Working from nature

Recently, I did a couple of small projects that worked with the world around me.  I have to imagine this is some sort of preparation for the impending winter...

On an early morning walk without Marcel, which coincidentally was kind of a nice change of pace, I found this cool specimen in the road.  The tree from which it came was not anywhere nearby so I am unsure of its origin.  I picked it up to carry it back home.  I thought it was really a lovely thing with all of its leaves and their exotic twists.  I also like the little visible nucleus/seed in each leaf.  

Once home and seated with a coffee, I pulled out some of my sparkly colored pencils and some of my prisma colors that are ancient, going on about 20 years old at this point.  The pencils are tried and true and work like the first time they were used.  I began to sketch from my little bit of nature.  I am still working on the drawing, but it was nice to collect a neat item and spend some time studying it in the studio.

I have, since grad school, been toying with how to dye without all the chemicals.  In my home, there is no safety ventilation system in place.  How do I get to play with color without being toxic to myself and the other family members?  Usually, I am using koolaid on animal fibers- that method will continue to be a favorite.  But, I am still experimenting with dying using more natural ingredients, things I can feel comfortably placing in my cookware.  

On this piece of white tablecloth, with existing stains, I played with some sewn shibori methods and some standard rubber band resists in a coffee dye bath.  Shibori is the Japanese term for tying and then dying.  Vinegar was added to the mixture to assist with color fastness- but I have to say that thus far, I was unimpressed with the results.  I may soon be wrapping the cloth with veggies, stains and other things and laying them in the yard in order to harness the sun's power for helping to dye.  In the end, the coffee grounds did not really adhere to the fabric.  I have also tried purple cabbage, but it too, seemed pretty pale.

Thanks mother nature for your lovelies- I will continue to experiment and keep my eyes open for the curious things you have to offer.

Gifts with meaning and practice in making

It is August and I have a ton of buddies with birthdays coming up, it has me in the studio making cards and little special bits to send off through the post office.

I won't give away too much info as this needs to get shipped off yet, but I was recently gifted a large pile of textile treasures and I used some of these as inspiration and as material for cards.

Just a few of the new textile specimen.  I was inspired by the embroidered and printed patterns of these "new" items.

So taking the colors and patterns to the drawing board, I then set to work with my watercolors.  I haven't pulled those out in a bit, so I was a little rusty and mostly playing with color.  

It should be mentioned that I also stole/ borrowed some of AB's paper in order to work on.  He had, I thought, given me a sketchbook from when he used to take art lessons in middle school.  When I told him I used the paper, he acted a little more like I had stolen it. ;)

After getting these little flowers out on paper, I decided to cut them out and play around with making them the decoration on my birthday card envelopes.  

I used Elmer's glue in order to attach the cutouts onto the envelopes.  From there, I pulled some of the more worn textiles, and cut them down in order to fit onto a paper card.  I glued the fabric to the paper and then added some hand stitched embellishments.  I pulled from my collection of colorful bits that are kept in the studio.  

I was also able to write my special birthday message on the back, paper side.  And now I am off to the post office in order to get this little card along with a small gift to its proper recipient.  I am likely going to be belated a day, but hey handmade comes when it comes.  Happy Making!