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Archive for the ‘workshop’ Category

Great Workshop and Moving On

Monday, September 19th, 2016

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Last week, I was privileged to take a 2 day workshop with Fran Skiles. I had so much fun and it was kind of like making a mystery quilt. She would do a demo and give us instructions to create some pieces and then we would move on to something else. She purposely did not show us a finished piece so that we would not have a preconceived notion of what to do.

We started by making random stitches on a piece of plain fabric.

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Then we coated one side with gesso.

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Next we made monoprints on Chinese rice paper using printing ink.

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Then we drew on Japanese rice paper with a bamboo pen and India ink.

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We learned how to transfer photos from copy paper using gel medium.

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I don’t have photos, but we also drew on stitch and tear pellon with watercolor crayons which we then transferred to the fabric with gel medium.

Once, we had all our parts, we started assembling collages and then doing washes with thinned paint.

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I have 3 more skins (Fran’s word for the treated fabric) and lots of parts to make more collages. It was so much fun and so freeing to create the parts without a plan – just to play.

On Thursday, we have our Oregon SAQA one day conference. Our guest speaker is Kay Khan, who does intricate 3-D fiber work. In an homage to her, we were invited to create 3-D pieces. I am cutting up a boring quilt which will become a structure. I glued the parts to stiff pellon tonight.

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Tomorrow I will assemble it and hope it stands upright without too much work!!

Radical Embroidery

Saturday, July 30th, 2016

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I signed up to take Radical Embroidery at Oregon College of Art and Craft. It was a 3 day workshop. It turned out to be not that radical, but I learned a lot about using embroidery as an art form. The instructor was a delightful young woman from the CA bay area, Victoria May. Her website is here. Her work is a bit radical as she has a fondness for the gritty and industrial debris that she finds in her travels. I think that adding delicate embroidery to these found objects serves to confound the viewer.

On the first day, we learned different ways to create line in our work. The piece at the beginning of this post is my sampler. We used Dynaflow paint on canvas to  begin our work. Then I added lines in various ways. We used organza in our work. For this line, I painted organza which I tore into strips and couched down. I really like the effect.

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The next day, we moved on to working with painted organza layered on canvas and we were to capture some things between the layers.

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I had some previously quilted rusted silk which I cut into rectangles. Two pieces are under the organza and the middle one is on top. I am in the process of stitching the quilted silk pieces down. Then, I will add some interesting stitching to the rest of the piece. I am thinking of adding a bit of rust to this in some way.

Then we were introduced to stitching on water color paper. The trick here is to pre-punch your stitching holes with a needle or awl. For my piece, I stained the water color paper with acrylic ink and got some interesting effects by blow drying it. Click on any photo to see it larger.

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I am in the process of stitching with variegated thread, following the design created by the ink.

On the last day, I had an idea that I just had to work on using some of the materials that I brought.

First, I painted the canvas with indigo Dynaflow paint. I forgot to get a photo before I started stitching, but you can get an idea from this photo.

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I had some indigo fabric with clamped circles. I cut out three circles for the composition. I also had a dark blue shibori organza which has black lines in it. And I also had a piece of Rymplecoth that my friend, Maris, gave me. It is more loosely woven than cheesecloth and is used for cleaning and polishing. She uses it in her felting. I dyed it a dark black. It takes the dye really well.

I used strips of the organza as I wanted some of the painted canvas to show to give a better value change. I ripped some holes in the Rymplecloth so that the organza can poke through.

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The top circle is on top of the organza and is couched down and stitched with silver metallic thread.

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The other circles are under organza and stitched with the silver thread. I have started doing some stitching on the organza and canvas and then I will tack the Rymple cloth down.

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Here is the final layout which looks a bit messy, but I think I know where I am going.

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I was feeling a bit overwhelmed earlier this week and wishing my recovery was moving faster. Yesterday, I had Mr C  help me get my sewing machine table back where I use it and pulled the Janome up out of hiding. It made me so happy, I almost danced. I think it is a symbol for the life I want to live and now, I am feeling so much better and have been doing better. I think I turned a corner.

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All I did was shorten some clothes, but it felt good. My knee didn’t like the knee lift, but that will get better.

 

I’m Back

Thursday, March 10th, 2016

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I have not been a good blogger this week, I know. On Friday, I was hit with a vertigo attack due to allergies causing a major sinus infection. I spent most of the past week in bed as it was the only way to deal with the vertigo. Yesterday, I got up and went to a guild meeting, came home and took a nap and then went to Trinity for our textile printing class. Today, I am feeling pretty good. Have not had to take a nap!

I thought I would share some of the work our students did last night, including the piece at the top.

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You can see the people got adventurous, using more than one color.

Next week is the last week. Five weeks has gone by pretty fast!

Yesterday, Ann Johnston was our guest speaker at guild meeting. She told us about the conception and creation of her High Sierra series. They are huge pieces and based on the geology. She has put so much thought into the work. Just wonderful and inspiring.

Week One of Printing on Fabric

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

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Last night was week one of a printing on fabric workshop that my friend, Allan Oliver, and I are teaching at Trinity. We have two wonderful assistants, both named Liz!! Mr C and I went down in the afternoon and raised two tables on pvc pipe. Then, I covered the tables with plastic, two layers of felt and muslin. I set up tubs for water to wash screens and stencils.

I also set up a sample for a demo to show how to layer designs with paint. I sponge painted a background.

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We had a full house, many of the participants were men! I think everyone had a good time.

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We have a big empty bulletin board where we hung work to dry.

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Here are samples of some of the best work.

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Today, I am just plain pooped. It has been a busy week so I am taking it easy.

Periwinkle Blue Dyeing Attempt

Saturday, February 13th, 2016

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I went back to the dyes to try to get that purply blue that I call periwinkle blue.

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It is the blues that you see as 2 and 3 in the top row.

I overdyed a light blue and medium blue with fuchsia and I also mixed up a blue and fuchsia which I used to dye white fabric. I didn’t quite make it so I will go back and try again. I do love that purple that I got.

That is all I have for today.