Holiday Shopping Season

I can't believe it's just a few short days until Christmas!  I have been a busy bee for months printing scarves, making mug rugs and cards, stocking my booth at Arts Connection, to be sure I had a large inventory for the shoppers, and now there are only 11 more shopping days left!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year!

Busy Creating!

As usual, I have been busy this time of year beefing up my inventory for holiday shopping, and much of that time has been devoted to my Botanical Print scarves.  I have a robust collection now, even enough to list some in my artfire shop, so if you are not in the Flagstaff area be sure to check it out for your holiday shopping! 

I thought I would give you an idea of the process I use for creating these scarves, as well as my botanical note cards.

Here are some of the silk scarves I have laid out, placing the leaves on the bottom layer, then adding another scarf on top, then rolling tightly around a wood dowel.  Then I tie very tightly using artificial sinew.

Here is my steamer pan, with a rack to hold the bundles above the steaming water.  In this case, I had leaves in the water to add tannin to the steam, which helps to create a stronger image on the silk.

I cover and steam for about 90 minutes, then leave to cool.  The hard part is waiting!  But it's worth the wait, when I unwrap the bundles, removing the leaves and seeing the beautiful images.  

For the past few months I have been gathering leaves and storing them for the winter.  Some can be dried and stored in containers, but some are more delicate and require freezing to keep them pliable and prevent them from curling up.  

Recently, a good friend sent me several parcels of leaves that I don't have in my area, and one that needed to be frozen is Cranebill Geranium, a beautiful, ruffled leave.  So as soon as I received them, I spread them out carefully on an old towel to dry slightly... they were damp when they arrived in a plastic bag:

Aren't they lovely?  Next, I carefully stacked several at a time, then slid them gently into freezer bags with a sheet of paper dividing the layers:

I labelled them with the date, and off they went to rest in the freezer of a fridge I have in the garage, ready for me to use them.  I will defrost them slightly, use some, then return the bag to the freezer until they are all used up.  I hope to get some of these for the yard next spring, so I can just pick them as needed.

Much as I love printing with all these lovely leaves, I'm also working on some Christmas Tree ornaments which will be on sale in the gallery probably later this month.  I hadn't planned to make these again this year, but had a request from someone who bought several last year.  So here's what I have so far:

As you can see, I'm not very traditional in my fabric choices.  There are 2 with Christmas fabrics, but I like making these in bright cheery colors.  I hope to get one more done to have an even dozen, so I'm doing one a day.  I sold all 12 last year, so with luck I'll repeat that this year.

Finally, we are experiencing a lovely rain today... something we haven't had much of this year, so I'm loving it.  Happy Autumn!

Eco Printing with color, stitch meditations and Shrekkie

I have continued to create my eco print scarves, and decided to experiment with adding just a tinge of color to the scarves with my Procion MX dyes before printing.  Love the results!  At some point I hope to get into using natural dyes, but the process is more than I can learn in a short time, so this is my solution for now:

Pale coral pink

Seafoam green

Palomino Gold

Robin's Egg blue

I am soooo in love with Botanical printing!  It really makes me happy to be able to capture nature this way... 

With the change of seasons, I am busy collecting and storing leaves for the winter months, much like a squirrel gathers acorns!  But I did let myself use one of the oak leaves for a different project:

If you follow my blog, you may remember that I was doing a lot of hand stitching back in January.  Then I got busy with other projects, and haven't done any since then.  But I have seen examples of using real leaves in collages, and decided one of my beloved Oak leaves deserved a chance to show off, so this came about recently:  Leaf hand stitched to a fringed square and a hand dyed background, with a fern leaf stamped in metallic paint.  I happened to have a frame handy that was just the right size, so it now sits on a side table in the living room, to celebrate Autumn.  I think I will be getting back to stitch meditations with the onset of cooler weather... they just go together!

 I posted last month that we had to let our sweet Bubba go, which was very sad, but his health was deteriorating and wasn't going to improve.  So now, we have just one kitty left, Shrekkie.  

Shrekkie came to live with us in 2010, after spending some time on his own.  His original owners moved away, and left him with neighbors across the road, but the household was quite unsettling to him, so he decided to be a vagabond for awhile.  Before long, he was coming around our house and yowling, which caught my attention.  I kept water on our deck for our cats, and he would come up to get a drink almost daily.  I began sitting on the deck in the morning, and gradually we made friends.  By October, I had coaxed him into the house, and he has been here ever since.  Now that he is the sole cat, he has begun to spend evenings snuggling with me on the floor while I nap in front of the TV, and he seems to be perfectly content to be the last kitty.  I still miss my Sweet Bubba, but Shrek is doing a good job consoling me, and dispensing love and affection!

Open Studios report, more Eco Printing and Bubba

Well, the dust has settled after another year's Flagstaff Open Studios tour!  I had good sales again this year, although my fellow artists at our location were not as fortunate.  We had a smaller turnout than last year, and more lookers than buyers.  Even so, it was a nice weekend.

