Autumn Inspirations

You may have noticed that I haven't been as creatively productive lately as I usually am.  I guess I've been busy with the garden and trying to make the most of the lazy summer days (in other words, I've been reading!).  But the ArtCharms Yahoo group recently started an Autumn Leaf swap, and it sounded too good to pass up!  I ordered the small copper leaves, shown above, and enhanced them with some color.  They look as though they've been enameled, but I actually used something much more mundane and common - can you guess what it is?  Not acrylic paint...    It's plain old, drug-store variety NAIL POLISH!  My girls have boxes full of nail polish, in many colors, including orange and yellow, so I thought I would take advantage of the supplies at hand.  I'm pretty happy with the results;  I need to make a total of 21 charms, so this should keep me busy for the next week or so.

I also decided to enter another challenge in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine - a mixed-media stitched challenge.  The finished piece had to be 6"x6" and have three different media.  My friend Norma has been posting about her adventures using copper sheeting, and it reminded me that I had some in my stash that I hadn't played with in a while.  I guess my wandering mind combined the thoughts of autumn leaves with the copper and I came up with the idea below.  The backgrounds are fabrics, the tree trunk is paper layered on fabric with gel medium, and the leaves were cut from copper sheeting tinted with alcohol inks.  I decided to turn the square on point to make the tree fit better.  What do you think?

Amazing Autumn Leaves

 Look at the amazing leaf I found in our backyard!  Isn't it huge?  It's from a tulip tree.  We have many of these trees on the property, and at first I thought it came from the very top of this tree which dominates our backyard:

It's probably over 100 ft tall.  But then I found several of the leaves, and realized they were coming from this little bush-like tree way off to one side:

 I think that because it's so small and doesn't get much light down here under all these much taller trees, it has to compensate by making each leaf bigger.  (There's a lesson in there, somewhere, I think...) Funny that I never noticed it until they all started falling.  I have to admit, I do love some of the changes Autumn brings.  I love watching the variety of leaf colors and shapes collect everywhere, I love the way they smell and the way they crunch under your feet and the way they all come fluttering down at once when the breeze moves the trees.

Have a great Autumn weekend, everyone!

A Shot at Sun Printing

 We've been having perfect late summer weather here in the Northeast:  warm, dry days and cool crisp nights.  The daytime skies are clear and blue with barely a cloud.  The other day, I was home from work early (so the guy could give our oil burner its annual cleaning) and decided to take advantage of the weather to try sun printing.  I started by collecting some ferns and leaves that I thought might make nice prints.  Then I took a half yard of prewashed white cotton fabric and spread it out on our outdoor table in a sunny spot (I put a plastic tablecloth underneath to protect the table).  I spritzed the cloth with water from a spray bottle and splashed on some Pebeo Setacolor paints mixed with water.  I chose fallish colors - dark green, golden yellow, and a rusty red.  Then I placed my leaves and ferns all around and weighted some of them down with rocks, as you see above.  I didn't collect enough leaves and things,  there were some empty spaces between them.  I thought about adding a few more, but since it was such a dry, sunny day, the paint was quickly drying.  Instead, I sprinkled some of the empty spots with salt, which leaves speckles.

I also realized (a little late) that I should have chosen a different sunny spot - the shadow of the house very quickly threatened to overtake the whole piece of cloth - but luckily, my daughter's came home from school and were able to help me move the table further out.

Below is how the cloth looked after it dried in the sun and all the salt and leaves were removed.  You can see how the places where the leaves blocked the sun turn white.

Here is a close up of one area where you can see a part of a fern, an ivy leaf, and many speckles from the salt.

 Here is another spot on the cloth where the ivy vine and some of the maple leaf prints are visible.

 The cloth came out pretty well, and I'm considering using it for another "renga"-type project in my FANE group.  This time, the half-yard will be cut in two and go to two different people.  Since I can't make the next meeting, I'm not sure if I'll participate.  If not, I may add some leaf prints or stamps to it myself.

More importantly, I learned a few things about sun printing:  have more objects than you think you'll need, give yourself plenty of room away from any encroaching shadows, and results might be better if you use paper cut-outs of shapes rather than leaves and ferns that curl up and away from the fabric, making less clear prints.  Anyway, it was a nice excuse to be outside in the sunshine clipping leaves and playing with paint!

Presents and Projects

Happy Monday, eveyone, hope you had a great weekend!

