FiberPlace

Sock Tops or Sculpture?

2011-09-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

My friend, Kristi Holt, an avid weaver, showed me her latest creations. I was so intrigued by the textural "ball". Actually, it's the main "ingredient" for her rugs. They are sock tops and that is how they are shipped to her.

I can see this on a table top as a lovely piece of art. I'm sure my cat would enjoy it, also.

The picture above shows the lovely rug and the ball of sock tops. Makes sense when you see them pictured together.

I think this is such a fun photo. It shows place mats very close to being finished.

We took advantage of the great weather and displayed her scarves and table runners outside. Her work is lovely. It takes a long time just getting her loom set up and ready for her weaving. I'll admit I don't have nearly that amount of patience.

Along with sock tops she showed me a bag of sock bottoms or is it sock toes? Well, you get the idea. I remember doing these as a kid, but my materials weren't as lush as these. Thanks, Kristi, for sharing the results of your talents with us!

Stay tuned, as they say, for further fabric dyeing adventures from the "Fabulous Fiber Women"!

"Project Runway" what were they thinking?

2011-08-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today.

Honestly, I didn't think the subject was fun at all, but more like the show's creative staff saying "well, I don't have a clue so let's do stilts".

But, there's always this Thursday...

What do you think?

"Show & Tell' always inspires us...

2011-08-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

to get to those UFOs (you know, unfinished objects).

However, Kate always seems caught up and usually has a few things to share with us.

Kate Hoeruf and her Growth Chart. Beautifully executed!

Another challenge was a portrait done in fabric and close up. I really had fun with this one. Maria Elkins had an article in Quilting Arts magazine with great instructions. I'm sharing those instructions basically in my own words...have patience.

I chose a high contrast closeup of my husband that was taken in bright sunlight so there were lots of light and dark areas. I photo shopped it to increase the contrasts until there was just light, medium and dark. I did a mirror image of it and printed off about four copies that had an image size of 4" x 6".

Next I took a red marker and outlined each gray area and kept in mind that I couldn't make them too literal because these had to be cut out.

Then they were numbered #1 being the lightest, #2 for the medium gray and #3 for the darkest. I could have photo shopped to four shades, but since it was my first attempt I figured three was plenty. (Still do).

Choose three shades of fabric. I avoided obvious prints.

Place the lightest color fabric on top of Timtex or Pelltex (don't use the fusible kind like I did). Your stabilizer will be about 5" x 7".

Using your medium color fabric press Steam-A-Seam2 Lite on to the back.

Now peel off the paper backing. You want it to be slightly tacky.

Using your hand, not your iron, press your paper photo onto the back of the Steam-A-Seam2 Lite. Don't iron it because it will be removed later.

Cut away all the lightest areas using the paper photo as your pattern. Small, sharp scissors are a big help.

You'll remove the paper photo and put your medium color (that was my #2) over the lightest color fabric. Be patient. This sort of looks like a weird puzzle piece. Use just a warm iron to keep them in place.

You'll do the darkest (mine was #3) last. Again, refer to your original printed photo and take your time.

Good news...when every thing is in the right spot you can press it with a hot iron.

I used invisible thread and lowered the feed dogs for some free-motion sewing. Don't forget to add the free-motion foot. By the way, use at least a #14 needle.

Fuse a backing fabric to the back of the stabilizer and trim away the edges so it's 4" x 6".

I did a satin stitch around it twice. I love it and I guess I may make a few more for a "rogue's gallery".

This has already been Photo Shopped to identify the light, medium and dark areas.

I flipped the photo and marked and numbered my areas. Looks like I made the first cut under the nose.

I layed this on a bright fabric so you could see the process.

Getting to be a bit of a challenge, but fun!

There! all finished and yes, I'm going to do more. I think I will stay with the three contrasts...light, medium and dark.

Judy did a portrait of her cat, very cool, Judy!

Jan did one of her grandson. Love the greens!

Way back, one of our challenges was to create something with at least 80% brown, add sheers and the word "knowledge". I tried and nothing, but nothing came to me, but finally I gave in to the color and came up with a small art quilt that is close to being finished. To my chagrin, I thought the word was "hope". Wrong.

Still have some work to do on this...another UFO!

