Monday

Today, my intent was to get started on printing some silk scarves in Christmas colors for my opening reception.  Well, getting started is about all I’m getting done.

First the scarves have to be soaked in white vinegar, then they have to dry.  That takes some time.  Then I made a silk screen with glue…and now it is drying.  So I decided to blog while I’m sitting here waiting for everything to dry!

First, I gotta tell you about all the new flavors of fudge I came across this weekend.  I’m in fudge heaven. I went to a craft festival in Harrisburg to purchase some lotion bars and other products for Christmas.  I came home with MUCH more!

First, the fudge.  We taste tested pumpkin, dreamsicle, white chocolate with apricots and walnuts, white chocolate with cherries and pecans…oh. my. gosh.  I’m in love with the two white chocolate fudges.  I purchased these to send to my mother-in-law for her birthday.  She is a fudge lover, so that is usually what I get her.  I was going to order some from a catalog until I saw this locally made fudge.  I purchased both the white chocolate fudges and some Rocky Road that I knew she would like.  Of course, since I brought it home with me, she now has to share some of it with me! She can’t eat 3 lbs. of fudge by herself anyway!  I have since found a recipe online for the white chocolate with apricots and walnuts.  I will definitely be trying that recipe this year.

drool.......

Yesterday, I crocheted the other wrist warmer.  I had made one and embellished it and had never gotten around to making the second one.  I finished it and then fished out a pattern for a flower that is used on a strand to wear around your neck.  So I had to try those out….

Cute? I think they are.

Little crocheted flowers

I love the yarn.  The red and purple flowers are made from Deborah Norville’s Everyday soft worsted anti-pilling yarn.  There’s no fuzzies on it.  It’s very nice yarn.

So now I put a question to you….should I use this one on my wrist warmers?….

 

…or this one?

I’ll probably just end up putting a row of buttons on the left one, but I did think it would be fun to have different embellishments on each one.  These are fingerless and fun to wear!

Stuff…

I have not blogged in a while.  I have been busy prepping for a couple of shows as well as my solo exhibit.  But tonight I will post a couple of things.

First, I finished two silk scarves today.  They have been rusting for a little too long…I had a show over the weekend so they were left alone with the steel wool. But today I did more printing on them with  new Thermofax screen designs and a 50 cent on clearance bottle of Lumiere paint in Old Brass color.  It looks good on rust dyed silk.  One scarf  is silk habatoi and one is crepe de chine.

Then there is this photo of an unknown bush that I took at Harmonie State Park in Indiana a couple of weeks ago.  The flower is pretty but I don’t know what it is.

I am trying hard not to freak out as the countdown to the exhibit goes on and I look at all the work I have left to do.  I think I see some late nights coming! I wonder if I really have time to take a day off to go to St. Louis for the opening of Speaking of Fibers (I have two pieces in it) and to view Quilt National…you betcha I do!~

 

My Life in Pictures…

I’ve been so busy and have not posted for awhile…shame on me!  I think I will show you what I have been up to rather than tell you….

Decatur, IL – Tree Huggers Exhibit in front of the Decatur Arts Council–On my way to the quilt show one morning, I shot these pictures.. this was interesting  to see!

Back home….loading new stencils from the Crafter’s Workshop  in my etsy shop...these are totally fun to pattern cloth with…

Tea dying and color dyeing silk ribbon for a doll show….

…and dyeing doggie hoodies….

…and working on some artistic silk scarves for upcoming art fair…these have been dyed a base color, then stamped with soy wax, then painted with dye paint and are batching…

Silk scarves are my “practice” work…not only do I get to know the different types of silks, but I get to “play” and practice with designs and colors.  Still have lots of different things to do and I will show you as I go along while I get ready for the art fair.  But…today I think I want to make some paper/cloth…after I go to town and run some errands…later!

Thursday Goings On….

So sorry I haven’t blogged for awhile.  It’s hard to write two blogs…especially if you want to write something thoughtful yet entertaining.

So, today, after my walk and my visit to my hair girl, photographing silk scarves was on my agenda as well as photographing a new large piece for entry into an area exhibit.  Well, the wind is just a little bit too strong to get much photography done.  I tried.  When I photograph, I like to open up my garage door and set up everything just inside the garage.  It gives me plenty of light, but not too much.  I even had a backdrop set up with my gridwall and a black sheet.  The wind was just too frustrating, but here’s a pic of one of the scarves.

Silk habatoi is the only kind of silk I have dyed that gets this wonderful kind of movement in the dyes.  I guess it’s because of its thinness.  I really like it and these are the scarves that sell the quickest for me.  This scarf is $40 and is 14″ x 72″ before shrinkage.

I was looking at an application for a regional exhibit coming up.  I need to get it  and digital images in really soon.  I see in the rules that purchase award winnners will be asked to relinquish copyrights to their work.  I am wondering if this is a good thing to do or not?  And if you enter you are asked to sign a statement on the application to this effect, so it’s not something I can decide later.  How do others feel about this?

I sold a quilt this weekend at the farmer’s market.  It wasn’t an art quilt, per se.  I had been dragging it around with me for years, using it to cover a table or fill in a space in my quilt show booth.  I’m a bit sorry to see it go since my favorite longarmer who doesn’t quilt any more quilted it.  But I’m really glad to pocket the money!

I also went to visit the gallery I will be showing in…in 2011 (lots can happen between now and then).  I wanted to see how much space I will be  expected to fill.  I have some ideas percolating now for small pieces.

What’s everyone else doing for the summer?

My Week in the Garage…

Here’s where I’ve been spending a lot of time this week, working on silk scarves.  That’s my messy table.  I also did some breakdown printing. I’ll show ya’ that later.

This is my collaged piece, Surface Matters, in the Recycled exhibit at Rend Lake.

Arts In Harmony is this weekend.  Scattered showers are predicted and 60 degrees tomorrow for a high.  I may have to wear jeans and a sweatshirt at this rate.  Here’s hoping for sales.

Shibori Scarves

Rayna sparked this idea for me.  She did her scarf on the diagonal and I didn’t.  But I just had to try these yesterday.  I am still thinking about doing more layers on them.  These are silk crepe.

Rust Dyed Silk Scarves

I finished three different rusted scarves this week.

That’s silk satin on the left. Notice how it really took the rust.  Crepe de chine in the center and flat crepe on the right. Now that my new order is here, next week I can get started making some art scarves…as well as cooking for Thanksgiving.

Working…Working…

I made some batik scarves yesterday.  I used soy wax on these, but am wondering if flour paste would be good to use. I may have to try it, but if anyone reading this has any thoughts about it, let me know in the comment section.  I do like the crackly lines.

I am also trying out some new types of silk from what I have worked on in the past.  I really love the flat crepe, the silk satin and the silk charmeuse.  I think the charmeuse is basically silk satin with a crepe backing on it, thereby making it a heavier scarf.  So this has been an interesting learning experience.  Tomorrow I will be putting these scarves out at the artisan’s festival.  I am always interested in customer response when I have something different to offer at shows.