 Look at t he fantastic carry-all my Mom made for me for my birthday!  It is very roomy and has pockets all along the outside, but it's also reversible, so the pockets could be on the inside.  She chose a sturdy quilted fabric in colors that I wear all the time.  Isn't it great?  Thanks, Mom!  I love it!

I also finally bought myself a polymer clay conditioning machine (aka, a pasta machine).  All this time, I've been conditioning the clay by hand, which is tiring.  And when I roll it out, it never comes out even and smooth.  I do use clay quite a bit, so I hope to get a lot of use out of this.

 But lately, I've been sticking with fabric.  Over the weekend, I put together these four 4-inch-square coasters.  I used the scraps from my previous project so they came together very quickly.  I still need to paint the edges with acrylic paint and seal the tops with that fusible vinyl.  I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics and getting back into decorative free-motion quilting.  Small projects are so satisfying because they can be finished in a day or two!  

Have a great week!

Summer's End

That school bus rolled up the street right on time this morning, signaling the official end of summer.  The first day of school happened to fall on an auspicious day this year: my birthday.  Since the house was quiet and I wanted to combine some errands with some celebrating, I took myself out to brunch!  I've always wanted to indulge in a plate of decadent cream-cheese-stuffed french toast, but for some reason I never did it - til today!  This is "frittered french toast" from the Everready Diner in Brewster, and it comes dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and drizzled with raspberry sauce!  Wow!  I couldn't even finish it, so I'll have the rest tomorrow.

Another present I got for myself was this set of 36 colored pencils, below.  I use colored pencils more often than you would think, and the basic 12 color set just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  I don't need a fancy artist-quality brand or anything; for my purposes, these will do just fine.  Now I have a variety of shades of each color to use for sketching or on shrink film charms.  Sometimes just a little, inexpensive thing like that gives you just the lift you need!

 I also made a bit of progress on my fern piece.  I decided to use the same fern batik as sashing around the larger fern block and some smaller squares.  I fused on a variety of leaves and stitched around all of them by hand with a blanket stitch.

 When I first looked for ferns to trace for this pattern, I really wanted to go with one of the more divided, feathery looking ferns.  I knew that would be a hassle to cut out and stitch so I took the route of ease and simplicity.  I was going to simply free-motion around the edges of the fern, but the idea of a blanket stitch popped into my head.  I think it gives it a feathery appearance without all that work.   I also like the touch of shine the metallic thread adds.  For once, I followed my gut without overthinking and it worked!

I'm not sure how I'll finish this piece.  It's about 13" square, so it might make a nice pillow cover, but it will probably end up getting too much wear.  Maybe just a small wall hanging.   I think I'll call it "Summer's End."  The colors capture this time of year, when it is really still summer and everything is mostly green, but you begin to see tinges of rust and yellow here and there.

And although the summer is ending, this time of year is also a beginning - another school year and, for me, another year of my life.  Maybe it's a good time to revisit and revise the goals I made in January and plan the next few months accordingly.  One of the things I really want to get serious about is dropping a few pounds and exercising a little more.  I did start the day with some stretches and exercises, but the diet will have to wait until tomorrow - after the birthday cake and frittered french toast are all gone!

Paper charms

I've continued to play with charm-making lately. One of the reasons I like it is because they're small and I can make many of them at once, unlike the stitched collages which take weeks! The book I blogged about here, Making Mixed-Media Art Charms and Jewelry, had a chapter on making charms out of paper, and I've been playing around with that with varied success. I started with some scraps of watercolor paper leftover from a previous project, and painted and stamped them, as shown above. Then I glued two layers of the paper together, back to back, to make it more sturdy, and cut it into various shapes. I originally planned to cut them into square inches to get the most charms out of my painted paper, but I find I don't like the look of squares in my jewelry - too rigid, boxy, and unnatural looking (do we ever find a square in nature?). So then I started making diamond shapes and ovals. I wrapped the edges of the cut up paper in copper foil tape. With a whole bunch of them, I glued on an oak leaf cut with a purchased paper punch. With some of them I wrote words on the back. Unfortunately, when it came to using them, I thought they looked too amateurish and homemade, too clunky and unrefined. I think it was the foil tape and my messy handwriting!

