Art Spirals

Ok, Jenny from CraftTest Dummies tagged me last week...and I'm going to be a spoilsport and not play....well, at least not today. :) But DO check out her site, she's doing lots of cool things there. I'm all blogged out for the night. and I was never much for sports anyway....

So I don't blog for weeks or months, and then I post and post in one night! go figure... my kids are worn out from a birthday party, so they are watching a bit of tv, so I decided to catch up!

I started dyeing fabric, informally, without much knowledge, just playing around this week. It was on a day when my kids were being picked up from school, so that freed me up to play and let the work dry on the counter. I didn't have to worry about them (of course, wouldn't you?) want to dye with me and do it RIGHT NOW!

From Cool Things

This one is my favorite one...you can see the other three in my "Cool Things" album on flicker.

I'm fascinated lately with the vintage crocheted potholders in cotton with deep rich colors. I found a couple more today, including an unusually shaped one that looks like a vest.

From Garage Sale F...

it's the one that's white with red running stitches. Recognize it now?

it's on "Queenie" my younger daughter's bear with a new name....it had a generic name before, but she needed a "Q" item for show and tell this week, so Queenie she became. Doesn't she look like royalty in her vintage wear?

And this was another fabulous piece found today for $3. An original watercolor, postcard size mounted in a clear acrylic frameless frame, of a windmill in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany. I'm gaga over simple watercolor that's not overworked, and this is pretty darn close! much better than I could do, as a matter of fact, but it's something I aspire to. Over halfway down this page is a photo of this windmill. There's a society to restore the mills around the world. I've always loved watermills, they were not common, but not rare, in the part of Pennsylvania where I'm from. Beautiful old buildings. So, this was a neat bit of research from this casual purchase!
http://www.ohz.shuttle.de/ohz/kgs-schwanewede/windmill/Hi...

I was the very fortunate recipient of wonderful gifties from Wendy and Diane. I'll share with you the ones that were handmade.

Diane had remembered (and I completely forgotten) that I said I loved her philodendron folio:

In fact, here's exactly what I said on our CPS group ...in 1995 when I only knew Diane online, and hadn't even met her in person yet: "Oh Diane, this is incredible...I love it. I want it. wow, tell us how you did it... " How nervy is that!? It's handsewn from the sheaths of philodendron leaves in her backyard, and it's incredibly beautiful. It won our "Book as Sculpture" challenge in the fall of 2005. To see more pics from this challenge, and loads of other wonderful pieces from our fabulous members, check out our flicker site.

And Wendy gave me her "Pauline's Plethora of Possibilities" handmade journal which I adore. You can read all about it on her blog. AND she brought each of us some of the disposable fabrickypaper tablecloths they sell in the UK and that she used to make this journal.

I am such a lucky gal to have such great generous friends as these!

Yes, that's the big question. Any day now, children, any day...

Here it is in its latest incarnation:

From The Mommy Glo...

The pinky and index fingers are done...on the index is a pawprint in "Cody Colors" for our dog passed last year; the stars are for Orion's belt and the memory of teaching that constellation to the girls. The sign language is a current study for one daughter and it reads: TLC. And the fish is for our new pond. Follow the album link above for more in progress pictures and closeups.

And this weekend I found a hand statue that will be perfect to display it on:

From Garage Sale F...

For many other cool garage/estate sale finds, click on the album link above.

Well, the day finally arrived for Wendy and Diane to arrive, and all too soon, they had to fly back home. It's been two weeks now, and it seems like much longer ago. We rented a cabin in the mts of New Mexico and spent three days/four nights laughing, playing, arting around, organizing, show and telling, exchanging, having fun! Here's some of what I got done;

Organizing my seed beads/small beads for embroidery/sequins. Wendy brought me these way cool bags, heavy plastic with zippers, from England and I spent nice time fondling, er I mean, sorting my beads into colors and bags:

From OMAR

and the envelopes all lined up in their hand painted Mexican suitcase:

From OMAR

My almost finished "The Mommy Glove" is in the top pocket.

I also learned needle felting, by hand, and loved it. Felting with bead embellishment. Now I'm thinking it might be part of a purse I got carried away and it became too big to be a pin, as intended.:

From OMAR

Wendy's wild woman pin is in progress, and Diane's is, of course, finished. :) Wendy got the needle felting kits from Sarah at CraftyNotions as well, and copies of her book Wild Women. Sarah sent along extra goodies for us, which was very nice of her!

I haven't been participating in many swaps on ClothpaperStudio, but I did this one, at OMAR, and it was fun! the object was to draw portraits onto tickets, a la http://snipurl.com/portaits [www_independent_co_uk]

From OMAR

The "man" at the end started out being Oprah, from a picture in her magazine O, but then the shading under her neck was too dark and turned into a beard...all on its own!

And then we made silk fusion paper:

From OMAR

From the extra stuff from silk cocoons (that has its own adhesive naturally occuring), ribbons, roving, spray dyes from CraftyNotions in the UK, and bits of copper foil. FUN!

Also tried my hand at free motion embroidery, and bead weaving, and liked them both. I'm pursueing the FME right now, and considering treating myself to a newer machine. We'll see.

We also each altered six pieces of a 9 piece puzzle, and I still have the other three left to do. Pics of that coming when it's finished. Wendy's pictures from OMAR are here

All in all, it was a fun trip, and so lovely to have it end wishing it were longer!

I love this little piece. It's pottery, japanese, and it's a type of buckle for the sash of a kimono. I just think it's exquisite. I wish I had written down what the owner told me it was called. I got it at an estate sale yesterday. It's beautiful enough to put it into a shadowbox or just set on a shelf.

another view of this piece. it's about 2.5 inches long.

Here's the back of the piece. You can see where the sash would slide through. Does anyone know what this is called?