real life is at Victoria's Secret... :)

Needs more maybe...or not.

Kind of cool patterns from that really fugly table runner

Was pretty happy with this.

This was from the leaves.

This is growing on me.
I have no idea what it was, except I do recognise some sequin waste.

Not what I thought it would be, but I still like it. You can try to plan for a certain effect, but I think it's really just like a box of chocolates...(fill in the rest)

Paintsticks

2010-04-27T23:50:00.006-04:00

I have a lot of texture sheets from working with polymer clay and metal clay and some paintsticks I bought at least a year ago. So, as long as I had most of my studio lined with newspaper already...

Nothing special in mind -- just wanted to see what the textures would look like.

I like the smell of the paintsticks -- all I needed was a little linseed oil and some turps!

As long as I'm already making a mess...

2010-04-26T23:36:00.008-04:00

...might as well make a big mess!

Had this in the fridge for gelatin plate printing. From Rayna Gillman's book 'Create your own Cloth' and her Quilting Arts workshop DVD "Printing from your Pantry"

Fresh pile of stuff including my collection of potato mashers that I use for batik. These are some of my favorite toys -- I'm always hunting for cool mashers.

And this gives me a chance to try out my new Karen Pharr textile paints that I bought at the Sewing Expo.

Masher 1

Masher 2

Rayna has a piece in her book done with this same masher I think.

I pruned a plant for this one.

First layer was a piece of the varmint fence that the bunnies chewed through to eat all of my beans and pepper plants and carrots and radishes and kohlrabi last summer (but I'm not bitter...) and a second layer with sequin waste.

A little of everything

More mashers

I was maybe a little too enthusiastic and the plate started cracking, but I like that too. I'm saving to play some more tomorrow. After the screen printing.

This was so much fun I could barely stop myself.
I have a hundred more thing I want to try this with.

I wonder how large of a gelatin plate I could make?

Getting ready to deconstruct!

2010-04-26T20:54:00.007-04:00

Rayna Gillman has a Deconstructed Screen Printing workshop at LQuit.
I have GOT to get to one of her classes. I've really enjoyed everything that I've tried from her book, the QA dvd and the online workshop!
I'm going to need a bigger worktable, I think. By the time I got everything set up and all the stuff-that-I-wanted-to-try-to-pull-dye-over, gathered, I had about 3 square feet of studio left...

I made print paste a couple of days ago and mixed up bright yellow, strongest red and mixing blue.

I made the first screen over this really hideous. plastic. silver. plastic. lace. plastic. table runner.

And I used way too much dye paste, so I tore up some fabric, ran down and gave it a quick soak in soda ash solution and used the pieces to muck up the extra dye,

Mucking up another set-up. The cloth was wet, but I still got some pretty interesting pieces that way.

Oh look -- there are the gloves that I forgot to put on because I was so excited to try this...
Oops...too late.

Another set-up of dollar bin trivets and crocheted doilies.

More mucking up

I actually managed all this mess without a drop of dye on the white carpet!!

I think the screen with this set-up will be pretty cool.

Clean up from the first two -- before I figured out how much paste to use!

Three more -- can't wait till tomorrow to see what I get from the screens!

And another three.

All nine screens on my drawing table, drying.
Waiting...

Silkscreen discharge

2010-04-25T22:55:00.007-04:00

Last night I made up some screens, drawing with Elmer's washable school glue gel, hoping to go outside and try some screen discharge. When I got up, it was pouring outside -- I mean POURING! Bummer.
Then all of a sudden, it totally cleared up, the sun came out, the birds were singing, the squirrels were frolicking...

And I hauled my gear outside.

This screen was writing, but didn't discharge well at all. It's the same bolt of fabric that I used for discharge last week, when it performed beautifully. Maybe the sun was a problem? Of course, part of the fun of discharge is it's unpredictability.

I was looking at the lino-cut prints of the tree when I was drawing on screens last night, so I drew that too. You can see where the watercolor sticks stained the screen, but it didn't affect the mesh.
I love how quickly this purple Kona discharges and the color it turns into. This is right before the next storm hit and I hightailed it back inside.

This wound up looking better after the washout.
I got 6-7 prints off of each screen before the glue degraded and started peeling off. .

This was from a third screen -- just some doodling

I love this piece...and that tree.

I was really pleased with the way there's a white ring around the moon and all the tiny white branches (that don't really show in the photo). It has a batik-like look to it. I'll probably be drawing that tree in hot wax next...

