Welcome to Autumn!

I love all the seasons, but have a special place in my heart for Autumn.  Some of my favorite early memories are of me helping my mom decorate for Halloween, and loving the autumn leaves as they turned glorious yellows, oranges and reds before falling from the trees.  Over the years, autumn leaves have been a recurring theme in my work, and this year is no different.  recently, I custom dyed an Autumn Leaves batik shirt for a dear friend:

And as I have done in past years, I decorated a couple of my coiled fabric bowls with fabric autumn leaves:

I actually made up a number of leaves before making the bowl and lid above, so I have lots left over for other projects!

Several years ago, I did a couple of Autumn Leaves batik art quilts, and still have one hanging in my office:

I made a few coiled bowls that I plastered and painted, with Autumn leaves themes:

And a few years back, I made some framed Autumn Leaves pieces:

Now I'm looking at ideas on pinterest for other ways to use autumn leaves in my work... obsessed?  Maybe!  But they have been a strong influence on my work for many years now, and will probably continue to crop up in my art.  Can't beat Nature for inspiration!

Holiday display and Bowl class

It's been another busy month here as usual!  I've been busy getting my holiday shopping stock beefed up and into the gallery:

Pictured here, an array of my Fringed Cut Velvet shawls and scarves.  I also added a table in my regular booth space to display my Covered Notepads and Journals.  No time yet to get a picture of that.  I also have a full rack of my tie-dye shirts, Jackets and Skirts, as well as a selection of my coiled fabric bowls.

Speaking of my bowls, I was approached recently by some gals who wanted to know if I teach classes in coiled bowl making.  I have wanted to do one for awhile, so I got their e-mail info and contacted our local quilt store.  I have 2 class dates set up for next spring, and already have 6 people interested in taking the class... woo-hoo! 

And if all this weren't enough to keep me busy, I've been doing some batik/ice dyed shirts:

Other than that, I haven't been doing a thing (she said, tongue in cheek!).  Hard to believe 2017 is almost over, but it's been a very busy and successful year for me so far... lots to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

July in review

July just flew by in a flurry of dyes, fabric and wax!  Continuing to experiment with ice dyeing, I decided to try swirls to see how they would come out.  Here are a few examples:

Brazil Nut

Sage Green

Sage Green

I'm working to build up my stock in colors that guys as well as gals would like, thus the softer more subtle look.

As promised in my last post, I have begun to build up my stock of Autumn Leaves shirts, as well as adding the pattern and colors to my Waterfall Jacket collection:

Autumn Leaves Batik with Brazil nut background

Autumn Leaves batik with Moss Green background

I plan to have a large selection of these ready for our 19th Annual Flagstaff Open Studios tour August 27 & 28

Our Prelude Exhibit Opening Reception was held at the Artists' Coalition Gallery again this year, and we had a great turn-out!

With my friend Cinde at the Opening Reception

Full house at the Opening Reception

My Vase with Flowers sold that night!

So here we are in August, and I am working to prepare for Open Studios, followed immediately by a return of my booth to the Gallery in September, then Autumn Leaves and Holly show at the end of October.  Never a dull moment, but I'm having a wonderful time!

More Ice Dyeing, a Vase of Flowers and Autumn Leaves

Continuing my ice dyeing experiments, I have tried several more colors which netted mostly good or great results:

Lavender Avocado Mandala

Brazil Nut stripe

Mermaid's Dream stripe

Lapis Diagonal Stripe

Plum Soft Orange Diagonal Stripe

I am now a firm convert to Ice Dyeing, thanks to Lynda Heines' class, and will be doing more as time permits.

Meanwhile, I have been working on a piece to show in this year's Prelude Exhibit at the Artists' Coalition Gallery.  I call it Vase of Flowers:

This started out to be just the vase, but when I finished it, I decided it needed something else.  I looked at dried floral arrangements, but didn't think they would be what I wanted.  Then I came across some instructions on how to make fabric flowers using floral wire as the base, and set about to make some.  This took a little while, since I had other things I was working on and each petal had to be glued to the wire and left to dry.  I finally finished enough, and decided it was ready to go.  This will be on display in the gallery for the month of August.

