Karen C Schoch

Pieced Composition #2

2011-11-27T22:09:00.003-05:00

I completed this tonight. It had been on the design wall for a long time basted and ready for quilting.

I had time over this Thanksgiving holiday to finally do the machine quilting.

I also submitted a bunch of stuff to the web designer to have her add to my website.

This feels really good and productive!

Ariell's quilt completed

2011-11-24T22:02:00.006-05:00

Ariell's quilt is completed and ready to ship.

She wanted a purple piece. It measures 35" wide and 32.5" high.

These are shots of some of the details.

The background is hand dyed. Some of the circles are from hand dyed fabrics other are commercial cotton fabrics.

New quilt

2011-11-01T19:54:00.001-04:00

THis is my next project to be sewn

I was accepted

2011-11-01T19:51:00.003-04:00

This quilt has been accepted into the Art Quilt Elements show.

The show will be at the Wayne Art Center in PA March 30 - May 13, 2012.

This quilt was one of 48 selected from a group of 665 that were entered.

I am very honored to be selected.

June 2011

2011-06-27T17:01:00.004-04:00

Since I have been back from class I have been busy working on cloth.

This piece was mono printed using a long piece of vinyl. I applied the fabric dye to the vinyl with a paint brush in a wave shape and then flipped the plastic over onto the cloth.

It has warm and cool yellows, warm and cool reds and rust orange.

This piece was made using a paper lamination screen. I painted newsprint with golden fluid acrylics and after that dried I pinned a sheer over top of the paper and applied my image to the mesh and paper using mat medium. Once this dried the color was attached permanently to the mesh. I scrubbed all the paper off and I was left with the image on the mesh that I in turn used as a screen. I scraped fabric dye through it in multiple layers. I have a lot more experimenting I want to do with this screen.

This is a piece of left over fabric that I was just using up the left over bits of fabric dye on. Not quite a clean up rag but almost. It is a long narrow piece of cloth two yards long and about 15" wide. I have found a bunch of previously dyed fabrics that match in my hand-dyed bin so I will cut this up to mix and match with other fabrics for a pieced top.

This piece I started a year ago. the marks are made by drawing on a screen with soy wax. Once it dried you can screen print with it and the dyes go where the soy wax isn't- i.e. the negative space. It has been sitting around for a year all soda soaked and ready to go but I never went back to it. I added more yellow in the middle and then screened over the whole thing with a royal blue. The squiggles now go in at least four directions now.

These marks are made using a needle nose bottle. It has lots of layers and the first ones are not very well defined. I was laying down a large bead and it was a humid day so it really soaked into the fabric. The picture above is a close up and the one below is of the whole piece of cloth.

2011

2011-01-29T23:55:00.003-05:00

I am in the process of having some permanent screens made of the image I am using this year to move forward in my work.

I am distracted from my artwork by being a student and this is one thing that will make actually DOING art much easier.

I completed quilting "Water" and I hope to get the binding on this weekend.

Wish I could show it, but hoping to enter it in a show next spring.

This is piece two of five pieces I hope to have done by the spring.

Trying to tighten up my schedule and write in art time rather than just hoping it will happen (which it never does). Meanwhile I am stitching on a piece of cut off/leftovers just to keep my fingers happy. Here is one corner of it.

2010-09-25T14:03:00.002-04:00

I have completed this maple tree commission this month.

Here is a shot of the full tree and a close up of the leaves quilting.

What is next

2010-07-23T08:18:00.000-04:00

I have completed my city and guilds course. Here is a picture of my final piece On a Rock.

I have started my new job as a contract counselor two days a week. I am spending upwards of 30 hours a week in the studio, which is delightful.

I am having a new website designed and spending hours collecting pictures and writing text to be used. It is all worthwhile time spent and while I felt really good creating my own website two years ago this one will look much more professional.

Back in late April and with the help of Leslie Morgan from Committed to Cloth http://committedtocloth.com/ I created a one year plan for a self directed course of study. I am making good progress and up to this point am essentially using one image for the whole year. Different sizes of the image of course, but I am finding it very interesting how far this one image is taking me. I have one piece on the quilt frame (Field Flowers) and three more started (Water, Sudanese Hope and Forest).

I am going to end this post with a picture of the finished Zinnias wall haning in situ for your

viewing pleasure

Almost completed Zinnias

2010-03-07T20:03:00.000-05:00

This piece is 8 feet long by 30 inched high. I am just about done and wanted you to see some close up shots and the full length view.

Once it is hung in the customers home I'll post a shot of it in situ.

All the fabric is hand dyed. It has cotton batting and is completely machine stitched- a first for me.

I have two days left on my job. Then four days in Arkansas visting family. Then i am no longer working only training my replacement, counseling, grading papers and MORE ART TIME.

Talk to you soon

Karen

Next Work

2010-03-03T23:29:00.001-05:00

This is the initial drawing of the next wallhanging.

This rock with moss and lichen will be placed on a background rectangle (for hanging ease)
of a forest: trees, other rocks, or water are all possiblities. I am thinking some rays of sun shinning through might be nice if i can do it. This all has to be completed by may 1 as it is the last assessment item i need to do for my City and Guilds Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting.

Here is my source picture

Here are some of the fabrics I have dyed in anticipation of creating the moss lichen strips

I am thinking of making a patchwork of 2"cut squares and triangles that i would then add texture to by embellishing with yarn, thread, etc to get the "fuzzy" look of the moss.

The cloth is ready to screen print the rock fabric all I lack is time!

Thoughts

2010-02-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

I made good progress on my machine stitched work these past weeks. I had a lot of fears that I had to overcome. I got the flower centers completed and my assessor signed off on them. The finished size of the piece is 8 feet by 30 inches. The design is good but my technical skill in machine stitching is not as good as I would like it to be!
There are many reasons I won’t invest in the equipment to do more machine quilting- the noise of the machine makes my startle reflex heightened, it is harder on my shoulders and arms than hand work, and I don’t want to spend the money to investment in the equipment that would be necessary. Bottom line I just don’t enjoy it.
I am really committed to the hand work and while I value the skill necessary for machine quilting, hand work is an important part of my process like layering paint with a brush that has its own set of skills. I need a slower process speed. Some people have a hard time understanding this and while I agree that more “product” is always good, I don't want it to be at the expense of my process of creativity. This is me as a person that is growing. I need time to take things in think, on them and then move forward.

Thanks for listening to my thinking out loud! It helps

New Work

2009-12-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

This piece is the finished product from my Shirbori class with Jan Myers-Newbury at the Nancy Crow Barn & Studio. It measures 53 x 25.5 inches and is made entirely of pieces that I clamp resisted. I keep pulling out the pole wrapped pieces I made there and toying around with ideas for another quilt top. I think I need to do some more pole wrapping first so i have a larger selection of fabrics to work with. I recently ordered some new colors and more soda ash so nothing stands in my way other than time, which we are all short of.

