Deborah Bates's Blog, page 3

I Want to Dye, So I Paint

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The hand dyed textiles of Wendy Richardson convinced me to covet hand dyed fabrics. Her work is luscious. She takes the most ordinary of fabrics and makes them extraordinary. Outdated, ugly or passe pieces have the potential to become shining stars in her hands.

Seeing the work of admired artists often leads to the conclusion that they are all dyeing their own fabrics (o.k.- not all – but many do). There are many motivations for wanting to build work from fabric of your own creating: it deepens the connection to your work, bears no one else's creative mark, provides just the foundation that you are looking for and adds to the pleasure of designing. I hope to someday follow that path to become closer to my own work, but for now, I need to make my mark with thread and paint.

What are some of the colourants available to today's textile artist?

Jacquard products are a personal favourite. I adore their Lumiere line of metallic dusted paints (Halo Blue Gold is a delight!). They also make Neopaque (for dark fabric coverage), Textile Colors (to maintain the hand of fabric and give good colour) and Dynaflow (an almost ink-like liquid paint)
Stewart Gill Paints: More than paints, some of their products are masterpieces waiting to pop out of a bottle. The Byzantia line is lush and The Alchemy line is an "interference" selection that takes on a shimmery underglow of a secondary colour.
Golden Acrylics: are not fabric specific, but the colour selection is rich and sophisticated, providing the colours that someone from the painting and fine arts world would seek out. Also, fabric mediums can be added for workability and washability.
"Anything on hand" is another good approach. Keep in mind the durability of the paint that you are using on the fabric and try what you may have on hand. Again, fabric medium can be added, but I tend to not wash my creations, so nothing is off-limits, including regular craft paint.
Inks: I learned to use bottle inks with Lisa Engelbrecht. She works with ink on canvas and uses calligraphy as well as brush work. The fluidity of the ink is a nice change from heavier paints and they come in a surprising range of colours.
And so on: of course, this is just a taste of fabric colouring possibilities. Prismacolor pencils, Shiva Paintstix, Portfolio Pastels from Crayola, Tsukineko bottled Inks, Fabrico Fabric pens et al add to the buffet of possibilities.

So while I wish to dye, I'll paint for now. There are plenty of possibilities to keep me busy.

Wendy: http://www.qtstudio.com/

Lisa: http://www.lisaengelbrecht.com/fr_hom...

Tiny Thread Painting Tip #2

Surprise Yourself

When it comes to painting a background, reach for the variegated threads. Either tonal (various tints and shades of one colour) or multi-colour will work. These will add interest without having to change spools - just keep on stitchin'!

One of my absolute favourite discoveries has been Linda Palaisy's hand-dyed threads. They are artisanal threads, hand-made in small batches, and the colours are extraordinary! Surprise bits of hues like a vibrant pink or lime green will jump out from more muted colours. This effect is very exciting when filling a dynamic background on something like the pear piece above.  Unlike  threads that are dyed in regular intervals which are also very useful), these less predictable threads create more movement and a definite sense of colour blending.

Check out Linda's website to see some of her offerings:

http://www.lindapalaisy.ca/products.html

Paint on.

Tiny Thread Painting Trick

Try it, you'll like it!

 

When stitch drawing or sketching ("thread painting- lite"), consider stitching your drawing twice. Make the first round in a thread that blends well into the background. This can help with:

- the placement of the motif

- practicing the fluid drawing motion

- adding interest, shading or depth to a simple outline.

Then follow with the thread that you want to show off more.

A little extra practice in sketching can lead to a curious desire to adopt the Big Box of Crayola thread colors.

Play on….

Slow Going Sewing

That's it?

A good part of the weekend has been spent huddled in the batcave over a SMALL sewing project for Janome. about 15 hours has gone into something that I would expect a 3 hour class could cover. What is wrong with me?

Let me explain from behind the scenes: Our theme this year is "Blossom" and I am working with the education team on a series of projects that express the many ways to blossom in our sewing. We each bring our unique styles to the table and hopefully, as a team, we meet the needs of our audience. I wanted to make my first project of the year to be something that specifically addressed how to make the theme have some personal relevance, as well include a calendar. It just seemed to make sense for a New Year's project. Anyway…. We have a color palette, and I had the project sketched. I wanted to make a cute, fabric covered clipboard without using glue. This would mean stitching around the riveted clip on the board and that could be tricky, so I had to make a reasonable substitute. A little engineering was called for.

