The Rag rug is coming along!

I got my pictures for the flyers.  Remember?  The ones with the spindles and weavings together. I also warped up another backstrap loom.  I think I am just going to stick to my frame loom weaving.  I can do warp face weaving on it also.  I just have to nail down how to do it.

I promised to post a picture so here it is.  The rug is turning out very cushy and colorful.  The spindles are on the left.  They are stuck standing up on the loom along with some raw cotton!  Kind of a before and after. 

Newest project / Rag Rug

After I went to help with the fundraiser on Saturday I came home and could finally get ready to weave.

I have yarn on two different types of spindles for my flyer pictures, and both of my looms warped up for the same purpose.   I decided to do a rag rug on the large loom and a weaving for another handbag for my artfire site on the smaller one.

Sooooooo, I cut up t-shirts for three hrs. when I got home.  I cut them into strips, stretched them so they would curl in on themselves to create a tube of t-shirt yarn and then hand knotted them together.  I chose pinks, purples, white, and gray.  Below you will see a picture of the completed ball of yarn.  I took the picture with Lacy in it for a point of reference.  The ball is hysterically huge.  LOL! I think I should have enough.

The game plan is to take a photo of the looms and spindles all together.  However, I think it will have more 'punch' if I have them 'in use'.  So now after 3 days of prep I am  ready.

I will be sure to post pictures of the final flyer!

Yesterday

Yesterday I couldn't leave the house to distribute flyers due to car problems. 

So I decided I needed a new pic for the flyer itself.  You see the very first one I gave out, the lady as me 'what is a spindle'.  I found that strange myself, because even before I became involved with the fiber arts I knew that a spindle was somehow used to spin yarn.

Since it is one of the workshops I will be offering, I felt that I needed to place some spindles in the pic with the loom just in case others needed to see it to know what it was.

This being the case I figured it should indeed have something spun (yarn) on it.  This being Georgia and cotton season just upon us, I figured Cotton was a good thing to start with.  Especially since I happen to have a whole trunk of it.  Also, I have 3 different kinds of spindle so I figured I should show at least 2.  Sooooo, I got out my fiber and spun all day with spindles.  Haven't used one in a few years, so I kind of had to start at the beginning all over again.  Of course I find it faster to use my spinning wheel, but they don't have spinning wheels for me to use at the school so this is not conducive to the workshops. 

I also needed to dig out the spindles and fiber because when I do go downtown to hand out more of my cards and flyers, I am going to take some fiber and a spindle and sit in the little town square and spin.  Hopefully this will draw some attention and help me market myself.  The looms are a little too heavy to carry around.

The new pic with looms and spindles will be on the flyer but I will post them here for you to see also.

Today I volunteered to help with some sort of fund raiser at the Art Center for a couple of hours.  Gotta go for now everyone.  Hope I am not boring everyone to tears. 

What's new around here!

Yesterday I went into the big metro area of Moultrie, Ga!  LOL  Actually, I did go downtown.  They have a little town square area that is quite charming.  Carol let me out downtown and I went door to door handing out flyers for my art workshops at the Art Center.

I am amazed at how receptive all of the shops were.  I was only about half way around the square when I ran out of sheets and cards.  Where I am from this would usually not be allowed.  I have heard people say they "don't want their store cluttered up" and such comments as that.  But I was not told no by anyone I approached.  I was told that they all try to support each other and to especially support the Art Center. 

It really is a large art center for such a small town.  I hope this word of mouth personal touch is going to help me pull in students.  When most people hear that you weave, they immediately picture a big floor loom in their head.  Not many who are not involved in the fiber arts realize that there are all kinds of different methods for weaving and the fabric structures that they will produce. 

When I started out at this I decided that if the primitives cultures, like American Indians for example, could walk out into the desert and create a loom and a weaving  with just what they could find for laying around for supplies.  Then I most certainly should be able to develop a loom with the help of the local hardware store.

I have seen looms priced at exorbitant amounts of money!  Mine cost around $20.00 to build.  The Bolivian, Peruvian, Hopi and many other peoples use back strap looms which are simply a bunch of sticks held together by the warps to weave on.  Their body is even involved as part of the loom.  How ingenious!

So, on my flyer, I actually put a picture of my loom with a weaving on it.  You can actually see the "Home Depot" logo on my stick shed, it is a paint stick for a 5 gal. bucket of paint.  The wood was bought off of the cull card at the same hardware store.  The legs are scrap wood I found on a construction site and asked one of the men to cut it (he had the saw in his hands anyway), and then I came home and drilled holes to put the threaded rods through.  Those rods and the nuts and washer, and a screen door spring for spacing the threads are basicly the only expense.  I even made my own swords out of lattice wood from the hardware store.  I have had them for about 12 years and they have a beautiful golden patina from so many weavings and of course from my hands.  This picture is how I open the conversations about my workshops.  I make sure to let me know that we can build them a loom just like it for well under $20.00.  