These two pieces are tops only. They are unquilted & unembellished and made from fabric that I hand dyed and screen printed. I used some design ideas I had done in paper for my city and guilds course as the source inspiration. The one with the circles i plan to highlight with embellishing the small yellow circles in particular so they aren't so washed out. I have some threads picked out and next time there is a lull where i am looking for some handwork these will be ready to go.

I pulled another piece of fabric out to make a third piece and decided it needed more color so I spent a couple of days screening and batching and washing. Next post i'll try and show those results.

I have a bunch of zinnia's flower centers i need to mono print soon for the commission so better get onto that next.

Zinnias

2009-12-05T22:55:00.001-05:00

Here is my design wall with all the fabrics I have dyed for the new piece I am preparing to make. See the post from Nov 25th to see the space in which it will hang. The full size design has 5 full flowers and 6 partial flowers. The fabrics on the left are some options for some of the partial flowers.

Here is a sample zinnia. I have stitched most of this just on the top layer. Once I added the batting and the back i stitched the final edges of the flower and leaves through all three layers. The center clearly needs a major revision.

Once i get the flowers attached to the top I think this is how I will quilt in between the flowers- parallel rows. The idea is that the yellow background will fade away and the flowers will sit on the surface. Also, since this picece will be 8.5 feet long at minimum, the less I have to twist and turn the whole thing to machine stitch with batting the easier it will be!

starting a new project

2009-11-25T15:28:00.001-05:00

I am starting a new project. It is 96 inches long in total but will be hung in two sections. One section is 30 inched wide it will go on the right over the steps to the lower level and the other section is 66 inches wide it will go over the window on the left. The height of the piece is also 30 inches.

Above is the design drafted in full size on paper.
Below is the fabric dyeing in buckets in the kitchen.

new work

2009-11-20T19:29:00.000-05:00

I am getting ready to start a new work. This is a draft of my idea. I don't know why it is posting vertical because the picture is saved horizontal. Any how. There are two pieces that are asymmetrical. It will hang on an eleven foot wall over two openings under the wall. The flowers are zinnias from the homeowner's front yard.

I have had two crazy busy weeks with a work conference, transporting folks to and from the airport, house guests (that were really servants! and helped me more than i helped them) etc. Today i finished grading papers for this week so tomorrow is back to the dye buckets for sure.
Can't wait to get started in on this project.
Talk to you soon.

Shibori project

2009-11-12T19:28:00.001-05:00

After much readjusting this is the final version. I made this with the clamp resists from the Jan Newbury class at the Crow Barn a couple of weeks ago.

Post Crow Barn quilt

2009-11-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

I am back from my trip to the Nancy Crow Barn in Columbus Ohio. What a great Shibori class with Jan Meyer Newbury. I have many more ways of mark making on fabric now. I was number 13 out of 21 and it was a good number for me.

This is a picture of the wall hanging that i came home with made from fabrics i had dyed using mostly clamp resist. Yesterday i spent quite a bit of time taking it all apart and redoing it.

You can see from the strips hanging down from behind it that i was thinking that strips between each section was the right way to go. I was unanimously voted down. Since i am so new at designing i thought i would take their advice and give it a try. I am adding one new strip of "windows" and lengthening each piece so the width and length are balanced.

Once i get it all sewn back together, I'll post a finished picture.

Delivery Announcement

2009-10-16T15:26:00.000-04:00

I am delivering this wall hanging to a customer tomorrow.

Exciting!

2009-10-10T09:43:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of the opening for the Cloakroom Gallery.

My neighbors and Tim in one shot and the three largest pieces in the other one.

Cloakroom Gallery opening

2009-10-07T21:20:00.000-04:00

It was a great opening tonight at the Cloakroom Gallery. I had fun and enjoyed everyone who came. I met or reconnected with several artists and I have plans to get together with one. I even got taped by the local TV news along with out township commissioner! I also have a potential commission coming from the show. Delightful!

Now I am off to finish putting on a binding so I can deliver a wall hanging this weekend.

Thanks for reading.

2009-10-06T13:30:00.001-04:00

I have an opening at

The Cloakroom Gallery

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

from 5:30 to 7 pm

at New Life Church

located on the corner of

Easton Road and Jenkintown Roads.

Light refreshments served

All welcome.

Opportunity

2009-09-20T20:18:00.000-04:00

This week I have two appointments with people who can open doors for a display of my work. Two in one week! When it rains it pours.

One would be at the gallery at my church starting in early October and the other would be at a local university sometime in the next year.

These opportunities make the urgency to finish up those 1/2 done pieces heightened.

Here is one that I have shown before. I have added the leaf litter at the bottom. Next will be to add either more tree trunks for depth (paint sticks, net, organza) or perhaps it is just the branches with falling leaves it needs now...Every fabric here is dyed and screen printed by me. I really wanted a piece that was all my work - nothing store bought. I signals for me at least the beginning of a new season of art work.

I love taking a city and guilds class but sometimes i find i want to do my work not just try to fit my work into their prescribed program or do the courses activities. I am not saying i don't want to finish the course, but i am wondering if my chomping at the bit to move along signals that I have gotten from it what I needed. I really have learned so much in these past two years. Quite different than taking a one week class.

I just threw this together one evening because i was tired of the assigned activities. My only agenda was that it be exclusively from fabric that I had put the color and texture on myself. I am pleased with how the leaf litter works. It languishes a bit for the next step because of a commission I am finishing up and the curtain seen in the previous post.

These opportunities help push it up the line for work to be completed.

Sunday sept 20

2009-09-20T19:58:00.000-04:00

Today i went to the Quilt Show in Oaks, PA. Since i am not sure if i am allowed to post pictures of other people's work I'll have to leave that off the blog. What i can say is that many many quilts are machine quilted these days. I did see some interesting settings for blocks and pictures that i may explore for some of my work. Since I have one interior assessment piece to complete and two quilts or wall hangings for my City and Guilds course, i am brainstorming ideas for layout and design for my subject matter.

I am making a curtain as my interior assessment piece for this window in our 2nd floor bathroom. It has had this piece of fabric covering it for at least two years and i thought this would be a good time to make a curtain!

Here is the fabric i have dyed.

So i cut out the circles into oval shapes and am placing them on the curtain so it looks like they are moving away the further up the curtain you go. Not only are the ovals darker at the bottom they also are larger that the ovals at the top. I am embellishing them with net, organza, & threads. The idea comes from the tiles themselves. The tiles have shapes that look like clouds with ice crystals in them. I found a picture in National Geographic of people crossing up North where the ice floes are starting melt and it looked like stepping stones across a pond. I combined both ideas as my source for the design making sure the ovals have ice crystal centers like on the actual tiles. Make sense?

Here are two samples of embellishing

Shibori

2009-08-09T23:36:00.001-04:00

I am trying to create some fabrics with star burst motifs for a assessment item i am in in process of making. The green ones were just an expirement in color. I haven't found the right shade of blue yet, but i can keep trying. I used unwaxed dental floss to do the tying and gathering. It makes me think of my father making a fishing lure for carp using unwaxed dental floss! We never ate the fish- too bony but my dad said their teeth go all caught up in the floss and it was much better than a hook!

