Out of the steam bath

Now to let them sit for a while-its so hard to leave them be!

Steamer pot ready to go

All bundled up ready to be steamed. Then they will sit around a while, at least until dry. After that I will open them and see what happened!

Another combination

Herbs and mystery berries

More Steam Printing

Miscellaneous flowers and grape leaves.

Eco Printing

Steam printing with nasturtiums, sage and yarrow.

New Work

I have wanted to make some wall hangings for some time now. I decided on a "warm up" project using some Laurel Birch fabric I had around. They are at The Pottery Place Plus.

Taking Time

Andy Griffith died today. He was 86. If I lived that long that would be 36 years from now. Due to some genetic issues, diseases I have already lived through and how I have lived my life, I doubt I will make it that long. When I thought about what exactly it would mean to get another 36 years I tried to think back about the last 36 years. 36 years ago I was 14. I think of all the things I experienced, felt and saw since then. It is a lot to think about. What would the next 36 years bring? Would it be as rich and varied as the last 36 years? Who knows? I hope I get that many and hope they are as good.
I know people that are that age, or really close. They are not at all what I would picture somebody 86 would look like when I was 14, or even what any of my relatives looked or acted like when they were that age at the time I knew them. Is that because I am older, or is it because being that age is really different than it used to be?

Last night I watched "The Artist is Present" about Marina Abramovic's retrospective at MOMA. she is 65, I hope I am that connected and vital when I reach her age and beyond. Highly doubtful since in this movie she looks 10 years younger than me to begin with!! Looks aren't everything-but good grief!

I guess this rant got started because of a Facebook post by John Thamm about art sales in Spokane. It got me to thinking about how people of a certain age view Spokane vs. how others of another age do. I don't think younger artists ever expect to sell everything they need/want to sell in the town they live in, here or elsewhere. They view the web and other means as a way to sell their art, what they seem to be looking for is an inspiring environment and handle sales in a variety of ways.

This was a really long way around to tell you I will be at the Whitefish Festival of the Arts this weekend-wasn't it?

Lot's of Sun Printing

The cotton pieces on the table are from today, soon to be made into scarves more suitable for summer. The ones hanging on the wall are silk that I did at a demonstration event a year ago. I made them into a garden/prayer flag of sorts to take to an event at Northland Rosarium at the end of the month. It was a beautiful day to be out side. Since it is supposed to start raining again I wanted to get some gardening done tonight, but I hate to disturb the quail in my yard, they sat on the fence most of the afternoon and chewed me out for being between them and the feeder.

Ok, another test

The first kind worked, now let's see what happens this time...

This a test!

I am trying something out from my phone, hopefully this will post! I am off to the show in Port Angeles and I am trying to post from my phone, here goes!

Hand Dyed Paper Flowers

These are made from layers of paper petals that I dyed with alcohol inks. The leaves are made from scraps of hand dyed wool. If you would like to see them in person, I will be at The Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts in Port Angeles this weekend, the street fair is Saturday, Sunday and Monday-hope the weather holds out!

The computer is back, yeah!

So now I can post pictures of what I have been working on! Well, since I just switched from PC to Mac, lets see if I can do this;

Yippee! After much searching I found the one I was looking for! These are new pins I have been working on. The picture itself is pretty fun too-it looks like they are flying!

Computer Blues!

Thanks to dead laptop I have been ignoring my blog and my Etsy page-just way to hard to deal with photography! Anyway, while the search for a new machine continues you can catch up with me and see new work at Mom's Weekend at WSU, Pullman, WA.

Ready for My Close Up!

