Tag Archives: paper

shadows below and on top

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Make quilt. Take picture of quilt.  Print, then stitch picture of quilt to folded pages of a book.*   Make a color xerox.  Tape color xerox to window on top of Nat’l Geographic photo of a robed figure.  Take another picture.  Voila.

Next, use color xerox cut outs of a previously constructed quilt (hearts) and stitch them onto paper with a magazine waterfall, using a color xerox of handmade paper for the bottom edge.

Photo with ‘neutral light’ (above) and then let shadows play into design, creating two variations.

(This is a test regarding crisp posted images).

I love the shadows and the watery realm in the background.  I also am enamored with photographed stitching bumping along with actual stitching.  And although the THOUGHT of a heart casting a shadow somewhat troubles me, the image does not.

Do any other fiber artists out there like to play with paper reproductions of their fiber work?

*(“The Crystal Cave” by Mary Stewart).

Off to make a smoothie for D’s first day of school… LATE START is a great idea for teenagers!

Jackets, Blankets, and Sheets

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The Greek word moira (μοῖρα) literally means a part or portion, and by extension one’s portion in life or destiny. They [The Fates] controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death.  [Wikipedia]

With two weeks to go for The Sketchbook Project, the foot of snowfall over the weekend was a boon — I got to spend almost all of Monday down in the cellar.  I was having so much fun, it didn’t matter how cold my studio was!

Below are some images of sheets that I collected over the fall.  One of D. sleeping. Another of our laundry closet, photoshopped.

My chosen theme — JACKETS, BLANKETS AND SHEETS – also got a boost from the snow.  Blankets of snow covered the Northeast on Sunday, and so pictures of snow, Christmas napkins of snow, and Vintage Christmas cards with blankets of snow, all made their way into the book.  More of that tomorrow.

Jack has nearly disappeared while walking on the newly-cleared sidewalk!

Collage Journals

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I have close to a dozen, now, collage journals where I play with color and form.  I think they started as wish-books — a place to put images of things I wanted.  But soon & invariably, they became something else — I couldn’t help cutting, rearranging, interrupting an image… Occasionally I drift into social commentary, but mostly it is pure play.

I’ve decided to post a few now and then.  I am choosing not to worry about copyright.  My love of textiles will be obvious.  That I am attending to color might be clear.  My obsession with house motifs and doorways will be apparent, too.

Most images come from catalogs and old magazines — a boxload of old Smithsonians, National Geographic, and some designer magazines (Living, House Beautiful, Country Living) … I have three whole books devoted to Christmas.

So Collage Page #1 features —

  • Venice bridge arches
  • country doorways
  • bucket of wood
  • Alicia Silverstone’s  hand and knee creases
  • feet of a J. Jill model
  • flowers and I don’t know what those blue disks are.

Here I am looking at a very soft palette.  This at odds with the colors I generally choose in quiltmaking, which tend to be very saturated colors.

There is an intentional social comment here, about the commercialization of beauty and the price it exacts from women.  We fall prey to the glossy images and are invited to view ourselves in bits and pieces (e.g. “I like my breasts, but I hate my ass” ).  The desire for something ELSE, something deeper than the skin, is referenced by those bridges and doors, which represent transport, openings, mystery….

Not that I wouldn’t like to own that J.Jill skirt, mind…