Day one, standing in my booth area.

My bowls and cards

A large selection of clothing and scarves, many which went to new homes.  Yaay!

The next week I got set back up at Arts Connection Gallery, and have had good sales so far... hopefully a sign of how things will be doing this fall and winter.  I haven't had time to take pictures of my display, but it looks a lot like my booth shots above, only in a gallery setting.

Meanwhile, the crazy leaf lady has been squirreling away leaves in bins, and some in a freezer in the garage, so I can keep eco printing!  I have recently completed some more scarves, which I think are even better than the first 2 I did:

Above, a close shot of a Silk Satin Scarf

This is a Habotai Silk Scarf - note the subtle coloring of the leaves.

A Crepe de Chine... very shimmery and soft.

I think I'm finally ready to put some in the gallery, and I have more blanks on order, so this will be my fall-winter offering for gift buyers this year.  

On a sad note, Bubba crossed over the Rainbow Bridge today.  He was almost 15 1/2 years old, and had been going downhill since April, with a couple of rallies.  It was time.  He gets my award for the Alltime Sweetest Kitty ever, and will always own my heart and my love.  Sweet dreams, my Sweet Bubba Boy... 💔😢

Prelude, Bubba and yet another new project!

August 3 was the Opening Reception for this year's Prelude exhibit at Arts Connection Gallery:

Shown here:  Dolores Ziegler, who works in acrylic paint and collage; Cinde Dalhover, our
host for the upcoming Flagstaff Open Studios Tour; me, and Louise Waller, who works in a multitude of 2D and 3D mediums.  We are 4 of the 7 artists who will be at Studio 11, located at Cinde's home.
Here are the 2 pieces I submitted as examples of my work:

The jacket has since sold, and been replaced with another.  

For those in the Flagstaff area at the end of August, we will be at 9815 E. Townsend Winona Rd Saturday and Sunday, 8/24-25, open from 10 am to 5 pm.  Come see us!

On the Bubba front, I will say that he has fully recovered from the issues he was suffering a couple of months ago.  He still occasionally has slight digestive issues, but nothing compared to what he went through.  Thank goodness! 

Meanwhile, back at the studio, I have started to take my first tentative steps into learning Eco Printing... using leaves and foliage from the yard to make impressions on paper and fabric.  I did a lot of lurking on facebook groups, poring over posts in pinterest and google searches for information on the process before taking the plunge.  I first learned how to tie-dye almost 22 years ago, and there was a lot more straightforward info on process for tie-dye!  With eco-printing, it seems like no two artists use exactly the same processes or methods, and it makes learning a bit of a challenge.  I am convinced that if I keep at this for 22 years, I might have it figured out, but it will take continuing to study and experiment.  But I am encouraged by my first efforts!  I started (thanks to my friend Beth in Maine!) by trying a batch of watercolor papers cut to a size I could use in cards:

I was truly amazed and thrilled when I unwrapped this first batch, and it hooked me!  I know that I will be doing many more of these, and have submitted two to the gallery to be juried in, since this is a totally different medium from my usual work.

Next, I decided to try 2 scarves - a chiffon, and a habotai silk.  The initial results were very pale, almost not noticeable, so I steeped them in leaf "tea":

I also used some strips of muslin, dipped in an iron solution that were part of the bundle I steamed.  I didn't get pictures of them at that point, but decided to experiment a little after with steeping the muslin in a "tea" I  brewed from the leaves used in the printing process.  And I made a batch of black tea, so I could compare the two.  Here is a shot showing one of the muslin strips as it came out of the steaming bundle, one that was steeped in black tea and one steeped in leaf tea:

Now I know the leaf tea has more color, but that could be totally different next time!

Now I have to start saving and drying leaves, to carry me through the winter!  I love that I have a large variety to harvest right in our yard, but also plan to go on leaf gathering trips around town to scoop up some that don't grow in our yard... leaf lady is coming!  Stay tuned for further developments, and news about this year's Open Studios tour!

Creating, nursing and recovering

I have been very busy in the studio this month, continuing with my fabric note cards and working on the items I will be displaying in the Prelude Art Exhibit in August, which precedes our annual Flagstaff Open Studios tour the last weekend in August.
Here are some of the new card designs I worked on:

It took quite awhile to get this just right, but then I was able to make 3 more of a similar pattern.  I'm learning how to design, then create the process for replicating once I have the design the way I want it.  Then it's much faster to make more.

The one above was inspired by an abstract I saw on Pinterest, my go-to place for inspiration and ideas.  Again, I finished one, then used it as my basis for the remaining 3.

I have been wanting to do more with autumn leaves, and this one came together fairly quickly because I already had the leaves made for a previous project... these were left over.

I love Sunflowers, and this one is the first of several I have made... mostly with hand dyed fabric, although the center of the flower is a batik.  This design taught me it's not always best to fuse everything before stitching.  Any future ones, I will probably do the stitching before I fuse the center of the flower and the leaf.  Then I will go back in and stitch them and the outer edges.  It's all a learning process!