Well, along with a zillion other tasks, both artsy and those dreaded necessary ones, I will be doing a garment with "back interest" for "Creative Clothing Club" and I think that will call for refashioning a t-shirt I just bought at the local thrift store. So stay tuned for that adventure!

Can't Get Enough Dyeing...

2011-08-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

so we met at Judy's house in the morning before it got too hot and luckily we were also in the shade.

Our group included Kate, Jan, Judy and Debra Danko and me. Debra is very focused and creates wonderful pieces that she uses in her art quilts. Be sure to check her out.

This is only a small example of what we haul around.

Taylor had started a wax batik piece at Dye Camp, using soy wax with Judy's help and I did the dyeing while at Judy's since Taylor is back in Texas. This piece is wet and laying on the grass to dry.

Here it is...all washed, dried and ironed and it's beautiful! I can't wait to send it to her.

A small sampling of some of the work done that morning. It was a good day!

Unfortunately, it's hard to see, but Debra Danko has her Shibori sewn up the side.

Shibori: for me this is wrapping fabric around a PVC pipe and using rubber bands. There are so many other ways to do it, but I took the easy route.

Something I really need to do is keep notes on my dyeing. Occasionally, there's such a beautiful combination and then I'm guessing what I may have used. So notebook, here I come!

We did some "show & tell" but that will be my next post.

Class at Quilting Unlimited...

2011-08-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

was great fun! The Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild offers a wonderful variety of classes every other year at the Washtenaw Community College, a perfect venue.

I took "Dyeing 101" from Cindy Geist and had a great day! You know, put me in a class and I'm totally happy. Cindy is a patient and very informative teacher, not to mention she's multi-talented!

I took my "masterpieces" home in plastic bags and the next morning I spread them out in the yard to dry. I'm showing you the good, semi-good and candidates for re-dyeing.

I'm very comfortable with hand painting fabrics, but dyeing is a whole new adventure!

This was interesting because it's a piece of home dec fabric that was pastels and the white didn't dye, but became a resist.

A nice addition to the yard

This one is a keeper and I'll put in on Etsy

Okay, I just add to add this awesome flower!

In a couple of days the Fabulous Fiber Women will be dyeing fabrics in Judy's backyard. No doubt I will have more pictures of dyed fabric to show you. I hope you can take a few more of these.

Dye Camp...finally

2011-08-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'll admit my blogging has slowed down lately. I admire those faithful daily bloggers! You're an inspiration.

I had the good fortune to go to Dye Camp earlier this summer. I signed up for two days and one of those days I was so fortunate to have my 12 year old granddaughter Taylor, join me. She lives in Texas so this was a real treat for me.

She had never done this before and just jumped right into it. We were all inspired by her and, hopefully next year we can do it again.

Taylor, like the rest of us, is wearing dye, also.

Yes, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home.

Very intense.

Another colorful creation

I was surrounded by beautiful colors for two days!

Here are more great examples of what was being done.

This weekend, I took a class in Ann Arbor with Cindy Geist, "Dyeing 101", and had a great time. Of course, when I'm taking a class I always have a great time!

Being With Talented People...

2011-06-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

is always such a privilege, I think.

At one of our recent Fab Fiber Woman meetings, we were inspired by "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" magazine's article about embellishing metal.

We brought our various metal oddities, Lumiere paints, embossing powders, and anything else we probably hadn't used in a while.

Sanding was part of the process.

Our finished pieces turned out pretty well and who knows, perhaps we'll add them to art quilts!

Kate showed us two games she had handmade, beautifully I must add, that can be ordered through her website, "Piecesofmeartgifts.com"

This is called "The Great Race", all had made, great for travel and includes all game pieces. Kate has another wonderful game, also available through Kate's website.

Stay tuned for Dye Camp pictures.. two days of fun!

When It's 95 Degrees in Michigan...

2011-06-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

this is what a well fed squirrel does in his spare time.

This is only a couple of feet from my window, but the squirrel wasn't concerned about having his picture taken...he was way too comfortable!

Fab Fiber Woman and another challenge...

2011-06-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

that was and still is, great fun! We each had to bring a small amount of fabric, a glue stick, scissors and etcetera. And you know the etcetera can be overflowing.

