I couldn't resist taking this picture of the delightful and creative Larkin van Horn as we power-shopped in the vendor mall at Houston early in the week. I didn't think those trimmings were meant to wear on one's head, but I must have been wrong. If a fashionista and Bernina Fashion Show designer like Larkin does it, it must be right!
Typical of the spirit and fun we had this past week.
Jump-starting Your Next Quilt was another spontaneous workshop with only ONE rule: No thinking allowed - just do it! Did we have a good time? You bet! Here are Lynn Smith and Jennifer Hill (with Betty Ford in the background) working quickly and spontaneously to make a small piece based on something, I don't recall what.
Below is Betty Ford, the poster child for laughter and fun! One of the exercises we did was to interpret (interpret, NOT imitate) a photograph of something I gave to them. To the left of Betty's hand is a picture of an escalator and on the other side, her very spare, architectural interpretation.
Above, Clara Russo's prodigious output with some pieces that might develop into a series. There is Mary Jane Russell with her jump-started original pieces, below.
And then, Lynn and her wonderfully abstract interpretation of the photo below it. This was a new way of working for Lynn and she discovered how liberating it is to be spontaneous and create original work. 
At the end of the afternoon, I handed everyone a piece of my own fabric, printed just a few days ago with dye and soy wax. I wanted to see what they would do with it. Unfortunately, I didn't get pix of all of the pieces, but these will give you the idea of the range and originality when people are forced to do the unexpected. Cool! They are all so different.
#1 Clara # 2 Mary Jane #3 Pam Morris
All in a creativity workshop's day! Their reward was to go shopping at the vendor displays. My reward was to put my feet up with a Starbuck's Frappachino (or however they spell it).
Exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, teaching at Houston was an experience! The morning I was demonstrating how to put text and images on fabric, who showed up but fellow blogger artists, Rian and Debra. How great to meet them and I wish I'd had more time to chat. But it was too hectic. Here we are!
My "Surface Design with Found Objects" students had the most fun they've had since kindergarten and, in fact, played as though they WERE in kindergarten. Completely spontaneous screening and stamping led to such beautiful fabrics that I wished that they were mine. One finally was: Liz Berg and I did a little trade and I ended up with a luminous piece of her fabric. This is a different piece.
And below, a detail from the lovely fabric that Anna Rodriguez screened. The layers of gold and the darker color that she added give a complexity to the piece that keeps it from being too 'pretty.' Like all of the pieces above, this was screen printed and stamped with original stencils and/or 'found' objects. 
The following day, I taught "Jump-starting Your Next Quilt" (aka Jump-starting the ART Quilt). Stay tuned for more pictures.
After being amused by Mary's quilt, I came upon Anne Datko's journals and was quite moved to read the statement about this lovely quilt. It's so exciting to see the fabric people create in my workshops actually be used in artwork!
Even more moving was Anne's piece that had been juried into Tactile Architecture. Fabric she made in the Printing with Found Objects workshop I gave at the Nimble Fingers Guild in Bethesda last Spring spoke eloqently in this gem of a piece. Anne, you should be so proud! 
A quickie before I fall into bed. Got here, got settled, and by the time I reached the convention center, Market was almost closing. Nevertheless, I was focused and managed to see everybody I needed to see and accomplish what I needed to do by the time they closed at 4:00. Happy hour at the hotel, then dinner with Larkin Van Horn and Laura Cater-Woods. Tomorrow, getting organized for teaching on Wed. morning -so I need to get a good night's sleep. After all the wine, I suppose I will. No pix today - nothing to see at the convention center and we can't get back onto the floor till Wed. night or Thurs. Nevertheless, I shall take my camera with me tomorrow to see if there are any interesting things I can find to shoot in Houston.
Ack - I hear a rumor that the World Series starts here tomorrow night: right next door to the convention center.
Still haven't packed: wanted to get last night's pile of fabric and scarves done. Now that they are done, I am going to get on with it. There are some nice bits on this piece - which is completely done with found objects.
