Vintage Bling Brooches

This little piece of wearable fiber art is part of my "Vintage Bling Brooch" series. I added this one to my Etsy shop today and will be posting a few more this week. Each one is made from repurposed and recycled materials, such as bits of vintage fabrics and lace, old buttons, velvet flowers, guitar strings, and pieces of vintage jewelry. I think they look terrific this time of year worn on a coat or jacket!

Deconstructed /Reconstructed Doilys

I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I spent my time enjoying family, great food, (none of which I was responsible for cooking... to which I am greatly thankful!) and participating in a wonderful, grass roots effort, the Community Arts Market in Lancaster's historic Eastern Market.

This week in my Etsy shop, I will be posting some of my Deconstructed/Reconstructed Doilies. Each one is made up of various bits and pieces of vintage textiles including lace, crochet, and embroidery work, along with snippets of fabric and ribbon. I have carefully cut, layered and machined stitched these random elements together to create a unified, organic looking piece of fiber art. Each one can be used on a table top, or hung and framed.

Loosening Up

Today I had two objectives in mind:
1) Come up with some designs to be later reinterpreted in fiber.
2) Loosen Up!
I decided to forgo pen and paper, and used the paint features in one of my mysterious, unexplored computer programs. (Yes, I know I am late to board the bus.)
Why had I not realized the potential that this little computer paint brush, and paint bucket held for creative brainstorming?
Drawing with the little paint brush feature was just awkward enough to prevent me from reverting to my usual anal-retentive ways! It allowed me to do exactly what I wanted to do, loosen up!
Adding color via the little paint bucket allowed me to play with lots of color combinations with no clean up!
I am in heaven!
Looking back on my two objectives, and at the dozen of designs I created today, I feel like I was very successful, and am looking forward towards finding some time to create some new fiber pieces based on my new designs!

Gallery

I was very surprised today when I received a copy of Somerset Studio's newest issue of Gallery, (Winter 2008) in my mailbox. I looked inside to find two of my art quilts! I had sent them in ages ago, one to Somerset's "Bohemian" theme issue, and one to their Tenth Anniversary issue. Alas, my art quilts didn't appear in either of those issues, and I had all but forgotten about them. Happy to say that good things come to those who wait, as it is always a special treat to see ones work published! So, next time you are at the bookstore, take a peek at this issue. It is packed full of some wonderful art, and I am thrilled to be a part of it!

The quilt on top is called "Happy Birthday". I was inspired by a vintage illustration in a children's text book, which I re-worked, changing the banner, and adding the birthday hat, along with other little changes. I painted the image with "fantastix all purpose ink" from TSUKINEKO. I finished by embroidering all around the image and beading the background.

The bottom quilt is called "Gypsy Girl" and features a vintage postcard and a bit of text torn from an old book which I have sewn on to various fabrics including silks and upholstery fabrics. I embellished the piece with various beads, buttons and trinkets.

The Invasion Continues

This is another free-motion embroidered, red-work piece from the "Invasion" series I am working on, (in-between working on other things). I have to admit the ball at the woman's feet bothers me. The shape is off and I am not thrilled with the shading. Actually this was the 2nd one that I attempted. On the first one my shading got way to heavy on the woman, making everything else look off. To balance it out I would have had to show all the shadows being cast from the objects, and the whole piece would have been over-worked. So I tried again. Because I am drawing with my sewing machine, erasing or painting over the parts I am not happy with just isn't an option. And since the stitches are rather tight and often clustered, ripping them out isn't a great option, either. So I have learn to live with the things that bug me, which becomes good practice for me in letting go.
(One of my extended life lessons, and something I am continually working on.)