We quickly picked a theme. Flowers. Then the timer was set for 90 minutes, fabrics were dumped on the floor and we began.

Umm, why did I vacuum in advance?

Kate's is finished except for the hanging loops, Judy's is progressing and Jan was sewing on her binding and I will catch a picture of hers next month. I decided, in advance, to make mine small so I stood a chance of actually finishing it. It's 7 x 8".

I like it enough that I've decided to make lots and join them into one wall hanging. The colors, of course, will not be for the faint of heart.

This has black tulle on top and I free-motion stitched through all of it. Small and simple. The background is a donation of a lovely batik.

Below is Kate's and it probably at least 12 x 12". At the end of the evening she was attaching black binding and it had an almost Asian look.

Here is Judy's project below, also larger than mine.

Actually, by now we know mine was the smallest. I'll catch up with Jan's piece at the next meeting.

Feeling inspired I started a different and again, a small art quilt. The background fabric is a piece of fabric I painted and the tree is an old oak tree in my backyard struggling to survive, but the idea came from a wonderful book "The Complete Photo Guide to Textile Art" by Susan Stein. For me this is a "must have" book filled with so much information and more than 500 large format color photos.

Below is my oak tree art quilt. The finished piece will be about 10 x 14" and will have black binding. The piece is free motion quilted with 40 weight rayon thread in yellow.

No, that's not a blue border, but painter's tape so I could visualize where it should be trimmed. I'm sure my rotary cutter wasn't happy going through the tape.

Below is a close-up of the stitching. I'm pretty casual about this part...no rules and I make sure I remember to breathe.

I'm looking at a really busy rest of the week and weekend, but who knows...I may surprise myself and actually finish this one!

A Heads Up For an Important Cause...

2011-06-05T04:14:00.000-07:00

www.robbiespawprints.blogspot.com

Would you love to be the owner of a great art quilt (or two?) and be supporting a worthy cause at the same time?

Then check out the above blog and you only have a few days left before the auction ends and who doesn't love an auction?

For all you former Northerners...

2011-06-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

I thought you probably needed a lilac fix.

I sent my grandson a late Birthday present recently. It's a place mat with fabrics that represent his interests: music, golf, and fishing. I added his picture to really personalize it. The binding is yellow. The other side has the music pattern.

It's been a long time since I've posted so I don't think anyone will remember our Fab Fiber Women had a challenge. It had to consist of at least 80% brown, some sheers and the word "Hope".

Kate had hers done and hanging in no time and it's great...I'll put up the picture in a second, Jan is working on hers as is Judy and then there's me.

Honestly, I've come up with ideas and then tossed them as I was working on them, but I shall do it. I think it's the brown that's doing me in. Have to do it, after all it IS a challenge.

Kate's finished challenge. The sheers are reflecting the light, but Kate used stones and covered them in fabrics and then painted words on them. It's great!

Jan had some time off work and decided to put all her scraps to good use. She must have worn out her sewing machine!

She made dozens!

Stop by soon, I will be back to posting now for sure.

The intrepid spirit of daffodils...

2011-04-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

is remarkable. They were covered with snow twice and the second time they were already in bloom.

We've had about two or three nice days and I guess that's all they need. It certainly is a morale booster to see spring flowers (even though it's raining...again).

the lighting was a little flat so not much contrast.

How tough are daffodils?

2011-04-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is getting tiresome, really. We have another two inches of snow on the ground and my lovely daffodils are covered...again.

We're resilient, living in Michigan, but even we are begging for Spring weather now. I couldn't go out and take pictures of the flowers covered with snow because of my air cast so I did some through the window stuff.

The usually busy squirrel feeder on our deck.

Looking across our neighbor's yard. Note their picnic table is ready for Spring!

Yes, this is lovely, but it would be lovelier in December!.

Join me on a tour...

2011-04-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

of the "Fascination with Fibers" show presented by the Huron Valley Council for the Arts in Highland, Michigan. The cultural arts center is in the Historic Highland Station House, a wonderful building that is totally charming.

The exhibition runs through April 30 and if you're in the area be sure to see the show. There is more to see than what I've posted here.

Please note that this is a beautifully hung show, but here and there I couldn't get close enough to take a better picture so it may appear that things are slightly out of kilter, but it was me, not the artwork.

