Hollyhock Doll almost done!

So after a week of working on the barn and getting that done for the winter. :)

I'm a bit sore, but very happy about the whole process.

I started the week doing catch up stuff. Here and there I found a little time to do a little more to this piece. I have one more button to put on it, then do some quilting, not much and then add the doll and frame the whole thing.
I'm loving how cute she has turned out and all her sisters on the stems too. All in all I am quite pleased.

Go see more fabulous work at Nina-marie's Off The Wall Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Barn Story...........

Today I would like to give thanks for almost being finished with the barn. We have the new door to put in, but it is almost finished.

Don't get me wrong, the bran looks great now and we have done more than most people would do to their barn, especially when we use it for a garage. It really is a carriage house, but did have horses in it at one time = a barn to me.

Thankfully, it is a post and beam building, so easy to figure out how to work with the structure - kind of like a large erector set, kind of. This one has mortise and tenons, not nuts and bolts, even though we did add some where needed.

Consequently, I have not been working on my favorite fabric pieces and creating wonderful things. :(  Today I may have some time to sit with my threads and do a little embroidery on the Hollyhock Doll piece that I am working on. This piece should be done soon and I will post a pic when it is - promise.

Until then, have a great Thanksgiving!

Some of the Process

So, during the week, I have been struggling with the background of the Hollyhock Doll. I had many ideas that I eventually rejected and finally ended up doing something different for me.

Picture I worked from - this is not the fabric.

I took a photo of hollyhocks and I really wanted only the foliage, so went into Photoshop and cropped it. Then I isolated the foliage and put it on a transparent background. Nice. Not enough though, so I added a second. Perfect, except how do I get this idea onto my background? I printed several of these pics and then cut out the stems, one set larger than the other, so I would have some depth to the stem. I like it. Now I transferred this onto freezer paper and sliced the stems out. I then ironed the freezer paper onto the fabric making sure it was really stuck there. Made up a color that was close to the dyed fabric leaves and used my scraper thing to print the stems onto the fabric = freezer paper silkscreen, sort of. Took off the freezer paper between colors. Dried this and then did the same with a lighter color,  and then ironed it.

Time to put it down and think again. Today I made shadow buds to complete the stems, and am currently adding? some felted buds and a couple of leaves? Not sure yet, still designing/thinking.

That's what I have been doing :)

Decisions, decisions.....

So after a week of playing around with this little gal - here she is. Now, the decisions I need to make about her.

Are her eyes "right" I'm not sure yet. I have tried a darker pink, but those looked like she had "devil eyes." :) I put a mouth on her too, but then she looked like "weird skeleton doll."

I am also trying a necklace on her. Seeing as I do jewelry as well as fiber, and got a TON of beads, may as well.

What do you think?


See other work at Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday!

Off The Wall Friday

Now that cross country trips and storm disasters are over......... (barn repair still goes on)

I started a new piece for an exhibit (and also my jury review) this week. I decided to make Hollyhock Dolls for the theme, "A Child at Heart."

Circles were cut out and I used Jacquard Neo-Opaque paints and Dy-na Flow inks to create these colors. In trying to expand my color palette, I mixed them, instead of using anything right our of the bottle/jar. I also used the silk/cotton blend fabric and silk, so far. I think I will do silk leaves, which I find tend to curl nicely, once I'm done with them.

I find it interesting to see and watch people during the/my creating process. What I see in my head and what they see are usually very different. When it all comes together, then the Ahhh Haaa, moment happens. Such fun! I think we all enjoy the process.

I also just ordered the new size Gelli Printing Plate 12 X 14 - expensive, but I think it will work better for me than the 8 X 10. I'm not interested in making any jell plates, really.

See more Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's

Home from California

Here I sit trying to make believe that I am not exhausted from traveling all day Monday. It seems like a much longer trip coming back and my mind is too befuddled to figure out why right now :)

Anyway............. We got there and did some stuff that needed doing right away - registered at the hotel, picked up the tuxes, etc.

Then we got together with the kids at their house. They were very wowed, pleased and excited about the wall piece I did for them :) Not that it would be bragging, but can I now say, "it is in a private collection?" LOL!

I had to stop and work on the barn all day yesterday - today too, so that first line I wrote, just mentally put it here too :)

The next exhibition by the Gallery in Concord is called " A Child At Heart" I have plenty of thoughts bouncing around and will start the piece next week, or whenever the barn is done, this week. I still need to do two reviews before I am considered a "full juried member" for my fabric, so I wonder if entering this is a technicality or not. Why? Them's the rules, that's why. I will find out for sure though.

I started working on a new business card - I am never satisfied, I guess. :)

I have some leaves that I would work as silk screens that I may have to send to my friend so she can do this for me and charge appropriately. I scanned these before it got too cold and I know I can use them in my work, so................ may as well. Then it gives me an excuse to go over her house and play too!

The UNVEILING!

OK, it is finally time to show what I have been working on so long behind the scenes.

My middle son will be married this weekend and I made a commemorative piece for them.

This is a compilation of two photographs that were taken by the future bride's Dad. I had asked him to find out (secretly) and send me pictures of their favorite places and anywhere else they are fond of.

So I received several photos of lovely vistas in San Diego, but this background kept calling me. It is sunset at La Jolla Shores where they went on the first date. The figures are from one of their engagement photos on the same shore line.

For fabrics I used silk, cotton, some kind of see through fabric (the name escapes me so early in the am,) paints, inks, beads, machine stitching and hand embroidery. The figures were silk screened by my dear friend and I am in debt to her for this - it came out so well, that my jury thought it was one of the best pieces!
I hand colored the people and used various paint and inks for the background sections to get the right feel for the scene.

The figures were slightly raised by using a very thin batt material under the cotton batt - cut out to the size of the figures.

In conclusion- I like it and think they will too!