One Amazing Woman - a customer portrait

Busy week trying to restock the basics after the Ann Arbor show. Good problem to have.

Earlier this week one of my customers sent me a link to her blog where she is wearing the float she bought from me at the show. I love it when customers do that! (hint, hint)

But, Sue, really has honored me. You see, she has been through the chemo tunnel. and this is her first picture taken with no wig! I think she looks adorable. When I create a piece I always hope that it will bring joy to the wearer and make her feel wonderful. I am honored she chose my work for her 'coming out' party! When I went on to read a bit more about her life I found out that she is an amazing woman. Mother of 3, Grandmother of 1 she worked many years as a medicinal chemist. When she 'retired' she didn't just sit at home - no, this woman enrolled in an Italian immersion program and lived in an Italian monastery for 5 weeks in a hill town - Population: 310 . She has also traveled to France, Spain and England.

I am sure her blog has uplifted and inspired many.

Here is the link to her blog if you would like to read more: http://www.suzannekesten2.blogspot.com/ and the post that my work is in is titled "Waiting for guests".

Wordless Wednesday

Ann Arbor Art Fair

Well, another Ann Arbor Art Fair is over! And this one was wonderful! The weather could not have been any better- sunny and coolish every day with only one brief shower! That makes it SO much nicer for everyone!

And the best news - almost everyone I talked to had a good, solid show - no dancing in the aisles, but the show was as good or better than most thought it would be! And I am hearing more or less the same reports from friends doing shows around the country. Being an artist is truly in the economic trenches - it doesn't get much simpler than making something and having someone else buy it. So, I truly believe it when the media is reporting that we have bottomed out on the economy and are climbing back out - things are on the upswing!

I wish my camera hadn't died just before the show, but luckily nothing too out of the ordinary happened. Hopefully, I will be able to fix it in the next few weeks and have some pictures showing what I am working on! I am doing another loom shibori piece and working on some complex dye cloths. In the meantime I need to get another warp on the loom and start weaving.

WIN THIS SCARF!!!!!!

OK, I am jumping on the bandwagon in the blogging world and offering a giveaway! You could easily win this hand dyed scarf - I talked about how I made it in an earlier post- http://artweardesign.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-twist-on-shibori.html


So, what do you have to do? Not much, really. Leave a comment to this post counts as an entry. Subscribe to my blog and you can get another entry (if you are already a subscriber you have already entered once!). On August 30 I will have a random customer at a show pull a name and that person will be the winner. Stop by on August 31 to see if it is you!

Summer Art Fair in Ann Arbor

I want to apologize to everyone following my blog - I haven't been keeping it up very well lately. Partly due to life getting in the way, partly due to work getting in the way and partly due to my camera just flat out stopping. Arrrgghhhh! I really wanted to take some pictures of what I have been working on lately, but that will have to wait until next week.

This week I will be at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair! It is 4 days long and runs Wednesday- Saturday. Over 1,000 artists will be there in 4 different fairs so, if you are an art lover it is well worth coming. Several people make it a mini vacation so they can cover as much as possible.
www.theguild.org/art_fair_summer.html

I have some new goodies that I think will just fly out of the booth, so be sure to shop early! My booth is on Main Street #D157. Stop by and say 'hi' if you are at the show!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tip - Production Weaving

When I am making a coat or jacket type garment I will need to cut some sort of opening up the front of the handwoven cloth. I used to take a piece of contrasting yarn and mark where I wanted to cut. Now I add a warp thread of contrasting yarn where I will eventually cut. Since it doesn't have to be the entire piece, I will add the contrast yarn as if it is a broken warp. After washing and processing, I will measure the contrasting yarn and either add or subtract some to suit. Then I will cut and stabalize as usual. This little trick adds very little time at the loom, but saves in the processing time.

Monday Quote - Is this an Artist's Credo?

I love deadlines.

I especially like the wooshing sound they make

as they go flying by.

Douglas Adams

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Quote - Best reason to buy American Artisan Products!!!

The human spirit needs beauty as much as the body needs food and oxygen.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tip - Doing Art Shows

I am always striving to improve my business....my work, my marketing and my show presentation. One thing that helps me with the latter is to take a picture of my layout at every show. It is one thing to look at the booth during the show, but seeing it on the computer later I observe things I didn't see at the show. I can figure out what works and what doesn't. I can ask myself, for instance, if the bright colors in the front seemed to draw more people into the booth. These don't have to be jury quality, just for me quality- so a point and shoot digital camera is just fine.

Monday Quote - New Eyes

The real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new landscapes

but in having new eyes

Marcel Proust

A Good Day to Dye

Once a year my fiber group, Designworks, gets together at a members house and has a 'dye day'. I make up a soda ash soak and mix all the dyes. They bring whatever they want to dye (natural fibers only) and all the extra's they need (table, plastic, containers, brushes, bags to carry wet work home- that kind of thing).

And then it's play time!!!!

It's a great day of creative people trying different techniques all at the same time. Unlike a class where I am trying to educate the participants, in this case I stand back and let them create. I am there mostly to field questions and facilitate their ideas. For their part, they get all the fun of experimental dyeing without really needing to know the chemical knitty gritty. I find (as with most teaching situations) that I learn from them - fresh ideas for my work.

Everyone brings a potluck dish for lunch and it's back to work.

So - if you are looking for a different way to spend a creative day get some friends together for a dye day!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tip - Creating a New Design- Part 2

Last week I told you my tip for making quick muslin samples. Well, there is another side to my sample making. Instead of using muslin fabric, I will frequently use fashion fabric (sometimes scrounged at sales) close to (or sometimes the actual) fabric I am thinking of using for the final project. This is a piece of fashion for ME! It also works because I will take that article of clothing and wear it alot- built in product testing!

Monday Quote - Imagine & Dream

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.
If you can dream it, you can become it.

William Arthur Ward

A New Twist on Shibori

One thing I love about shibori techniques is that they tend to keep evolving. Wrapping cloth around a pole to create designs is a relatively new technique. It was developed in the late 1800's in Japan, and brought to the United States 100 years later by Yoshiko Wada. In Japan a de-barked tree trunk was used, the US adaptation called for plastic plumbing pipe. Many people do not realize there are several ways to wrap the cloth. Many different fiber artist's imagination was fired up with this technique and they are still exploring the possibilities. Judith Content, returning home after a workshop only found an empty wine bottle to work with and found it worked beautifully. Sue Bleiweiss made a video about her technique and posted it on You Tube. This is a much quicker way to get the fabric on the tube and get down to the fun bit - the coloring of the cloth. Sue uses paints for her pieces, but I decided to try it with MX Procion dyes. Here are pictures of the two scarves I made. I think they look great and I plan to make a few more this summer, playing with the technique as I go along. The effect is more subtle than traditional arashi shibori, but is an avenue worth exploring.

Sue Bleiweiss Silk Shibori Demo
Sue Bleiweiss demonstrates her favorite method for painting silk. Note: I know that the volume is a bit low on this video and I hope to correct that by using a portable mike when I shoot the next video.

Cool video!

Art Fair this Weekend!

This weekend I will be joining 124 of my artist friends at a show in the Cleveland, Ohio area! This is a great

shopping center and the show is produced by people who really know what they are doing. The weather promises to be perfect, so think about stopping by to this FREE event! In addition to wearable art (my booth is #108 - in front of J Crew), there will be booths filled with fantastic jewelry, pottery, photographs, glass and so much more! Here is your chance to truly buy American- all the items were created by the people in the booth!



For more information :

www.theguild.org/art_fair_crocker_park.html

Wordless Wednesday