On with the show...

"Embroidered Jacket" by Mary Bajcz

"Snowdrops" by Mary Bajcz

"Out of the Blue" by Trish Boyle

"May, Pearl, and LaVerne" by Nadine Cloutier

"Vela" by Julie Fedolak

"Electra" by Julie Fedolak

"Silence in the Garden" by Anna Kocherovsky

"Chair" by Anna Kocherovsky

"Dream" by Anna Kocherovsky

"Coco" by Sybil Phelps

"Connections I" by Susie Krage

"Connections II" by Susie Krage

"Willow Weaving" by Kathy McMinn

"Cartwheel Constellation" by Barbara Fogle Mercer

"Purple Passion" by Madeline Navarro

"Order Among Chaos" by Cindy Purola

"Like a Baya Weaver Bird" by Lauren Sopher

"Tea Time" by Cheri Skomra

"Woven and Wavy" by Jennifer Stafford

"Irises by the Garden" by Jennifer Stafford

"Transmutations" by Delores S. Slowinski

So ends my tour. Be sure to stop by the gallery and see the rest of the show.

Just a quick stop to say hello...

2011-04-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

and to mention that probably like everyone else, this has been a hectic week.

We've had a nature "treat" for several days on our lake. There have been dozens of Canvasback ducks and I was told this was unusual for us. They are really lovely and seem to spend a lot of time head first in the water.

We had a "Fabulous Fiber Women" meeting last night and tackled paper cloth and I'll show you the results soon. We all need to finish our projects, of course. So now there's an additional UFO. It's late, talk to you soon.

I always have a long list of excuses...

2011-04-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

but, honestly, I won't bore you with them. I really am working on bits and pieces for my Challenge art quilt that we are doing in our new fiber arts group. Our challenge is to use 80% brown, some sheers and incorporate "knowledge".

Let's just say there have been a few interruptions, but I guess that's real life.

I've been playing with my Photoshop Elements program. I'm not good at it, but I certainly persevere! So naturally, it takes me twice as long to "do" something I am happy with. I've hand painted and printed fabric, painted cheesecloth, used my own photographs, hand colored the images and so on and so forth and somewhere, probably in the Milky Way, are a few photos I'd love to find again.

The oak tree, bottom left, (above) was used in several images.

Here is THE tree again. The images on the left were manipulated in Photoshop, then printed on paper, hand colored and then printed on fabric. The tree on the right is the same tree, but printed on my hand painted fabric.

More stuff.

Meanwhile, I'm also doing a challenge type of thing with my sister-in-law. We keep it pretty light and I thank her for that.

Tomorrow I will be practicing making paper cloth, since I will be "teaching" our new group next week. That's funny, actually, since tomorrow will be my first time.

And...there's the matter of the unread book for book club, but that's our secret.

And...the high school gals are coming for lunch. I told them to skip the white glove test since I have a broken foot. No doubt, they'll arrive wearing white gloves.

Do you need your sunglasses?

2011-03-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the "new look" of my blog. Am trying to change it back, no luck so far. I think I'll have to borrow a neighborhood six year old to help, they're so good at this.

Aren't these the very best...

2011-03-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

fabric bowls you've ever seen? Desiree Vaughn created these and I salivate when I see them.

They're in the Fall 'o6 issue of Quilting Arts magazine and even though fabric bowls are everywhere, I think these are the most artistic.

Desiree Vaughn's fabric bowls

Okay, now that I've become inspired, it's back to my challenge art quilt.

I'll admit I'm a tree junkie...

2011-03-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

and always have been. And I think that's what my theme will be in my next project because our "Fabulous Fiber Women" group has created a challenge.

We have to have 80% of "it" done in brown, we have to include sheer fabrics and somehow incorporate Hope into the final piece.

Now, I don't hate brown, but I sure don't love it and so this will be a true challenge.

I will do an art quilt and I've been thinking of adding lots of texture and today, wearing my air boot and dodging large patches of snow I took some photos that I will use.

Sadly, this ancient oak loses a couple of limbs each year

I have lots more, but these will get me started. Brown? Honestly, I'm trying to think positive on that one. Will hand paint my own fabrics tomorrow.

