the continuing story of beads

Hi, it's Anne Marie again! My pieces always start off with a colour, shape, object, or germ of an idea. I work intuitively, so am reluctant to sketch, or commit anything to paper. Although frustrating at times, it seems to work! I start with a shape &/or theme, choose and attach the main focal (always with an off-centre placement), audition clusters of beads and found objects, take a quick photo, then begin stitching. Depending on the size, I may decide to add smaller focals/clusters, and possibly a path (linear division). As I get closer to the edge, I flatten the texture, using a unifying stitch (moss/boucle), and size 11 seed beads. Where do I get my ideas, you say? Imagination, dreams, and the stash of a magpie! ..... I pull the colours from my main focal (but not always), gather a bunch of beads, shop if I must, and then start stitching. Somewhere in this process, the piece starts talking to me, and the flow begins. Trust your instincts, listen to your imagination, don't worry about the end result, tell a story, and just focus on the joy of the process! I leave you with photos of some of my 2013 and 2014 Bead Journal Project pieces.

The little houses, in my 2012 series, all include a number(s), corresponding to the month, a vintage button, and one or more buttons from the family button jar. My unifying theme for the 2014 series, is the shapes of the leaves (collected in the fall of 2012). I love to blend techniques, and include gifted items, found objects, and recycled items in my pieces. I challenge you to include some in your art! If you'd like to see/read more, I invite you to wander over to my blog.

Sunprinting Tips

Hi!  Janis here, another guest post!

Last summer I thought I did a blog post on the process of sun printing but in response to some recent questions, much to my surprise, I looked back on my blog posts and found none. That’s why I’m posting one now, so we can think ahead to warmer, sunnier days!

I paid serious attention to the blog posts I found here on the Fire blog and adding my own thoughts and experiences on the matter.

I tried using ProChem translucent textile paints, DyNaFlo, Speedball Screen Print Ink, and Solar Fast Sun Printing Dye. I was not able to do any real study to compare each of the products, mostly because here in New England the weather tends to change often and without warning and the results are completely related to the brightness and warmth of the sun and test results are easily skewed by such temperamental fluctuations as the clouds going in and out!

Nevertheless, and perhaps because of this, I can tell you that Solar Fast was the most reliable of them all for me. That’s not to say, I won’t persist in trying out other products for the best results from them, such as Setacolor products, which, by the time I tried them, the warmth of summer days had already begun to fade and I was getting too frustrated with it all.  So, I turned to other forms of printing on fabric and dyeing it until it became too chilly to stay outdoors working.

The process itself is pretty straightforward.  Start with small pieces about 12” X 15” or so. You apply paint, ink or dye to the fabric and you lay down leaves or flower petals  and place them in the sun. For good directions for Solar Fast go here: http://jacquardproducts.com/assets/jacquard-site/product-pages/dyes/solarfast/SolarFast%20Instructions.pdf

 From my experimenting, I learned some things that are worth passing on to the novice.

Avoid sun printing on windy days for two reasons.  First, because you have to take extra steps to secure the leaves onto the fabric.  Second, it tends to dry the fabric so quickly that it’s more difficult to get a good print. However, if you can’t avoid wind altogether, I found it most helpful to use trays to place the whole shebang in.  

You can use those inexpensive molded plastic frames, which I love the best.

Or you can devote some larger baking pans to the process as I did here.

I also used various sized acrylic sheets over the trays (or simply on top of the pieces that are place right on the ground) to keep the wind out and to keep the moisture in. I also have a plastic sheet (4 ml) underneath them all, which I print them on and it helps to carry them from table to ground.

Remember the variables to achieving good prints are many and prepare to play without knowing quite what’s going to happen for awhile.  It takes practice before you can control all of the various aspects: heat, amount of water in air and in the fabric and paint or dyes. You may want it to be quite wet, as well, to give it a watercolor look.  Here’s one that was quite wet with DyNaFlo and has a lovely watery feel.

And here’s a Solar Fast print that has a very clear and detailed images.

Are your leaves lying tight to the fabric or is it loose?  I use my fingers to press down the leaves as much as possible, but it helps, to begin by placing the acrylic sheet over the top of leaves that just don’t want to lay flat.  You can take the time to flatten out your leaves or flowers the night before – that can help.

Here’s one that shows vivid color with lots of detail but not a great print because the colors didn’t blend at all (too dry). Still a great piece to cut up and use in my fiber art but not as a whole cloth piece.

 The fiber content is also an important choice.  When you begin, use anything cheap to play without fear of ruining good fabric.