I turned on my photo lights this morning to let them warm up and when I came back from breakfast Gladys was ready for a photo shoot. I publish this not just because it is cute (and an opportunity to get her photo, usually I would have to glue her in place, so I want witnesses-she is there of her own free will) but to also point out that there is more to making art than one would imagine. I guess this has come up because sometimes when I am out at shows, or talking to people that don't do what I do, that they think I picked this life because some how it isn't like working. Or it is easier than getting a job or something. Or it is a hobby and I don't really "need" the money. Normally this doesn't get me worked up but lately I have been a bit touchy about it.
In this particular image you can see about half the equipment necessary to take pictures of my work. It is probably a given that there is fairly expensive camera there as well as more lights, mannequins and other necessary items. With out pictures I can not show others (clients, galleries, shows, organizations) what I do. It is essentially how I apply for a job. So I can either take them myself or pay some one else to do it. Since I must have images to put on Etsy which is a weekly sometimes daily project it would be cost prohibitive for me to pay some one every time I needed and image done. Then there has to be a computer for processing the images. I do between 15 to 20 shows a year and the various organizations that run these events have about that many different requirements for image formats and other application requirements. Most of the time one has to pay an application or jury fee to even apply. Imagine walking into Macy's to apply for a job and they said "Sure-just give us $35 and you can fill out an application that we may or may not accept".
Then you get to the studio itself. After the sewing machine if you take your mom's sewing basket and multiply that by about 1000 you might have enough stuff to make clothing for sale in volume.
To go to the show requires a reliable vehicle, items for displaying and marketing the work and a tent to protect it all outside in any kind of weather. You have to drive to the shows, set up, sell, take it all down, pack it away and drive home.
This makes it sounds like yards of no fun, when really that is not the case. I just read Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, which yes is kind of a dweeby topic for a book but never the less she does have some interesting points to make. One being that there is such a thing as "fog happiness" meaning, I guess, that some activities while on the surface don't sound fun, they actually add up to make you happy overall. Sometimes people say "Oh you must work all the time" and I say that no, really I only actually "work" the weekends when it is time to  sell my "work". Making it is the fun part, selling it is the work part. That being said, while this is probably the most satisfying thing I could do to make money, I am doing it to earn my living. I come home from the show and pay my bills, allowing the people that work for those companies to collect their paychecks. In addition to manufacturing a product that then generates sales tax for the local government I also pay taxes into the system just like anybody else that works.

Friday Night Collage

I am working on shawls right now, lots and lots of them. So I needed to do something different last night. I called it Evening Meditation.

Printing on Silk with Leaves, Leftovers and Such

Last fall I went to a workshop with a bunch of paper makers that were working with India Flint's steam technique and was it fun! I couldn't wait to start in on it again in the spring-but that was so far away! Then I read in some magazine (that I can't find now-sorry no link!) about doing the same thing with vegetables from the frig-WOW-Nan's science project can now be turned into Nan's art project! Perfect!
1. Do you ever walk by a plastic bag for months and wonder what is in it-but never take the time to look? Well, I finally took a peek in just such a bag and lo and behold there were silk scarves left over from a sun printing demo I did so I ran them into the house and started digging through the veggie drawer. Cabbage? Great! Huckleberries turning slightly scary in a bag? Wonderful! And then of course, yellow and red onion skins too. Wet the silk and then lay it all out.

2. Then you fold the scarf in on itself and you may want to put more veggie matter in some of the folds to make sure you have even coverage. Then roll it up and tie with string-at the workshop the home owner had a great ball of rotted twine which made some really cool marks of its own. See, you should never throw anything out! (Not only do you have a never ending supply of "art supplies" but if your collection gets big enough your family and friends will try to get you on a TV show!) Anyway, here is what it looks like all tied up;

3. Then pop it into a steamer pot, same thing you use to cook your dinner will work just great!

4. As to how long, that is kind of up to you. In this case since my materials were trying to dye the fabric before I ever got started, I went with about 20 minutes and then let them sit in the pot for an hour or two.

5. I took them out and put them on to the heat vents to dry. Now at this point India Flint evidently lets them sit around for months. Since I was already being informed that the combined scent of cabbage, onion skins, moss and rotten huckleberries was less than appealing I opted for over night and then unbundled them.After rinsing,  ironing and hemming, this is what I ended up with; the one pictured is my favorite combo of huckleberries and onion skins.

A purse made from the most uncomfortable skirt ever devised!

Skirtus horrabilis! Scratchy, hot-but it made a fantastic purse!

Cigar Box Purses

Spring (?) Jewelry!