Haven't painted the air boot with Lumiere yet. Another tomorrow project?

A New Fiber Arts Group is being created...

2011-03-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

and I feel so fortunate to be a part of it. We may be calling ourselves "Fabulous Fiber Women" and we are! Even though we are a tiny group at the moment, I can tell we have great potential because of our enthusiasm.

Judy "loves all things artsy/crafty" and has a workroom in her lower level to die for! She has yards and yards of her hand-dyed fabrics and lots of art quilts on her walls. Plus, and here's my favorite part...boxes and boxes of anything anyone would ever need for any project. Judy loves thread painting and says it relaxes her. (When I do free-motion stitching, I have to remember to breathe!)

Our other member is Kate and she is a multi-faceted artist! We will be at her studio soon and I'm sure it'll be a great adventure. She has a background in Landscape Architecture at MSU and Kate likes to combine the various forms of textiles, glass and metal to embellish an art quilt and often uses photographs within the pieces or as the inspiration for the piece. So talented Kate sews, paints, fuses and slumps glass, and creates custom greeting cards at www.piecesofmeartgifts.com

Me? Well, my background for what seems like forever has been painting in mainly acrylics and some oils. But, I've always loved fiber art and I'm doing a lot of fabric painting plus I'll be at Dye Camp this summer for a couple of days so that will be a whole new experience. I'm really looking forward to learning new things from the very accomplished women that will be there.

At our first meeting, Judy introduced us to knitting/crocheting such as done by Prudence Mapstone who does such creative work! Well, Judy is amazing at this. Me? I can knit and crochet if my "how to" books are next to me, but I have high hopes of making a wall piece out of these and a few more. (small wall piece). I tried to use wire from a scrubby type of thing, but that was painful so I'll forget that. I'm bravely showing a few pieces here. I'll tell you about our long-term challenge next. Hint: Brown!

I may just add some of the metal scrubby thing.

If You Can Walk On It...

2011-03-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

it isn't broken. Okay, so much for that theory.

At the end of February, I took a dramatic fall (at home) and other than the excruciating pain for about 30+ minutes, I figured I was okay. Well, long story short, I am now wearing a pneumatic boot and have a very serious break in my foot. I'm seriously thinking of creating some designs on the solid part of the boot with Lumiere paints. Give me a few days and you may see the results.

When I got home from the doctor's office I was greeted with a package on my porch and it was the arrival of Rayna Gillman's book. Talk about good timing! Such a great visual treat!! "Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth" is the title and it's very much like having a conversation with Rayna as you go through her book. So fun and so inspiring, thanks Rayna. (The gelatin plates may be the first thing I'll try). I had the pleasure of seeing Rayna's work in person at the Janice Charach Gallery last month.

Well, I tried the flour+water=equals Batik again and this time the results were better, however, I realize that was really just luck. Below is the result.

This is 21x22"

Close-up

I think I'll put this piece in my etsy shop. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

If you need instant gratification...

2011-02-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

then this is NOT the project to pick!

I saw it on Quilting Arts, Quilting Daily .

The subject was "Spring into a Fresh Batik Technique" so of course, I was hooked.

In a nutshell, use a fat quarter size piece of cotton 'cause that is manageable. I used premium muslin that had been washed and dried and sort of ironed a bit.

Mix a cup of ordinary white flour with 1 cup of cold water and stir until smooth. I poured it on my fabric (with plastic sheeting underneath) and then smoothed it out with a spatula. My ~~basement~~ studio is warm, but it took several days for this to dry. I suppose you could lay some kind of a rack under it, but maybe it would leave strange indentations.

So...about three or so days later, it was finally ready. You scrunch it in your hands to crack all the dried flour paste and paint away. I used Payne's Gray with textile medium and water.

I think one probably shouldn't take too long to paint the fabric or you'll be back to flour paste? Anyway, I added a few strokes of fuchsia and here are the results:

This is the fabric...all dry...finally! And it looks like it's about to take off!

Adding Payne's Gray paint

Had to add a bit of fuchsia, of course.

Awesome, but no fuchsia!

I think I may try this on a piece that has already been fabric painted, but needs a little "help". If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear from you.

Probably just getting used to it...

