Many fiber artists are participating in this blog hop through answering 4 basic questions about their art. So here we go:
1. What am I working on? This past weekend I played around with doing some more over-dyeing using shibori techniques. This was a piece that I previously clamped and dyed, using accordion folding with large metal washers and small tiles. I refolded it in one direction, then another , put rubber bands around it and squeezed black dye into the folded edges. I'm liking the complex layers of pattern and design.
Below is a closeup.
Below is an overdyed pink and orange ice dyed print, on which I used a shibori technique
called capping.
And recently, I've started tie-dyeing a few hats, just because.
Here's the results from Sunday's experiment, which didn't turn out as well as I hoped it would,
but it's ok. I either needed to stitch a more simplified leaf or do 2 to 3 rows of stitching around the maple leaf, so the shape would show up better.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? I have been fortunate enough to take workshops from a lot of great teachers, Jeanette de Nicolas Meyer, Caryl Bryer Fallert, Rosalie Dace, Melody Johnson, Sandy Cummings and am currently taking an online class through Craftsy from Jane Dunnewold. I love learning new techniques but do not want my finished work to resemble theirs. I try to allow the fabric to dictate the direction of the design and that's where the focus is, like in this quilt. Although this quilt has mark making which I've learned in a variety of classes, it is combined with lots of free-hand embroidery which I've enjoyed doing since I was 16.
3. Why do I write/create what I do? Because I have to. It is what makes me tick and keeps me sane. With teaching art full time in a middle school, I really have to make a conscious effort to carve out time for my own creating. I'm trying to find two to three hours every weekend, and trying to hang in there until summer, when I'll have more time to truly experiment.
4. How does my writing/creating process work? This will be my 116th post. I started my blog shortly after getting an article on Itajime Shibori published in Quilting Arts (December/January 2012/13). I'm a teacher at heart and like to share with others my experiments since I have learned so much from visiting other artists' websites. Hopefully what I do will inspire someone else to play around with creating fabrics. Blogging is also a great way to keep an art journal and chronicle my work for myself. Someone whose blog has inspired me is Linda McLaughlin, so I am inviting her to join in the blog hop. I've been especially enjoying looking at her fabulous hand-stitching in her weekly leaf series. Her blog is "Notes from Studio B" and you can check out her lovely work here .
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