Surface Design Sampler Platter

Thought I'd share the fun we had a couple of weeks ago. All that dyed fabric had to go somewhere! Some of it got chopped up into kits for a very fun, very frenetic, very crazy class called Surface Design Sampler Platter. It's a class with a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Stamp carving, stencil cutting, screen printing, foiling, beading. Mostly we have a really lovely time playing like five year olds and getting our fingers all messy.

Here is Elizabeth Gibson after some serious stenciling.

Maren Lindberg came up with something absolutely beautiful.

Ellen Goodloe kept having these wonderful little fits of ecstasy during the beading process. I think I want to hire her to just come to each of my classes and be that happy!

Joan Clemmons was concentrating like crazy during class then all of the sudden the last half hour - kaboom! She went a little crazy and started printing and foiling everything she could get her hands on. Even the background fabric that usually goes on the inside of the sketchbook.

Kim Beatley worked after class and was kind enough to bring her completed sketchbook cover the next morning.  Absolutely gorgeous!

Altogether a very fun class. I leave exhausted but inspired every time. This is why I teach. I love to see people's face light up when they find something they love!

Mission Accomplished

Well, mostly. I wish I had taken more process shots during the dye days but stripping off the gloves, washing off the shoes, grabbing the camera, etc. was just too much work. I "only" got through 100 out of the 150 yards I have available to dye. I did come up with lovely pieces to include in the kits for my students at the Virginia Quilt Celebration. More on that later!

I had several successes with some fun shibori scarves! My favorite got away from me before I was able to get a picture of it. I think that it's new owner will absolutely love wearing it! I had thrown in a bunch of socks to dye and they all left with new owners too. Fun to see students running around in purple and lime green socks all weekend.

I hope to get some more dyeing done before my June adventures in Charlotte and at the Blue Ridge Quilt Festival.   Now to work! I've got a lot of writing to do by the end of the month.

Anticipation

The weather is supposed to warm up today, I have a sitter. The dye concentrate is mixed. I pulled my shibori pole out of the back corner of the garage and cleaned off a couple years worth of cobwebs. 

I've got scarves, socks, a couple of clothing blanks, and 150yds of PFD!

Great Design

I love it when I come across something that is not only great to look at but ingeniously engineered. At first there was nothing too exciting about my most recent studio addition from IKEA other than it's color. Oh, and the fact that if a sneaky little four year old managed to get into my paints and spill them inside the drawer I could wash it out. Can't do that with wooden drawers full of thread. Ask me how I know.

 

As I assembled the cabinet I fell in love with its' elegant design. I love putting things together! A very creative soul figured out a way to put a full sized Taboret....

.... into this skinny little 3" box. Anyone else out there concerned about the way we ship most everything we buy back and forth around the world? Fossil fuels, pollution, human rights, all that. Think of how many skinny little boxes will fit into the same space as one fully assembled cabinet. Maybe sometime I'll riff on my hopes for the future of clean energy sources. Another day.

Back to the cabinet. This clever designer made it simple enough for any novice to assemble with nothing more than a screwdriver. This is a drawer. Really. Fold on the dotted line, slide this piece in here,  fold the little hook there, and viola! You have a drawer! Elegant design in a simple object.

The gorgeous vase by the way, was a gift from my mom. Every time my parents come to visit they take a little trip to Seagrove, NC - home of too many talented potters to count. 

Gathering Inspiration

Inspiration for art is everywhere you look. I'm at the beach with my family and it's rainy, cold, and windy. We knew this going in but the idea of an indoor pool and some other fun things to do made the short trip worthwhile. We spent part of the day at a lovely aquarium and I could have spent hours and hours mesmerized by the schools of fish swimming in circles in the giant tanks. Or the jellyfish undulating against a bright blue background. Instead I had to help keep track of the little ones. I only lost them once or twice.

So how does one capture that soothing, round and round, feeling in art? I don't think I could do with a literal representation of fish or jellies. It was the motion that hypnotized me. When I get home I'll upload a bunch of pics to Flickr for you.


