Out with the Old--Garland Tutorial

My house always looks so drab after I take down Christmas decorations, so this year I made a little New Year's garland to add some spark.

It was so fun to do and cleared out some of the old to make way for the new. It's kind of an anything goes project, but here's how I did it.

I started with a very ugly painting exercise (maybe to see how many garish colors I could put in one piece?) I had done on watercolor paper. I kept thinking I'd repaint it, but it was better to get rid of it. On top of it, I free wrote thoughts about what I wanted for the new year.

I punched 2" circles out of that and punched smaller circles and shapes out of other old projects.
I wrote some guiding words for the year on another old painting and tore them into pieces. And cut a pile of silk and velvet fabric scraps.

I built little piles on the 2" circles and anchored them with scribbly free-motion stitching.

Then attached two circles together back-to-back and did more scribbly stitching to hold them together.
And finally I chain stitched them all together into garlands. I like the additional scribbly lines that the loose threads add, so I didn't trim anything.

They were very addicting to make and got rid of some ugly past at the same time.

Boho Puffs

In my effort to be more productive, I grabbed some scraps for a TV project.

I have a bag of these sample bits that I picked up at Thai Silks in CA several years ago because they had potential written all over them. Lots of burn-out velvets and silks.

But besides a snippet here and there, they have pretty much stayed in the bag. When in doubt, make puffs, I always say. I love the wacky textures and color combos.

Don't know what I'll do with them, but maybe they are a beginning of a big hippie piece.

A Clean-ish Start

My studio will never be one of those beautiful, highly organized places that appear in magazines, but at least I have some clean surfaces for the moment. I tend to start my year with a big clean-up, but as soon as I start working, there will be piles again.

I am lucky to have a good-sized studio space. One half of the room is devoted to fabric.

The other half has my painting area. And my faithful bulldog, Jack.

I have a nice design wall behind my sewing machine, but I tend to accumulate notes and snippets of ideas there rather than design on it.

Because obviously my inspiration wall isn't enough.

I keep most of my fabric in these cabinets.

I always admire open shelves of fabric with neatly organized stacks of color. But the reality is my fabric looks like this once I've been working, and the closed doors are the only thing that keeps it looking neat.

I clear the surfaces between projects and as long as I have space to work, I'm happy.

I just signed up for a free online workshop with Traci Bautista. I've taken her classes in person, and she's always fun and playful. If you're interested, you can check it out here.

Just 30

I love new beginnings and this year I am especially ready for one! It was a rough year with illness in my family and then my Dad passed away on Dec. 15. He was a wonderful man whom I adored, and his passing leaves a huge hole in my heart. The most important lesson he taught me was that hard work and taking on challenges can be a great source of joy and satisfaction, and it's with that thought that I'm approaching my new year.

I love playing with art, but sometimes I get lazy and don't push myself enough to reach a level of full satisfaction. I'm hoping to reach a little further this year.

Perfect timing--my friend Paula made me this fabulous necklace and the word she chose for me is "stretch," so this will be my talisman for the year.

It occurred to me that I'm always great at following through with new plans until about the end of Jan. so this year I'm doing a Just 30 plan. I just want to see how much I can accomplish in 30 days. No specific goals--just seeing how much I can stretch myself in that period.

I did make this list of some things I've been meaning to try and will post them in my studio:

Make graphic fabrics with printmaking

Write/draw on fabrics with black and white

Make graphic papers

Garlands out of paper and fabric circles

Graffiti hearts

Carve stamps

Work on Soul Collage cards

Paint over magazine pages to use in other projects

Do more sketching with parallel or dip pens

Randomly stitch units of fabric together to see where they go

And I'm hoping my path is now clear to get back to regular blogging again.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Bright and Cheerful

I am happy to say that I'm finishing up details for our show this weekend and have allowed myself a couple days of relaxation before the big event. These things are always more work than I remember, but I'm happy for the intense creative state it throws me into, and even happier when it's all over!

Lots of bright colors lately.

Some fiber bundle jewelry:

And more prayer flags. I always love black and white with colors played off of them for sheer cheerfulness. Here's a nice shot on my paint-stained table.

And finally some fiber heart cards.

Hope to see you at Multnomah Arts Center in Portland this Fri. and Sat. Please say hi if you stop by!

Fall Colors

Fall is my favorite season and this one is absolutely spectacular in Portland. The weather gods got together to have it turn cold quickly without the rain. I've been absorbing all this beauty everywhere I go.

A red waterfall:

Been spending lots of time wandering around downtown. The city parks are all color.

Love the window in this boho shop:

And the cabbage thingies in this bouquet at the farmer's market.

No surprise that fall tones are popping up in my work. I'm working on a new line of fabric jewelry this year for our show. I'm always trying to find a way to include fabric with jewelry without it getting too cute. I'm really happy with these bundle beads I came up with.

Some necklaces--

And some earrings. I also made some bundle beads on hoops for larger earrings. I thought I was working with pretty small scraps when I was making my prayer flags. Now I'm down to smaller snippets yet.

Working away on the prayer flags. Here are a few of my favorite fall ones.

And tonight we got the first bit of snow, so it all comes to an end.

Color Play

I haven't had much to show lately because even though I have been working, it's that somewhat repetitive phase of getting things ready for our show in Dec. The result is I ran out of my favorite dyed threads and ribbons, so I took a little dyeing break.

I've been using hand-dyed rayon bias tape as the ribbons to join my prayer flags. It's abundant at thrift stores and takes dye beautifully.

My favorites are the variegated dyes.

Here's how I do it. Start by making a hank of the seam binding and put a loose wire twist to hold the two ends. Keep it loose or you will end up with a white spot there. Soak in soda ash solution.

Holding the wires, dip the middle into your first color.

Then dip each of the ends into a different color.

I drape the dyed ribbon over two sticks placed over a plastic bin to catch the drips. After I leave them over night, I rinse out the excess, let them dry and they are ready to go.

I've also been playing with color with the teens in my Art and Design class. I gave them a word prompt and had them cut colors out of magazines to form a palette for that word. Some designed their pages carefully.

Some added explanatory notes:

And some went wild and came up with their own words. I love the exuberance of this one. She filled her whole page to show "the whole world."