...just thought i would show you the original magic feather. it is on the lion quilt along with many more variations.
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...just thought i would show you the original magic feather. it is on the lion quilt along with many more variations.
Posted on March 31, 2010 in documenting old work, embroidery, feathers, indigo-Spirit Cloth Blues, lion quilt, reuse, spring, symbols | Permalink | Comments (30)
we all have the potential to do something well. we all need to be in touch with that. sometimes when you do something well, you feel empowered and think you can do everything well. but really there is no sense in that. doing a little of every thing dilutes your efforts, prevents carry through, interrupts the journey. at least that is what i am thinking in terms of my own goal. i use cloth, and many stitches to make story quilts. at the same time, i am devoted to sharing the voice i hear in fabric. i do that rather well i think. but i am still working on it. i love using hand dyed fabric. not just the kind where you splash color around and see what you get. the kind that holds conscience and intention and the respect for the relationship between cloth and color. the kind that lets the voice of the fabric come through.
i am also thinking a lot about synchronicity and what that means. it is hard for me to imagine things happening the same way at the same time without some obvious connection. i think if you look closely you can identify the little steps unseen or unconsidered that make things clearly separate in their sameness. there are different kinds of steps. one can follow another. or one can dance with another. in the spirit of the dance, glennis and i have formed a nice working relationship. one where art touches craft and back again. i recognized long ago that you cannot be an expert at everything. yes i have dabbled in a bit in shibori and perhaps i might try dyeing indigo, just to know a bit about those who do it so well. i get a bigger joy out of sharing a conversation with another artist. a kind of conversation that allows the details of different crafts to overlap through mutual respect. a joint what-iffing you might call it, paths crossing but still two legitimate journeys. not leading or following but back and forth. a textile two step....
so we talk about cloth and dye and how that make such a difference and maybe the reason that a lot of quilting folks don't know much about fabric options is because there is too much sameness (even though it is presented as different) in the materials available to work with. so i am doing my thing and she is doing hers and together some beautiful music is being made.
it is nice to know that when you catch a glimpse of the sea, that someone can make that happen on cloth, just the way you imagined it.
and on a rainy day like today, it is nice to have some rose colored silk to look through.
so much talk about slow cloth these days. i feel part of the message implied in elaine lipson's original concept is how we can evolve through better understanding and mutual respect. for each other and the craft we choose to explore. for the relationships necessary to do that. this was kind of a long post. but it is a long road.
Posted on March 30, 2010 in Becoming more or less, cloth stories, color, dyeing, meeting points, silk, thin cloth, what if | Permalink | Comments (63)
funny. when you first start working with a new material, working with it a big way, you realize you don't really know it to well. silk has crept into my work over the years but just in bits and pieces. i remember thinking, silk is shiny . it is slippery. it is hard to sew. it is too expensive. it isn't washable. it is much too delicate. well, silk comes in many forms and i know i have just scratched the surface. and like most anything, if you don't know it, everything you think you know turns out not to be true. just like people i guess.
this small piece is almost all silk. the silk moon has been applied to an indigo shibori dyed silk bat. this is the first time i have used the silk bat as a base. i like the way small pieces of slippery fabric can be placed down and not slip around. the bat takes tiny stitches so well, you can just merge the silk applique so easily... i felt like a human embellisher. ha!
the bottom of the piece has been sliced and interwoven with some hand dyed silk gauze. i am finding gauze nice to work with not only because of its sheerness, but because it tears well and the crimp in the yarn discourages fray. it is also very easy to manipulate. it cooperates with whim. and it loves the bat. and lets not forget it is as light as a feather.
the moon shadow was created by layering an embroidered scrap of black organza (a gift) over a textured silk moon which was already applied to the bat. after stitching i carefully cut away parts to allow a bit of moon light through. organza is nice too, but i like it better in small doses because of its stiffness. it has a much harder surface which i need to warm up to a bit.
...so i ended up with this small piece, meant to be a book mark and now what i want to call a book mat. and as you have probably noticed, a one heart (silk of course) has found shelter in a silken moon's shadow. a very soft spot.
the one thing i knew all along. silk feels so good.
Posted on March 29, 2010 in cloth stories, hearts, indigo-Spirit Cloth Blues, layers, moons, quilt stories, shibori, silk, soft spots | Permalink | Comments (54)
today would be dad's birthday. dad loved nature and the sea. he sailed the sea, he painted the sea, he spoke with the sea. we miss him. my brother wrote a poem about him after his stroke. an excerpt...
“Exhaled in single syllables, in grunts, in sighs-
Eventually Self calls for pen and paper.
Ah! So the I returns to wield its scribbler's quill,
Its signature, its penmanship intact.
There's nothing about all of this, my Father wrote,
That I wish to remember. Then he smiled
Sardonically, with that half of his mouth which he
Could still control. Then closed his eyes awhile . . .”
more about the poem and the poet here.
Posted on March 28, 2010 in ceremony, life, quotes | Permalink | Comments (22)
Posted on March 27, 2010 in Becoming more or less, inspiration, moons, stories | Permalink | Comments (34)
Posted on March 27, 2010 in faces, moons, spring | Permalink | Comments (16)
Posted on March 26, 2010 in edges, faces, moons, quilt stories, silk, spring, transition , words/writing | Permalink | Comments (45)
one of my favorite quilts was the tree house quilt. unfortunately i lost most of the detail photos in a computer accident. my photos were rather poor back then in 2006. the private blog i kept going to document the making was deleted in one of my down swings. and it was a gift, i gave it away so i don't have it anymore. one of the things i like about it, besides the fact that it was my first quilt woven piece, was its story book style... and how i experimented with little pages that lifted off the cloth to reveal secret chapters belonging to the characters (shown here, the fruit goddess in progress). so. today, i am re-energized by the memory of this cloth and its story border. so much so, that i want to use this technique once again to add story to the magic cloth. recycling this idea to redefine it a bit. around the edge. stories are like edges to me. i think the pages can be a series of revelations. a series within one piece. maybe i will experiment a bit on some smaller pieces first. a mini series
(more pics of the treehouse quilt)
...and i thought this was interesting...
Posted on March 26, 2010 in cloth weaving, design planning, documenting old work, edges, quilt stories, redefinition, reuse, stories, the magic cloth, working in a series | Permalink | Comments (39)
Posted on March 25, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (29)
If the path before you is clear,
you are probably on
someone else's.
-Carl Jung