04/27/2015

 I am Absolutely thrilled with my latest project!

This drawing is done in color pencil on a piece of scrap board a neighbor contributed.

In the past I disliked using color pencils and had pretty much disregarded them.  Until last Saturday morning.  I decided to give them another shot. I wanted to see how well they might work on a piece of wood. 

Now I think I am in love with them...and my results.

We start with a line drawing.

Then a start.

The picture below shows the point at which I decided to try the hairdryer. Redon and you will understand what happened.

So just a little FYI, I drew this with pencil and then inked it with an ink pen that is erasable.  Mind you I didn't even know that such a creature even existed as an erasable ink pen.   EURICA!  

And for those of you who may not know, the reason or the "science", behind erasable ink is friction... Friction produces heat and that erases the ink.  And, actually, on certain services like wood it will erace with the regular eraser, if you rub long enough, again producing heat.  

Also, you may or may not know, that color pencils have wax in them. So like the genius that I am I decided to hit the art with my hairdryer, thus melting the wax just a tiny bit and giving me even better blending.

Within 30 seconds POOF my entire line drawing was gone! Including the outlines on the color pencil work.  I just about cried. But it also turns out, that after the ink is gone there is some sort of residue left behind that makes it very hard to draw back over the top of it. So even though I got a little bit better blending, I had to redraw the entire piece and re-work the edges of the already completed color pencil work. 

NOT FUN!!!

The moral to the story? Don't afraid to try new things, but be cautious and prepared for dramatic learning experiences. LOLOL

Fortunately I was able to save it without having the sand it off the lumber and start over.

Now that the main design is completed I have to figure out what to do for The eye and the background.

Wish me luck.

04/25/2015

Things have been kind of hectic… Still… But I do have a few pictures to share with you. I have been working on my drawing, especially since my other arts gave me tendinitis in my left hand. So here are a few pictures of what I've been up to.

I thought I was doing pretty well with this one, but things went horribly wrong. Keep looking further down.

His eyes are beyond weird and I can't figure out what to do to fix him. Clearly skulls are not my strong suit. But of course this is only the fourth or fifth one I've ever drawn.

But I learned a lot, and practices what it's all about.

Then I warped my inkle loom AND I FINALLY got the baltic threading correct!!!  The purple thread is hand dyed and hand spun by one of my Ravelry buddies.  Mailed to me a few years ago in a swap.  I made her a hand woven backstrap.

This warp will be for little pouch bags.

Then a friend cut me a few more boards out of my Juniper stump.  Aren't they wonderful!!!

Then a tiny drawing...too small for my liking.  Not sure how to complete it.  Maybe a car charm?

Then I drew this and HATED IT!!!  Soooooo I sanded it off.

The wood will be reused eventually.  

Then I tookmy first art instructional class. Acrylic painting.  Clearly I need a whole lot more practice. Although I will admit that I had more control of my brushes and paint than I ever thought that I would. You might remember this flower though from this drawing I did a few months ago…my first charcoal piece.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the fact that I love dragons.  But I do so I bought a little book on drawing dragons, I've done a few before but it's been a very very long time. And this is what I got.

I was looking at this tutorial…so sorry for the sideways picture.

And here is the one that I drew.  It was the first time I had drawn on paper in quite some time and I did him very quickly. He was meant to be more skatchy than most of my art.  My art is usually tight I was trying to loosen up, he still ended up tight. But I do like it a lot.

He is an Amphitere dragon.

Then I moved onto a Phoenix.  He is on a piece of scrap lumber (think re-claimed) that a neighbor gave me. 

I have not picked up a color pencil in months and months and months. I cannot even tell you how long it has been. But I really like using colored pencils on the lumber and I think he's turning out beautifully so far.

And that girls and boys brings us to the present day and time. For now I'm going back to my color pencils.

I hope you guys stay tuned to see how things turn out with the Phoenix. 

Don't forget you can find me at the farmers market in Saint Augustine at the amphitheater on most Saturdays. Right now I am only doing every other Saturday and there is no market today and on the May 2nd, it will be closed also due to Flagler College graduation ceremonies. 