The big round circle with the little circles in the middle is a big old rusty thing I found last summer lying in a junk pile outside the blacksmith's shop at Peters Valley. In fact, the smaller round circle is another rusty thing from the same pile. God knows what they are or were, but it doesn't matter. They are art supplies now.
And this next little gizmo is part of a copper grid of some sort that my friend Marlene and I liberated from a construction site one day in London. We divided it up amongst her Colour Group but I don't know whether anybody else has used theirs yet.
This piece is a couple of yards long. Some parts of it might need more work but I'm not sure. I think I'll throw it in the suitcase and add something while I am teaching Printing with Found Objects. I will have my laptop with me and will check in and report if I have a spare minute. In the meantime, I wish I had been able to steal this sign from Paris -- but at least I have the image.
Reward for a day of hard work. This morning, flu shot at the health department. Afternoon, mostly paperwork. Dinner was tuna fish. Not TUNA, but tuna fish. The canned kind. I normally don't cook on weekends . Well, opening a can of tuna and adding onions, apples, walnuts, mayo and a little yogurt doesn't technically qualify as cooking, but I happen to dislike tuna fish. I love TUNA, however. Grilled rare, preferably brought to the table by a server. Alas, t'was not to be. It was so chilly and raining so hard that we opted to stay in. It is now midnight, eastern daylight savings time, and I am starving. To look at me you would not think I was starving -- but I am so desperate that I just finished the leftover tuna fish. The tea and ginger cookies are dessert.
It's not quite like the patisserie window above or the midnight buffet on the cruise I've never taken, but it will do. At any rate, my evening activity made up for the boring paperwork. While Marty watched a rerun of Erin Brockovitch, I heated up the wax and got to work with my found objects & other items. <
This is one piece of fabric that I printed randomly, crumpled up and sitting there till morning, when I will see what it looks like and maybe iron it. Yes, I know I need to pack, but I have to finish this. There is also a scarf lying there, as you might have noticed. I printed several of them tonight. Here are the rest of them, on the drying rack next to the table.
I think I'll need to go back into those but maybe not tomorrow. As for tonight, I am off to get my beauty sleep. I'll give you a peek at any of the results tomorrow if I have them.
Pat Dolan made a couple of comments which I figured I might as well respond to: "discharge paste??? tell us more." Ah, discharge paste which I used on my faded black t-shirt. Jacquard makes it and you can buy it anywhere they sell dyes. You paint it on and then steam-iron it, using parchment paper or newspaper (if you are using wax). It smells absolutely vile when you are steaming it and you really should do it ouside and/or wear a darth vader mask. As you steam iron it, the color comes out, and you can control the way it looks by how long you iron it for.
I did this on my kitchen table after I opened the entire sliding glass door to the deck and the front door. It still stank. Or stunk. Or smelled awful. But it worked. The alternative is Thiox, which you mix yourself and which smells just as bad - so don't bother. Another alternative is bleach, which will destroy your fiber unless you soak it in cold water and then anti-chlor which you purchase from ProChem or a similar product from Dharma, or a chlorine neutralizer from a swimming pool supply company. Do NOT even think about using bleach or a bleach pen without anti-chlor or your fabric will ultimately be in shreds. And no, vinegar is not a substitute. Anti-chlor is inexpensive and lasts forever because you use only about 1/2 tsp at a time. Off my soapbox, now.
Most of my stained t-shirts are printed, either with thermofax screen images or gelatin plate prints or screened with found objects -- or a combination. The first time I dyed/screened a white shirt we had been to an Indian restaurant and I had gotten a yellow stain on it. Dyed the whole thing yellow and screened on it in purple and I was off and running. So, yes, I advise you all to do the same. What the hell - otherwise they'll be rags for washing the car.
