Art at the Ranch : more felting

At the right is the beginning of a small felting sampler.  It is a piece of recycled silk dress with some pieces of wool roving laid on top of it.  (and that is on top of some bubble wrap).  After getting it wet with soapy water, putting some more wool on the other side,  rolling it up in the bubble wrap, rolling it around for awhile, throwing it on the floor for awhile, and putting it into the dryer to get hot and shrink a bit,  it looks like the second picture.

This is post felting, but you really can't see the 3-d ness of it or how soft it feels.  note that the wool has shrunk, and the fabric has bunched up between it.

I'm really going to have to work on the photographs.  This is a red and black nuno felted scarf that I also made.  but the picture does not do it justice.  Likewise it has a very 3-d quality to it, and is soft, flexible, and beautiful colors.

micro-mosaics

Took a class from Cynthia Toops this weekend at the Ranch in Snohomish,  at right shows the piece I made a little bigger than real life.  I did it from a picture of a bird that Denise Vaughan took in Africa last summer, not sure what kind of bird it is.

if you follow the link to Cynthia's site, you will see that my piece is sort of a "kindergarten" version of hers.   Even though I had to wear magnifiers to see the pieces, my individual threads were still a lot bigger than Cynthia's. 

The process for making the piece:  start with a bezel, or container that you want to put the mosaic in.  Put some polymer clay (we used Fimo soft), in and level it with top of bezel.  Pull out threads of clay in all the colors you want, bake them, cut them into tiny pieces, then place them one by one onto the picture that you have sketched with a pin onto the clay base.

 At right is a piece in process made by my neighbor at the table, Melissa Cable, of beadclub in Woodinville.  you get an idea of the scale we were working at when you see the tweezers and her fingers placing the little dots of the mosaic.  Her bezel is the same size as mine.

Question: will I do this again?  maybe.  This is  a picture of Randi, with her lighted peepers to see the work she was doing!  To do it effectively, I need to have a well lit, comfortable place to work on very fine work.

Artist Statement

This is the summary I ended up with at the end of the Advancement of Excellence in March of 2010:


I make hand-made clothing, jewelry and containers created as expressive art.  I use glass, metal, clay or fiber or a combination of all of them.  I am an artist who creates wearable and usable art.

A Few of My Favorite Creative Books

The "500" Series by Lark is a wealth of beauty and ideas.

I own "1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand",
"500 Pendants & Lockets: Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Adornments",
"500 Brooches: Inspiring Adornments for the Body"
"500 Earrings: New Directions in Contemporary Jewelry"

Right now I own maybe 100 books that are in the arts area, and I'd like to figure out a good way to list them here, with descriptions and my experiences with them.

Some are "How-To" books, some are for inspiration, some are there to hold a space for me, they hold future ideas.

This book is in my library for inspiration on color and design.  It is by Harry Rand,  published by Taschen.  I first fell in love with him 18 years ago when I was in Vienna, and looked out the bus window and saw some of the buildings that he designed.

One of my projects is to catalog all my books, so I can keep track of what I have.  I started using Readerware, but have not yet prioritized it to the point that I have all my books in it. 

Blogtime

I've been going to the Advancement of Excellence from Context Training with the intent to develop my direction around creative expression, to become clear about what I'm doing and why.

I'm developing tangible measurable results in creating the life I want, which includes getting my studio up and running again, experimenting in different media, and re-connecting with who I am as an artist.

I have a wonderful support team of Wayne, Tom, Jeff, Sami and Dave, and Wayne made me the inspirational gift you see here:  on the top it says "I am an ARTIST".  on the left it says "For a healthy blog: post no less than one time per week", on the front it says "We are Watching... We are waiting..." and then BLOG TIME  Is it time to post a blog yet or are you waiting for the 11th hour.  the Star says Push Here when blog is posted, and then....It talks to me and says "That was EASY!"  The whole thing is decorated with flowers, stars, and other sayings, such as fun, family, inspiration, "create what you love".

One of my continuing issues has always been to find time to do more than just the family, community, work, home tasks that can fill every moment.  However, once I get started making something, I'm energized, so the whole process is working.