Progress

2009-07-27T22:42:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-25T09:43:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-04T12:39:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-03T20:03:00.000-04:00

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.

Mid June

2009-06-22T16:02:00.001-04:00

So i am trying to dye fabric in the hues of the placemat. I still need more red to make it not so yellow.

I made two new screens. This one is made with ripped masking tape. I will screen through the holes. I may also try to then take off one layer and screen through a striped screen. We'll see how difficult it is to take off one layer of wet masking tape. The other screen has a blue school glue resist pattern, but it doesn't show up because the screen is already multi colored. You'll have to wait to see the results.

The school glue washes out with soap and warm water. I think next I'll do a screen that can be deconstructed.

I sent away three photocopies to have made into thermofax (plastic) screens. Can't wait to get them back to experiment with. Onward and upward.

City and Guilds work

2009-06-11T20:41:00.001-04:00

We are working on design work with paper shapes. I have posted three series. Enjoy.

Maybe one day you'll see one of these designs in a quilt i make.

Samples complete

2009-06-08T21:54:00.000-04:00

Samples are complete. I have some good ideas here for future projects no matter which one the customer picks! Maybe the customer will have a different ideas too to an ever evolving project.

Stay tuned!

new fabric beginnings

2009-06-07T13:42:00.000-04:00

Here are the results from yesterday's dying and screen printing adventures.

One thing i learned is that dye loses it's punch after a week or so of being mixed.

These were so dark when i printed them, and I left them to batch 36 hrs thinking it might not strike as well, but much of the color washed out anyway.

My goal was to get a light, medium, and a dark printing of the same screen on each piece of fabric. I accomplished that but in much lighter tones that originally intended.

I am glad they washed out a bit because that means I can go back and add one or two more darker layers. Sometimes mistakes turn out to actually be blessings in disguise.

These last two are the front and back of the printed fabric. I used an older piece of store bought fabric with a blue marble design already printed on one side. It sort of shows through on the front. It just adds more texture and that faint idea that there is a different color trying to peak through.

The brown/gold twirls are printed on a fabric that has gold sea shells already printed on it too,

but they match the color of the dye so closely they don't show up as well. So all these pieces are back in the soda ash bucket soaking. They will hand to dry overnight so i can screen print on them again tomorrow.

Samples

2009-06-06T21:12:00.001-04:00

These are samples for a wall hanging I will be making. I will be able to finish them up to hang as a group of three or five (I have one more to make) or sold as singlets. The vote thus far indicates that the circle one is the favorite. What would you vote?

One person also thought that the last picture that looks like waves could be hung vertically and made in blues and it would be a waterfall. I think any of them could be turned around vertically or even upside down- what ever suits your eye preference.

The thing i find exciting is that many of the fabrics are ones that I created! I look at them and say, "This started as a piece of white fabric and i can remember the five steps it took to get all this color and texture on to it!"

I screen printed a bunch more pieces yesterday. Step one. I have washed them out this evening and and I'll post pictures of them after they dry overnight.

The first week of June

2009-06-06T21:07:00.001-04:00

These are pictures of some fabric that I painted with Jacquard textile paint. The idea is to start wtih wet fabric that you bunch up. You "pound" the paint into the cloth so that the colors mix and the folds create interesting designs. now that they are heat set to be permanent. I can screen print them or add fabric dyes or more fabric paint to keep going.

Fabric paint can change the feel or handle of the fabric because the color sits on the fabric vs dye that is absorbed into the actual threads.

I did this for my City and Guilds course.

Graduated and back to work

2009-05-30T09:15:00.000-04:00

So what happened in our house this week?

I graduated from Seminary with an MA in Biblical Counseling.

I had a nice visit with my parents who traveled three days from Arkansas to be here and celebrate with us.

Rachel, our recent college graduate, returned from her European singing trip and is sorting her life worth of stuff in preparation for moving to MI for graduate school.

I am back to finishing up the overdying and screen printing of the fabrics for the commission. here are the best pictures of all the fabrics I worked on.

I am working on the next activities for my city and guilds course (pictures will follow later today) and

I am getting ready to grade almost 60 students in two classes over the summer.

yes it is a full busy life.

Thanks for reading.

Last Exam

2009-04-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

I took my last exam today for Graduate School.
It feels really good.
I have a full two days and then we head to Rachel's graduation.
I have one more week of classes to attend (they don't have finals just weekly 1/2 page posts on a web based site) then my graduation at the end of the month.
I wasn't as stressed as I usually am for these things. I think I just loved the subject matter- NT for ministry.
So I am off to bed not sure when I'll have more art to post.
Looking to take some pictures over the weekend. Need to think of a theme to work on for that...
Any suggestions?
Need to make business cards for my husband. He is my biggest fan telling people about my blog- perhaps because he is on it ?!?!?

Keeping Organized

2009-04-26T18:25:00.000-04:00

So what is this you might ask....

I am preparing to make some samples for a commission. I was looking at the piles of fabric spread out on my worktable thinking about how each piece needed something done to it- put in a dye bath, or soda soak in prep for scraping or screening. I realized I have MANY decisions in front of me.

I am 50 years old and working three part time jobs- the studio work being one of them. If you are middle age you can see my problem. How am I possibly going to be able to keep track from one week to the next while switching between jobs what the plan is for 12 pieces of fabric? So I lined them all up. I wrote on a scrap of paper for each piece some descriptive information and it's current state (soda soaked already or not). Then I decided what was the next thing it needed (go in a dye pot, soda soak - an overnight procedure because of the drying time, or ready for more color). Then I had to decide what the next color to be applied was for each piece so they would all work together for the samples. SO many decisions made easier by those scraps of paper.

Then I realized that when I took five or so pieces off to go soda soak how was I going to match them up with the piece of paper so I would remember the next steps...The beauty of digital cameras!

Just take a picture and then you can refer back to it. It is working because I did this last Tuesday and today is Sunday. I have gathered up the now dry soda soaked fabrics that are ready for screen printing or scraping, brought them up to the studio, and put them back in their spot with their label. Ready for the next step.

Some of these fabrics are store bought. Two years ago I would have considered them done, unchangable. Not anymore. I can alter any cotton fabric in front of me now to make it work for the spot I want it in. How cool it that!

Stay tuned for the results.

Finally Finished Bahn Building!

2009-04-26T18:02:00.000-04:00

I have finally completed my reproduction of the Berlin, Germany Bahn Building in fabric.

How long was I stuck on this - 9 months?

If you check my first blog post I put up a picture of the actual building.

But here it is again.

SO what was the hardest part?
Figuring out how to get the long curved side to stay attached to the short side (I used a tab with velcro on the end)

What was the most challenging part?
Well there were so many places I got "stuck" and had to come up with solutions.

