August - More

I've had a lovely grey and white floral silk extra large dress and jacket  edged trimmed with bugle beads found in a thrift shop a while back; I used it as a backing with white wool and white Uzbek silk on top for a nuno wrap.  Although it had scrumptious texture and shimmer - I have to admit it was a little blah - so what do?  Hand paint of course!!! Now I'm thrilled.  Such a difference and you can see the grey/white peeking out at the neckline took on a soft periwinkle tone too.  Next up - a fancy closure!

August not Lazy!

The long hot lazy days of summer have not been so lazy!  My friend, Judy, and I traveled to Florida to take a class with Irit Dulman - if you know anything about eco printing then you will recognize her name; to be able to study with her was a dream of mine.  I have been printing with leaves/plants now for about 8 - 10 years, studying, experimenting, taking copious notes but some secrets still managed to elude me.  Some of them became clear in the controlled study.  I tend to be much less disciplined and more experimental - let's try this with a pinch of that which sometimes works out great but gained me little in the way of being able to reproduce results.  I have so many wonderful prints now (not enough time to posts all of the pictures, but suffice it to say I'm thrilled with the knowledge and inspired to do a lot more). 

This piece is wool jersey cowl print using cochineal and printed with eucalyptus leaves from my own garden - so thrilled that they print orange!

JOOMCHI

 I also love to create Joomchi, although it requires a lot of patience to acquire this skill.  Joomchi is Korean papermaking using mulberry paper.  I took a mini workshop some years ago with Saaraliisa Ylitalo who did a presentation for our Potomac Fiber Guild and I became hooked.  I have received some interest from others wanting to learn and will teach a workshop in Charleston on September 23 - very excited!   The top piece is very delicate and I do love to experiment - I have created bowls also and continue to experiment.

These are book covers - and I water colored some inside book plates before adding the signature pages.  Patience pays off and very much like felting with wool, your hands have to learn as much as your head does!