As for the spinning class, I was asked what a spindle is?  It never occurred to me that people wouldn't know what it was!!!  So I guess I am going to have to add my spindles to the picture!  I made those myself also, less than $5.00.  Then they can even use yarn that they created themselves in the weaving class.

I wore on of my Peyote bead cuffs and it was a "HUGE" success!  I think that class will actually have people in it!  

I might even teach pink straw basketry.  Even though I am new to that particular art form, it also drew alot of attention.

I am going to revamp my flyers, and then I am off to do the rest of the square, probably today.  Class starts in less than 2 weeks and I need students.  (As an instructor I am indeed self employed.)  Tomorrow, I will help with a fund raiser by selling lunches at the Middle School next door to the Art Center.

I also warped up both of my tapestry looms last night!  So when I get home today I can sit right down to weaving.  I went from nothing to do for weeks waiting out that biopsy to full blast in a matter of day.  I am grateful to be healthy and getting back into my life.

I leave you with some pictures of this loom and hope that you all have a wonderful day!

Shuttles to hold your yarn!

                                           
                                             Close up of the screen door spring on the top!

                                                                    Close up of the loom!

                                                                   Weaving in progress!

 

The weather was very nice here yesterday, not as deadly hot as usual.  It rained all night and today it is even cooler!  SO I  NEED TO GET OFF THE COMPUTER! and get going.

Alyssa's purse - commission and the Little Red Scrap bag!

Completed both yesterday.  Oh my!  They are so cute!  Just a little preview for you!  Red for a listing.

                     Blue for Alyssa!  Keep looking further down and you also see the bracelet to match!

                                  Beads are so hard to photograph.  They actually match perfect!
 

Alyssa's purse - commission

Soooo, here is what the weaving I did for Alyssa's purse looks like before I make it into a handbag!

Trying to warp face weave on a Tapestry loom!

I was up VERY late 2 nights in a row trying to figure out how I can get a warp face (all you would see is the up and down threads) weave on my Tapestry loom.  Usually I do weft face weave (where all you would see is the horizontal threads) which is what tapestry looms lend themselves to.

Basically I am trying to do the kind of weaving that a Backstrap or Inkle loom produce on another type of loom (tapestry).  What this means is I am trying to learn a new weave which is completely the reverse of what I usually do. 

I did get the loom warped up and I did learn a lot.  But this time the warp will not be used as the learning curve was just too great!  My heddles are too thick and not slick enough and getting the tension correct is a dismal failure. 

I also completed Alyssa's handbag weaving.  I was waiting for the mail to deliver the yarn I needed, (I ran out of what she sent me) and I guess it became lost in the mail.  At this point she has spend way too much money for this bag, so I went to WalMart and bought something out of their miserable selection and found a way to complete the weaving.  Good thing I have something of an eye for design.  Anyway, today I will be stitching the bag together.  There will pictures posted as soon as I can. 

I have also been thinking about creating a pouch bag for the little red rag rug I made.  I would be small and actually simply a pouch with a button.  Nothing fancy for finish work as the weaving itself is so rich I don't want to detract from it.

After that I have to complete some new business cards and tomorrow I will go down to the town square to walk around and see if I can give out some flyers and cards for my workshops that start at the Art Center on September 7th.  Hope I can scare up some students.

Oh yeah, and of course try to finish coloring in my recent drawing, kind of a stained glass piece, and warp up both of my now empty looms.  Whew!!!  I went from having everything on hold because of the biopsy to everything exploding on me in a matter of 3 days.  Busy Busy Busy!  So glad to have a reason to get out of bed again.

So that , what I am up to these days!  I really haven't even had much time for working my web sites, and I am completely off track with my 'Wonderful Wednesday Features'!  I think I will pick back up on that when I get a little more settled in at the Art Center.

In the meanwhile Lacy, and Wiggles and I say stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel and we will TTYL!

Red Rag Mat

I completed this little rag mat this evening.  It measures 11in x 19 in.  I was kind of thinking about making a small tote. The red and pink together are really quite eye catching!  What do you think?

Line art

Just a peek at my newest drawing....Just line art at the moment.  Really want to complete it but I have other responsibilities I must work on today!  Man do I hate being a 'grown up'.