Dying fabric the right shade of blue, making the sheer fabric to show differences in rows, how was I going to reflect the shiny windows and the shadow from the building across the street, figuring out the inside- i wanted something organic to contrast with the man made outside, the edges- i used an early American tool to make cording, the bottom, how was it going to stand up?...

What would i do different?

I wouldn't use timtex between the inside and outside layers. I would have done something else inside and used channel stitching to stiffen the layers so it would stand up.

Was it fun? Would I do another reproducation building?

It stretched me definately. I now know something of what goes into making a 3 dimensional objects out of fabric and so I have more respect for the work and technical problem solving involved...I might make some thing simpler to hold dried flowers...

I have a few more things I need to write up about it before my assessor signs off, but the actual construction is done.

Shed progression

2009-04-10T22:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I am writing papers and a final exam in hopes to be all done by the end of April, so I am not doing too much artwork until Sunday. Monday will be my next designated day of art- no phone, no errands, simply working in the studio.

BUT here are more pictures of the shed preparation. Tim has cut all the trees down and our next door neighbor Matt is helping him with the clean up work. Tim has also gotten lots of leftover/odds and ends pieces of wood from the local building supply house at greatly reduced prices - that is what is under the blue tarps.

Look how nicely the wood and branches are stacked up! I am going to see if I can take the lines in this and make a printing screen!

I am thankful this has all been done safely. The last day of being in the trees was very windy. I was at work but fortunatly Tim's friend, John, was here on the ground helping with the ropes directing branches coming down. Tim ended up taking down that last tree and he didn't hit the house! He figures the total cost including paying helpers and the used equipment to climb the trees was $500 compared to the $5000 it would have cost to have a tree trimmer do the work.

The other thing I worked on today was putting in some cold weather veggies. Parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach. We bought some herbs but they are in various window sills for another month until the ground warms up some more. We decided we would try and use our one sunny spot for veggies and herbs rather than flowers this year. Tim buried a soak hose in the garden in hopes that we would also not waste water by watering from the top. Instead the water will go straight to the roots.

He is doing lots of research on Cisterns too. Since the township requires a retention basin for any new building (even a "shed") he is going to turn our retention basin into a cistern so we can store and pump out later during the dry times the water we have stored that came from the workshop roof. Pretty cool huh!

What I did on Monday

2009-04-09T18:33:00.000-04:00

You asked to see what i did and here it is.

I have been very stuck on this Bahn Building for my Cityand Guilds course. I finished all but one edge and got the layers together so it will stand up. I need to finish the stair stepped edge with the trim I made using an early American tool used to make cording and then I need to create a base. The challenge is that this building has only three sides. The third longer side curves. I was going to use button holes and tabs to attach it to the short side so as to make it keep it's curve but i don't think that is going to work. So i am trying to figure out an alternate plan...

My idea was that since the outside seemed so sterile and man made to have the inside reflect non man made creation. The blue and yellow is working too.

So next post will be about our post tree cutting adventures.

A new Season

2009-03-29T16:36:00.000-04:00

We are entering a new season at our house. I lost my health benefits and some hours at work mid March so I am switching to part time hours. One of my at-home days will be dedicated to doing art and one day to grade for CCEF's distance education classes. Both I hope will bring in some money to make up for what I lost. I am looking forward to being home more since my husband works nights. I'll actually be around when he is awake - that can't be anything but good for the marriage.

Here are pics of Tim cutting down trees in our back yard.

He was up about 60-75 feet and called for me to come take pictures. I did so and then I yelled up, "Be Safe!" He yelled back down, "Did you say you loved me?" I said "Good translation."

He will be 58 at the end of April. He decided that the last tree (of four) he would have to hire out to be cut because it was hanging too much over the house and wires. He said he got his money's worth out of the tree climbing stuff he bought on craig's list.

Tim is building a workshop outback for himself. When that is done then my new studio will move into his old space Whoo Hoo! Of course this is going to take awhile since money is tight but it is amazing how much building supplies he is finding that folks are giving away or selling cheap. A little bit here and a little bit there adds up to a new workshop.

Day 13 continued

2009-01-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, so to catch up with the work I have been puttering around on these past couple of days.
Remember I had two yards that were from break down screen printing...
I split those two yards each in half after the first batching was done.
One half of each piece I tray dyed and one half I printed on some more.
Here is the brown/yellow piece -

Here is the process for the piece on the left:
Step one: Break down screen printing then screen printing of the curvy lines.
Step two - tray dying
Here is the process for the piece on the right.
Step one is the same as for the one on the left.
Step two is additional screen printing with a spiral shape in three or four colors- plum, green, blue

Here is the blue/green piece

Here is the process for the piece on the left.
Step one: breakdown screen printing
Step two: tray dying
Here is the process for the piece on the right.
Step one same as above
Step two: I used two screens to print; one for the blue corn flowers and one for the curved lines. I used three different colors for the curved lines- plum/red, blue, and green. The larger green dots were from the breakdown printing.

The pieces I printed all over a second time still have a lot of white fabric left in them so rather than tray dye them I am going to continue printing and see what other colors I can add before I scrap the back of the whole piece with a contrasting color.

The piece I put glue dots all over and then screen printed dark green....well I tray dyed that a light green and here is a picture of the results. There is still some room in the fabric to add some more color. I am going to hang this up on my design wall and see what color I think I might want to add in. I might split it and do two different things with it too just to experiment.

Two things I have gotten from my husband of almost three years:
"It is just an experiment. Try and see what happens."
So liberating!
"Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
I find myself using this statements all the time.

I don't make new year's resolutions I pray and ask God what character quality he wants me to focus on for the coming year. That is what I am doing today. What character quality would be a good one to meditate and pray about for this year? I have done thankfulness, love, & self control in past years----I am thinking peace- the peace that comes from God and surpasses our understanding. I have become aware of a lot of anxiety still lurking around in my this past semester.... I'll let you know.
I just found this blog from Christine Kane that encourages you to pick a word for the year. Same kind of idea.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

Are you wondering where I have been the last couple of days?
Today is day 13 of my vacation and the last couple of days I have only puttered a little with art.
I did do a search on U Tube to see if there were any demos on layering in photo shop. I found some but not with the information I needed at the moment. I know they will help me in the future. That was disappointing i am just waiting for the library book to come. I may try and see if the B & N bookstore is open today. I am stuck on the building piece until I can figure this out.

I have read four novels though! I found some new Jesse Stone books by Robert Parker. Parker's writing style is cryptic, but he makes you think. I find this fascinating and from a counseling perspective he is mostly right-on about people's process only without God.

One thing that came out real well is the revival of the old piece.
I took off the borders and put color on them with green print paste. They turned out great. They match so much better to the over all piece now. Then I realized that what i think it needs is a small colored frame inside these green borders so the inside doesn't bleed off into the edges.
Here are three trials with fabric I made: yellow, red, and blue. Don't think I have hit upon it yet but I am close. This piece incidentally is called Montreat stream. My family used to camp for two weeks each summer right by this stream and I wanted to capture some of the essence of that time.

