Back in the classroom and ready for more. Wednesday is always a short day so the participants can go on a tour of the many Art Quilt exhibits that are always in the Columbus area during June. I confess that last year I went and was so overwhelmed by all the wonderful art and quilts that it made it very hard for me to go home and do my own work. Too much input and inspiration can be paralyzing at times. So, this year I elected to stay in the classroom and focus on what I came for. We had demos in the morning of some great embellishment techniques. The most wonderful new skill for me is free-motion machine embroidery (I still need lots of practice!). I decided this was much easier than free motion quilting because stitch uniformity is not part of the equation - cool!

I also worked on some more fabric and mark making techniques. Adding to existing ones and two new pieces on black silk noil; discharged, painted, silk screened, and (believe it or not) expandable paint. I was very happy with these. Much stronger contrast brings me back into my comfort zone even though I rarely use black in anything. I love the drama in these two fabrics (click to biggy size).

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And while the rest of the class went on the tours in the afternoon a few of us dye-hards (pun and spelling intended), stayed to play a bit more.

Finally, my board at the end of Day 3.

All this creativity is exhausting and I could hear the Siren Song of a glass of wine and my bed, so I found a Bell Hop and a luggage cart and had myself rolled up to my room for the night. Thursday we started to put it all together, just give me time to process all my photos.

Deb H

BTW, have you any idea what all of this does to your finger nails?

Ack!

OK, Day 2 was Tuesday and it’s now Friday, but keeping up with all the great things I’m doing in my QSDS workshop, getting enough sleep (in spite of the best efforts of the Thunder Gods and the tornado sirens - no tornadoes, just the sirens) and Blogging too were more than I could be coherent for. But I can start doing catch-up now.

This is my design board at the end of Day 2 (click on the images for a closer look).
The same fabrics as yesterday; plus a few more, and some papers. All have been layered with more batik, more paint, and more dye. The results are much better! The pink is now mostly purples and teals (no surprises there) but I’m trying to make myself tone it down a bit from my usual bright and gregarious colors. I look at classes and workshops as a good place to work outside of my comfort zone and do a little exploring. Muted colors are a bit of a stretch for me. I’ve decided I like batik, even with the work of wax removal, for the great effects.
The metal bar is not part of my artwork, my board is tucked behind the railing on the steps. Just in case you wondered

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We also learned more ways to mono-print and some wonderful ways to “print” on fabric and paper with simple tools to get complex effects.

My favorite mark making tool? A spiral potato masher.

Truly.

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The third photo is of my two favorite pieces for the day; the top left is watercolor paper that I dyed and painted. The bottom left is silk organza, also dyed and painted.

A successful day and more fun on Wednesday!

Deb H

I’m spending this week in Columbus, Ohio at the Quilt/Surface Design Symposium (QSDS). I’m taking a five day workshop with two fabulous instructors; Els van Baarle and Cherilyn Martin, both from the Netherlands. Their specialties are surface design on fabric and paper.

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Our classroom is lucky enough to be in the atrium of the hotel, giving us lots of room and natural light.

Each of us gets a design board to hand our stuff on, the better to contemplate on it. In the second room photo, the boards to the far right belong to our instructors.

Here is my board at the end of Day 1. The first thing we did was to abstract an image and make two stamps. Then we did some stamping on white fabric and batik on more white fabric. The batik was a new experience for me. I really like the effects I could get. I’m not so excited about getting the wax out again

After that, we did a first layer of dye. I was trying to keep it pale as every layer you add darkens the piece up. I think I erred on the side of caution. Mine is so pale it’s a bit sickly. It’s also pink (gag), we all know my views on pink. You would think I’d know that this is what pale red looks like, duh! The yellow would have been fine with red but just looks blah here.

I used a lot of commercial stamps as well, my own designs were a bit simple and I was having trouble picturing them as a part of a whole instead of as a whole in themselves. It was a busy day with lots of good techniques, but my results could have been better. It’s a good thing that we have Day 2 still to come!

Another detail of my day’s work shows the techniques a bit better. I do really like the effects of the hot wax (disregarding color)!

Off to bed! Day 2 gets better, honest! I’ll show you that tomorrow.

Deb H

I’m really Jazzed! My quilt, Moonlight Sonata, has made it on the front of another Post Card mailing for one of the exhibits on it’s 2 year tour.

And the company it’s keeping! The piece above mine is called Allegria by Cathryn Amidei and it’s the most awesome Jacquard weaving. This is in the New Fibers 2008 exhibit which I’ve just been to see at Eastern Michigan - Wow!

The Bonifas Art Center must be a great place as it’s even offering fiber art workshops, including an Art Quilts 101 by Kathie Briggs. So, if your in the northern part of Michigan - go see it! Just click on the image to biggy-ize it for reading.

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Monday I went to my spinning group (Friends of the Fleece in Imlay City, Michigan) and continued spinning on my yummy teal fleeced I dye and mentioned in an earlier post. It will be plied with the bright colors roving (dyed by me) that I finished spinning a couple of months ago. Don’t you think they will look great plied up?