Oh, and last night we watched Finding Nemo, projected huge on my bedroom wall with the new toy. It was amazing. My favorite part was a scene in the end credits where your entire field of vision is filled with waving anemone fronds. All of the kids were laying on the bed with their arms and feet in the air making shadows and waving back and forth along with the anemone. I couldn't run down and get my video camera fast enough to get a shot.

If you looked up from your computer what inspiration for art would you find right in front of you? What else inspired you today?

Another New Toy

This first year back into the money making side of my artwork is going to be quite heavy on the capital investments. I guess next year I'll keep some of my profits or take my family on a nice vacation. I probably should save for tuition payments. Years and years and years of tuition payments. I should say it's my first year back into traveling around and making new friends while playing with fabric together. The money is a very fun side benefit. 

I've decided I need to go digital. Most of the techniques I demonstrate in my classes are up-close by hand things. Caryl Bryer Fallert was the first teacher I saw demonstrate something with a camera and projector so that everyone in the room had a great view of what she was doing. She's always on the cutting edge of the technology curve. 

I've been reading so many reviews that my head was spinning and finally decided to give up on that and go straight to the people who have given me much of my quilting education over at the QuiltArt mail list. As usual, someone had the information I needed. I try, I really do, to do lots of research on my own but almost always end up just following the recommendation of someone who has already done the same thing.

Marilyn Bedford loves her InFocus.

Elizabeth Spilker loves her Sony VPL-ES1

Jane Davila loves her Hitachi CP-X253

The best information came from Jane who said that the folks over at the Projector People

have the best customer service available. She was right. I called and asked questions. Then called and asked more, and more and more! 

They know their stuff and are used to dealing with people like me who don't.

Through Jane's wonderful information and her people I learned:

LCD is much better than DLP for those concerned with color accuracy

Set your computer's resolution to the same res. as your projector

Minimum lumens = 2000, minimum contrast ration = 400:1

Get the right cords for your laptop

Some projectors can present with a usb thumb drive rather than your laptop but it wouldn't work with  my Mac. 

I decided that my priorities were:

great looking pictures for my lectures

portability

good enough for lit classroom demonstrations

and the winner is.....(drumroll)

The Hitachi CP-X253 . 

Like I said. I just ended up giving up on more research and going with a strong recommendation. 3.9 lbs and a great picture. We shall set it up this week and play.

Wearable Art

This piece was made for the Bernina Fashion Show several years ago. It's made from absolutely to die for, custom dyed, sueded rayons by Cherrywood Fabrics.

It took hundreds of hours to make with a full double circle skirt with yards and yards of reverse appliqué, an easy technique, but there was just so MUCH of it to do in this garment! can I tell you how absolutely spectacular it was to see it swishing down the runway on a professional model with all the lights and music. I felt like a rock star even though it wasn't me up there. The dress traveled to a couple of other venues and didn't come back to me for almost two years later. It had aged out of most of the competitions by then so it did nothing but sit on my dress form for a very long time.

Last weekend a dear friend had a "formal dress" 50th birthday party. I haven't been to a "formal dress" anything since my senior prom in high school. Not even a company Christmas party. (Can you hear the "poor me" whine coming through here?) Quite the hardship for someone like me.

Hmmm. I was going to call my self a fashionista there, but I don't think that term fits. I adore clothes and wearable art but am not interested in fashion trends. I believe that most current trends are incredibly unflattering to the majority of women. And girls. I'd rather just wear what I like and what looks good on me. If you want to read more about my fashion philosophy, my favorite style book of all time is Simple Isn't Easy. It makes the case for finding a uniform that you look fantastic in, and sticking to it, no matter the current trends.


Back to the point. I got to wear my dress for the first time. And dance in it. My hubby and I know a little west coast swing and a little two step but mostly they played salsa and rock. I had fun anyway, since my lovely friend comes from a culture where all the families just get up and dance with each other without waiting for an invitation or partner. They just find joy in friendship and music and dance. I think I'm going to try to be more like that.

I wish every one of you a little time back in that little-girl-twirly-dress blissful place.