2011-02-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

and so it doesn't seem like a big deal when we get about 8-10 inches of snow. But it was great we didn't lose power!

That gizmo on the railing is the squirrel feeder and they have informed me that it needs filling.

I just finished a piece of fabric using the Shibori PVC pipe wrapping technique using Jacquard Textile Paint and Liquitex Thalo Blue/Green. The Liquitex color is...Brown. That name could have used a bit more imagination, but it is brown. The finished result was great and showed lots of depth and variety in the patterning. If you go back a few posts you'll see what I did.

The piece is about 19x23"

This shows the variety in the pattern.

It's back to washing yards of new fabric so I'll talk to you soon.

Trees and graveyard markers...

2011-02-20T19:54:00.000-08:00

are some of my favorite subjects to photograph. Funny...they're usually very near to each other, come to think of it. Unless one lives in Arizona, I suppose.

Actually, since we are in the middle of a snow storm that may go into freezing rain, I may wait just a bit to do those photos. And tiny out of the way cemeteries are the best so I shall have to do some Googling first.

Some of these images will find their way into my art quilts, I'm sure. No doom or gloom, though.

In my paintings there are lots of trees, but no graveyard markers.

Ran across Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons and used them on fabric to see what happens. Heatset or not, I can tell they won't be washable and the results showed that the colors, when dry, were much lighter, but they would be so cool on paper! Checked the company's website and this product is not listed. No telling how long I've had these.

The ancient treasure.

Great colors!

Finished piece with some Lumiere Gold paint added. Seems like something I recall seeing at the Atlanta Aquarium.

Okay, calling it a night and wondering what weather I'll see in the morning.

Kinda like watching paint dry...

2011-02-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

but with a fun result. I followed the instructions on Bubble Jet 2000, used premium muslin and the following photos show my results:

This is the "exciting" soaking of the fabric in the Bubble Jet 2000 for 5 minutes.

The image on left is printed on premium muslin and the right is the original on regular copy paper. Sorry, should have done a better close-up.

These have just been printed. The bottom right was done on "T-shirt transfer" setting on my Canon S520 printer, an older model printer, but a keeper.

The left has been briefly washed with Woolite, laid out to dry and pressed. There was some slight fading. The original is on right. The handsome young man is Thomas B. Traicoff.

These are the finished "trees". The bottom right image showed me that using the "t-shirt" option on my printer wasn't a great idea.

For art quilts, I will try Robbie's method. (http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/) (see comment).

A much needed Spring fix...

2011-02-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

was done today as I was thinking of Laurie Clark, a wonderful fiber artist! The "spring fix" is the very colorful fabric I created today. Nothing subtle here!

This was done with two folds on the PVC pipe. A little like an ink blot test gone wild!

Of course, I couldn't just stop, so I made another similar piece. Whaddya think? Ready for spring? We folks, in Michigan, are more than ready!

Tomorrow, I'm doing my first experiments with Bubble Jet 2000. I know many of the fiber artists use this or other methods of printing on fabric. If you have any helpful hints, I'd love to hear them before I get into all kinds of trouble. Thanks.

What a great surprise...

2011-02-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

was left on my porch yesterday! It was art from my Texas kidlets. One I'll be wearing today and the other two will be hung on the wall.

There's nothing better than art created by kids. They haven't heard about "rules" and we hope they never do. Just do your thing kids and you'll do great! Main thing, have a great time doing it!

So I'm really proud to present the following:

Artist: Taylor Traicoff
acrylics on canvas

Artist: Bailey Traicoff
handmade paper beads and beads

Getting back to work...

2011-02-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

after a couple of days posting about the "Not Your Grandma's Fiber Show" being currently shown at the Janice Charach Gallery has me inspired by the exhibit. So back to the workroom (called basement in real life). I am working on painting cheesecloth. Cheesecloth is such a great addition to art quilts. Right now I'm in the riotous color stage. Next will be some browns, grays, etc.

these are 10"x36" and from top to bottom, yellow, red, orange and fuschia.

I guess we're doing a left to right on this photo: blue/green, light green, purple, and of course, fuschia.
http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

The Janice Charach Gallery visit, part two...

2011-02-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

and I know you'll enjoy this as much as the previous post.