Linocuts

2010-04-25T22:44:00.004-04:00

I guess the printmaking is still in my blood. No doubt I'll be dragging out the etching stuff next.

I took a pic of this tree at least 10 years ago when we were out for a ride in the country after a big blizzard. Remember those car rides? Before gas was almost $4 a gallon...

Maybe from the same ride? I think this is the wooden elevated walkway to Brandywine Falls.

Play Day

2010-04-25T22:22:00.005-04:00

Time to put some of these screens to work! :)
I picked up these watercolor gel sticks last week to try on a silkscreen. they're not gel-like at all, but more like really soft crayons.

I used a rubbing plate and a piece that I cut off of a disposable plastic paint roller pan and did rubbings with the sticks (more art supplies from the Home Depot) and some fabric that I wasn't thrilled with.

I used acrylic matte medium as a release agent

I couldn't get over how different each pass of the screen turned out. From the first to the last, the lines and colors completely reversed themselves. Quite fascinating!

I have no idea what I would do with fabric like this, but I can see lots of possibilities for doing my own art on the screen...
I haven't washed it yet, but the medium should hold the color in place just fine (says she, with fingers tightly crossed...) It does change the hand of the fabric, but I'm okay with that.

HandiBrenda and Darcy...

2010-04-25T22:21:00.001-04:00

are the winners !
Please send me your addresses, so I can send out your fabric! :)

Oops -- missed my 200th post anniversary!

2010-04-15T14:04:00.005-04:00

Leave a comment and I'll be using the random number generator to draw someone for a hand-dyed fabric give-away!

Shibori results

2010-04-14T15:44:00.005-04:00

I just love this piece!
I must have a bigger one...that doesn't have that ghostish quarter.

I'm going to cut more wooden circles -- love this effect

This one was with the plastic straps.

I thought this piece would be more interesting than this.

Twisted with plastic straps.

Parfait Dyeing results

2010-04-14T14:35:00.005-04:00

Holy cow -- my back is killing me. You gotta put in some serious washout time with this process!
These pieces are about 44-45 inches square.

In the order they went into the jar:
On the bottom -- golden yellow.

Next layer -- Brightest Green

Next - Teal

Next -- mixing blue

Next - deep purple

Then Chinese red

And orange

A half yard that got stuffed in a separate jar with all the leftover bits of dye

Extreme clamping and parfait dyeing

2010-04-13T16:14:00.003-04:00

Inspired by Judy on her blog Approachable Art, I'm giving parfait dyeing a try.

7 square yards
7 colors

I went to the Home Depot for art supplies again yesterday. I was looking for clamps that might make interesting Shibori effects. I clamped these so much that they look like those Transformer toys..LOL!

I love that the clamps are so colorful -- makes it even more fun.

I'm trying some plastic straps too. I don't know if it'll work, but they had them in neon colors -- how could I NOT try them??

It's going to be so hard to wait till tomorrow!

My kind of tea towel!

2010-04-13T16:10:00.003-04:00

I love my friend Joe -- he totally kicks butt!

Shibori discharge again

2010-04-12T13:38:00.004-04:00

As I was photographing these pieces, I started to envision a huge urban landscape. All strips of discharged fabrics for skyscrapers.

Pole wrapped. I was impatient and it wasn't going fast enough, so I drizzled soft scrub in 4 stripes down the pole. I like the effect.
Note to self: get fatter poles for these larger pieces of fabric.

This was just folded and held together with string.

Clamped with wood squares.

Folded and clamped. Reminds me of warehouse windows.

Clamped with bars of wood.
Handy that DH is a woodworker.

Twisted until it curled in on itself.

More purple fabric. This was a triangle fold with a bunch of clamps and I dipped the corners in anti-chlor partway though the process. Kind of a cool effect.

Square fold with clamps.
More windows.

Triangle fold with binder clips

More Shibori discharge

2010-04-10T16:35:00.006-04:00

These all started as Kona black.

This piece was those glass half-marble thingies wrapped with tiny rubber bands.
It's the largest piece and it took many days.

Detail of above piece.
Circular shapes are about 2 inches across.

I love how this came out. This was pole wrapped.

Detail of above.

This one was stitched and although it's darker in color, the bleach penetrated farther.

This piece was clamped.

Another clamped piece.

I used another kind of clamp on these and was really pleased with the results.

Discharged Shibori

2010-04-10T16:28:00.005-04:00

These were a dark purple Kona cotton. I lost all of the purple and part discharged to completely white. The first two are stitch resist and the third is pole wrapped.