Measuring Tape Jewelry

Collar

Black ruffled collar with beaded pin-"Cosmic Bubble"

Preview for Custers

The Custer Show at the Spokane Fairgrounds will be one week from today and I thought it might be fun to post some of the newer items I will be bringing with me.

I have been playing around with the wool I dyed in November, in addition to fingerless mitts I made these flowers, which can be worn either in your hair or pinned on to a jacket, hat or purse.

Order and Chaos

"Everything you do is Zen." Bodhidharma

Ninety Four Bobby Pins Later...

Here are some shots of some new bobby pin flowers, the first picture is of some I am making with fused glass cabochons I got from my friends at Dog and Pup Studios. I thought the sheer fabric really set off the sparkling glass.

The second image is of ALL their little bobby pin buddies! 

Burned Tins

I am working on some collaged boxes, I haven't decided if they will have some sort of actual purpose when done or whether they are just fun boxes.

I make stuff

I spent Sunday filling out show applications. It cracks me up that some shows want pages of information-including a dozen photographs and a reference from your 3rd grade teacher as to your honesty and character traits and others just want images ("Just the facts ma'am.")Which let's face it, is really what it comes down to. The work. My favorite applications are Zapplication as all one has to do with the pictures is pick out which ones from your stash you think the show organizers or jurors will like, fill in the questions they may or may not ask, pay your money and Presto! You are done. While I am currently making curtains out of my old jury slides and am truly grateful that KODAK quit making slide projectors I think we are still at the stage where digital images are making things a bit tough. If every show in the world would just go to ZAPP standards for images it would solve it all. One show only wanted images and an artists statement, which I think is great-short and to the point. The only problem was they only gave you 200 characters (including spaces). Some art business blog I was reading said you should have an "elevator speech" so that when somebody asks you what you do you have a pat answer. I guess I need to come up with one as while what I finally wrote down isn't quite as brief as the title of this post, it was almost that bad!

Only Time will Tell

The RiverSpeak show will be up until the 26th and the live performances will be the evening of the 17th.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

I am supposed to be editing photos for my Etsy shop. But tonight's evening news has pretty much made the top of my head come off. Lucky you!
During KREM 2 news tonight they interviewed local high school football players about what college they were "signed" to. Don't they have to apply to college just like everybody else? Like, say, pre-med students?? They had these kids lined up at banquet tables like it was some kind news conference. As a proud parent of male offspring; HAVE YOU EVER ACTUALLY SPOKEN TO A 17 YEAR OLD BOY? Really? They gave them the same kind of time as if they had discovered the cure for cancer!
SPEAKING OF CANCER; did you see what good old Susan G. did? This is a prime example of why I can't stand this organization. This group of over achievers doesn't want to race to anything except their bottom line. As a former breast cancer patient the maudlin advertising for their "----- for the cure" events ( I am afraid to even use the phrase for fear they will sue me as they have others) has made me sick from the moment I found out I had the disease-ten years later it still does for many, many reasons. How dare some giant corporation presume that one kind of cancer is more tragic than another or that they know anything about how I feel about my experience and then use people's perceptions of the disease to raise millions; a lot of which pays large salaries and overhead and cures nothing. Then to have the audacity to sue people that are trying to raise money for the same sort of cancer!
                                                                                                                                                                                                Planned Parenthood provided my health care from the time I was in college until several years into my marriage. My early prenatal care was provided by them free of charge. It provides basic health care for thousands of women who would not receive care elsewhere. How many of them will be die FROM BREAST CANCER due to lack of a mammogram (which is what the money went for) because Susan G is alining themselves with the minority far right in this country?
Why aren't the kids with good grades given the same attention as those in sports? Why don't we celebrate some one that may actually discover the cure for all cancers?

January Sale at Pottery Place Plus!

As some may know the Pottery Place Plus cooperative has a sale every January. From now until the end of the month receive 20% off of my work as a thank you for a great year!

Woodland Scarf

I think this scarf is inspired by walking in the woods along the Spokane River.

Winter? Really?

It has been so much more like spring this year, I have pansies that keep trying to bloom! Maybe that is why I was inclined to make these scarves, all ruffles and roses.