The idea seemed simple enough:

make the board out of 2 layers of Peltex™ around one layer of firm cardboard. This way, if the needle happens to hit the 'board,' nothing should break. Since this is a Janome project, I wanted to be sure to use a few of the accessory feet and decorative stitches. I also wanted to include at least one technique so that the project was worthy of passing on some information to curious sewists. Checklist:

Theme: Blossoms √
Materials: Assorted beads, ribbons, bulldog clip, elastic, memo pad, Star Threads & Bryant Park Fabric collection  √
Calendar: Printed free from www.calendarlabs.com (a lucky find) √
Objective: Create a stitched clipboard that expresses 'blossoming' with various sewing methods as well as a way for users to express their own 'blossom' aspirations for their sewing/creative life √
Estimated creative time: six hours ≠ HA!

You know that old traveling adage:

"Bring half as many clothes and twice as much money"? My sewing equivalent goes something like this:

"Expect a minimum of twice as many hours, half my expectations and put Pizza Pizza on speed dial because momma won't be cooking tonight!"

Seriously. I work as if I am sewing in a pool of molasses. Every thread selection is a struggle (lay the threads atop the fabric, do some trial stitches, rip a few tries out…). Fabric placements go through endless permeations.  There is usually one gad-awful goof that causes a near complete reboot. Is this NORMAL?

But then the project will start to come together and the embellishments start to happen. New ideas come along and excitement builds. I will be bone chilled and tried in the cave, but excitement wins over my complaining self. This is over such a small, insignificant little project - but it is all mine and it is the fruit of what I love doing.

I may not always understand the artwork of others, but I can certainly appreciate this jazzed feeling a happy accomplishment; that bursting bud of blooming. There is nothing quite like it available on Amazon or in any shopping mall. I guess that I will have to accept that I am (and most likely always will be) a slow sewer. Not slow and steady, just slow. Minutes turn to hours that last in little remembered moments. And those are what keep me going back to the batcave.

Sew what you love!

live

Marilyn in Some Like It Hot

We should all start to live before we get too old.

Fear is stupid. So are regrets.

- Marilyn Monroe, 1926 – 1962

Note to self: Don't grow old, just grow.

Happy New Year

Of Gateways, Gangplanks and Clean Sheets (or How to Write Non-Binding Resloutions)

Gateways between the old and new, past and future (The Arch of Janus)

Resolutions = I am in need of some sort of rehab…

The pomp of the resolution ritual is defined by the glorified image of the more perfected self – me, BUT  as a 40 pound lighter pillar of the community, friend to stray ferrets and celebrated mother, daughter, wife, artist and employee. The challenge of resolution writing is to wrap up my ideal self in a pretty bow with a promise that I can allow myself to be changed by. Caught up in the holiday revelry, we can promise ourselves anything with vows that are sure to be grandiose, difficult to read and impossible to remember.

The trouble with BIG New Year's resolutions…

is that they are the harbingers of major change, chaos, crisis, guilt and failure. (What's not to love?) The kinder, gentler resolutions encouraged by well-meaning pundits encourage us to envision small, manageable changes in our lives rather than extreme makeovers. Given the human nature of self-preserving forgetfulness, isn't it likely that these comfy, cozy, low-cal resolutions will be misremembered faster than yesterday's Chinese takeout? So what is the goal-setting creative to do? Avoidance seems like a good first step.

There has to be an app for this

Once these portals to a "better me" are crafted, where will I post them for daily reminding? I will lose a scrawled  scrap paper list. I suppose I could make a fancy fabric covered cork board, but then piles of other important memorabilia will get pinned on top of the list. Stick it to a mirror? Mark it in a Yahoo calendar? Maybe I should learn how to make an app?  (note to self: Call son – request custom app – "no, I do not have a list yet, I need the app first."). This will save countless hours of stressful list-building today.

Googling Resolution Nirvana

Surely someone out there on the web has written the go-to list for how to make my creative life more _________ (insert desired effect here: more rewarding, more significant, more MORE).

I remember that Lesley Riley once had an intriguing LIST of Reasons to LOVE this New Year's Day rather than a collection of resolutions. She hinted about an upcoming change, and then made it happen with her Artist Success program.

My Google spelunking led from Artsy strategies to rabbit holes of anything from Designer Resolutions ("live beyond your desk") to  Dr. Phil-isms (surprisingly, there is a book to purchase). Three hours later … I enjoyed what (most) everyone had written, but had no list of my own that I believed in. I could just as easily click-through a random phrase generator to discern my call-to-New Year's Action: Pop Trustingly!, Curve Decreasingly!, Cricket Cliquishly Pile!, Bed Sidewards Revenge! (really?)

Non-Binding Resolutions

I could go with random resolution solutions, but maybe a teensy bit more focus is needed: Melanie Testa wrote about non-resolutions and the focus on selected words for creative exploration instead. I like her use of "intuit" and "slow cloth." These don't pinch or chafe or infer that I need to head off to the Betty Ford. What words can make my life of tomorrow different than that of today?