As usual what I had pictured in my head is not what my hand interpreted!  I actually had a unique cross, as in biblical, in my mind.  Somehow it turned in to this, kind of 'stained glass' piece.  I am not a particularly traditionally religious person, I am however very spirit oriented and absolutely believe in a higher power.  How else could I create this pieces of art.  Definitely something bigger flowing through me.  Also, for some reason my step-father, who passed a couple of years ago, (he and my mother passed 4mnths and 11 days apart) kept coming to mind.  He would have liked this one I think.

Colquitt County Art Center / Open house!

Ok sooooo, the open house was not really a BIG event.  Remember Moultrie, GA is a VERY small town.

I did give out some information about the classes I am offering and talked to other instructors.  Lots of info about what to or not to do.  I definitely need to update my business cards.

In the pictures you will see pictures of my weavings hanging in the hall outside the room I will be using when I get some students.  Classes technically start Tuesday, September the 7th.  

I took my looms and demonstrated tapestry weaving.  Unfortunately I didn't think to also take my pine needle baskets or any of my drawings.  I won't be teaching drawing anyway, but I have thought of teaching Pine needle basket weaving / coiling.  Also, if I sell anything inside the art center they get 30%.  But a sale is still better than none at this point.

The Art center is only open 10 to 2 on Saturdays, open house was from 11 to 1.  I stayed the entire 4 hours.

I do wish I had some of my nicer weavings!  Most of them have gifted our though so I just worked with what I have.  Also I didn't know they wanted the weavings displayed so soon.  I thought I was going to put them up before the Annual Quilt show in September.  I really didn't even have time to wash and press them :o(.

But considering that I wasn't sure about the biopsy thing or if I was even going to be able to commit to anything workshops at all I am pleased just to be getting involved! 

Life as I know it!

Just a little up date here folks.  

Most of you know that I found out yesterday that my breast biopsy came back benign!   YEAH!!!!  Now I get to dive headlong back into some sort of life.  

I wasn't sure what was going to be in my immediate future, so everything was kind of at a stand still.  I had been invited to instruct workshops at the very large Art center here in Moultrie, GA.  I had accepted, but of course if I had to have a mastectomy or chemo or both or ........ anyway now I can move ahead.

I will be at their open house tomorrow, that is the 21st from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  This I already knew about, but got a phone call this morning asking if I would like to DISPLAY some of my weaving's also.  So I gathered up what I have here and went over and hung them outside the room where I will be giving my lessons.  Kind of sad though, see all of the really nice ones get sold or given as gifts.  This means that most of what I have kept for myself may not be my best work.  But I went down and hung what I did have and it actually looks pretty good if I do say so myself.  

I am choosing to call this a showing...even if it is on a small scale.  It's a little scarey though, feels kind of like bragging.

I'll be taking my tapestry looms in and demonstrating, might even take a spindle and some fiber.  Most of the spinning I have done in the last few years has been on a spinning wheel though, might be a little rusty for demonstrating. 

I will also be burning the midnight oil making up some sort of flier tonight so that if anyone asks I will have handouts.  Being an instructor is a self-employed thing and I need STUDENTS!  LOL!  First classes is September 7th.  

I will be doing Beginner weaving, Beginner spindle yarn spinning, and Beginner peyote needle bead weaving.  So I guess I will also be wearing some of my own beaded jewelry.  Batteries are dead in my camera, but somehow I will get some pictures taken.  Especially of my art work hanging on the walls of a real live Art Center.  I am hoping that I will also be able to do some shows eventually...as far as the drawing...it's still not my strong suit.  I have much more of a comfort zone with my fiber arts.  

I also came home to find that my FaceBook friends had been working overtime helping me gather up some new fans.  I don't know what I would do without these wonderful people.  They have been my surrogate family these last few months in a city where the only people I know are my roommate, Carol and our 3 dogs.  Bless all of you for being there for me.

I will also keep you posted on how well my commissions were received by their recepients. 

For now I bid you all good night as I have lots to do to prepare for tomorrow.  I am actually looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends...in the art world...go figure, me, at the art center.  WOW, who'd a thunk it?

Commissioned Art

Well I think I have completed the second half of my two piece commission for my friend Peter.

His twin stepdaughters are very involved in 'Dance'.  So for their birthday he asked me to do two pieces in graphite that had to do with dance.  That's all he gave me 'dance'.  

Having never met these two young woman, I was kind of hoping he could at least tell me which form of dance.  His response 'they love them all'.  Big help!

Anyway the ballet slippers were the first drawing.  

Then I went for tap shoes, these were tough.  I don't do photo realism so these are my own versions.  

Here are the final results.  Please let me know what you think.