Monday - Day Ten

2008-12-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Rachel, Ruth, Tim and I went to the Chemical Heritage Museum in Olde City Philadelphia today and had a great time. We also explored the largest collection of Peale portraits in the world. It is overseen by the Parks Dept in the the Second Bank Building. We saw portraits of all the famous people in the history of the United States: Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark and many others in government or society during the lifetime of Peale. Pretty cool. We ate lunch in a pub that had a ton of interesting books to look at then went to the used book store and then came home around 4 pm.

I did a little bit of work in the studio late in the day. Screen printing and tray dying the things I had soda soaked over night. I also rinsed out the stuff that batched overnight. Since I got such a late start I don't have any pictures cause stuff is still washing and I am going to bed.
Til tomorrow!

Day Nine- Sunday

2008-12-28T12:15:00.000-05:00

I felt like I just wanted to sit someplace and do handwork all day. I am thinking I need to get a 1/2 quilted piece out and put it on the frame to just doodle on in the down times.

Anyway, after church and lunch,
I worked on my pictures for the inside of the building on the computer. I can't figure out how to use the layering on Photoshop Elements. BUM. I know I am only missing one small step but I don't know what that one small step is.

The library didn't have a book to help onsite. I had to inner library loan an item. So perhaps later in the week unless my daughter can help me figure it out I'll have some more detailed instructions. I should see if there is a u tube video....

Meanwhile, I worked on the building. I attached the three pieces of outside together and got the timtex to stick to the fabric. I am stuck until I can print the pictures using the photoshop elements program for the inside....

So I took the border off this piece and dyed it a more solid green. It is batching overnight.

I took these two pieces and split them in half - half I dyed (one green and one brown) and half I am preparing to print on again.
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip downtown. I am taking my camera!

Day Eight- Saturday

2008-12-28T12:06:00.000-05:00

I spent the whole day working on "the building"
Here are the pics.
This is the fabric for the outsid e and the timtex painted.

I am adding gold for the places where the offices in the building still had their lights on and the dark blue is a reflection of a nearby building in the late afternoon sun.

Rachel, Tim and I then tried to get into Fonthill at 7pm for the candlelight tour, but it was all booked. We went for ice cream instead and came home for a early bedtime.

Day Seven

2008-12-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

So it is the day after Christmas and I finally made it to the Gym today WOO HOO.
I also put all our Christmas money in the bank. Yippee!

I watched a video if my dad's recent retirement from the Quarryville Board. They said some really true and nice things about him. I know his service will be greatly missed, but he feels it is time for him to be serving other places now. I need to return this along with several books and a disc with all our Christmas pics to my parents next week.

So what art did I do today?
I finally got outside and ironed the fabrics I had put discharge chemicals on. They turned out ok. The second blue one could be clouds.

In this picture of the green fabric one side is showing on the bottom and the other side is at the top. You can't really see the pattern of the discharge chemicals from the picture and they didn't take off as much of the dark orange as I had hoped but the back is splendid and will make great spring leaves with dappled light on them.

one thing I did learn is that the discharge works better on lighter colored fabrics- or perhaps it would have preferred a warmer day to be ironed...?

The last thing I did was to work on the building for my city and guilds module. I painted one side of the timtex and it is drying. I got all the strips sewed that are going to be attached to the outside of the timtex. I still need to sew the pin tuck on them however- no wonder i postponed this project!. Next I need to figure out how to layer pictures in Photoship Elements so I can print fabric on the printer from pics off my computer for the inside of the building. I wanted a contrast inside to the cold harsh metal feeling of the outside so I need to combine or layer my tree pictures....

Tim got me a great book from the library on Japanese Maple Trees. There are some good pictures of leaves that I can photocopy and manipulate to create a template to send off for a new screen to be made. Very Thankful.

Here is the old quilt top that picked up to worked on last night. The first picture is of the whole thing. The next picture is an out of focus picture of some of the leaves and beading on the upper right- this was hours of work! The last picture is a reframing of the upper right by itself. I think this piece definitely needs a new border and the embroidery is hidden over most of the piece. So I am trying to figure out what my options are. Suggestions are welcome!

Day Six- Christmas Day

2008-12-26T15:01:00.001-05:00

Here is my wonderful family

and my adorable precious talented and gifted three kids!- Dave is 23, Rachel 21(on the right) and Ruth 18 (in the ble striped shirt).

We had a nice breakfast meal at lunch time and then handed out the money-checks from the grandparents, cash from us and foil covered chocolate coins. This has been our tradition - being together rather than lots of opening of presents. We are planning three outings together over the next 10 days as a way to celebrate folks being home from school and to do things together rather than everyone run off and do their own things. Sat night is the first one. We will go to Fonthill the mansion in Doylestown to see the Christmas decorations by candlelight tour. Monday we will go to the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philly and then one warm day we will go to the zoo- Ruth's pick. We are hoping for that warm day to be outside. Fortunately the first two planned events coinside with Tim being off work so he can go too.

In additon to yesterdays mostly being a family day I took all the strings out of the piece I had spent hours sewing and the leaves barely showed up. It was a disappointment but I know what I did wrong. This picture is not exactly the right colors but using the flash changes the color and I haven't gotten good enough with photoshop elements to take the time to fix it so it is correct to the actual cloth. Anyhoo you can see a few of the leaf prints showing up but trust me this is not what i was looking for. What I did wrong: I used cotton thread to sew the leaves so when I dumped the whole thing in the soda ash the cotton threads as well as the cloth became ready to absorb dye. I will try again and use poly or nylon thread so it will actually act as a resist to they dye and there will be nice leaf prints all over.

This piece below is the one that had the glue dots all over it. They too were to act as a resist to the dye. It worked pretty well I think and I have lots of places to add more color

The last thing I did while watching a movie and some TV last night was to pull out a piece I hadn't worked on for YEARS and finally finish sewing on the seed beads. I'll post again later today with todays work and give you a picture. I have a decision to make about this piece....

Day Five

2008-12-24T21:40:00.001-05:00

So take a close look at this picture. There are two fabrics here - one below the other. Can you see both? They started out the same and on day three I screen printed tiny orange flowers all over the front. I then split it in half and then yesterday the one on the bottom I scraped red dye all over the back. Today you can see that doing this has changed the hue of the front so some of the yellow is gone and the red and orange are not contrasting so strongly. I am working towards making those red/orange leaves that we see in the fall. The picture looks more pink/purple but in real life it is a warmer red.

As you can see above, fabric changes once it has been washed out and dried. What it looked like yesterday when it was wet and had just been printed is different than what it looks like rinsed and dry- they both lightened up. Both of these pieces will be tray dyed to remove most of the pure white color. The challenge is to pick a color for the background that will blend. What ever color it is will change the color of what is there. For example: if I used green on the one on the left the green spots showing would become a darker green and the blue spots would change to blue green rather than the light cerulean blue you see now... A different set of changes would happen if I dyed it cerulean blue..

