Brown Eyed-Susans at Neil Smith Prairie 

Cotswold Wool & Silk Noil Blend 

Make this thing work please! 

It Takes Talent

It takes talent you know, to play one of these gizmos! This is my husband John playing my mothers accordion, one of many she had. What I'd really like to know is what happened to her harmonica??? My favorite accordion was a smaller black one she had many moons ago, I could play it, not this one it's too awkward.

Name those plants

Name those plants and their uses if you know of any. I'm not sure if I have the correct names or not, I"m going on what my husband calls them, he is usually correct about their common local names, (Iowa).

I"m interested in making cordage with these plants or spinning them into threads, after I break them down into usable fibers. I also have Milkweed and Jerusalem Artichokes to work with, and a ton of Tiger Lilies. I'm sure none of the neighbors will mind my picking weeds in the alley after all they are constantly spraying them anyway!

I'm ready to get busy with my collaboration project, I've been collecting the parts to construct my 7 vessels, and have been journaling. And now that my wet studio table is cleaned off...

Good ole Virginia Creeper, or at least that what everyone around here calls it, and it's everywhere this year. 

Horseweed? People around here call this horseweed. I'm not sure, this stand is short because it's already been cut down once this year, it reaches about 6-10 feet in height depending on the year. 

The grape vine, or at least it looks like one, that grows on my fence each year. It never produces grapes but I like the way it looks. 

I'm not sure what it is. 

Blue Speckled Moon. Copyright 2001. 

Blue Moon Copyright 2001. Natural Dye Extracts and Earth Pigments on Silk Crepe de Chine, sized with soy milk. 

Sandstone 3 Copyright 2001 k. baxter packwood Compost dyed and earth pigment painted silk dupoioni. 

Body Perfect g

I need to find those three pieces and finish them asap, theres a show I want to enter them into that I think they would be definate qualifiers for.

Body Perfect 5. Copyright 2003 k. baxter packwood. The backing fabric was dyed with indigo. Top fabric painted with Earth Pigments and soy milk sizing. It is machine stitched. 

Body Perfect G - in progress. Copyright 2003 k. baxter packwood. Cotton fabric painted with Natural Dye Extracts and Earth Pigments. The fabric was treated with a soy milk sizing first. 

Play Time is Over

The water heater sprung a leak, it's 15 years old, so playtime for today is definately over. Oh well I got my 15 minutes in the sun!

The Old Man of the Woods is taking a well deserved nap. 

Images applied with Unison Soft Pastels onto a soy milk wetted background. The background was fairly saturated so the lines bled quite a bit. I will apply more of the pastels later when the fabric has dried some. 

Vine Charcoal in a soy milk suspension. This image was finger painted onto the fabric. Copyright 2005 k .baxter packwood 

Some Unison Soft Pastels, in earth tone colors. The hand print is French Red Ocher suspended in a soy milk suspension. Copyright 2005 k. baxter packwood