Susan Moran

Susan Moran

There are many artists that I haven't shown here. An exciting show awaits you at the Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

An Awesome Fiber Art Show...

2011-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

is currently being held at the Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield, Michigan until March 3.

It is appropriately titled "Not Your Grandma's Fiber Show". As I walked around the gallery with my friend, Kristi Holt, a weaver, we talked about which piece was our favorite. There were just so many we couldn't choose. I hope you enjoy seeing a small portion of the show and please remember, I'm an amateur photographer so apologies to the artists when your art pieces look a little off kilter.

The first floor of the Janice Charach Gallery

Boisali Biswas

Marjorie Benson

I will continue my wanderings through the gallery in my next post, so stay tuned, as they say.

My day and night...

2011-02-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

was long, but fun! I was out the door by 7:30 am and got home this evening at 11 pm. I was an Extra on "Detroit 1-8-7"! This was my second time working on the TV series. I was very happy to spend the entire day at The Henry Ford Museum. That's where the filming took place, wasn't I lucky? One of my very favorite places! I did list a new piece of fabric on etsy before I left...good thing I'm a morning person.
So check it out if you have a moment and I'll be back to blog in a day or so. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Housebound and lovin' it...

2011-02-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

because it means I can stay home and do nothing. Funny, though, that never seems to happen. It's been snowing all night and day, but it's the wind that's causing the drifts.

I guess we take the term "outdoor furniture" literally as you will see. (BTW, the wading bird at the left is wood.) And the photo below that shows the tops of very large flower pots. I took these through the window. I wasn't about to go outside.

This a new and very nice fat quarter that I will be putting in my etsy shop today. It's so fun when they come out better than expected!

Close up

Also, the other day I mentioned The Boys' & Girls' Club and forgot to mention that the one I was referring to is in Auburn Hills, Michigan and my nephew, Keith Stonehouse puts in a lot of volunteer hours there. I think that's very cool, Keith.

http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Thanks to an innocent remark ...

2011-01-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

in Judy's email, I spent the afternoon going through the bowels of my "studio" which you may remember is really my basement. I can't believe the weird odds and ends that had accumulated (read: been bought) through the years. It had been a while since I had really plowed through. My really nice, huge wooden easel is being donated to The Boys & Girls Club and I understand it will get a lot of use. Maybe I can find some canvasses to pass on them, too. I will admit that I'm keeping some really interesting gnarled branches and some nice cigar boxes, many past issues of "Quilting Arts" magazine and...

BTW, Judy simply mentioned she was going to straighten up her studio because we are starting up a new fiber art group that will be held at her house. We are both excited about this and so far at least three other fiber artists will be joining us. I will share more news about this as it unfolds.

Back to fabric painting. I don't know if the following would be considered a tutorial. Maybe there aren't enough specifics or photos to call it that, but let me share this with you because I was happy with the results.

The picture below shows Liquitex Green Gold and Hooker's Green Hue and I also added fabric medium which doesn't show up. I used an old stencil brush (funny, don't ever remember doing any stencils) and dabbed on the paint and then dabbed it off until my brush was just about dry. You know, once it's on fabric it's there to stay.

I had made a "stencil run" to the store and found these last week (note: same were used on my ceiling fixture a few posts ago) .
The fabric was dry and had been painted and while wet I had sprinkled it with sea salt to get that mottled effect.

The results were right on!

Tomorrow I will start putting some of my fabrics in my etsy shop. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Grouting a sink and making bread...

2011-01-29T09:11:00.000-08:00

were a couple of yesterday's examples of task avoidance. I'm sure I could have found many more if I'd tried harder! The bread was waay too good and was made in the bread maker I brought back upstairs from it's storage place. The bread always seems perfect so need I say that soon it'll be brought back to its storage place?

The sink? Well, it was just time to redo all that grout and looking at it this morning in the strong light, all I can say is "thank goodness for single-edge razor blades". Have to neaten it up a bit.

Before you think me a total slacker with the fabric painting, however, I did do some. I placed two identical pieces of fabric next to each other, painted them at the same time, same everything and still they came out different. I took a couple of pictures and I hope you can see the differences. Actually, I love them both, but like my kids, they are just different.

