Sewing Paper

A local group I belong to, The Fiber Art Options group meet today, and I had to miss the meeting. It made me sad that I didn't have a chance to visit with the group and share about all of our new work. So here is my August update. I am cross posting - so if you see this twice, I apologize in advance.

A friend once said that I went to food markets like other people went to museums - it is true. Whenever I go to a new city I have to scope out the food markets, of course in Seattle and all over the US but also in France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and Japan. Sometimes this makes the people I travel with crazy - why spend a half day looking at lettuce, cheese, and olives, why in deed, but we always have a great time and learn about new foods and customs.

Last week I went to the farmer's market near my house with the camera and took a bunch of photos and brought back a few bags full of avocados, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, mushrooms etc. I love to arrange still life compositions on the wooden cutting boards and bowls that live on my kitchen island - these give me inspiration to chop, saute, and cook - but these images rarely find their way into my fiber art.

The past few months I have been sewing almost exclusively on paper. Most recently, I have been playing around quite a bit with sewn paper collages using handmade papers that I stain with watercolors and dyes. The paper gets torn up, arranged, repainted, and then machine sewn to a heavy paper foundation. Quick and fun to do. I had planned to spend some time in the studio working on collages when I decided to use one of the still life photos from the farmers market as inspiration. Here is the first veggie still life.

It was very fun to do and I am likely to do more from my 1000s of photos from the food markets of the world. -janet

Rust Hunting!

Well, Last week my friend, Bev Nagy a gifted weaver and basketmaker, drove out into the country braving the 100 degree weather to a great "junkyard" in Mount Pleasant NC.



I was hunting for rusting items to stain some paper and fabrics and Bev needed some old bird cages - we were artists looking for inspiration and supplies. As usual, we had to collect piles in strategic places of the things we were thinking of buying... hoping that we would remember where we left our stashes, I think I missed a pile or two - I am sure that these items will be there the next time I get out there.



We had a great time slogging through dust, junk, great stuff, every imaginable thing you could want. I think we were also both very happy that we had gotten extra large cold drinks on the way there, it was really hot! I could hardly resist the porcelain glove molds.

As we trekked through the knee high grasses - Bev was sure that there were snakes just waiting for her we saw a wonderful wooden horse in the mix. Looking at the picture of it now - I might just go back there and bring him home.

It is so interesting to see all these artifacts - mixed up together - great items, strange items, and something for just about everyone - if you can brave the heat, snakes, bugs, spiders. Next time I am going to bring gloves.



I found some great iron pieces and wonderful rusted pieces. Here are some of the pieces in my new stash.
Who could wish for anything so wonderful! Very old junk, left out in the rain to get old and rusty - what a great find. I also got a great rusty fireplace screen - it should make some interesting stain patterning.







I need to go back there - with more cash and a large truck. I think there are some great wheel hubs and saw blades that are quietly calling my name. Some of the rusted pieces are now setting up in a tub doing their magic in the back of the studio.

I peeked in at the top of the pile - so far so good.

Stay tuned for updates.

Get Inspired

I just got back from a one day trip up to DC. It was great to have a day to get to a few museums to check out what was new. My visit was quick and focused - get to see as much art as I had energy to absorb.

Even though I was told that this summer in DC wasn't as hot as it usually is in July - it was pretty hot and humid. I got tired of walking and jumped into more than one cab. I started in the Textile Museum, on S Street - a small but great museum - they told me that the museum collection was dedicated to tapestries and rugs.

That said, the two exhibitions were on twentieth century Amish quilts on loan from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. What a great collection they must have there. These quilts were truly amazing - the use of color and repetition is vibrant, holding attention with an active peacefulness.

The second exhibition presented the Museum's new acquisitions. There were about 20 pieces including a wonderful Indian turban with pleats, folds and twisted cordwork - that was so intricate that it was clear why it was sewn to a felt base - it would have taken all morning to re-wrap it. A wonderful large contemporary batik from Java, the tjanting work is so intricate it is amazing.