This is translucent fabric paint but it was one of those days when the sun kept disappearing and it didn’t have enough moisture or enough pigment.  It’s also on a light, gauzy cotton.

But as you go along, start choosing better grades (smoother and tighter weave) of cotton or silk. I also love to print on organza or other sheer fabrics to use in my mixed media collage process. 

 Experiment! Overprint! 

And Enjoy!

Here's what I did with a lot of my solar prints in the following months!

now for something different

This post is going to be short on words, but heavy on photos. I'm a fibre artist, with a passion for techniques. I became involved with Robin Atkins, Bead Journal Project (BJP) in 2008/2009, and haven't looked back since. Although my fibre roots have been neglected lately, I hope to correct that in the near future. My 2010 BJP pieces, are probably my favourites, as they combine my love for fibre, free motion stitching, beads, paint, memorabilia and found objects. Each tells a personal story!

I only completed seven in this series, but it's definitely something I would like to revisit in the future. If you'd like to hear more, please visit my blog! To think that it all started with a simple triangle!

The Bead Journal Project is now on Facebook, and will be open for new members, in December of this year.

Eco Dyeing

Hi!  

Janis here.

About 2 years ago, my first efforts at eco-dyeing were pretty dismal.  Then I got sidetracked and not terribly motivated to give it another try, although, I could see that others were having much more success than I had so I kept an eye out for good instruction.  Finally I found eco-dyeing paydirt!

Elena Ulyanova wrote: “My way of contact dye extraction I compare to espresso coffee making: fast, hot, full-flavoured.”  Believe it!

All I had was a handful of leaves I had tucked away in the fall and a little bit of seaweed and I was motivated enough to give it a try in the middle of our New England Winter of Snow.  Still not as if I was rich with natural ingredients but I was doing a happy dance and I’m so looking forward to new growth and sunshine!  Here’s what happened with almost nothing!

I have about a dozen more bottles saved up cannot wait to go for it!

So, go check out Elena's post on winter-coloring on The Procrastinator Dyer’s Diary.

Guest post- A Creative Fire part 3

elle here for a final stoking of the creative fire.

The theme has been Justified.  The form has Oneness.  The content has Yielded results.  Is there JOY?

whY is it finished? Have you, the maker, said all that needs to be said?  Can you put it out there?  Are the sum of the parts in relationship with the maker, consistent and integrated?

What others 'get' from a piece of art is arbitrary.  Hopefully their flame has been fanned.  But did you 'Get' it? Art, good art, needs to convey something of the artist.

Lighting a fire is really only a beginning. Once lit it needs to be cared for so it can achieve its purpose.  What is the purpose of the fire?  Food, warmth, safety, light, signalling, propulsion, cleansing, comradeship, enjoyment ...

Artists perform a vital service to mankind.  They feel the pulse of society and then challenge and stimulate the norm.  They make the pause in life's busyness and fast freeze that which needs a closer look. They help to see something in a fresh way.  Isn't this beautiful?  Isn't this important?  Isn't this sad?   Even, is this art? 

There is a yearning in the artist to express what is internally felt. When we neglect to feed the flame within us creativity is smothered and everyone suffers.  Hopefully we can keep the fire burning brightly and that it is done for the JOY set before us.

good

better

best

Having yielded some of our own self to the work, a form of exhaling, we can now inhale, embrace the JOY and begin all over again to play with fire. 

I do understand that this is a technique blog and I have no physical project to show for the few months of gnashing my teeth about what to do.  but...  I do hope that like me, followers of the fire blog will give some thought to techniques that can feed our creative fires.  I even hope you will share them.

If you have been following along, Thank You.  The fire blog offers a wonderful resource to all artists, beginners as well as the experienced.  Thanks to Beth and all her contributors.  May we all successfully handle the fire!  :)

Guest post- A Creative Fire part 2

elle here again to talk about creative fire play.

Having Justified the subject, the theme, the idea of the new art; the second step is to bring oneness to the art.
Art is just form and content.  Form is defined as using elements, principles and physical materials. Content is defined as the work's essence or purpose.  They should convey an orderly and organized oneness.

Hence-
Organizing the elements of art, obedience to the principles of design, and the offerings of the materials available is the next step.  And no doubt followers of the Fire blog are well aware that:

Visual unity is one of the most important aspects of well-developed art and is planned by the artist.
Unity provides the cohesive quality that makes an artwork feel complete and finished.
When all the elements in a work look as though they belong together, the artist has achieved unity.
A unified work of art represents first a whole, and then the sum of its parts.
etc.

