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 belong to an art group (Eye for Fiber: an art group) that meets once a month. This month we played with the technique of mono-printing. I was inspired to suggest it by a print that hangs on my wall.

This was done by my daughter when she was in the seventh grade (circa 1995 in Christiansburg, Virginia). I have always been so enamored of it I wanted to try it. Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to things… but if I really am interested, I get there eventually

She doesn’t remember the techniques they used clearly but enough to get us started. I played a bit.

And a bit more.

But one should never get cocky…

The technique was interesting but the colors, oy! For this one I put paint in plastic wrap and “smooshed” (technical word, that). I still think it has potential, I’ll just make sure I use better colors next time. I believe that mono-printing will never become my favorite paint technique (never say never!) but it is worth further exploration. Layering has a lot of promise and I need to experiment with the amount of paint I use, as well as it’s thickness. I have been using Setacolor straight from the jar so far. It may be better thinned a bit. I’m also being cautious of how much paint I use as I don’t want to make the fabric stiff as cardboard. Although for wall art, I’m not sure why I care. I still have to play with adding bits of stuff. Ashland’s print (top photo) has bits of lace, screen and pine needles, among other things in it. The textures are marvelous!

And elsewhere in the news - Country living has it’s drawbacks. Just about everything we do (including all our jobs) are an hour drive, think gas prices. Ouch! I’m told the Frost Date here is Memorial Day. I spent Memorial weekend getting my veggie and herb garden all planted and they looked so nice. We had a killing frost last night. Sigh. And my dream car, my wonderful VW Bug, has a black eye.

It was hit by a deer on a long dark country road on the way home from a movie. Notice I did not say the car hit the deer. Since it came from the side and slightly behind us, I think that qualifies as the deer hitting the car. My car has a serious black eye and the deer walked (limped?) away. I still feel bad about the poor thing but there is not much you can do when it completely disappears. Considering how many deer/car encounters there are here, I guess it was just a matter of time. At least it was minor and both parties seemed to have survived. At least the car occupants had no injures. Thank the Gods for small Blessings (yes, I read Terry Pratchett).

Deb H

Baby Steps… but still getting there. I have another wall finished in the “art supply” room. The chartreuse wall. A very bright spot of color, the rest will all be light aqua. I have a couple more boxes sorted… progress.

I finally got brave and after letting my last paint layer on the “Grapes” silks cure for a week +, then heat setting the crud out of them and letting them cure for another week - I washed them!

Success, much better color retention and much more the look I was going for. The resist is washed out too and worked very well.

Cloth 2 with it’s sharper look.

And the detail.

I’m quite pleased with them. Now to decide what is next. More paint? Some quilting or stitching? Hummm….

I’ve mentioned my knitting project - the “Mermaid” sweater. A kit and pattern by Hanne Falkenberg and how I swapped out her yarns for ones that are a bit softer. I finally have enough knit to show you all three colors. The rows are long as it is knit from side to side and the edge you are seeing is the I-cord front, left edge (gold) and the beginnings of the shawl collar (navy and purple). The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool and I’m very pleased so far. Granted, I still have a long way to go but it will be a joy!

And now I’m off to fix dinner; herb marinated game hen - with herbs from my indoor herb garden.

Planted 4 weeks ago today. Yes, this is such a cool toy I succumbed and got a 2nd one for salad greens, I planted it yesterday. Who needs the grocery store?

Deb H