Anybody need a notebook?

A small collection of books! Been working hard to have a lot of these ready to sell at CAS, and also at craft shows that Columbia Art Space will be attending. I have a few more with wooden covers ready to be stitched..and a bunch more almost complete. yay!

New Things

Yay yay new quilt!! This was super fun to make. A majority of the floral fabric was given to me by Roberta, one of the ladies in the metals workshop here at Pocosin. It is old upholstery fabric, and it is also really lovely! This quilt is 65" x 45", a good lap-size for curling up on the couch with. I experimented on this quilt with machine stitching the entire binding on. I think it came out alright!

Columba Art Space!!!!

So CRAZY news!!

It's official..I am moving to Columbia, NC!

Columbia Art Space(CAS) which is made up of me, Maia Leppo, and Maura Cartwright, applied for an entrepreneurial incentive grant from the Town of Columbia and we got it!!! Marlene True, True Jewelry Designs, also received a grant to set up her studio!! Columbia Art Space, True Jewelry Designs, and Pocosin arts will be working hard to make Columbia a small hub full of AWESOME artists! This is definitely a place you will want to visit :)

CAS will be a retail/gallery and studio space..we will carry hand-made artwork from local and non local artists and craftsmen. We will of course be selling our own work in the store as well, Maia and Maura are both incredible metal smiths! Keep tuned for CAS's website, FB page, and pictures of our space!

Sweet Finds in Columbia

$2 vintage Coach purse from the local thrift store? Don't mind if I do!

Green

Scarf #2!! I am on a roll..hopefully it will continue! Scratch that..I will make it continue. This one is 11" wide, 80" long, with crammed and spaced warps. Both warp and weft are the same bamboo material..and it is officially my favorite material to weave with! Winding and combing and threading the bamboo is like a dream..virtually no knots, no broken/snapped warps..OMG all you weavers need to try. And it is also super soft and has a nice, almost linen-like drape to it.

The stripes in the warp(vertical direction) didn't come out as noticeable as I had planned...I switched back and forth from 30 to 15 epi, thinking the 15 epi would be pretty loosely woven. They are noticeable when held up to the light, but otherwise are pretty subtle when worn. Perhaps if I didn't pack the weft as tightly? Who knows..I like the outcome, but am going to keep trying to get to the image in my head!

Stripes-s-s-s

First Pocosin project! It is really nice to get back into the swing of making things. Total, this scarf took 10 1/2 hours..not too bad! It is 12" x 80"...the warp is linen and the weft is bamboo. It is a balanced twill, with small stripes of twill going the opposite direction..which didn't come out as obviously as I thought they would, but I like to think that subtle details are always nice :) PS sorry for the myspace pic..I will find a model next time! hehe

Pocosin

YAY I finally have something fun to blog about! So I moved to Columbia, NC on Tuesday for a 3 month residency at Pocosin Arts. I was given an apartment, some space to set up my studio stuff, in exchange for working as project coordinator for events that the school hosts. Everyone here is super nice and accommodating and they have all made me feel very welcome! Here are some pics of where I am..

the apartment!

the living room..

the dining room..

and the bedroom!

the office

the studio space! and apartment door on right

all my things!

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!