making ready (part 2)

There's much list making and scampering around going on but everything feels under control. I bought a variety of hanging rods and fixtures yesterday and over the next few days we'll experiment on our own naked walls to see what works best. The business cards should come in today, cross your fingers.

I've gathered up a squad of smallish, unmounted pieces that I am going to attach two a neutral cloth banner which will hang from it's own rod, two or three pieces per banner.

I found several small things that were left unfinished and reminded me, like this one, what I love about what I do. These are pieces of hand dyed silk organdy and cotton gauze stitched over what might be linen.

working fabrics

SOLD....!

 I would love to hear from you if you've purchased any of my cloth burritos but, more importantly,  I want to see what you've done with any of it!  I'd love to put up links or images.

Sometimes when I look at my stacks and rolls of finished cloth and nothing jumps out an smacks me saying "HEY!" it helps to see where they have led others.

making ready

  I met with the shop owner this morning to make some final decisions about which of the larger pieces would be hung. These in the chair didn't fill the bill,... this time.


I brought all the pieces that she chose from my website and another ten that I thought would work..several that have never been on my website because I never had a chance to get good photographs.  Something I plan to remedy as soon as we can get them up on the walls.


Colin toted the rolled up quilts for me and we carpeted the big room with them..sorry that I didn't take a picture of that.

The riotous array was pretty overwhelming but Candace had no trouble making her choices and ordering them along the walls. This is not something that I would be good at so I was very glad she was ready for us.

I'm particularly happy that she wanted "Front Runner" , "Pirate Circus" and "Giraffe Crossing"  - none of them have ever seen the world outside the studio.

Now that I know what's going up I'll be rounding up the necessary hardware. Starting to get excited.

wrong turn

I made major misstep with this piece by putting a layer of cotton batting under it before machine stitching the larger elements in place.

When I sat down to start some of the hand stitching the first stitch reminded me of the nagging worry that I had pushed back...dreaded bearding. The top cloth was open linen, the batting was old and cotton and the thread partly metallic. A huge tuft of white cotton was pulled through the top along with the black thread. Stop. snip.

I spent the rest of the evening clipping the batting away from the back giving thanks that I had not gotten carried away with the machine stitching and was able to cut almost all of it away.

Every time I catch this piece out of the corner of my eye I think about Karma. Crumpled up in a chair or tossed on the work table, it brings her to memory and mind.

Not that Karma ever let Sweetie get this close but she seems to have an affinity for this piece. The only time she won't get on it is when I hang it on the design wall.

Thank the stars for that  stickybuddy thing.

lazy boro

When I climbed into bed last night I accidentally tore the strap off a favorite old nighty. I was carrying my sewing stuff (which is why I clumsily kneeled on the hem of the nighty in the first place) so I sat there and did a little hasty boro..while I was still wearing it..not bad for upside down and backwards..

inventory

I am in the market for something like a giant's coffin. Something to keep these cloth logs stored in. I've spent the morning ferreting out rolls of quilts from all the various keeping places upstairs. There was a moment of panic when I couldn't find two of the pieces that my host expressed interest in... but they turned up.

 So did a lot of other things that I haven't looked upon in some time. It's quite shocking to me how much better they are in person than mere images flickering on the web. 

This is "Secret Message" laid out for inspection. This piece kindly reminded me what I love about free motion stitching. No matter how many times I've tried to photograph it - the image on my website is actually an experimental composite of two lightings, natural and artificial - which was a whole lot of work and still it does not do the real thing justice. Sure makes a case for professional photography but that's not happening anytime soon.

detail from Secret Message

There were several that never made it to my website at all, excuse unknown - "Giraffe Crossing" which was born down at Focus on Fiber 07 at the ACA in Florida.  I'm taking this one and several others back over to the shop so she can audition them in person. I have about 35 finished pieces most larger than 45" on the short side, a handful closer to 70" on a side.  A whole lot of fabric has been whipped into a frenzy here.


 a side note about tools...I recently took a chance on a  Sticky Buddy (as seen on an obnoxious TV commercial) and guess what? It really works!  I wouldn't try to clean my couch with it but it's great at the studio work table.

I also uncovered a few red-headed stepchildren that never even got named, like this one which really irks me because I spoiled several pieces of  special cloth in a hasty dash to fool with a new technique. This piece is destined for dismemberment and hopefully, rebirth.




back to work

slip sliding away....

Now that I've implanted that tasty earworm in your head, here's why it's on my mind. I almost let an important event go slip sliding away.

Back in the spring I was invited to have a one person show at a very popular local shop, the Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore in Roswell, GA.  They have a large meeting/classroom and turn the walls over to local artists. My show is set to open on August 3. Now you know what I know...that's right, the scramble is on.

Of course the work is ready to go. I'm meeting with the owner tomorrow to select which pieces she wants to hang or carpet the place with. There will be pictures, eventually.

 
On my side of the court, I have to order business cards and update my website which has cobwebs on it. The image on the left is going to be the front of the card - a detail from "Stars Out of Place" - and the image below on the back of the card, if I can have my way.

What say ye?

chaos, ordered up

I spent most of yesterday morning reordering the studio so I can start the machine work on the new piece. Poor Big J hasn't been put through his paces since the last time I had it serviced. The room is a bit cramped but highly functional...warning ..DO NOT open those closet doors!  Order is nice.

the rush!

Don't know how or why but there's a rush on at the store!
The sale is ongoing, buy one get the next 10$ off . and there's still a nice selection.

Picnic

results

Here's what's come of yesterday's work overdyeing and discharging the black and white pieces that turned up gray and green. The surprise of the whole lot? All the way on the left is a small piece of a big piece of cloth that I picked up at OHCO on the weekend.

 I bought it because it was light enough (beige originally) to dye and the jacquard pattern was bold and interesting but once I handled it, it  was so stiff with some upholstery chemical stain protection that I gave up all hope of dyeing and bought it for backing cloth.

 I cut a foot wide strip to use as a stabilizing base under the damasks as I painted them then I noticed it was wicking up the dye gradually.  After dyeing and discharging it has turned out to be so full of character and potential that  I called Jan to stop by the shop and see if the other large piece of it was still there. dumped in a bin like so much trash. $3 a pound.

taking another tack

The beautiful new cloths suffered in  a failed attempt at a neutral black. After batching a whole hot day they were crawling with green blooms. Rather than moan over it  I dreamed a plan that includes overdye and discharging. There are in the colors right now.

There are tons of cloth in the world still waiting and these will be just as special as others I have worked on, not failures...it was only the experiment that ran off the rails.