The idea or the theme is the match, the ignition.  But the initial spark only lasts so long.  Now the fire must be built and that takes a variety of combustibles- tinder, kindling, and a good fuel source.  The materials for a fire can also relate to the supplies of an artist.   Consider dry grass, shavings, dry waxy pine needles, sawdust, cardboard, birch bark, twigs, peat, even dung; and then soft woods and hard woods.  Does not this read as an art supply store?

 How the fire is built would be the various techniques the artist uses to portray the purpose and bring unity to the art project.

 So clear away an appropriate surface.  Loosely lay the kindling on the tinder.  Have the wood at the ready. Will the fire be a tepee, a star shape, a log cabin, a pyramid or a lean to?   It is all up to the fire maker!

But what about the maker, the artist!   Have talents, techniques, tools, and yes, the tests and trials, come together in such a way so as to be poured out into the body of the artist's whole work?  Is there a oneness, a unity that defines the artist and the artist's intent?  Is the passion, the purpose, even the playfulness that unites the artist with the art work out on display?  Can the one who orders/organizes the sum of the art, be glimpsed in the whole?

I ask myself these questions because I want to be a real fire maker.

I believe artists need to catch the concept, the spark if you will;  that what brings oneness to the art is the fire, the flame, that lies within the artist.  It is the one flame that needs to flame brighter than any other.

While I think it helps to understand who one is as an artist it is also a journey of discovery.  And perhaps it is fair to admit that those early works of art, one way or another, are perhaps only fodder for the fire being built now!  :O  We do get to be better fire makers.  :)

I have only just begun to be comfortable with the term artist.  I make art but it is mostly technique studies and I am often only following the step by step procedures of other artists. There may be unity but there isn't much of me.  This is NOT lighting my fire.   In fact, the underlying theme is probably fear of the fire.  So how to fan the smoldering art cloth and learn to juggle fire sticks!

I have had opportunity to edit out some of my old photos recently and I found it enlightening to see a mish mash of art that makes me cringe and yet some that brought smiles and happy memories. Joy?  I think it is time to make a better wood pile.

My first exploration of the creative arts, aside from just plain colouring, was home decorating.  I started with my adolescent bedroom and I matured and I learned.  Over time I have come to realize that if I just acquire what I like I invariably pick stuff that goes together.  Now there have been a few "what could I have been thinking" but as a whole we do tend to gravitate to what we like.  It is just a matter of editing out the "What was I...'s"!  And of course, applying the design principles.  Joy!

The next thing I learned was that what goes together in the sixties fire pit doesn't seem to smoke as well in the nineties not to mention the 'now'!  Ha!  We need a new groove!  lol  Some of that wood gets kinda punky so it might be time to add some newer varieties of wood to the old woodlot.  It just might take a cleansing fire through the mind
.

good

better

best

I do believe-
There is a natural stack of wood supplies available to the artist to make natural art. But there is a spirit of an artist that also needs fuel for creativity.  It is just as important, maybe more so, to have a nice dry stack of creative, spiritual 'wood' available and within easy reach of the artist who sparks within. Artist dates, taking the time to visit different creative venues or just strolls through the park can feed that spark. And that is what will bring  joy. 

How is your wood pile?  

Ecology and art

The world is full of plastic in all forms. Daily we collect plastic bags, plastic bottles, packaging, etc. Plastic bags are everywhere, we get to the supermarket or at the market, then we used to throw them in the trash. What will happen in time with these materials that are not biodegradable? It is a problem that will be difficult to solve. Finally, over the years, the Earth will be "infected" with such non-biodegradable materials that will intoxicate.
I thought recycle them and use them for artistic purposes, ie to create a different type of material, even very interesting, which include it in my artistic work.

Proceed as follows: pieces of plastic, cut the plastic bags, are placed in several layers (4-5 layers depending on their thickness) between two sheets of parchment paper and iron with ironing. It is preferable to work in with ventilatin because you never know what substances may be encountered.

The result is a very interesting material, textures unpredictable, depending on the nature of the plastic material and heat treatment mode.

If the plastic is too thin, it result and some "tearing" or holes.

Then the fused plastics can be painted with acrylic ...

Can be stitched…

Here, I sewed some leaves then I painted with acrylics...

Here I did a combination of plastic with textile and some gold metallic foil. I used machine free motion to do a drawing.

Here, I mixed fused plastics with metallic foil and some stitches…

Important !!! Any ironing can affect the plastic material and can damage what you did before. After painting or sewing is better not to use the iron!!!

In the last photo is the result of this mistake. The sewed plastic, as you saw in the picture above, was ironed over and damaged ... but I solved the problem ... I added some metallic foil under it .

And finally, a CD wrapped with a fused, painted, stitched plastic …a small painting.

Carmina