Weekend Workshop

Well, I should have done an exit poll after Saturday's workshop to see if the description was true...
I said "Fast, fun and easy..." and I do believe that everyone thought it was!
Everyone had their project almost completed by the end of the day. A few hand stitches here, a dozen (or two) beads there and a couple of finishing quilting seams and these babies are ready to hang on the wall.
These ladies amaze me at how well they worked today. I'll admit that I had done a (ton) a lot of prep work before ever stepping foot into the shop but they worked (while chatting, laughing, shouting and eating) non stop all day.
Oh, except for the shopping breaks...
Anyway - here are some pictures -
run over to Jane's blog to see more.

My friend Tonya - just working away (hmmm...or just talkin' away...?) on her beautiful wall hanging.

Here is a closer view of her piece.

And Jane, working away. I wish I had a close up picture of the quilting that she did on her piece...I was quite impressed with that.
Karen and Tonya obviously in awe of something that someone was saying...
Here is my friend Betsy's wall hanging. I love the way that she colored her face. I had provided a variety of transfers for everybody to choose from. We used Glossy Transfer paper and Sheer Heaven - one of my favorite transfer mediums and one of hte few that actually work for me.

I showed them how to take a transfer face up a notch or two with a drawing pencil and paper stump...I love what they all did!

This is a great example of making good use of cosy class space!

Karen Hope's wall hanging here. I love that they all used similar design placements but tweaked it a little bit to suit their own tastes.

These ladies worked very hard today but had a great time.

Thanks everyone for coming to class!

I'm thinking that I might use this class next year when I do a retreat in Colorado Springs...

Oh, I didn't mention that, did I?

I'll have to share some great news with you later on that...

It's All Good.

Her Awakening

Well, I can finally post a few pictures of "Her Awakening",

my latest mixed media fiber art.

I used a lot of rust media that my husband and I rust dyed.

All of our pieces have this wonderful depth of color, don't they?

My husband is the one that does the good job there...

I'm much too, ummm, well,

let's just say that he is much more organized and methodical for that job.

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for some great

fabrics.

I'll be adding Rust Media packs soon...just keep checking.

Or, better still, email me and ask about them!

Lots of yummy rust fibers such as vintage lace, kimwipes,

tyvek, drawer liners, fabric, sheers...

lots of really cool items that we have rusted.

And at a very economical price!

Here she is, with some close ups.

I drew the face on rust dyed Kimwipes,

which are low lint wipes used in industry.

They are so durable and strong...

we dyed them (in a wet environment), machine washed

and dried them in a lingerie bag. You can see that

it has a few areas that washed out

but is still intact and quite vibrant.

I use these wipes for so many different things in my studio...

anything from general clean up to

the main element of a mixed media fiber piece!

This is a close up of the hand dyed cheese cloth on the left hand side.

I don't usually do hand stitching but this piece insisted on it.

I found that I really liked it too...

kinda like a kitty "making bread", the stitching is a calming, stress free activity for me.

I'm sure I'll be adding more to my work.

Here is the small mixed media heart on the lower right hand side.

It is gilded with a gold pen.

Behind it is a piece of the paper fabric that I made

with the word "believe" adhered to it.

The fabric behind that was sent to me

from Pokey Bolten.

I won a blog give away and have

been hoarding the fabric

for just the right project.

This happened to be one of the

"perfect projects".

Thanks Pokey!

This is a vintage doily that we rusted and I

did some hand beading on.

And yes, I sewed a bead at each little

intersection of the doily.

From a distance, it looks like there is

just some type of shimmer...

but when you get closer,

you are rewarded with

a slew of teeny tiny seed beads!

Her Awakening

These are scanned sketches of the central face

in my new mixed media face.

I did tweak it some before the final sketch onto Kim Wipes.

Rusty Kim Wipes.

That I washed and dried in the machine.

Pretty cool look...

all rusty and vintage looking.

I'll try to post pictures

of the actual drawing soon.

She is just beginning to open her eyes

to the world around her.

Won't you welcome her?