I'll show the close up of each below.

it is kinda yummy, isn't it? this is the fabric on the left.

You can see the difference. A keeper, also. This is the fabric on the right. What are your thoughts on the two fabrics?

Just as I thought...

2011-01-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

so I'm not surprised. The pale, washed out Easter colors are not a keeper. The colors really didn't even get absorbed by the fabric so that old box of fabric paint will be placed in the back of my shelves along with a lot of other forgettable items.

But the orange piece below came out pretty nice. I folded it twice before I rolled it onto the PVC pipe. I need to take some more photos so that the design will show a bit better. Parts of it look like an inkblot test.

Did I mention that these pieces are all fat quarter size and the fabric is fine muslin? Below is another that was in the pail.

This has been pressed and is perfectly smooth and flat, but the way it's scrunched on the PVC pipe encourages the fabric paint to settle in the folds and then if I'm lucky, the almost 3D effect takes place.

Yes, it is bright. In February I'll be putting some of these fabrics in my etsy shop. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Onto another topic. I've been meaning to mention NTGM, the Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan, a great group located in Birmingham, Michigan, so if this is your geographic area you should check it out. http://ntgm.org/

We'll soon see...

2011-01-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling that I will be redoing at least one of these. Except for one, this is already their second painting. I found some very old "Fabric Dyes" today that look very opaque and like very pale, ugly Easter egg colors. In 24 hours or so I'll see the results and share them with you even if they are really bad. I'll show the others that are drying in the pail, too.

The old Delta colors are the second from right.

the ancient box of Fabric "Dyes"

Ran across Sonji Hunt's blog. Her work is amazing, really. Give yourself a visual treat and take a look.
http://sonjisays.blogspot.com/

Something different...

2011-01-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me to hand paint cheesecloth for her. She does art quilts and wants to add them to her work. What surprised me is the amount of paint that is absorbed by the cheesecloth, but they look fabulous and now, of course, I will have to make some more to keep for yours truly.

They are 10" X 36" and actually I think they are a bit brighter then they look. The second from the right is a charcoal gray. I think I'll have to make enough to put in my etsy shop in February.

http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Way too cold...

2011-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

but I have to go out to get more fabric to paint even though it's about 8 degrees right now and the store I'm going to is always so cold so this will be a really quick trip. I wrapped some pvc pipes this morning so I can paint them when I return. One, as you can see, is being painted again, but all my fabric is painted more than once. I have to love it when it's done. Well, how about "really like" it?

I mentioned that, honestly, I do paint some "quieter" fabrics. Actually, I love this gray fabric. It has so much depth and it's really a lovely color gray. It runs toward blue just a bit. I've done quite a few of these.

This closeup shows the depth of the design. It has been pressed perfectly flat. Some of these pieces will be in my etsy shop in February. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/

Flying rubber bands

2011-01-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

Looking at artist's websites and blogs is like being on a mini vacation. What fun to find the tutorial "Shibori with Fabric Paint" on Goria Hansen's site: http://gloriahansen.com/weblog Gloria is a talented artist, be sure to check out her site. So off I went to Home Depot, had them cut a 10 foot pvc pipe (2" diameter) into five sections and it's been a new adventure in my fabric painting all this week. When I slide the painted fabric off the pipe I usually forget a couple of rubber bands which go flying and keeps my cat, Toni, amused and off my table for a while.

I haven't seen one of these in years so of course, I bought one. I almost hated to use it...but I did.

Painting Fabrics, some are keepers...

2011-01-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I haven't been here for a while. This font color may be a temporary thing or this is just too early in the morning, not sure yet. I've been painting a lot of fabrics lately, mostly fat quarters because I can't seem to keep my big table cleared long enough to do yardage. I really cleaned up my shelf before I took this picture.

Here is an example of a couple of interesting painted pieces.

I really like the pattern in the fabric. Yes, it really is that bright!

This close up turned out better than I thought.

My favorite piece? Usually the cloth I wipe up paint with.

I love this. I am such a color addict! Here is a close up.

Really, I am also doing some "quieter" pieces that I will be showing on my blog. Some newly painted pieces I will keep (new art quilt ideas brewing), some will be sold and in February, I will list some in my etsy shop. http://fiberplace.etsy.com/