The one below is a picture of the back of the fabric I have sewn ovals all over. I have gathered the ovals and it is all bunched up. Keep in mind this is about a 1/2 yard of fabric in that has become a 14x14 " square. It is batching overnight in a tray of a wild mix of colors. It will be interesting to see what colors have mixed and mingled when I take it apart and rinse it out tomorrow.

Here is another one that I screen printed yesterday. I photocopied a copyright free pineapple design, colored in some of the white spaces, and had a thermofax screen made. I screen printed it overlapping the design multiple types to create texture. This too will be tray dyed to remove most if not all of the white still showing. it would be interesting to create a different screen this time coloring in the negative space and leaving the dots in the middle of the leaf white...I love the texture this pattern created.

I also spent some time today writing and drawing some ideas in prep for the seven pieces I hope to create for over the fireplace. I am working on maple seeds and Japanese maples. Thinking of words and images that would inspire the seasons of life...These are good to have in the back of my mind as I make fabric. I am hoping to use a lot of what I create during these days in these pieces. So leaves, branches, seeds images all play a part. I still need that maple leaf screen.

And lastly I counted up all the dishrags I have made this fall in my sunday down time and it is up to 34! I hope to create an Etsy shop soon to sell some of my smaller handmade pieces and these will be the first to be advertised for sale.

I am procrastinating again on the building...Sigh It really is a monster on my back. Gotta do something soon. Maybe tomorrow after cleaning up the stuff batching then the whole rest of the day's spare time will be spent on building matters- after I celebrate Christ's birth with my family of course..
Until Tomorrow.

Day Four

2008-12-23T22:11:00.001-05:00

Today I did break down screen printing first. The picture on the left is the first printing of the screen. The picture on the right is the second printing of the screen with additional screen printing over top. I used a separate thermofax screen to add the wiggly lines. I am excited about how these turned out. The next step is to tray or bucket dye them after they finish their overnight batching.

Next I used Elmer's school glue and applied it as dots all over this 1/2 yard of fabric. These dots will act as a resist when I screen print over them. The glue is water soluble so it will wash out after it has batched from the screen printing.

This is what the prep for the shibori piece looks like and helps explain why it is taking so long to prepare! I have completed the oval stitching and all I need to do is pull the strings and draw each oval tight- gather them. Then I will tray dye.

I did a couple of other things but they are batching and I will take pictures tomorrow after they get cleaned up.

It is trying to get warmer here. I have three pieces I am waiting to iron outside so the toxic fumes won't overcome all of us in the house. I have to wear a respirator outside to do this job. I can't wait to see how my ideas turned out!

Until tomorrow...
Karen

Day Three

2008-12-23T00:26:00.000-05:00

Today I thermo fax screen printed five fabric.

Here are three of them. The one above is going to be used for fall leaves. It needs some more shades of red and orange and yellow. The picture below on the left - the yellow background was created when I did my first breakdown screen printing in October. It needs something more still too. Either a different motif or more seeds in different colors. The fabric on the right had the darkest green color added today. The other colors were already there. The template was made by winding a string around a CD.

While at the mini church event tonight I continued to stitch on in prep for the shibori piece....
That is about it.

Tomorrow I will do the breakdown screen printing- I have two pieces of fabric soda soaked in readiness and hopes that I can fill them up. I hope to get the building timtex cut out and painted and I need to sew the outside fabric strips and tucks. I also need to create a screen of maple leaves. This is the one thing missing in prep for making cloth for the series on seeds. . .
All this and the grocery store!
Til tomorrow.

Day Two of Vacation

2008-12-21T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday. I didn't have to teach Sunday School this morning so I sat through worship twice then came home to work in the studio.

I screen printed the soda soaked fabric from yesterday and rolled it up in plastic to batch overnight. It has to stay around 70 degrees for 12 or more hours so the dye will take. I had looked for an electric blanket at Wallmart but they were $85 so i decided the furnace room would work and I could use the two flights of steps for exercise.

Second, I got organized for the work on the building reproduction for city and guilds. The first step is to rebuild in a smaller format the cardboard template. It has been sitting in my studio for several months and I think one of the things that was holding me back was the size. I realized that I could abstract the design a bit and make it smaller.... I will use this cardboard design to cut the template for the stiff inner support system - timtex. I will bond the outer layer and the inner layer to the timtex. Since some of the layers are translucent I need to paint the timtex a light blue. While this is drying I can be stitching the outside fabric in preparation.

Then Ruth and I watched some TV and I continued to stitch in preparation for the shibori piece.

I realized that I need a screen of maple leaves to use on some of this fabric. I have the seed pods but I need a screnn of some of the tiny leaves too... Something to work on tomorrow.

I'll post pictures of today's work in the morning after it is done batching. Since tomorrow is supposed to be bitterly cold I can't iron the discharged fabric yet....But Christmas day is supposed to be in the 50's so the time is coming. I have to do this outside.

Here is a question: What do you do when two people who both have "rights to something" can't seem to agree on who's rights come first or how to share?

Thanks for reading.

Day One of Vacation

2008-12-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

Cross Cut Circles is complete and hanging on the wall. I carried the painted backing around to the front edges and then sewed a pocket rod on the back. It measures 31 by 26.5 inches. I am very pleased with how it turned out. The green cross pieces and the red sashing is from the fabrics I made at the Crow Barn Class in October.

So what else creative did I do this first day of my two week vacation? I did some errands, I did some deacons work for the church, I didn't go to the gym, and....
I WORKED IN THE STUDIO. Yeah!
This is my goal for my vacation- to work in the studio every day (or at least do some art everyday or something that helps me with doing art).

I figured out how to install the cartridges and put on my new respirator that I got for my birthday in November (Thanks Mom and Dad!). I mixed up some formosol into the print paste I made last night before I went to bed and did some discharge printing with it. I discharged on three pieces of fabric I started in my class with with Leslie Morgan and Clair Benn. I used three more of my new thermofax screens to put the discharge paste on. I managed to clean them in the shower so they didn't get ripped. I have to wait for the application to dry and then I have to iron it outside with a steam iron and my respirator on. The chemical reaction takes place when the hot steam hits it and removes the color from the fabric. This is step two or three on each of these pieces of fabric. I am already doing more steps of work to each piece of fabric than I ever did before.

Another project I am working on is stitching a piece of fabric for in prep for shibori. I am stitching ovals all over it. I will draw the strings up tight and then dye it. Where ever the strings is the dye won't penetrate the fabric so it makes a texture all over the fabric. This hand work is so relaxing- good vacation exercise.

I forgot to soak some fabrics in soda ash yesterday so I did that today too in prep for tomorrow afternoon's screen printing work. Now they are hanging to dry in the basement.

I have three art related things I am intentionally working on these two weeks. I won't fully finish any of them I suspect, but while one is resting or batching until the next step, I have the other two I can continue on with.