Progress on Alyssa's Commission Soumak bag

Had my breast biopsy on Friday...pretty sore so I haven't done a whole lot of weaving.  But here is what I have so far.  It is 11 inches wide and 8 inches long. 

Alyssa's purse - commission

My friend from St. Augustine, Alyssa, had me do her a peyote cuff bracelet out of blue tones with silver accent and then she also asked me to make her a handbag.  She liked the white soumak that was my 1st endeavor...but wanted it in blue. 

For those of you who didn't see it here is the bracelet...

And here is the original purse...

Here are her color choices...

Actually I am a little jealous, this cotton is beautiful.  It is 100% mercerized cotton and will be easily washed.  The dark is Cobalt blue #10 crochet thread and I used it as warp (vertical threads for those who don't weave).  The lighter color is 'fine', no size indicated on the packaging, it is used for the weft (horizontal threads).  Here it is in the beginning stages.  The rainbow colors you see are just there for spacing and will not be part of the final handbag.

If you look closely you will also see that the small loom is behind the large one.  I have it warped up getting ready for the classes I will be teaching at the Molultrie Art Center starting in September semester.  It has a teal warp on it for the moment.

Wonderful Wednesday Feature

So go figure it is Wednesday yet again!  And that means supporting a new artist in our artistic community.

Today we take a look at a new friend of mine. I know her through facebook and Artfire.  

Her site is called "  Blue Shark Diva Designs", and I just love her jewelry!  My favorites are the pieces she uses Sea glass in and a lot of her work is 'beachy'!!  Being from a beach town myself I am sure you can understand the attraction.  

You definitely have to go and check out her site.  Don't forget she also has a FaceBook account where you can go and 'like' her.

A few pictures to pique your interest.

Latest commission

This is what I have so far on the second part of the 2 piece commission.  Sorry about the shine, graphite is very hard to photograph!  It is a little to heavy on the right side so I have to add something on the left.  I will post pictures when I decide what else I will be adding.

Commissioned Art

Well I did it.  I found a piece of clip art that inspired me and then I drew my own version.  

This is one of the 2 pieces I have to do for my friend.  I am thinking tap shoes for the second.  They are for his twin stepdaughters birthday and all he gave me to go on was 'something to do with dance'.  

Having never met the girls, this has been quite the stresser.  My first commission drawings, for a lifelong friend, for girls I have never met (no pressure there).   Oh yeah, and I don't happen know anyone else who dances to feed me any inspirational information.   Sooooo....This is what I came up with.  Man I wish graphite pencil wasn't so hard to photograph.  The paper is actually a 'natural white', which means a creamy off white almost beige.  Certainly not gray.

Please let me know what you think.....

Wonderful Wednesday Feature

Once again it's Wednesday my lovely artsie fartsies!  You know what that means!  Time for the 'Wonderful Wednesday Feature' artist!

This time I discovered a wonderful artist that is recycling beautifully.  This is such a great idea.  I found him on Etsy and his site is called 'bottlehood'.  He also has a Facebook fan page.  Just click here on the appropriate word as I have made them links so it's easy for you to get there.

This is such a clever idea.  He takes old bottles, anything from beer bottles to liquor bottles and then turns them into these awesome drinking glasses.  He even gets these bottles from local area businesses.  Now that is what I call upcycling.  My favorites are the 'Grey Goose'!

Here are some pictures and I am sure you will be just as impressed as I am.  Be sure to click, heart, convo or purchase so that we can be sure to support our neighborhood artsies! 

It's tough to be a little dog in my house!

Ok so I got ready to do some art and make my bed, couldn't do either because one dog was stretched out on the bed and another was in my chair.

Finally got them to move and did my chores... on to the computer work. Then low and behold they were so cute I just had to post pictures.  Lacy is all snuggled up in her crate, which by the way is more like a palace.  It's Great Dane size and she's 20lbs.

And then there's the little Wiggle dog...

My latest graphite/pencil art

This one is for a friend of mine's twin daughters.  I will have to do another one on the subject of 'dance' for the other twin, he commissioned 2 pieces.  Here is the beginning of the 1st one.  Let me know what you think.

I hope you can see it well enough.

Hi there everyone!

I am not sure if all of my blog followers also follow me on facebook and I wanted to make sure you got a look at the completed Elf also.  So here she is, I am sooooo very proud of her.  I have only done about 5 faces total.  Once I got one that looked enough like my daughter that people would say WOW you did Crystal's face I moved onto other design work.  (By the way that one is posted on the blog.)

Not sure if she will be for sale.  For the moment I am enjoying her company immensely.  I really surprised myself with this one. 

Anyway here she is....maybe you can help me choose a name for her

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