I’m getting eager to see it happen. Of course, spinning is one of those luxuries I allow myself about two hours a month so….

Also at Monday’s spinning meeting, Kay S showed us wire knitting with beads. Here are some of her samples (click to big-ma-fy). Pretty cool! I think I could get a little hooked. Here is (left to right) Kay S, Mary D, and Carol E at our meeting.

First, she had us thread about 100 beads on some wire. I used a 26 gauge, teal colored wire and a mix of purple, size 11 Japanese seed beads. Then we simply cast-on five stitches and knit garter stitch, sliding 2 beads up the wire at every row turn. Notice I blithely said “simply”; wire is stiff, it had a small learning curve but “it’s doable” (to quote Mac in Entrapment). I diligently knit away until I had it long enough. Actually, until I ran out of beads! I have discovered you can fine tune the fit by stretching the knitting in either direction. It’s wire, it stays where you put it! I added a clasp and Finished!

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I thought it was fun, so started another

And lastly, I’m always looking for something new to torture into a use it was never intended for.

CD’s melt with a heat gun and the printing on the labels can give you some pretty cool textures. I’m not sure what use I will ever put it to, and you can tell by the scorch marks on the wood cutting board that you have to get it really hot - do this outside BTW, it’ hugely stinky and I’m sure, quite toxic. But, it was fun to torment the old free CD’s we all get so many of in the mail.

My biggest project for this week is getting ready to go to QSDS, I leave on Sunday for a 5 day workshop and I’m really excited about spending a week in such creatively charged company and atmosphere. I’m going to take my computer and if they still have wireless at the hotel, I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I’m off to start collecting my supplies.

Deb H

..I have discovered a new toy. I had to give a talk on Abstracting an Image to my art group in April. I found the whole process of researching and learning about it incredible. For an artist who has very little formal art training, this was huge. I know, no formal art training is a little like re-inventing the wheel but I like to think it gives me a fresh approach. Works for me

I just happen to have Adobe PhotShop, perhaps you’ve hear of it (snort). Abstracting an image is simply taking an image of anything and reducing it to its simplest form. But distorting it also qualifies in the real world. I took this photo (top left - click to bigify any of these photos) of a plant with purple leaves (a bit boring) and put it in PhotoShop to play with. I tried a few of the filters that come with the program; like the “cut-out” filter (top middle), or the “glowing edges” filter (top left). This quickly became addictive as I started to see the potential here as a design tool.

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Above left is the “note paper” filter, then the “Sumi” filter. I then used the “palette knife filter and, unable to stop myself, I applied the “liquefy” distortion tool. Cool, huh? Left is the “Sumi” filter topped with a “cut-out” filter. This could keep me entertained all summer!

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But then… I was cruising Borders last Sunday - I do this every Sunday, but what made last Sunday so special was the book I found. The Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Colour on Quilts by Linda & Laura Kemshall. Once I got my hands on this thing, it was going home with me. No negotiation. The book is fabulous and my sketch pad is filling up with some really great ideas. Its just too inspirational and fabulous!

Just some of the things it gets into; finding inspiration, dyeing techniques, dye painting techniques, stenciling, rubbings, block printing, screen printing, mono-printing, discharging, painted fusible webs, gel and other fabric pens, dimensional paints, text, ink-jet printing, photocopy transfers, and fabric painting. Then, to top it all off with a chocolate covered cherry, it gets into applying pastels and paints after the quilting is done.But the best part is the really wonderful artwork that fills the pages of this book — I didn’t sleep with it under my pillow, honest I didn’t.

And then… I have been busy with the yard, now that its warm enough for things to grow, they are really growing! Oy! I’ve also been making progress on the “scary” room. Since it isn’t quite so scary anymore, I guess I can start calling it the “Art” room. It’s still just a giant supply cupboard but at least it will be tidy and organized and I will be able to find things. Here is the finished paint job and the beginnings of the organizing phase.

The left wall is light aqua, the right wall is just as bright a chartreuse as it looks (I love it) and its all trimmed in medium teal. The painting is done, praise the paint Gods, I hate to paint! Well, walls anyway. I have been organizing and putting away. This has involved a lot of stuff going out! How many boxes of cut up magazines can one woman accumulate? More than your wildest night mares can imagine. Trust me. And there is other stuff that I cannot figure out why I have it, or kept it. It’s gone. But still many, many boxes to sort… But I have motivation! I leave for QSDS in 16 days and I have to have my supplies and studio unburied so I can pack what I will need for my 5 day workshop. I also know that when I return, I will want my studio in full working order so I can continue to work on the things I will have started. So, I’m highly motivated and by blogging about it, I’ve made myself accountable to the world at large.

Or, at least my Mom, who reads this. Hi Mom!

Updated to add the title - oops!!! 

Deb H