Finally, I made one more and did not wrap it in the tape. I put in a grommet and coated the whole thing front and back with a product similar to Dimensional Magic (a mod podge product). You have to let it dry very thoroughly on the first side before turning it over and coating it on the other side, which is a little drawback, but I was afraid it would require an edge to hold it in, like a jewelry bezel. This thick liquid has a nice consistency and enough surface tension that you can cover the charm completely right to the edge without it spilling over. Here is a finished charm (that I actually liked!) and put on an autumn-themed bracelet for myself. The Dimensional Magic dries hard and clear and is much easier to use than resins that have to be mixed and poured. I can't wait to try some other projects with it!
Below is a shot of the whole bracelet. I think I'll wear it for Thanksgiving and around the library this week!
I've started making a bunch of charms with a snow theme, as you can see below. I just painted and stamped some more paper to make some charms with these colors. Then maybe I'll be able to list a winter/holiday item or two in my Etsy shop before I get too busy and end up missing out on any potential holiday sales. I wish I could work faster so I had more stuff to sell!

Busy Week!

I feel like I've been running full tilt since my last post on Saturday! The girls have been busy with activities, I had a few extra programs this week at the library, and I have my adult evening craft program tonight ("the creative playgroup for women") - we're making polymer clay beads and charms. I took 15 minutes here and there to stitch these leaves onto the heavy interfacing to turn them into autumn coasters. What do you think? I like them, and they're fairly quick to put together. Next time I'll cut the fabric before I print the leaves; it took way too long cutting the fabric up into neat 4-inch squares after they were printed!

I have an opinion question for anyone out there reading this: In the past, I've covered the top of my fabric coasters with a fusible vinyl to protect them. I'm wondering if I should do that here. These are not pieced, so they may not need as much protecting, and I think people may prefer to be able to feel the texture of the fabric and stitch (I know I do). But they are not as protected without the vinyl and may be in danger of being stained by wine, coffee, etc. (Maybe I should go with the vinyl...) Anyone out there got an opinion? I'm looking forward to getting these posted on Etsy...

Painted Leaf Prints

On weekday mornings I'm usually up before 6, making sure the girls are awake, emptying the dishwasher, getting various breakfast and lunch components together. On weekends I have the option of sleeping in a bit, or getting up at the same time and getting in some very valuable creative time while everyone else sleeps in (even the dog!). This morning, I did the latter, and started a new project that I hope to be working on in the next few days.

Of course, it's hard not to be inspired by the colors and shapes of the leaves this time of year. I never get tired of them, year after year. The last few days I've been picking up leaves of a particular size, but a variety of shapes, to make these prints on fabric. Someone from Cloth Paper Scissors magazine suggested using an old phone book for this type of painting and I have to say, whoever it was is a genius! I painted the leaves with paint (I used Pebeo Setacolor) with a foam brush...

and then pressed the leaf onto a nice homespun cloth. When the page in the phone book gets too messy, just turn to the next page and keep going!

I only used two colors of paint (buttercup yellow and oriental red), and mixed them together in various proportions to get a variety of shades of yellow, orange, and red. In the past I've always used cheap craft store acrylic paint that I've treated with a fabric medium. It always suited me fine, but now that I've used the Pebeo Setacolor paint, I'm hooked! The colors are so vibrant and deep and the texture is so smooth and creamy - just lovely to work with. And I love the results! I found myself just doing one more, and then one more after that! Now I can't wait to get to the next step in the project. Stay tuned!

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves!

We are almost at the tail end of another beautiful autumn here in the northeast. I always find myself particularly inspired this time of year, as I do in the spring. Change can be refreshing. This is a black birch tree near our house, on a particularly mellow day, with the autumn sunshine lighting up the leaves from above. I want to remember this shade of yellow come January!

Here is the same tree about a week later, as November's frosts have deepened the yellows to burnt orange and umber. Still breathtaking shades.

Well, with all those gorgeous leaves to admire and photograph, there comes a down side, being they fall and must be raked or blown off the lawn. Of course blowing is the popular and easy way to go, but I hardly ever go for what is popular or easy (why is that?). I have been weighing the benefits of both over the years, and I still think raking wins out, as hard as it is and as long as it takes. For one thing, when I am outdoors on a beautiful fall day like today, I really enjoy the sounds and smells of the leaves being raked, and a leaf blower totally destroys both of those. Leaf blowers are noisy and they stink! The final benefit to raking is the aerobic exercise and burning of calories it provides, which I could always use. So the girls and I have our work cut out for us.

