MIA Post

Carol here, back after falling down the winter's rabbit hole.

I've been working on a few new things but mostly resting up, reading and drinking hot tea (and coffee).

One of the things that I do in the warmer weather is to rust fabric and different fibers so that I have plenty to play with in the cooler months.
I've been playing around with creating collages out of bits and pieces of rusted and naturally dyed fabric.
I do a compulsive amount of hand stitching on them in the evening when my husband and I sit together. I have to have something in my hands or I go crazy.

I thought I would share a photo of one of the most beautiful pieces of rust fabric I have ever had the pleasure of unrolling in my rust bin.
The photo really does not do it justice.

It looks like a sunset, doesn't it?

I don't think I can bear to cut this piece up.
So it will stay on my design wall for now.

I'll close with a couple of close-ups of a new collage I am stitching on.
I'm almost ready to call it quits on this one.

I still haven't decided what to do with it when I do finish the hand stitching.
I'll try to remember to do a follow up post.

Art Quilt Elements Reception

Kristin here. I had the great pleasure to attend the opening reception of Art Quilt Elements at the Wayne Art Center in PA this last weekend. I blogged about the weekend on my blog (click on my name to go there), and in the next post on my blog, about my impressions and the juror's talk.

Being one of the preeminent art quilt shows, lots of the artists were there. I always enjoy putting names and artwork together with faces and personalities. There are a few people I keep seeing over and over, like Betty Busby who seems to show up to all the events even though she lives halfway across the country in New Mexico. I spent a lot of time with fellow Virginia artist Julia Pfaff, who I had met previously in North Carolina at a PAQA South/SAQA event. And there are all the new faces to meet.

It seemed like there were a lot of New Yorkers there, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet our very own Benedicte live and in person! I don't know if readers can tell from her blog posts, but Benedicte is bubbly and funny and personable and an absolute pleasure to meet. It was fantastic to see her work in person too. It glows just as much as when viewed on a computer screen.

Of course, seeing anyone's work in person is the main reason to go to exhibits in the first place. I've decided that opening receptions, while not mandatory, are really worth it if it's possible to attend. No need to fly around the world, but if it's near a friend or an easy drive or train ride, it should be done. There's no substitute for seeing the art in the cloth, it's an opportunity to get to meet other (often like-minded) artists, there's a positive buzz that is very validating for an artist, and you never know when someone will be there with a winning certificate or check to hand to you!

Beryl here, sorry I keep disappearing ! I thought I'd talk a bit about Indian wood blocks stamps as I'm working with them so much at the moment.

I first came across these stamps in the nineties while doing my City & Guilds embroidery course, they were either very small and intricate or else very large and quite damaged as they had been used for fabric printing in India. Still, if I couldn't use them for art work they made lovely pieces for the coffee table !

I've since come to know a company called Colouricious based in the UK who deal directly with these artistic carpenters in India, Jamie the owner of Colouricious discusses designs and these guys carve them. As these stamps have become so popular it is providing much needed work and has put twenty nine families back to work. ( I'm impressed Jamie )

As you can imagine I am now getting a huge collection of these stamps ( this is just one box. )

I've used the leaf stamp on Tyvek, machine stitched around the image then made a stencil from the same stamp and used 3D puff paint through the stencil.

Flower stamp used on Gelli printed fabric with machine stitching around image.

Final image,messy work table !