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WIP - Bjorkboda

Found while cleaning my sewing studio this afternoon, buried in a pile o UFO's (Unfinished Objects or in my case Projects!)


I remember now why I put it away, I started attaching stuff to the surface and then got stuck.  I may have to rip it all off now and try something different.


The techniques I used to create this piece are covered in my eBook Rust and Clay Dyeing which can be purchased here.  

Studio Purge Part One

Over the next few days I will be posting not only images of my studio spaces, for accountability purposes, but also to let you know what is available.  I will be selling some items check out the studio purge tab for daily updates, and others will go to new homes for the sole cost of shipping!


In thinking about my "brand" I've had to make a decision as to which mediums and colors I will be working with and "why"!  This wall here contains beads, findings, and all sorts of mixed media objects that is and should be heaven for most artists.  Well this was true until today when I got into the last fight I ever want to have with myself over studio space EVER again!

Yes that is right, you know every time you scream in frustration because you can no longer move in your studio space, or find that book you need to finish a project at the last hour, you are fighting with yourself!

Stop fighting with yourself!


More beads, jars of silk cocoons, buttons, bells, baubles, and all sorts of nummies.  The crates above are filled with mixed media papers, findings, Angelina fibers, pine cones, silk carrier rods, and who knows what else.  Well I'm planning to start excavating tomorrow so we will soon find out what else lies within those crates.


Far shelf, more beads, findings, jars with little bells in them... you get the picture.  Foreground that's supposed to be my sewing table and right now it's loaded with drawing and painting supplies.


The other side of my sewing table.  The plastic drawer stuff (to the south of the table) are filled with vintage, antique, and somewhat modern laces, threads, buttons, ric rac, you name it, oh and a ton of handspun yarns from fibers I carded and dyed myself and in some cases even acquired from local sheep I used to sheer.


The wall of thread!  And those little plastic drawer organizers, if you guessed filled with beads you'd be correct.  And they are also over flowing with embroidery floss, pearl cottons, and the like.



More thread, and those plastic tubs are filled with... if you guessed vintage and antique trims you'd be correct! Two of the tubs are also filled with natural dyed wool, silk, and cotton fabrics.  All of those baskets and tubs on top are filled with more fibers, more threads, and more mixed media objects, seeing a theme here  yet???


And sweeping past the entrance to my sewing room... More threads under the clock.


More fabric, more threads, more fibers, and no place to put finished artwork!  This is the north wall in my sewing studio and I want ALL of this stuff to go bye bye, with the exception of the shelf (you see the side of it here) with the clock.  My goal is to put my drawing table and new flat file cabinet (that hubs is building for me) on this wall.


Finally the corner where I started, the NW corner of my studio.  Again more fibers, more threads, more fabric, all dyed with natural dyes.  Oh and a ton of knitting supplies and latruador that I'm never going to get to in this life time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow the area of my studio known as the "overflow" area.

WIP ~ Sandman




WIP ~ Sandman
4x6 or so inches
Natural and rust dyed cotton scrim atop monoprinted muslin fabric.  Hand stitched with natural and commercial dyed cotton threads, wool batting.

I will be adding some machine stitching next and then will go back into the piece with more stab stitching, maybe layer some more cheesecloth onto the surface and then add french knots and some coils.

This is a small piece I started around 7pm this evening designed to get me back into the habit of stitching as I have a solo show to prep for that I'll be hanging in April, most of those pieces will be machine stitched and then waxed (encaustic).

Practice No. 2


Well since I lost my orginal practice piece I whipped up another one this evening. 
Cochineal dyed cotton fabric, machine stitched, wool quilt batting, aurifil threads.


I couched down more sisal to pratice some stitches with, this "x" shape I bobbin stitched using aurifil wool thread.  Above view is the back side of the sample that was facing upwards when stitching. 


Top side after bobbin stitching, the aurifil wool thread doesn't like to feed through the top on my 6500S so I bobbin stitch with it instead.


I've couched down more sisal since this shot was taken, now I will experiment with hand stitching over the sisal and then machine stitching over the hand stitching to see which effect I prefer.  This all in anticipation of finishing Bjorkboda.



WIP - Bjorkboda (Meandering Stitches)


I wasn't sure if I was going to like the meandering stitces or not, I definatly like the raised areas that this stitch is creating, but the more lanes I'm adding the more I loving the process.  I'm also laying down lanes of running stitches, running straight over the machine stitched areas. 

To be revealed later a larger patch of hand stitching that I will then machine stitch over for further effect.

WIP - Bjorkboda 090412

 
 

Now with more hand stitching, and still plugging along!  I've missed several deadlines but at this point I don't care anymore, I have a vision for this piece and I want that vision to come to life but not in some half hearted fashion. 


In the mean time I'm contemplating dyeing some threads, for hand stitching, for this piece.  I still have the silk layer and the pieces of scrim that were dyed along with these layers and am thinking of starting a second piece for a new series.
 

WIP - Bjorkboda


I'm almost ready for the hand stitching, I filled in a bit more of the piece with machine stitching to reinforce it's structure.


The forgotten dye note text now dealt with which resulted in more brown scraggly stitching being added to the piece in a random manner. 


Some verticles.


I've started thinking about the cottonwoods and how stoic they look when shrouded in the ice fog of deep winter. 

Sorting Fabric



Sorting fabrics for future projects, and more specifically looking for a piece of pigment painted fabric that I've been really wanting to work with in a new project.


Rust dyed commercial fabrics from 2005/06 sitting atop a pile of hand painted fabrics from 2003-2006.  The log cabin block piece I made back in 1994 when I took a hand dyeing class from Priscilla Sage at Iowa State University.


Bound Resist fabrics, top, from 1994 and screen printed hand dyed fabrics from 2005.


Some of my older hand dyed and hand painted fabrics that I've been sorting through for various projects.
A pink piece I made from my screen printing squeegie scrapings, from a class I took with Tim McIllrath in 1994.

Porch Progress 092111

From this to:

This! 

Now to finish stripping and painting the porch soffit.  I've sanded and primed the hand rails, they will recieve their first coat of black paint tomorrow!  John has the trim to finish on two columns to the right, and then it's the big project taking the railings off of the porch, dismantel them, scrape, sand, prime, and paint the parts, put them back together and re-install.  Somewhere in this I will be winterizing my gardens.

Image Transfers with Hand Sanitizer



Image transfers using the hand sanitizer (alcohol) method.  The hand sanitizer I used was the Sam's Club, Members Mark, sanitizer as I was out of Purell.  I didn't notice any difference between it and the Purell Brand.  I printed the transfers onto Hammermill Transparencies and did the transfer onto 90# watercolor paper. The color was applied with Caran D'Ache NeoColor II watersoluble crayons.

Print your image onto the transparency sheet.
Liberally apply hand sanitizer to the watercolor paper NOT the transparency sheet, using a cotton ball.
Flip your image onto the soaked paper.
Using a spoon or burnisher rub the image onto the paper below.
NOTE:  If your paper is fairly wet and your image fresh you won't have to do much rubbing to transfer the image.

Clip Art Imagery