"Hey, move your dyeing studio upstairs, outside or to the garage and just keep on going! "
As my late mother-in-law said, ''tell it to the marines." Hahahaha. Come visit me some time, Patty. Actually, I wash all my equipment out in the kitchen sink because my sink in the basement is in the guest bathroom and it is too dainty. OUTSIDE?? I live in a townhouse condo, so that would be my teensy deck, most of which is taken up with a gas grill. If I lived in a warm climate, maybe. And the garage? We have the smallest one-car garage on the planet and my husband's car lives there. So, if I am to become a famous fabric designer I will have to be single. My dear husband claims that he lives with 3 other people and they are all named Rayna. He also claims that he has 3 feet of space in the bedroom (not true, he has 2 feet of space). His work surface at night and on weekends is the kitchen table. But enough about this.
On another subject...I guess I've joined the fabric postcard brigade. I was up till 2:am working on the 4"x6"s and I think I'm finally getting into it. I made a postcard for laura cater-woods' Art Doing Good auction and now I've made a few more. Not all the pix came out -- I have had this digital camera for a few years and still can't take good close-ups. But here are a few that did come out ok. 
I am taking these and a few others to Houston with me. But over this weekend, before I leave, I really need to put facings on a couple of other large pieces I may need for my solo exhibit, which I am hanging the day after I get back. Not the greatest timing, but what can I say?
11:15 p.m. and I have work to do.
Alas, my two days of bliss in the studio have come to a close. Tomorrow I have to take my mother to the eye doctor and over the weekend I really have to pack and do my final organizing for Houston; I leave early Monday morning.
I used those wood stamps I should not have bought last night and they are worth every penny and every twinge of guilt. They are wonderful!! I dyed, soy waxed, ironed, and washed about 4 yards of fabric, a couple of scarves, and another shirt that needs one finishing touch before I post it. Here is the entire piece, followed by a detail shot. Clicking on them will give you a better look.
I spent the morning doing paperwork, paying bills, and such. But I did take a walk to the bank -- applause please, for the WALK part. I normally take my car and stop on the way to umpteen other places, but this morning I didn't have any other place to go and it is only a five minute walk each way. I felt virtuous for about a half hour afterwards. Spent the afternoon mixing up a batch of dyes and working on some scarves that are now in the washing machine.
Here is what it looked like on Monday.
Tomorrow I am spending another day in the studio. Hooray!
Do we look like we're having fun? Here I am with Mary Manahan, who refused to have her picture taken until I bribed her by promising to appear in the frame. When we finally met today, I felt as though we were already good friends from all the blog conversation. And we did have a lot of things in common, didn't we, Mary?
We all had a great time and everybody walked away with plenty of new ideas and a feeling of freedom to do whatever they wanted without worrying about 'should' or 'shouldn't.'In one of the exericses, I gave everybody a piece of fabric I had printed and wanted to see what each of them could do with it. No two were ever remotely alike, as you can see below.The fabric I gave out was the green and purple, cut into 6 pieces, all of which were slightly different because I had hand-printed it. #1 is Marlene's piece. #2 is Judy 's, #3 is Mary's, #4 is Barbara's and #5 is Connie's. Janet hadn't finished hers so it isn't here.
I
Surface design is hard on the tootsies. After a day of waxing & dyeing (it sounds like a day at the beauty parlor) silk scarves in the museum studio today with my crit group, all I could do was flop into my chair, feet on the ottoman and laptop -- where else? Eventually I made dinner. And very eventually, Marty and I actually went out for a walk around the neighborhood. I couldn't bear to change out of my Birks, though.
I meant to write about my day on Saturday but didn't have time over the weekend. The NJ State Council on the Arts in conjunction with Aljira Gallery in Newark, sponsored a day-long professional development workshop for artists. It was great! There were breakout groups on networking, on goal-setting, on financial issues, on presenting your slides, and on a bunch of other salient topics. For me, the key issue was TIME MANAGEMENT. You know how when you do Weight Watchers and have to write everything down, you see what your eating patterns are and you become more conscientious about what you eat? Well, same thing when you have to write down everything you do and how much time you spend on it. You see what your day looks like and then after two weeks of that, you decide what you are going to do about it.
I've already had to note that this is the second time I'm sitting with the laptop and feet up today...and it probably won't be the last. I should write down how much time I spend ironing little bitsy pieces of fabric, which I am about to do YET AGAIN, and I might discover something worth changing. Or not.
