Bags!

At the beginning of the summer, Molly and I started working on a project to design and make swag bags for Design Ethos (a graphic design conference that SCAD hosted). The bags are made out of spare canvas from a shop in Savannah, and the straps are made from old banners from a museum in Savannah. All locally recycled/reused. After a ridiculous amount of cutting (by Mol!) and sewing and sewing and sewing and sewing...we finished and delivered the bags a couple weeks ago! We are keeping our fingers crossed that another job making similar products will come from this.

Oh hello again

Woah been bad at posting! Here are some pictures of a quilt I just finished for Maia in exchange for some jewelry she made me and my sister. It's lap-sized (if that makes any sense) and is mostly made out of purchased material, but the blue fabric I dyed with indigo and the grey wool is from a sweater that Maia shrunk. My favorite part is the little pocket! I like how the different weights of fabric quilted..the best part is taking it out of the washing machine once everything has been sewed and seeing the different textures. I am getting better at stitching the binding on..and I owe my choice of red accents to Molly!

Wood Turning 101

The lathe! Set up with bowl #1 (attached to left side)

Instructor Warren giving some useful tips to Maia!

This is what I look like when I'm turning! A nice action shot, check out those flying wood chips.

The first finished bowls!!!

Pretty pumped about wood turning..we were completely covered in wood shavings and chips for the whole week! Also note the really cool head gear.

Some pens!

You start off with pen blanks - little blocks of wood or resin that been drilled through the center, and a small metal tube has been glued to the inside of the blank

The blanks get pushed onto a mandrel, and get squeezed between the head and tail stock of the mini lathe

This is what it looks like when I am turning a pen! Lathe is spinning, and I used various turning tools to shape the wood into whateeever I want!

A turned pen before it is taken off the lathe..this one was made out of palm.

The first three that I made!! Hurray!

Last week I took a mini-lathe class, mostly concentrating on pen turning. It was pretty fun, and you feel kind of special writing with a hand made wood pen! The second half of the week I learned to turn bowls on a normal sized lathe..which was way messier and way more fun! I'll get pics soon!

lilly things

Some little books I made for fun!! The first one is just a simple stab bound notebook, and the second two are small, coptic stitch books made out of craft paper and newspaper.

More Shibori

Here are some pics of the final shibori piece! The first two are process photos of what the fabric looked like before I dyed it. I measured out where I wanted the dye to be resisted, and then wrapped beans tightly in the fabric to get a circle shape. The final result was two layers of fabric, and I drilled and hung a layer of beans in between the fabric. If you stand directly in front, all the circles line up with the beans. Kind of silly, but it was fun!

Shibori!

So last week I finished my first class, a 3D Shibori class taught by Jozef Bajus. The basic idea is to tie/bind/clamp fabric in specific patterns or designs so that when they are immersion dyed, the string or clamps or whatever will act as resists. Fancy tie-dye! Here are a few picture of what the fabric looks like before it is dyed..

And what some of the fabric looked like after!! During second half of the class, after learning all the basic techniques, we were given an assignment to create some type of 3-dimensional form to hang in an outdoor space. Stay tuned for pics!

Tennesseeeeee

After a night spent in Roanoke, and getting lost in the mountains of Tennessee for more than an hour...I made it! I have a work study position at Arrowmont for the next six weeks! I will be working in the campus bookstore in exchange for taking workshops. So far I have set up my twin bed and walked around campus...and tomorrow I start work! It is super beautiful here, I can't wait to explore. Pictures soon!!

Fabric!

Pictures my friend Amy took of some of my screen-printed fabric! Printed on 4 yard pieces of cotton, linen, and burlap. I think the white/light blue one is my favorite..still haven't figured out what to do with this yet!

Home

This is what it looks like to live with girls! Pretty cute, in my opinion. Miss my savannah house and roomies!

H20 2

More prints!! This one is a 2-plate etching, also based off of water. When I took this class, I was kind of stumped on what to make my etchings look like. A lot of kids in the class were doing super cool illustrations of monsters and funny things..and I am no illustrator, so I wasn't sure what to do. I think by using water and oceans as inspiration, it allowed me to really explore materials and techniques, and to not worry so much about having to draw an image. I had fun learning how to create different textures and surfaces, and to create depth and atmosphere by using only a thin copper plate!

Haha remember when I said I would post something everyday?? It starts NOW!

H2O

I made this print in the intro to etching class that I took last quarter. It is a 1 plate printing using a white ground and aquatints. I really loved the etching class because it was the first time in a while that I learned a completely new process. Usually sticking to fiber processes for everything I make..I really loved learning how to do something new. There are so many steps and techniques involved in etching that you can either chose to do or not...and there is so much room for experimentation. I love the mixture of having to be technical and fluid at the same time.

also...for sale!!

Tybee!!

For the past 2 weeks, I have house/dog sitting on Tybee. It is sooooo beautiful! Incredibly hot during the day, almost too hot to go to the beach..but once the sun starts going down it is perfect outside! Lookit that sunset. Yum!