Pet Cemetary In Progress

The blue pieces, which are holding in the copper backing, need something, what I do not know, or don't have in my stash of ever growing goodies that make the piece look wonderful. I need to get this piece done as it's been promised out to a university gallery for the next year!

The problem with the blue pieces is they were damaged upon nailing them into the clock body, so they have split a bit and are uneven looking. I suppose one option is to take a large nail and pound it into the wood further splitting the wood and creating additional texture - what I like about this idea is I don't have to glue anything else into this piece!

Then there's the copper wire wrapped around the copper nails, that needs to be pushed further, more shells - which are at home in my home studio - more odd bits need to be wired onto the surface. I've plans for the sides, the hidden or suprise element which I love adding to my works.

Last but not least I've yet to come across that special piece that screams finial (sp?) that goes in the center between the two clock faces. Why clock faces??? The cemetaries around here have many tombstones that have clock faces carved into them, so that's the local element I am incorporating. The copper patina is influenced by the copper clad moseleum (sp?) next to the first wifes' grave, it's way cool looking if I get back out there in the next week I'll make sure to take pics and post them to the blog.

I've thought about attaching all sorts of things to the blue wooden strips, I lay things up against them and it just doesn't look right. I've even auditioned more copper nails into the strips, again, no go. I'm out of ideas, though I figure I can't do any more damage to the piece by texturizing the wooden strips. They are needed as they hide the really rough edge of the copper sheeting (that's a full 1.5 pounds of copper you see there).

Ideas?

It's late and an announcement

And I really want to go to sleep but can't as I'm waiting on the washing machine. DH put a load of his work clothes in last night, maybe the night before I'm nto sure but they were putrid smelling so I rewashed them. I'll be glad when the washer is done so I can throw them into the dryer.

If he ever sits still!!!! Tada. I will take a picture of the latest member of our family. His name is Charlie, he's 10 months old, orange with a lot of spots and stripes, and is a Maine Coon, we got him from the animal rescue league tonight and he's absolutely beautiful and a true alpha male. I think he will work out just fine, the dogs are already pleased with him and in true beta form Pepper sat in the corner and pouted. After speaking with several animal trainers about our situation, after Barley's unexpected passing last February, it has been decided that he was an alpha male and the rest of our furkids were beta's and were very lost without him. Angel especially has been lost, she seems to have figured out what was going on the quickest and gave me a dirty "you didn't do what I think you did" look tonight. Yep I did it, I went and found them a leader! He's also super affectionate which I really love.

Rusted Silk Carrier Rods



I know I know I promised pictures and trust me I wish I had taken some because the bulk of the rods now lie in ruin on my drying screen! I put them in the washer, with a bit of soap, to neutralize them and clean the tree guck off of them and forgot to turn the washer off after it filled. Well lets just say that the agitation cycle is NOT a good for the rods. So I'm thinking that while I can make some constructed cloth with the remaining rods, and there are some that are wonderful, the rest I will make paper *think silk fusion* with this week.

So here's a picture of some silk paper, or silk fusion, seeds that I made circa 1995. And a few silk fusion bowls I also made. I should really find the box these are in and bring them up to the studio for the Silk Fusion class I'm teaching this fall. In the meantime I will try taking a picture of the rods, damage and all, with my cell phone camera - need to find the digicam again - but can't promise a quality image.

Quilt In Progress

I'll have to find my pics and post them later but I finally decided how I want to finish a quilt I started last spring. There's nothing like going through old photos, even if scanning in the negatives are slower than molassses on a january morning, to get inspiration. I have a lovely scanner but it's sooooo slow it's mind boggling. Some day I'd like to have one of those Nikon scanners where you stick the negative strip in and it reads each image individualy.

New rusted rods

I rust dyed about a pound, or more, of silk carrier rods, they are currently sitting out on my skirting frame oxidizing. After the last piece of constructed cloth I've decided to overdye some rusted rods to achieve an even greater depth of color and texture. I so love rust dyeing it's easy and convient, and by convient I mean I can leave it for awhile unattended, I don't have to brood over it like an immersion dye vat.

I'm still recovering from surgery this past Friday, and now have a cold. I think I may have broken my fever, still feeling dizzy though. It's the constant coughing I can live without, no it's not a bloodclot. I thought of that but I had a bit of a sinus drip before I went into surgery but everyone was "it's ok" well... it's not so ok now. I'm treating it, I found a tried and true anti viral product that really is helping with the symptoms, save the fever, and I'm feeling much better today. Sleep and rest will help with the fever, so I'm sitting here anwsering emails as I can only sleep so much and I get really stiff from lying down.

Rusted Carrier Rods



Here I'm making constructed cloth with the silk carrier rods. I've plans to rutst more rods this evening and do some further experimentation with them. I have more rusted rods that I'm making a evening bag out of, will post pictures later.


Working on this small project has helped me to resolve a quilt I've had on hold for a very long time. I will be overdyeing some rusted rods with cutch and adding them as embellishment to the quilt surface. The top photo is a detail shot of the constructed cloth.

Plains Art Museum




Sandstone 2 is leaving here tomorrow for the Plains Art Museum
in Fargo, North Dakota. I was asked to participate in a group show with other quilt artists who live in this part of the country. I wish I lived closer to the Museum as it looks like it's going to be a stellar show with many very talented quilt artists.

Fresh Chips




Osage Orange chips, very freshly cut as in this afternoon! The smell is out of this world the color unbelieveable~!




I'm going to cover these, about five pounds worth, in everclear to extract the best yellows and they will then be soaked in water for several weeks to extract the remaining yellows. This method produces a yellowish orange color.

Altered Clock Class

Anyway I've been teaching an altered clock class and true to myself I take the clocks completely apart never to work again. Imagine my delimma when I get student(S) who want functioning clocks, I was up against a wall because none of my clocks function. So I am making this altered clock, I simply added some whimsy to the face and it still functions. I did alter the body a bit though, t aking out the frame that occupied the lower portion. This clock will now house a couple of art dolls and can be viewed from both sides. I also added feet in the form of old wooden spools to the clock.

You can see Pet Cemetary, anothe clock I altered at my other blog
http://www.prairiefibers.blogspot.com/

Last Wish











This book was titled "The Last Wish" I have an old skeleton key that is going into the niche. Eventually the book will be completely finished cover and all it is meant to be sculptural it does not close. I'm putting a series of mini books inside of this book, in the front half, where I have removed signatures to accomodate their size. The books are concertina books which I use a tie and button closure when they are not viewed. I'm also decorating it with paper beads, pearls, buttons and such.