Tomorrow is a teaching day and my biggest treat will be meeting Mary Manahan, who is coming in from Pennsylvania to take the class. I'll be sure and take my camera. Stay tuned.
As a reward for all my work this week, I played a little bit with batik. Below is a remnant of one of Helene Davis' hand-dyed fabrics. Now, while it is subtle and gorgeous and complex and there are undoubtedly a lot of people who would kill for this piece and make something fabulous with it, it is not a colorway I use a lot of. In that case, I decided I could spare it for an experiment.
So, all you other surface designers out there: what is it that compels us to take a perfectly beautiful piece of fabric and change it? Are we never satisfied?
This is the inside of a plastic box I've been filling with scraps to take to Houston. Odds and ends and bits and leftovers that I can't travel without, just in case the urge to make a little piece of something hits me. I'll finish filling it and take it to my Jump-starting the Art Quilt workshop so I can work along with my class.
As I was ironing the scraps and tossing them into the box, I saw some combinations that would look great together and wanted to stop and put them on the design wall. But I didn't have time. There's nothing like going through the stash to make you see things you hadn't seen before...things that have been there all the time. Try it; I do it periodically and it always yields a new piece
What's this?? Box #2. Almost full and almost ready to duct-tape closed. Then there is one more little bitsy box that probably won't even be full, but I have enough extra stuff that I will need it. It's the shipping back that gets to me.
It is raining cats & dogs and has been horrendous all day. There is something comforting about being in on a day like this: my mother used to iron when it rained and when I came home from school, the kitchen smelled of warmth and steam. I think I love to iron because it gives me a sense of comfort. So,
ironing all these fabrics today in a torrential downpour seemed appropriate.
One more thing: I sat down at the machine late this afternoon and stitched this piece that's been sitting around waiting to be finished.
The middle is a gelatin plate print, the green border is image transfer, and the outside is a piece of Helene Davis' fabric that some time ago I did something to, but I can't remember what. I'm too lazy to look back at my own archives to find out what I did. I will take it with me.
Tonight I picked a get out of jail free card, so I will have to make a cup of English tea and decide what this wonderful gift entitles me to do.
When is a piece finished? During the current Quilt National exhibit, the best-of-show winner was removed from the show and the award given to another piece. This was because the winning quilt had apparently been made prior to the 'must be made AFTER..." date. The artist countered that while the quilt appeared to have been finished before that date, it was not actually finished because she added some new touches to the piece after the date.
Hmmm... When do you consider a piece finished? If you add a few stitches and beads or thingies 2 years after you first complete a piece, does that make the quilt finished as of that date? If, a year later, you make major changes to a piece that substanatially change what it says, does that it finished as of THAT date?
Food for thought - and for discussion. Is the quilt above a new quilt or an old quilt?
I believe that despite the fact that I made the first version (below and badly photographed) about 6 years ago and never exhibited it anywhere because I hated the shiny background; despite the fact that I totally took it apart, removed the quilting (and lost those wavy blue lines along the way) and despite the fact that I replaced the background with a newly batik'd piece of fabric in Sept '05- it remains a six-year old quilt.
What do you think?
One of the goodies that arrived the other day: a copper tjap that should be fun to use. It will probably be November before I have a minute to do so, however. But I promise that I am finished buying these things. Honestly. Really.
Yesterday, we drove through an east coast rainstorm to Bethesda, MD so we could attend my stepson's 40th b.d. party. It took us nearly 6 hours to make a 4 hour trip. But worth it once we arrived. Fortunately, I brought along a couple of pieces that needed sleeves and I stitched them on while we sat on the highways.
More when I get home.
I just got back a bunch of slides I had made for my Dye/Paint/Print demo in Houston. Problem is, I can't find my loupe, my little slide viewer thingie is out of batteries, and my slide projector doesn't work. So we'll all be in for a surprise. They look pretty good to my nekkid eye--but we'll see. I sent a bunch of jpgs off to a digital-to-slides place and if they are good, this will be the way to go as far as I am concerned.