So, I actually have been creative the last six days, even though I haven't posted any of my projects. Here is the wall hanging/mobile inspired by the beauty of autumn. I considered making more of a stationary piece like a quilt with nine blocks, each one featuring a different leaf, but I wanted to capture the motion and change of autum. At first, I stitched each leaf (by hand) to a length of metallic copper embroidery floss, which is difficult to work with and allows the leaves to flip over, which I wanted to avoid. So I ripped out all that hand stitching and restitched them to this copper mesh ribbon which keeps them flat. But the ribbon wasn't a good vehicle for the beads, which I wanted to include for interest and contrast, so I strung them on strips of a sheer pale blue synthetic, which also brings to mind the crisp autumn breezes (I hope). So even though I haven't posted my daily creative projects, I have been doing something creative every day. Sometimes it is only for 30 minutes to a little more than an hour at the end of the day, but at least I've been getting it in! My projects often take more than a day to complete at that rate, so I don't often post the works in progress. Also, I like to wait for daylight to photograph them, and I'm usually finishing up at night.

Sometimes I ask myself why I go through such lengths to create something like this when it doesn't really serve a purpose: I don't plan on selling it, it's not a gift, it isn't useful beyond its visual interest and decorative qualities. The only reason I can come up with is that it's fun, and I seem to have a need to make things; always have. So instead of spending my free time watching TV, I make things like this. Go figure.

A new adventure...

Heard about this Art Every Day Month through Jane Davila who leads the Fiber Arts Northeast group I meet with once a month. Thought it might be fun and motivating to try to do something creative once a day, even if only for a few minutes. (Maybe I can get more people to visit and comment on my blog too!). I actually have been doing creative things for the last two days, so I'm already on track! I don't have any new photos to post yet, but I've been creating more of those stitched paper-cloth leaves from my previous post. I decided to string them together in a sort of mobile/wall hanging. I've already learned a few things that I coulda, shoulda, woulda done: I backed them with plain muslin, but since they are strung and sometimes flip over, it would have been better to back them with more paper-cloth. Also, I wish I had strung beads between the leaves to add more interest, and maybe even some gentle clinking as the piece moves (I am thinking of hanging it on our front door). So anyway, I'll try to tie it all together tomorrow, photograph it, and post it. I hope that by taking on this gentle challenge, I will be more motivated to complete some projects I need to get done by mid-December. I plan on including some baking and writing among the art, since anything goes, baking serves a dual purpose (it is creative and it feeds the family), and writing can be done anywhere (while waiting in the doctor's office, traveling to grandma's etc). Check in with me again tomorrow...

Rainy Halloween crafts

It has been a dreary wet week here in the Hudson Valley, and even Cassie is a bit bummed by all the wet weather. Here she is on Wednesday after her daily morning play session with the two dogs next door. They always seem to find the one spot in the yard where grass doesn't grow. It gets nice and muddy and they roll and play and end up looking like something the cat dragged in! I had to quickly bathe her before work and then clean up the tub! Today we are playing indoors, or staying on the leash!

While my husband was out with our two youngest girls for a wet afternoon movie, my oldest daughter, who is home with flu-like symptoms (!) stitched up a bunch of these quickie pumpkins and gourds. The idea came from the October 09 issue of Family Fun magazine, and they were so easy and quick (and of course I happened to have a decent stash of orangey-yellow fabrics), she was able to fill up some otherwise boring hours keeping her fingers busy. She really loves how cute they came out. They will make nice seasonal decorations or Thanksgiving dinner centerpieces or something.

Here is another batch of paper-cloth I made in September. I had set it aside, not sure how I would use it, when I thought about cutting out some leaf shapes. I just love the endless variety of leaves that are scattered and mixed in big leaf puddles all over the lawns and roads this time of year. The maple leaf in the upper right was layered with felt as batting, machine stitched around the edges, and hand stitched for veining. What will I do with them when they're all quilted? I'm not sure... I could string them together somehow in a garland or mobile-like wall hanging, or print inspiring words on them and give them as little gifts... I'll play with them and see what develops...

Experimenting with leaves

Here are some beautiful leaves from the yard that I've scanned into the new scanner/copier my wonderful and generous husband gave me for Mother's Day. (I've been planning on using it before now, but I've been busy...really, really busy, I swear!). Anyway, I love the way this captures the leaves so accurately! I didn't even press and dry them (they get crinkly and crack) - just used them fresh from the lawn this morning (picked them up on my morning outing with the dog). I want to print them onto fabric to use in my art. Now that they are all stored and saved on the computer, I can use them at any time! What do you think of that? Ain't technology neat? Gotta start using it more...!