1. Work on my building for the City and Guilds course. I have all the fabric and supplies and all I need to do it put it all together. This means lots of time at the sewing machine, which i don't always enjoy- tedius. I do have a good book on tape so hopefully I will discipline myself to do an hour a day and by the end of vacation it should be close to being ready to put together. I really need to move forward with this class so I don't get dropped from the rolls.

2. Continue to develop the fabric I came back from the Crow Barn class with using new to me techniques and ideas. This means a littel bit each day then batching overnight and then washing, drying and moving onto more. Sometimes a piece has to hang on the design wall until I know what the next things is to do. I am learning to think out of the box and try new things. Staying focused on the process of doing is the most important thing I am working on here..

3. To make a beginning on my next project. I am going to make seven small pieces to hang in a row over our very large fireplace (it is only a couple of inches shy of NINE feet mind you) with the theme of seeds. In some of my writing about regeration I remembered this verse from John 12 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds... " I am going to try and explore the symbolism and see what comes of it. I would love to use some of the fabric from #2 we'll see if they are ready in time to be used.

So a vacation at home: sleeping in and not having to wake to the alarm, spending time with my husband and children who have time off from school and work, and being in the studio or doing something art related every day - glorious.

Check back tomorrow for day two's report.
Karen

The back of cross cut circles

2008-12-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

Here is the back of cross cut circles painted with Jacquard fabric paint through a thermofax screen. The picture above is a picture of the whole back and the picture below is a close up of the texture.

the one sad thing is that I was washing the screen to get the paint out in the bathroom sink and the drain plug caught on the screen and tore it. I have saved the photocopy it was made from so I only have to send it off to make another one. SIGH I learned something new today- don't wash your screen in the sink - use a tub with no sharp edges!

This has to dry for 24 hours and then be heat set so it won't wash out. Then it will be ready to bind and hang. I accomplished my goal of hiding my quilting stitches on the back! And I learned that I really liked my screen. It was an experiment and it is always nice when these turn out well.

I have decided to not embellish this piece. I think it will take away from the point of the quilt. It is fine like it is and I am happy.

Plus I am ready to move onto new things.

I have three yards of blue fabic I brought back from my class with Leslie Morgan and Claire Benn in October that I have been waiting to get to manipulate more.

Next up I am going to make a pot of print paste for tomorrow.
For my non- quilting friends:
Print paste is made with a seaweed product (sodium alginate). You mix it with water and let sit overnight. It is like thick yogurt or rubber cement in consistency. I can add fabric dye to the paste and then use it to screen print or I can add the discharge crystals to the print paste and take color out of already dyed fabric. If i use a screen print to discharge then I get a pattern of lighter color on a piece of fabric. Normally to dye fabric you add the powder to water and soak the fabric in the solution over night. For screen printing use use the same dye powder but different chemicals to thicken it up.

Until next time

Stage one cross cut circles

2008-12-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the basic quilting of this piece. These two pictures are of two of the blocks from the front. I am pleased with how the quilting turned out on the front but not so pleased with how it turned out on the back!

I am so out of practice that it is embarrassing. But I went ahead and finished it because I figured that the only way to get back into it is to PRACTICE. SO here is a picture of the whole back and one close up. The quilted top has a nice solid feel to to it.

I am going to take some of my new thermo fax screens I had made and paint the back. I'll put some texture by color on the yellow backing to hide some of the stitching. Then I will do the embellishment on the front with the yellow silk ribbon.

Next post will be the revised back and then onto the embellishment.

One thing i am tempted to do is cross cut the whole quilt top as it is right now. Basically there would be lots of minis crosses all through out the surface and then a big cross almost super imposed over the whole thing. I may try appliquing a green cross just to see what the effect is. I have never done that major of a change to a piece before and I wonder if it would be more effective if the shape of the piece as a whole was circular. Just thinking if the message would be louder as a piece if I did that.
Any thoughts?

Circles step two

2008-11-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

After paper laminating my photos onto the sheers. I cut them out and arranged them on the front of my cross cut circle top. This picture has two original circles and some with additional sponge painting in an attempt to darken the green.

It quickly became clear to me that the green paper backing was to light. Here is a close up.

So I tried painting the circle with some acrylic paint. I got it the right color, but when I put them on I realized that it just wasn't the right technique for this particular piece of work.

So now I am onto figuring out how to finish this piece. Here is the quilting thread, the silk ribbon and the assorted threads I will use to embellish.

I made some good discoveries in this process: I think the gel medium that I used was not as liquid as the one demonstrated in the book. That seemed to pour out - mine was from Golden and more solid. I also realized that the color of the paper underneath should be a bit darker than you want the final color to be because the sheer takes it down a level and the scrubbing removes some color also. I also think this technique works better when the sheer is put over the whole surface or used in layers rather than spot pieces.
So, it was a good experiment, but not right - at least the way I was using it - for this particular piece.
Check back next week to see how much I get done while I am away this week.

Cross cut circles

2008-11-02T17:58:00.000-05:00

This first picture is the quilt top I plan to take with me the second week in November when I go to my work conference. It is about 28 by 32 inches at the moment.
There will be over 2000 people at the conference (It is on addictions. Click here to find out about it.) and I am stationed at the Information table. I will be greeting and helping people in between sessions for three and a half days. I find having a bit of hand stitching to work on during the down moments is a huge stress reliever. In my last post I was trying to decided between two fabrics for the border. I decided to use the fabric with a more modern twist. My daughter Ruth said either would work, but the one on the right with the flowers was traditional and the one on the left had more pizazz. So I decided to try something new! I bought lots of yellow silk ribbon and threads to embellish the green cross lines with yellow dots.

I wanted to try the paper lamination technique from this book by Claire Benn, Leslie Morgan and Jane Dunnewold called "Paper and Metal Lamination". Claire and Leslie demonstrated it at the class I took in October at the Crow Barn. The link will take you to Jane's website, click on "Store" and you can purchase the book from her.

I made a stencil template out of freezer paper that I ironed onto the polyester. The paper underneath the polyester is photographs I had taken printed out on plain copy paper. Some pictures were from our honeymoon trip to Berlin in 2006 and some from the trip to Orlando described in an earlier post. I painted Gel Matte Medium in the stencil and am waiting for it to dry-probably overnight.

Tomorrow I can peal the freezer paper stencil off and with wash the paper backing off with water. It takes a lot of scrubbing to get the paper off. However, the color from the paper backing should stay where the matte medium was applied. I will cut these circles out and baste them onto the front of the quilt above. My plan is to stitch the circles on the original quilt closely and then where there is the polyester overlay on the circles to burn off the polyester between the stitched rows with this nifty tool.

This nifty tool will burn polyester without burning the fabric underneath.

Here is a sample I tried it on. The picture isn't very clear but you can get the idea. The fabric underneath will show through nicely. AND I'll get more texture on the front of the quilt.