Where is all of this leading? Some of you asked for a gelatin print tutorial so I figured I'd share with you some of the pictures I made into slides, taken during one of my classes. Nancy Marculewicz' book Monoprinting with a Gelatin Plate is really excellent - although she is a printmaker who works on paper. I've done it on paper,too. But I still love fabric best.
Here I am putting a blob or two of paint on the plate, which I will roll out in the next photo.
Heh heh - this block has been used for a while, but here it is with a piece from my grandson's card game. I'm going to lay the fabric on top of it and see what happens.
This is my favorite part. Surprise!! And in the next picture, another print on the same fabric.
And finally, a raft of prints on my design wall: the piece that never got made. 
I have tons of these and one of these days I'll do something interesting with them. Maybe.
Not only have I been on a shoe-buying rampage (if two pairs qualify as a rampage) I now seem to be buying up every tjap in sight. I bought five of them at the Puces in Paris and used the one on the left to print the piece on the right. I love this little tjap - it reminds me of a dreidl - the top used to play a game on Chanukah. I made a tentative dip with the diamond design one but 
haven't really worked with it. Nor have I touched the others yet. To make matters worse, I just ordered 4 copper tjaps from Dharma.Last time they had 'em, every one I ordered was already gone. So I figured if I ordered 4, I might get one. WRONG. Apparently nobody else had selected those 4, so now I am in for a penny, in for a pound. Do not let me even THINK of buying any more of these things! Here are the others.
I am tempted to do something with them tonight but I really have to clean up my studio so my grandchildren don't kill themselves when they come tomorrow night. On second thought...
Just to be consistent - left foot encased in Arche sandal ordered from Zappo's. Another bargain, but I'm done till next year. I think.
I didn't take any pictures of graffiti in London, but I couldn't resist this road sign. 
We came upon it on the way to visit a gorgeous Elizabethan estate. Elizabeth I lived here from infancy till she became queen. Unfortunately there was some educational program going on inside for school children so we could only see it from the exterior. This smidgen of roof line will give you the idea.
My friend Marlene lives in a beautiful part of London near the famous Hampstead Heath. Isn't a charming house?
It was here that Marlene and I had our wonderful play day with the other artists who belong to the ColourFX Textile Group with her. Alicia Merrett, Christine Restall, Claire Crocker, Margaret Jarvie & Stefanie Rickard did gelatin plate printing and batik. We also ate and yakked. 
Here are Christine and Alicia. Alicia is gelatin printing in the background. Missing is Linda Colsh who wished she could have zipped over from Brussels for the occasion. We worked with a variety of textile and acrylic paints - whatever we had with us. Doing batik with paints gives you a different effect from working with dyes. You need to dilute the paint with lots of water, but even so, frequently the other side of the cloth will look different (sometimes much better) than the side you're painting on. Herewith, a couple of my sample pieces from play day. This one started with white fabric, unusual for me. I batik'd with one of the tjaps I bought in Paris.
These are from a piece that has so many nice bits that I don't know where to start. Brush, and Marlene's potato masher - LOL.
Just to change the pace a bit: we spent one day with Marty's British cousins. (My husband's mother was a Brit.) I discovered them on the Internet about two years ago: their grandmothers were sisters. One of those miraculous things that happen when you do a family search. We went to England to meet them for the first time in April '04 and we saw them again last week for the second time. It was love at first and second sight and we all feel as though we have known each other forever. No spring chickens, these 3 men. But oh, so happy to see each other. Their grandmothers were sisters: can you see the genes?
Ok - enough of this idle chit-chat. I will leave you with a picture of the "real" London or you won't believe that we were really there.
Big Ben/Parliament. Spectacular from any angle or distance. Unfortunately, I can't look at it without hearing Chevvy Chase's voice from the movie "Family Vacation." Funny as hell but ruined the building for me forever. Next time, if you are REALLY lucky, I will post some pictures of lovely West Orange, NJ. (just kidding)