Of course, I am always in love with textiles from China and there were two great examples, a wonderful silk woman's robe, and a "rain" coat. The rain coat was made of woven layers of grasses and pounded palm stitched together at the edges and had some wonderful "fringe" on the hem - from the loose fibers.

The Textile Museum is a quick stop near DuPont Circle - and worth the trip.

I also got to the Renwick Gallery on Pennsylvania, very near the White House, and finally ended up in the East Building of the National Gallery - to check out the work "since 1950". Then a train up to Baltimore and back home. An exhausting and inspiring day. -janet

Planning for IQA in Houston this October?

The schedule for the International Quilt Festival has been out for a few weeks and the classes look like the best yet. I will be teaching in the Mixed Media Classes, which have expanded and will be doing two different demos during the Mixed Media Miscellany sessions.

This year, I will be offering some new classes; here is my line-up:

#140 Needlefelted Images (Monday evening)

Learn the basics of needlefelting. Make a great landscape or abstract image using needlefelting techniques on various foundations, recycled and new fibers and yarns.

#316 Stencils Made Simple (All day Wednesday)

Learn a new appreciation for using stencils, contemporary tools and materials, with attention to special techniques for textile work using dyes, paints, and sticks as well as simple registration methods and proper storage. Create a collection of durable stencils using your own images, including simple and complicated "bridges."

#508 Japanese and Specialty Paper Primer (All day Friday)

Gain confidence working with fancy and hand-made papers. Learn techniques for manipulating, staining, dying, cutting, leafing, and sewing Japanese "rice," lace, and specialty papers.

#468 Mixed-Media Miscellany #1 (Thursday afternoon)

See what this exciting event is all about. Twenty teachers at separate tables around the room offer continuous demonstrations of particular techniques and methods that can take your quiltmaking and/or crafting a step further. Enrollees receive a booklet of one-page handouts from each teacher and circulate around the room, informally getting lots of new inspiration.

My table: Japanese and Specialty Paper Collage

#749 Mixed-Media Miscellany #2 (Saturday morning)

See description for Mixed-Media Miscellany #1

My table: Screen Printing with Removable Stencils

I hope to see some of you there! Watch this space for updates.

Printing and Pluto!

Well, I am back from QSDS and in the studio. Before I left I had printed up some shirts I am hoping to get some of them up on to etsy.com in the next week or so.


If you have ever been in my studio, you will know about the studio cat, Pluto. He is a great hunter and too friendly! He loves to be in the middle of what ever is happening - and is constantly and unceremoniously being tossed off the print tables onto the floor.



Lili, my studio assistant and indispensable right hand this summer was gracious enough to take some photos of the last day of studio alignment with Pluto - so enjoy!



In my next life..... Have a great summer!

Textural Beading E-workshop Update

I am currently teaching an e-workshop over on Joggles.com, it started last week and I think we have good and very talented group of artists participating.

This is the title photo of the samples included in this lesson.

I set off the document and instructions to Barbara at Joggles last night for the 2nd class for "Introduction to Textural Beading". This installment focuses on edge details - a great way to give any beaded piece a clean professional finish.

Since this is my first time doing an e-workshop I hope that the step-by-step photos give every one close to a face-to-face tutorial. Additionally, my choice of bead size and color should help decipher the stitch instructions. -janet

Back from Surface Design Conference

I have been out of town for a long time, but had a great time visiting with my friends in Kansas City at the Surface Design Conference. It was great and I had a wonderful time taking workshops, going to great talks and of course eating BBQ in KC.

I was lucky enough to be the assistant in Els van Baarle's batik workshop "Walking the Creative Path" I worked mostly on paper throughout the workshop and really liked some of the work. Here is a peek at one of the books I worked on while in the class.

I intended to make some record of how dye colors mix using wax resist and layers of color. So one side of the acordian book uses the "warm" family of colors and the opposite side uses "cool" primaries. I played with the wax and resists to make the covers. I will come back to working out dye color mixtures... with some documentation for reference.

I will do more playing in the studio with dyes on paper.

Back into the studio for 2 weeks!

Then I am headed up to Ohio to see the Quilt National 09 show - and for a week at QSDS with my friend Nancy Cook.