Janus: Roma god of gateways & doorways

"Gateways"

The Roman god Janus is pictured as having two faces: one to look behind with forgiveness and one to look ahead with hope. He is associated with gateways and passages that lead from one state of being to another. The month of January is named for Janus, so what better time to examine the year passed and the one ahead. Look for gateways; fearlessly pass through them; move forward without regret, Pass Go!, collect $200. Okay, I can live with this word.

"Gangplanks"

Lest we get too touchy-feely fearlessly passing through gateways, lets kick up the adrenaline: Cruise ship gangplanks can be crossed without trepidation, but creativity offers the more piratey version with "walk the plank." Words like "sink" or "swim" come to mind, followed by "sharkbait." Sometimes we have to put ourselves on the plank and take the plunge into the unknown, and sometimes we sink. The cool thing about being a creative-type is that we get "do-overs." These were called Health Paks when I played Doom- blast one open and you're good to go for the next round of Make Art like a Pirate!

Boo yeah!


"Clean Sheets"

Okay, that's two words, but nothing says 'fresh start' like crisp linens. We can easily put off this ritual, but when we strip off the old and snap on the new our beds just feel better. Our serotonin levels ooze to new heights and we can practically create in our sleep. Fresh starts need not only come with the New Year. We can tap into them on an as needed basis all year-long.

WOTD/ WOTY

We can choose to focus on a Word of the Day or our own Word of the Year; the important part is that we are owning our vocabulary and choosing what we will pay attention to. I have my favourites: hope, blossom, blunder, delve, yearn… "Fill the well." "Feed the beast." "Scare yourself." "Lose yourself."  We have to somehow trick our brains into remembering that we have goals. Our creative goals may be fraught with fear, peril and the occasional shark of criticism, competition, expectation or public exposure. What doesn't eat us lets us live.

Some days, changing the sheets will be all that we can manage. We can shoot for the BIG resolution, destined to change our lives; but more often, we will be slowly saved, changed and morphed by simple words and actions. I think that it is called "growth."

I will close with best wishes for our collective happy endings, tantalizing fresh new starts, bright and shiny New Years, peaceful resolutions and these words shared by Van and his exceptional Quotes of the Day:

The bad thing about good things is that they come to an end;

and the good thing about bad things is that they also end.

– Anamaria Rabatte y Cervi

late addition: this link to Janus as the HOTWORD at ditionary.com:

http://hotword.dictionary.com/january...

Nancy Crow Over My Shoulder

It's a funny thing,

art making. Just when we release our inhibitions about our work not being good enough, we can develop a desire to make it better. Such was the case when working on a new project.

Recently, I needed to develop something fairly simple to demonstrate a workbook format. Typical to my way of working, I needed to struggle with color and theme for a while until I could head out on my merry stitching way. My typical way of building a Passport workbook is to create the inner pages first (as in the sample above), followed by the cover. Much like most novel jackets, the cover somehow reflects the story told within and it doesn't make sense to me to build a cover pre-maturely, before the scope of the story is realised. But, being the self-contradictory bird that I am, this time around, I made a cover early on. Something struck me as being appropriate, so I kept noodling this idea off on the sidelines while I worked through more of the inner pages. This cover wanna-be became a distraction. When the time came to bind the book, this cover was still in progress. I tried to follow my own lead, believing that it would somehow magically make sense when all was joined together. I was less than happy with the results.

I tried to add hand stitching. I tried to embellish my way out of the ill-conceived cover, but it was not clicking. And then I heard Nancy…

"You have to work incredibly hard."  "I'm trying to make inroads into understanding about where I can go with the work.

And part of that is by doing the work, seeing results, analyzing the results, and part is just simply saying,

"You know, you can do better than this." – Nancy Crow

I love this quote in part for its message, but more for its slight of phrase. When I read it aloud in class, it would seem that I am about to express a feeling of  working hard, seeing results and simply saying "this is good enough – this is me – this is my art, and who is to judge it." But Nancy expects more of herself and by extension, of us. By not harshly judging our work, we can pass though a gateway to releasing creativity. We can learn to love creating and cultivate an addiction to it. This is a worthy initial milestone and an attitude that fosters courage. What we have to be careful of is complacency. When is good enough no longer good enough? We all have to set our own pace. This cover was definitely one of those "not good enough" moments.  So I set about tearing apart my front page, and with every ripped stitch, I felt better. I was happy to embrace my flop for what it was and kiss it goodbye. Of course, I was also short on time, so I compromised. I laid a foundation for a better cover. It is not complete and I have plans for more hand beading and stitching, but this version feels so much better.

There's nothing wrong with chasing down an idea. There's nothing wrong with working different and changing up methods and routines. What is wrong is to deny that sometimes you can do better. Self-criticism is not always a bad thing. If you can live through the very short-term  sting of failing, the pay off is sweet. I was a happy idiot when I packaged this project off to its destination. It was unfinished, but headed in the right direction. I can live with that