And in preparation for the Open Studios Tour, I now need to start cranking out my Autumn Leaves batik shirts, which are always a popular item for the show.  Shown below is one from a previous year:

I think I am going to experiment with Brazil nut mixed, for a background color.  Then it will be time to fire up the wax pot and start dyeing!

New Tutorial!

I have been wanting for some time to create a tutorial on soy wax batik, a technique I have enjoyed using for several years now.  I have posted a number of times on various projects where I have used soy wax... even created a class hand-out demonstrating a couple of techniques I use.  Recently, I saw a post on Carol Eaton's blog describing a project where she used soy wax, and I commented on the post.  We e-mailed back and forth about some difficulty she had removing the wax, and the end result was an invitation from her to be a guest blogger so I could share the techniques I use for applying and removing the wax.  So, thanks to Carol, I have finally added a tutorial to my blog! Just click on the Tutorial tab above and scroll down to the link.  It's not a video like some of my others, but it has lots of process pictures and written guides to help you along.  So if you've been wanting to try soy wax batik, I hope this will encourage you to give it a try!  Here are a few examples of projects where I have used it:

Stamped with found objects, then dye painted 

Stamped with found objects, dye painted, mounted on painted canvas

Autumn leaves stamped on with sponge stamps over a pre-dyed shirt, then over-dyed with browns

Getting ready for the Fall show circuit!

This time of year is my busy time.  Starting with the Flagstaff Open Studios Tour at the end of August, I have several shows throughout the fall to keep me busy!  So I have been working hard to beef up my stock this past month.  I did take a break to do a small outdoor show last Sunday:

We had some rain and cool temps, but I still sold some shirts, so all was not lost!

Here are some of the shirts I have been working on recently:

Stitched design in Copper, gold and sage green

Autumn Leaves batik with moss green background

Crochet scarf in cool colors

I have coiled fabric bowls and twill cotton totes in progress as well.  

And here is the flier for our next show, coming up in less than 2 weeks!  I'm on the committee for the show, and we're really excited - this is our second year doing this show, and we have 31 artists and crafters participating in the event... lots of beautiful, hand crafted items will be available for our shoppers!  So if you are going to be in the Flagstaff area, I do hope you will stop by and enjoy the show!  

Okay, back to the salt mines... I will update soon with more show information!

Where has the time gone!

I can't believe I've let almost a month pass without a post... again!  Lots of projects keeping me busy, then the 4th yesterday... time to catch up!
First off, I was busy  writing a series of articles for "...And Then We Set It On Fire" about creating fabric with various surface design techniques:

Here's the end result - you can see how I got there if you follow the link and look for Round Robin, Solo Style posts.

I've also been doing some Autumn Leaves pieces using stamps I cut out of sponges:

And most recently, I did another plaster bowl and embellished with more sponge stamps, this time in shapes reminiscent of the southwest:

 

In between I had other things to do like housework (yuk!) and a trip to Phoenix.  Then yesterday, I got to ride on a float in our July 4th parade:

I took pix of the crowd along the way - lots of folks turned out for the event! 

And here I am (left) with a friend on the float, with my last minute painted sun visor... had great weather for the parade, followed by a nice monsoon storm to keep things cool!

Okay, time to get ready to visit the local nursery... now that Monsoon season is here, I can think about planting, and I need to find some trees!  Have a great July, and I hope to post more soon!

Busy week!

Last Saturday was the Artists' Coalition Spring Marketplace, and I had a good day:

I decided to add this shirt to my wardrobe...

A shot of my booth

My friend Cinde, showing off her purchase - a 'cairn' made by fellow ACF member Dudley Bacon.