First Shibori

2010-04-10T16:21:00.006-04:00

The music at the laser show put me in dye mode. Brendan made a couple of really nice shirts for himself and his little brother, but I forgot to take pics.
Since I made up some fresh dye, I thought I'd dye one of the pieces that I've been stitching. Just one -- saving the rest for the indigo vat.

Time to reveal

Mixing blue and fuchsia.

Huntingon Metropark and #1Grandson

2010-04-10T15:38:00.006-04:00

Had Brendan for the weekend. We went to the Huntington Metropark, where they rehab injured birds and animals. and have a very nice educational center. They also have a planetarium and we saw a laser show...Magical Mystery tour! Flashback to my hippie days...

I love these guys. Pocket-sized owls.
The one on the right?
That's me in the morning...

Dude is totally having happy dreams

Alex, one more peek

2010-03-28T15:24:00.004-04:00

I'm still going to add two borders.

From the back -- I added batting behind Buck so he'd be a little poofy.
(not that he's a poofy dog)

Sewing and Quilt Expo

2010-03-28T15:02:00.003-04:00

The Sewing and Quilt Expo was kind of a disappointment, as far as quilts go. I did get to see Laura Wasilowski's 'Pretty Spool' and one of Gloria Hanson's Squared Illusions quilts, both wonderful, but many of the quilts were...well...just not too interesting. The brochure said that, due to the demand, there would be more focus on quilts, but it seemed to me, that there was less than in the last couple of years. Lake Farmparks and the Cleveland Metropark had much better quilt shows. The expo was really just about the vendors and classes, but none of the classes sparked my interest either.
I did pick up some goodies though...

Karen Pharr's new line of textile paints.

I was most excited about finding the Sulky heat transfer pens. I haven't been able to find them locally, so I grabbed the whole set. Yay! I made a cool little Celtic bracelet at the Fasturn booth and liked their tools so much that I got that set as well. Floral rubbing plates from Cedar Canyon, a 1/2 price book and the new quilting gloves that almost every vendor was selling.

Squirrel stamp that I have to use somewhere in the Buck quilt. Cut from compressed sponge.

one more sneak peek

2010-03-28T12:30:00.001-04:00

Needs more bones I think

Building silk screens

2010-03-28T11:56:00.004-04:00

I've been itching to work with screens since reading Rayna Gillman's book, Create your own hand printed cloth. I did some silk screening years ago, when my focus was on printmaking, but it didn't thrill me so much. I was much more into etching, intaglio, lino cut and woodcut. But the thing that Rayna does with a screen look pretty exciting. But I only had one old Speedball screen, and if I'm gonna make a mess, I'd just as soon make a BIG mess! LOL

So I asked DH to built me these...

And I bought these at the Home Depot.
I think I love that store more than my DH does.
I'll bet they don't consider themselves to be an art supply store...LOL!

After researching prices, I ordered mesh from Atlas Screen Supply

I have to say, this is the hard part -- it takes two of us to attach the mesh to the frames.

But they come out really nice and tight.
So I signed up for both of Rayna's silkscreen workshops at LQuilt and I'm rarin' to go!

Arghhhhh!

2010-03-28T11:34:00.004-04:00

See that eye on the left?
That plum-colored patch is about 2 inches across. It's loaded with satin stitch. about 2mm wide.
Just a little too narrow to fit the blade of my seam ripper into...
How do I know this?

Because as I was stitching this...

...I neglected to see that THIS was happening...
Ripping out satin stitch, with a layer of batting in between really sucks. :P

Easter cactus?

2010-03-28T11:26:00.004-04:00

This thing is huge and it gets only one bloom at a time. There was one for Christmas and now there's one for Easter. What's up with that?

Yet another sneak peek

2010-03-28T11:06:00.004-04:00

After designing the applique of Bucky in EQ6, I printed him up, full size, and taped him to my 'light box' to see what adjustments I needed to make. Then I printed out a bazillion pieces on freezer paper...well it seemed like it. Happily, EQ also prints out a master chart with numbers and letters that match the applique patches. Unhappily, I had so much crap around the eyes and nose, that all the letters and numbers printed on top of each other on the master and I couldn't decipher any of it...

My light box

Buck body fused to the center panel of the quilt.
I added another design wall behind the ironing board. It's one of those Fons and Porter portable ones and it works just great.

Giving the body some definition.

Starting on the face.

All the pieces fused into place.
Time to put some batting behind Buck and start stitching.