But I will be there the following weekend and every other weekend from there on. It may even be that I go back to every single weekend. So stay tuned same bat time same bat channel.

04/13/2015

How about some nice green. I've been thinking so much about what a short Spring we had,  that I am  thinking about doing a series of bracelets in seasonal colors Of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.  

And actually I'm using Crosstitch floss in various textures and thread finishes,  for instance some of them are metallic, some of them are just shimmery and some of them are not shiny at all. I'm using the Baltic threading (on my inkle loom) and I'm really liking the way it's going.

04/10/2015

And when they grow up they became little bags/couches! 

Here we see the before...

And now, all grown up!

Don't forget girls and boys every other Saturday, and tomorrow is one of them, I will be at the St. Augustine amphitheater farmers market from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30. 

All the items that you see listed on this blog are indeed for sale. And please don't forget I do ship.  

Contact me anytime if you see something you like but would like in another color. I don't mind customizing and I do not charge extra for it.

See you there!

04/09/2015

Not much of the post girls and boys just pics of what I've been up to… A couple little table toppers.

They are actually a beautiful salmon color with the stripe down the center that is a smoky pink, beautiful if I do say so myself. They may eventually become envelope pouches. I'm not sure yet what they will be when they grow up.

Then a few bracelets/cuffs.  

Some of those buttons are handmade cedar tree limb slices that I made myself. And of course we do have various techniques.  This blue one fits ankles.

And even a little graphite pencil work.

 

Even a 'lil pastel chalk.  This one will have hooks in the center of several of the flowers, it could be used either for keys or for jewelry to hang on.  

03/12/2015

It has been too long since I posted on the blog. I have been working very hard on some handwoven bracelets. I've had a lot of epic fails but I did get a couple of nice pieces out of the deal. I even bought myself a special bracelet loom.

I'm planning on starting back at the St. Augustine old city farmers market on Saturdays, at least every other Saturday starting this weekend.   Wish me luck.

Here are a few pictures of what I did come up with.

One of the problems I'm having is the figuring out the finished size of the bracelet along with the added in fastening. I also have to take into consideration how much the technique I'm weaving has in take-up. Sometimes you can lose up to 30% of your weaving with work face take up. So I ended up with some that will very much be children's bracelets,  as they turned out too small for an adult to slip over their hand.

On this one I tried a little inlay technique. 

The first one you see here is a lead slips on to an adult's arm. The one you see on the right has charms all the way around it and it is so stinking cute. But it is only big enough for a child to slip onto their arm.

A choker or two made it into the mix also.

I really love this blue and purple together.

And of course I also had to add in some natural elements. I made these buttons from slices of tree limb. Juniper/Cedar of course.

I absolutely love these glass beads for the closure.

And here we have another one with the Cedar button…

Ii got a thread crossed on the backside of this next one. But I made it for myself anyway. So I just hide the flaw on the inside and wear it anyway. It just slips over my wrist no closure.  This technique creates a very heavy boardy/stiff         fabric.  So I just sewed the ends together and slip it onto my arm. It is so heavy in fact the sewing machine really didn't like working with it.

And we all know how much I love to do scrolls. I will indeed be doing more bracelets. I'm trying to find something where I can finish one or two in a day versus 1 a week. 

The baskets and the weaving handbags are much more time-consuming so we'll see how it goes. Stay tuned there will be more prototypes coming.

11/19/2015

TADA!!!

02/01/2015

Did you know that I give Pineneedle basket weaving lessons? It's a series of lessons actually, one lesson a week for four weeks.

My latest student did so very well and I think maybe I'm glad she lives in Connecticut. I don't do so well with competition! And I'm kind of thinking that the student could easily become the master. LOL she did such a great job,some pictures for you.

The first basket we do together.

And then the student does one entirely on their own. From bundling their own Pineneedles to choosing and sanding their own piece of wood!

Didn't you do a lovely job on both pieces! I'm very proud.!!!  And I'm looking forward to seeing her again in April.