new blog

Hi! I have a new home. Please visit me here.

impression

I have been playing with the idea of "impression." As in the impression of an object, something left behind after that object is gone. I just wanted to see what would happen with the tomato....

But what I am really interested in are tea bags. I have been saving my tea bags from this quarter to possibly do something with in the fall and I had this idea last week to also have the impression from each bag. So I began on this piece of watercolor paper last Monday.

I love the ghost-like image that remains. The contrast between the hard and soft edges are beautiful and they almost resemble cocoon shapes.
The blue-green impressions are from a green tea with berries. Its supposed to suppress the appetite, but I dont think it works. I like the taste tho and the colors from the impression are intense and deep.

I am going to start a daily practice of collecting the impressions from my tea bags. I have made small pieces of paper into single signatures (just a folded piece of paper that would be sewn into a book) but instead of binding them I am stacking them between two blocks of wood.

Once the stack gets very high it will be hard to balance, which is ultimately what this piece is about. Drinking tea brings me a calm and balanced feeling. I try very hard to have balance in my life, I need it and I thrive on it.

Thats it for now, I am trying to figure out whether to post my daily collages all at once because I have about 16 to catch you up on. It would be a super long photo post, but I guess that wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing.

coptic

I just couldnt get this idea out of my head last week, so I had to make it to see what it looked like. I went crazy with the coptic stitch. The book is about 5.5" x 7" and it took about 8 hours total, worked over 3 days. Every stitch was very meditative and satisfying. As I got into a rhythm it reminded me of the breathing practice we do in yoga, called ujjayi breath. It is an audible, hollow sounding breath through the nose used to sooth and focus your attention to your practice. In a sense, this practice demonstrates how the breath can connect your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual selves together. The sound of piercing the paper and drawing the thread through each opening reminded me of the breath. It created an essence. I recorded the sound to capture this essence. I did a few test rounds then a final round, and after each time I listened to the recording as I continued to stitch the book together so it created this stereo effect- listening to the recording while creating the sound. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process.

hostel in the trees

This is where I'll be spending my birthday this year, with Chris and about 14 fibers girls (and painting and graphic design girls). This was the only time we could work in the trip with my class and it happens to be on my bday so Im pretty freakin excited! Its going to be great.

Ive been trying to get organized and straighten out my life lately but its been super difficult with school and my internship. Im trying not to be too hard on myself and feel like I havent made enough work, because I have been working really hard, its just in different ways where I dont end up with something physical or complete to show for it.

In an attempt to get myself back in balance I am taking yoga classes at the Savannah Yoga Center. And Chris signed up too, completely unexpected! We've been to two classes so far and its been wonderful. I have been out of practice for too long and its great that Chris is doing it too. Yoga is such a great way to clear your mind and strengthen your body. I started practicing at the gym where I worked almost 10 years ago (? 10? is that possible? am I that old where 10 years ago I was a teenager?!), and have been doing it at home with crunch fitness dvds (which are awesome by the way). Ive been out of practice for almost a year now and feel grateful to be getting back in to it.

I must be going now but since I hate to leave you pictureless.....



Sawyer eating the floor in my newly organized studio. I cant wait till the whole house is done! I promise to post with in progress and completed work soon. Ciao!

knitting math

For anyone interested in writing their own knitting patterns or altering the ones already out there, I found this article. And if you know any other resources for knitting math leave a comment. I usually use a pattern as a guideline and then alter it myself, but sometimes the increase/decrease ratios are tricky for me. Any solutions or tips?

I just got a package from my friend Jessica in Tennessee and this was inside....

Gorgeous, fluffy Llama and Alpaca fiber!

And the same fibers handspun! Wow, she is the greatest. She got these goodies at an alpaca farm near her house (Jess- let me know where and I'll post it). Im planning on making an earflap hat sort of like this, but without the waves or peace sign over the ears. Im going to try to work up my own pattern so hopefully it'll turn out right.

two, three and four

two, 28 Jun 07

three, 29 Jun 07

four, 30 Jun 07

I am having a lot of fun with these daily collages! I am also getting better on being more disciplined with my studio practice. I made a calendar that outlines my entire day and it has been much easier to stick to.



These have been in my back yard for about a month and a half. After many thunderstorms they are tightening up and the felt is migrating down the stick. Some bits have fallen off and my hope is that animals use them for their nests. I still havent made it out to the marsh to see my other installations since my jeep died, but hopefully this week I can borrow Chris' car.

hit the ground running

I was quite bored with my daily practice of drawing the bird bones so Ive decided to do something different. In my effort to live more "green" and create less waste, I am going to make a collage a day using my scraps from other projects. This will keep (most) of them out of the trash and will be a fun creative outletThese scraps were from a book I made for Cori's birthday. I learned how to screen print last week! I printed little alpacas on paper and I used the paper for the cover of the book. I bound it too loose the first time and I had to redo it so I had all these little bits left. I broke a needle on my sewing machine going through the waxed threads.

This was the book I made last week that I wanted to show you. Its my process book for Working Class Studio. It has a grey paper cover and green dots on grey fabric interior. Throughout the quarter I'll add things like scraps or stickers to the cover to make it more fun.

This will be clapotis... eventually. Its taken me months to get this far, I think I started it in March. Geez! But when I do get time to knit its fabulous. Im using a silk yarn by Habu, just about the best yarn company ever.

This gorgeous hand dyed merino wool from Malabrigo Yarn will be a pillow cover. It is kettle dyed and the color is lettuce. I made up the cable pattern and its creating some interesting textures. This wool is like a cloud, it'll be so nice to lay my head on.... eventually.

I generally dont get a lot of time to knit while Im in school, and this quarter already feels like its going to be a sprint. But thats when the good stuff usually happens in my work so Im looking forward to seeing what I come up with.

I have to go research trends in fabric wall art before I head out to WCS this afternoon, so have a wonderful day!