Progress

I made progress on two fronts today. First, I shopped for fabric for the commission i am working on. I had tried dyeing fabric but it was taking way to long. One disadvantage of working and doing art on the side. Oh well. I have at least 15 of each color so i should be good to go. The avacado disc is the placemat my customer gave me to work with.

I also got started on the binding for the assessment piece for my city and guilds course.

I machine stitched the background with the word hope in script, appliqued all the words on with a blanket stitch, and the maple seed pocket is machine sewn on. The yellow fabric above the seed is the fabric of the inside. Below is a picture of what this should turn out to be when it is folded up - only personalized with my design ideas.

I am sewing a silk ribbon on the edges to bind it. It will be a green ribbon on the outside and a yellow ribbon on the inside. This is a picture of the cord that will be attached to the very edge of the opening.

five

Tim made the boards to "hang" these five pieces. Here is what they look like on the mantle and below are close-ups of each piece.

I am excited to have these up. I have lived here three and a half years and never arrived at anything I was satisfied with to go over the fireplace. NOW i am. The wonderful thing is that I can make many series of smaller pieces exploring ideas and design issues and "try them on".

How cool is that!

July 4th, 2009

So i am working on this commission...I need three colors

avacado/light olive,

peach/salmon/creamy tomato soup and

a yellow that blend with them both.

I have culled from my store bought fabrics all that i have that will work and i am short in all categories.

Here is a picture of a salmon/peach/creamy tomato soup fabric wet, just after screen printing before batching, and afterwards, washed and dried.

Here is a picture of all the salmon/peach/creamy tomato soup fabrics. The one i screen printed a couple of days ago is going to work! I have done a good step-one. I can keep working to finish it up to add to the pile of fabric I'll use. I am going to split this new fabric in half and do two different things with it and then that color will be done.

I am very short of the yellow and green fabrics so that is what i will work on this afternoon before we have to walk down to see the parade at the bottom of our street with all our neighbors.

I got print paste made last night in preparation for screen printing. I have two new screens ready to be used. One with glue resist and one with masking tape resist. I purchased both avacado and light olive colored dye to save time mixing it myself.... Off i go - wish me increasing skill.

July 3

Here are two images of work produced for my city and guilds certificate in design and patchwork. The idea is to basically take a personal image and create a design. Some of the paper hope word are curling up on the edges. I am thankful to have so many days off over the holiday weekend that I can really put some energy into the course.

I haven't progressed much on the dying of fabric for the commission. I did get some new thermofax screens back so that should be some imputus! I have selected some fabrics from my store-bought stash and am making piles so that is a beginning. I love making a piece that uses lots of little bits of lots of fabric to make a whole.