3.16.12

See what we found in the trash? Blacksmiths throw out the greatest stuff. We took these treasures back to the classroom, used "found" fabric and vinegar from the dining hall to encourage stains one would ordinarily avoid. It was important to keep the fabric wet with the vinegar and weighted down so as much fabric was touching the rusting metal as possible. 

This next piece was a fairly beige, boring piece of cottonish upholstery. It was happy to keep itself soaked with the vinegar.

In the piece below,  I tried to use a shibori technique where the fabric was pleated and then tied around a long piece of waffled rebar.

 

It was not very successful showing the waffle pattern but that is because I did not have very much vinegar or a way to keep it from drying out. It is a synthetic fabric and was very good at drying itself.  It started out a bright white and became a rich, creamy ivory.  This and the other rusted even more when I came home and hung them on the line. Maybe they did not rust more but the patterns blurred and the rusty parts expanded as the moisture wicked away from the main design.

 I think this has some potential, do you agree?

3.15.12

Our second pieces have a more finished feel.  Mary Ann brought in her Crazy Quilt piece she was making for her brother that featured a picture of their father and some items that would remind her brother of his childhood.  She was looking for a real, old-fashioned Coca-cola bottle cap to flatten and attach to this pretty sampler.

Lisa was inspired by children's books and one in particular moved her to make what I think the author called the lady with the umbrella? Maybe.  THIS lady has the cutest purse and shoes of the tiniest pieces of felt you ever saw. They were clearly smaller than the scraps she was looking through when one got lost.
I started some work on a second sampler. I practiced some stumpwork with the acorns and a background of Sashiko oak leaves. I also practiced weaving over laid threads and some couching of a weird little eyelash yarn also in my newly discovered favorite color combination.
 This is my favorite color of variegated thread, #4130, called both Chilean Sunset and Pumpkin Spice, depending on which website you are tracking. I have not bought any for myself yet but I am still hoping to get to a "real town" and go to a JoAnn fabric if I can not find a needlework store near here. I will look for it in all the sizes it is available.

My final project is a pin. Do you see what is going on in the picture? It is a dog delving into a trash can.  Dee Dee had some fabric filled with pictures of dogs in a nighttime city scene.  I loved this guy immediately.  I did a little embroidery enhancement, and then used needle felting to make him scruffy looking. I discovered that if I matched the embroidery exactly to the surface it was too subtle and melted into the background. The embroidery on the trashcan is much more effective.  Dee Dee suggested I add the flash of yellow/green to reflect the light from a neon sign that was somewhere "off stage".  

It will always remind me of the nickname my roommates gave me--Backpack--since I was always digging around in the bottom of the backpack to find that one thing I had to have at that moment. It also stands for the time our embroidery class went to the blacksmiths' refuse can, looking for metal to rust onto cloth. Since my return, I have taken a second look at a lot of things around my studio to see if they can be used in new ways. Come back tomorrow and look at my iron treasures.

3.14.12

I have shown you a lot of work my Folk School teacher made but you haven't seen pictures from our class work. These first samplers we made took us the better part of three days.  Here is the sampler Lisa made. See how orderly and neat?

Now look at Mary Ann's. Also easy to follow and organized. Have a look at mine. What do you notice?  I chose yellow as a challenge because I rarely work with yellow and I thought it might stretch me a little. It sure didn't restrain me at all!

I made an attempt to fill in an egg shape and enjoyed seeing how to make the stitches follow a curve.  

I tried out the shisha mirrors and had so much fun I am looking around to find something appropriate for mirrors. Maybe I will work them into some kind of piece for the bathroom. If I could adapt the round shapes into water drop shapes, I might have something. I have the start of a beach theme going in the downstairs bathroom so maybe these mirrors will work.

I found rings to try "off canvas" work and then I attached them to the work. They are in the lower right corner below the mirrors which are attached in lavender and purple. I really enjoyed that and I am also looking to find some things that need rings. Come back tomorrow and see our second pieces.