Cinde and I both did well at the show.  Next, I got an order from a friend for a t-shirt with the 'Neon Graffiti' batik pattern I used for my mounted batiks... 

I'm still working on making a shirt board large enough so that I can stretch the shirt over and not need spring clamps to make it taut... probably will need to get some more foam board and cut larger than the ones I currently have.  But I did make some nice inserts for the sleeves this time, using regular corrugated cardboard. 

Finally, I made another coiled fabric bowl yesterday using some african batik print fabric I bought years ago in the downtown L.A. fabric district:

I should take a picture of the fabric as it is before I cut it out, so you can get an idea of the beautiful patterns, but even cut into 1 inch strips for the bowl, I love the rich variety combined with solid black and some hand dyed muslin in palomino gold.

This one is about 10" across by 3" high.  I'm starting to make them wider at the bottom, so I could make them higher and wider at the top, but this is a nice size for an accent piece... never get tired of making these!

Other than that, I've been watching my seedlings sprout in the greenhouse... no pictures yet, but I'm pleased with my progress so far.  I have lettuce, carrots, scallions and cucumbers sprouted, and  planted radishes and basil this week.  Still waiting for my bell peppers to poke through, and before you know it the weather will be warm enough for me to transfer them into the raised beds outside!  I promise to post pictures soon...

Mounted batiks

I posted about this a few days ago on my Facebook page, so if you follow me there, please forgive the duplication.  Last week, one of my fellow bloggers, Lynda of Bloom, Bake & Create, posted  here about mounting and framing her beautiful marbled fabrics, and I loved them!  It inspired me to try the same treatment for some of my batik fabrics:

I love how these came out, and will definitely be doing more!  Lynda did a great job of writing a tutorial, so I'll let you visit her blog for more details.  Meanwhile, I'm working on a tank top order for one of my regular customers, and sent her a picture of the top batik, and now I'm going to use the same technique - soy wax batik - for one of her tanks, only the dark color will probably be a vivid lapis or purple instead of black.  

BTW, for those of you who live in the vicinity of Flagstaff, I will be at the Spring Artists' Marketplace at the Elk's Club on north San Francisco this Saturday, May 4th, from 10am - 4pm.  I'll have lots of tie-dye, my new tie-dye necklaces and scarves, and some of my wall art as well... hope you can stop by!

Great day!

Ever have one of those days when you were "in the zone"?  Well, that's what it's felt like for me today.  I have been trying some new techniques, and working on some products for a potential sale to a gift shop, and it just seems like things were falling right into place today.  First off, I have to thank Beth from Maine for her post here about a playdate she had with a friend... they used textile paints on scarves that they had batiked with soy wax.  I have had some problems with trying to overdye silk scarves after dyeing and using soy wax... the next dye bath didn't take, and I have been told that it is very difficult to overdye silk... something about not as many places in silk for the dye to bind to compared to cotton.  Very frustrating!  But today, I tryed Dy-Na-Flow fabric paint for the first time, and I'm overjoyed at my results!

The scarf was dyed first, using Procion MX dyes.  Then I applied soy wax to resist the next layer of color.  I used a pattern similar to one Beth mentioned in her post, only I applied the wax with a foam brush in a basket weave pattern... Beth used an antique potato masher on her scarf.  The photo above shows the scarf laid out on my work table with plastic and newspaper underneath.

Here is the scarf after I applied the Dy-Na-Flow.  I used black, and applied it with a car-wash sponge that I cut down to fit into a margerine tub.  I used my rubber gloves, thank goodness, because paint is just as hard to get out as dye, and I definitely would have had black hands if I hadn't worn the gloves!

I let the paint dry, then I used a hot iron and pressed it between sheets of newspaper to remove the wax and heat-set the paint.  Then I washed and dried again.

Here it is!  I'm so happy with how it came out, and can't wait to do more projects with Dy-Na-Flow!  Thanks, Beth!