I made a larger quilt similar to this several years ago, but without the polyester overlay. My brother Jeff and his wife Susan have the original quilt hanging in their home. You can check out my website here to see it. It is on the art quilt page.
I am trying to visually express how life or circumstance that are intersected by the cross become something new. There is mystery in the cutting and re-creation. How does it happen? Where is the cut going to be made? How will the transformed fit in with it's surroundings? Will it fit in?

I believe there is hope to be found in the change. I believe there is beauty in the transformation.
Next Sunday I hope to post the basted work that I will take with me to stitch while I am away. Stay tuned and you get to see the whole process from start to finish!

Which Border Fabric

2008-10-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

I have to choose which fabrics I will use for the border of this new piece. Any suggestions? The flower fabric material may fit more with the rest of the fabrics but is very traditional. The dotted green, gold and plum one sure is more fun/funky. Would embellishments of yellow french knots all along the green insets make it work better? Seeing the pictures helps me see that the yellow isn't necessary! That is good to discover! By the way the green cross insets and the plum surrounding the squares is fabric I made in class with Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan! I think I am onto something here.

This next picture is of some photo copy's that I am going to send off to have a thermo fax screen made from. When I use the thermo fax screen to print from, the color will come through where ever you see black now. I will be able to add color using all these different textures or take off color by screening with formosol. I am actually sending off 8 items so you'll have to stay tuned to see what other fun textures I can add and take away from fabric.....I am getting ready to place a big order for my birthday of fabric dye and assorted creative items from Pro Chem. Waiting, waiting wont' be long until I am 50!
Getting back into the studio after a long break - Even if it is one day a week that will keep the juices flowing. I didn't get to my writing goals today, but maybe tomorrow.

Nancy Crow Barn Trip

2008-10-24T22:12:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of cloth I made at the course I took with Leslie Morgan and Claire Benn at the Nancy Crow Barn. Some of these pieces of fabric are "done" and some need some more work. Each piece was white when I started. I first tray dyed the white fabric one yellow, one green and one plum and after they batched and dried I cut each one in half and did different techniques on each piece. I hung all the pieces up on my design wall at home so you can see everything all at once. My goal for the week was to create a pallet of cloth in the colors of plum, green and gold.

This piece is a larger piece that could be the background for a piece of compositional cloth. Some of my classmates were working on composition on a single piece of fabric rather than creating a series of pieces of fabrics that matched that they could cut up and then piece together. I hope to go back in 2010 when Leslie and Claire return to work on some compositional cloth. I am intrigued.
I made the stencil I used on this piece with dressmaker's interfacing painted with house paint. Where ever there is no paint is where the print paste comes through and prints my design. It looks like sea weed to me at the moment.

On these two pieces below I used the same maple seed stencil. The one on the left I printed a dyed piece of yellow with three or four different shades of the same dye print paste to get depth. The green fabric on on the right I use formosol to take color off the fabric. Pretty cool huh?! This piece of plum fabric is tray dyed and then discharged. I had made a stamp out of string wrapped around a CD. I stamped this in black on a piece of paper then photocopied it and enlarged it. Then we made a thermofax screen with the photocopy. I could then screen print paste or formosol through the screen. I can now go back and add more color or discharge more or add a different texture with another screen or mark making tool. This is a not done yet piece. The fun is in the process. I might call one piece of fabric done but next year when I go to use another piece of that same fabric I might have to alter it again to match the next grouping it is placed with.

This next fabric is shibori dyed. I made lots of tiny knots with string all over the faabric and then I put it in for an overnight tray dye in plum. Then I scraped the back with several colors or print paste. Where the white fabric was left without color new color was added.

This fabric was made by using a break down screen printing on white fabric then batching overnight.Then I scraped plum on one side and batched over night then the final step is screen printing the darker design all over the top. I tried to use several different shades of the same color but they didn't show up as well as I would have liked. I think it needs one more darker screening of the same pattern or maybe a different pattern.

Experiment

2008-06-19T20:54:00.000-04:00

I am experimenting with some mono prints I made a while ago. This has shiva paint sticks applied to the top. I have added some silk rods that I dyed with Procion MX dyes. I split them apart to make them thinner so I could sew through them. I also have added threads on top of cheese cloth covered with net. I am still puttering with it. So check back to see how it turns out. Right now it is 11.5 inches square.

Painted Papers

2008-05-26T15:43:00.001-04:00

Here are some more papers I have painted. Some I posted as a group earlier but this way you can see them more clearly. Plus I added some more.

2008-05-23T18:55:00.000-04:00

I have been making papers recently in preparation for Module 6 activities for the City and Guilds course I am taking. Some papers are tissue attached with gesso and then painted. The one in the middle is composed of dryer sheets attached with gesso and then painted. The others are stamped with various items and then covered with a water color wash. I used textile paints, golden fluid acrylics and water colors to achieve the look I was after. I have many more to do but this is the first batch.

Today Rachel and I went to the Barnes Foundation. We had a fun time looking at all the Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Van Gogh, and other impressionist and post impressionist painters. No picture taking is allowed or is any sketching so I'll have to go back sometime to really absorb what I saw.

I have been reading a couple of books by Ellen Langer. One is "The Power of Mindful Learning" and the other is her personal artistic journey called "On Becoming an Artist". Her main idea is change how you think about things so that you are open to the possibilities what you are learning or seeing sticks in your brain better and is useful to you. Most of the learning we do is by rote-there is no choice in how we use what we learn. We learn facts taht apply to a specific situation or problem. We stop paying attention once our problem is solved and we miss how we might use that information in a different setting. We miss when it changes subltly so we aren't prepared for danger or adventure. Her ideas are more than simply "Pay Attention! they are about being open to other ways what we learn might be useful to us. Most of us are doing this when we use ordinary objects for creative ideas. Like the shape of the spatuala as a pattern for a block or repeat pattern...

Pears

2008-05-11T16:15:00.000-04:00

Today is Mothers Day. My girls are here with me today and my son remembered to call. How delightful! I feel very loved.
I finished my final exam last night so I am free of school work until after labor day. I intend to use all my free time from now until then for studio art work until I have to get back to the books.

I had taken some pictures in the grocery store last summer and here is my sketchbook with the origianl picture and then my drawing of it done with water color pencils of some red pears.
Enjoy.
I am off to read about Nancy Crow and work on my new adventure - a website.

Assessment Piece

2008-05-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of the Bahn building that I took when I was in Berlin, Germany over Christmas. The second picture is a design in paper of this building that I created in preparation for making it out of cloth for my 3D assessment piece for my City and Guilds course. I painted watercolor paper with Golden Fluid Acrylics and water then added organza for the reflected building and painted with Gold Luminere the lights.

orlando art

2008-04-19T20:10:00.000-04:00

Here are two pictures from my recent trip to orlando, fla. The first one is of the table decorations and the second one is of my sketch with colored pencils.

Starting

2008-04-17T16:38:00.000-04:00

Everyone has to start someplace and I am starting today with my first post to my first blog.
That is a lot of firsts!