More resist stitching for the vat

2010-03-20T13:02:00.004-04:00

I've been very much inspired lately by Judy Martin over at Judy's Journal and Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth. Check out their handwork -- it's really lovely. Lots of wonderful eye-candy and brilliant writing as well!

More stitching. Trying to decide on a book about shibori -- too many to choose from! Any recommendations?

I don't know what this will look like, but I'm really enjoying the stitching of it. Kind of like waves and bubbles... Time for a walk on the beach, maybe?

Another sneak peek for Alexandria

2010-03-20T12:57:00.003-04:00

Still have to finish designing the applique for the center panel.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T12:00:00.002-04:00

Cleary's Pub
Detail from the mural I painted at PJ McIntyres

DH has been in the workshop

2010-03-16T16:57:00.004-04:00

I love this so much! My DH rocks!!

It holds something like 500 spools of thread

Preparing fabric for the indigo vat

2010-03-16T16:25:00.006-04:00

I'm going to set up an indigo vat out on the patio when it's a bit warmer and I want to have lots and lots of fabric prepped with stitch resist and batik. So I've been hand stitching in the evenings and I forgot how enjoyable it is!
Actually I don't think I ever really enjoyed it before -- well maybe when I was a little girl. Anyway...it's kind of soothing and I'm liking it quite a lot.
I've wrapped some poles too and and have done some clamping.

I found this AWFUL quilting thread that I bought when I first started quilting and it say on the spool that it's 'glaced'. Whatever that means, it's awful, but very strong, so should be good for gathering the fabric.

Little wrappy thingies (not the real name for this technique...)

Still have to pull and knot the threads

Got my goodies!

2010-03-16T16:16:00.004-04:00

My prize package from the drawing at Three Creative Studios. The drawing was for participants of the first challenge -- the word was 'puzzle'. Sweet!

Sneak peek for Alexandria...

2010-03-08T23:26:00.003-05:00

And some gratuitous cuteness

Patsy and Edwina

Next big project

Hope you like the colors, Alex

Half log cabins

Snow-dyeing - Days 7, 8, and 9 -- results

2010-03-01T21:45:00.026-05:00

Three more days of snow-dyed fabrics. Most of these are Kaufman Kona 200ct muslin. I tried to get the colors as accurate as possible. I've been sitting at the computer all evening with my pile of fabric working on getting it all right.

# 75 -- Sold
I couldn't get the color on this at all. It's such a pretty spring green and it washed out in every photo. Maybe if there's some sun tomorrow, I'll try again

#75 Detail

#74 -- sold

# 74 detail

#73 - Stormy looking -- Sold

#73 detail

# 72 - This piece is cotton sateen -- Sold

#72 detail

#71 -- Sold

# 71 detail

#70 - another one that looks lit up from inside - SOLD

#70 detail

# 69 Really complex colors in this one

#69 detail

#68 -- SOLD

#68 detail

# 67 - really soft pretty blending of colors -- Sold

#67 detail

# 66 -- Sold

# 66 detail

# 65

# 65 detail

# 64 -- SOLD

# 64 detail

# 63 Accordion folded -- SOLD

# 63 detail - the dye took the fold beautifully
Looks very 3-d

# 62 - simple LWI - no snow - sold

# 62 detail

# 61 - over-dyed on Kona cotton -- SOLD!

# 60 - another pretty blend - SOLD

# 59 - one of my favorites

# 59 detail

# 58

# 58 detail

# 57 - over-dyed on Kona cotton - SOLD

# 56 - accordian fold -- Sold

# 56 detail

# 55 - accordion fold -- Sold

# 55 detail

# 54 - golden areas almost sparkle on this piece
SOLD

# 53 - LOTS of patterning

# 53 detail

# 52 - the bottom right is not quite that dark -- Sold

# 52 detail

# 51 - has lovely turquoise highlights -- Sold

# 51 detail

# 50
46 x 108 ($75.00)

# 50 detail

# 49 - nice patterns

# 49 detail

# 48 -- another pretty spring green, that refused to cooperate with the camera
Sold

# 47 front (back is pebbled pattern)

# 47 detail

# 46

# 46 detail

More Snow -- yay!

2010-03-01T21:38:00.003-05:00

We got more snow on Friday and Saturday -- grabbed another bolt of fabric for dyeing...Yay!

My trumpet vine

Everything looked like it was covered in fluffy cotton

We had a couple of days when it hot 50 degrees last week -- there was no snow left on the patio