On the "nursing front", our 15 year old cat Bubba has had issues with bad teeth, which I took him in to have checked a few months ago.  However, the vet discovered he has a heart murmur, and was concerned he might not be able to survive going under anesthesia.  So I have been working to find foods he doesn't have to chew.  I thought I had found the solution with a kibble that was smaller, but he continued to have digestive issues, culminating in a loss of appetite, weight loss and weakness.  I made an appointment to take him to the vets, fully expecting that it would be the last time... but over the weekend, his appetite began to return.  I had bought a new wet food that is much softer, so he can lick it up, and I was encouraged.  Monday, we went to the vet, and Bubba got really stressed by the trip, having his temperature taken thru his bum, and being poked and prodded... he was panting for air, and I was very concerned.  They gave him a couple of shots, some anti nausea meds, hydrated him.  I took him home, let him rest, and started encouraging him to eat and drink water.  Within a couple of days, his appetite came back... with a vengeance!  He loves his new food, is eating like a champ... his hind legs are still weak, and the vet did recommend a joint supplement which I will be starting him on tonight.  We'll see how things go, but I don't think he's used up all 9 lives just yet!

Lastly, I have been working on the 2 items I will be showing at Arts Connection Gallery in August.  They are representative of my wearable art and coiled fabric bowls:

This is one of my rayon jackets.  It's hard to see all the colors on the mannequin, so I hung it on a cafe rod in my bathroom where I normally hang an art quilt.  this is the back side.

This is one of my bowls with a lid.  You can't see the button I used for a knob... I painted it to match the fabric, which is turquoise with gold enhancements.  I'm glad to have them done so I can keep working on my fabric cards... my new obsession!

Another new product!

As if the Bohemian pendants weren't enough, I decided it was time to try my hand at making fabric notecards, something I have admired and wanted to try for a long time, and I have plenty of fabric stash to use up!  Ordered some photo insert cards with envelopes, and clear plastic sleeves, and they got here yesterday.  So far today, I have created 15 cards, which tells me this is going to be a great item to build up my stock for incidental items at the gallery or Open Studios.  Here are a few I have
finished so far:

So far, these have come together quickly.  However, I have ideas for some landscapes and other subjects which will probably take a little longer, but at least I have broken the ice!  More to come...

New directions with fabric collage

For the longest time, I have wanted to try making Bohemian pendants... colorful, funky, one-of-a-kind necklaces from fabric, beads... whatever funky things I can put together for the look.  I've been perusing Pinterest for awhile, gathering ideas.  I wasn't able to find any tutorials on them, so I just finally started to play... let's see what happens if I do this!  Well, here are a few that I have created so far:

I created a fabric collage awhile back for a textile background, but decided I didn't like how it turned out.  But there are sections of the fabric that are perfect for these little 2" by 2 1/2" pendants!  Plenty of sparkle and visual interest.  I layered netting, threads, ribbon and other fibers over a black background and used free-motion stitching to anchor it to the backing.  Then I used double sided heavy duty fusible interfacing to give it some body.  The back is black fabric, and I finished the edges with satin stitching.  I added beaded fringe and suspended from black rat tail cord.

I took a different direction with this pendant... layers of fabric hand stitched together, then I appliqued the autumn leaf on top... one of several I made last year for another project.  A few beads enhance the top fabric.  It is attached to a felt backing and suspended from waxed linen cord.

This is another using the collage fabric... more fringe, and beads on top to add a little more color.

I'm working to build up an inventory of these before putting them in the Arts Connection Gallery... hopefully by June.

I have also been busy dyeing... I stopped carrying tank tops awhile back, but have some I listed on my artfire shop.  I had a few undyed tanks left, so figured I would get them dyed too:

Just in time for summer, although we're still waiting for Spring weather here in the High Country!

Spring Expo and experiments

Saturday was the Spring Expo at the Flagstaff Mall... one I hadn't done in awhile.

My friend Cinde and I always try to get our spaces together so we can visit during the show.

I only sold one item, and Cinde didn't sell anything, but we got to let people know that the gallery where we sell, Arts Connection, has moved closer to the center of the mall, so there were sales in the gallery... woo-hoo!  Here are some shots of my displays in the gallery... hope to get a good shot of the whole gallery today when I do a stint of gallery sitting.

So now that we have the gallery set up and I have plenty of inventory, back to experimenting with new things!  I recently bought a couple of thermofax screens from Lyric Kinard.  Yesterday, I decided to test the screens on muslin to see how they come out:

I plan to use these on some of my dyed t-shirts, but meanwhile I got a bug to see how they would look using sharpies and alcohol:

Oh, YEAH!  I'm hoping to cut this one out and use it as an applique on a stitch project.  And I plan to experiment using dye na flow, procion mx dyes, etc. to see what I like best.  Stay tuned for more on my experiments!