All it took was a loom to brighten my spirits.

This weekend my family (and Richie) traveled to Asheville for some relaxation time. On Friday evening we arrived at the cottage where we would be staying and discovered that it was, well, less than wonderful. But, being the troopers that we are, we began to make dinner and settle in. Unfortunately, but not totally unsurprisingly, while making dinner we met three of the cottage's inhabitants. Three tiny brown mice come to join us for dinner in the kitchen. An hour later, we were relocated to a log cabin which was conveniently owned by the company right next to the first one. What a difference. This was the first place. And this was the second place. See what I mean?

The next few days we visited several art galleries including The Blue Spiral and The Grovewood Gallery. Both really nice spaces for artists. I even found weavings! But by far my favorite part was finding the Homespun Museum located right next to the Grovewood Gallery. The gallery space and adjoining buildings were once home to the Biltmore Industries textile business. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The loom! A pretty fancy (and huge!) contraption:

Skeinwinder:

Fabric swatches:

Apparently this place was kind of a big deal. They had documents for orders from very important people like presidents and celebrities. There was an Antique Car Museum also, but if you know me you know that I was uninterested in that. While waiting for my car loving family to peruse the cars I fed the squirrels. These guys were obviously used to being fed on a regular basis as they came right in the door and looked at us expectantly. The guy working there directed me to where they kept the peanuts and I was more than happy to feed the cute little guys. The walked right up and took the peanuts from my hands. Cute!

We also visited the Biltmore Estate while in Asheville, a quintessential destination for any tourist. Gorgeous. Pricey, but highly recommended.

Now I have to finish up the last of my school work so that I can be officially graduated. Next month, I'm doing art for my own pleasure. Also, maybe learning to drive?

This week will be a saga.

The next week and a half will be action packed. But first, my first independent study piece is done (except for the hanging). I stitched up all the edges with white on all the pieces first and then used more white on the last four, beige on the middle four, and brown on the first four. The first pass with white made the darker colors of the first pieces stand out too much so I had to cover it with something darker. I think they turned out nicely and Christine agrees.

Here's the first panel (cave paintings) with the finished edges:

And here they are stacked up again with finished edges:

Now I'm working on the second piece. This one is about how personal handwriting can be and how the digital age is robbing us of that personal touch. First, I asked 11 of my friends for a picture of their writing hand. Then, I asked them to write some phrase or quote that was significant to them. I took these photos and phrases and layered them in photoshop. I then printed them out on paper-backed fabric that went into a regular printer. In case you're interested, I used Crafter's Image PhotoFabric and it worked perfectly.

Here are two of the printed pieces:

Now I plan to cut each to 8x8 and sew them together in a quilt fashion. I'm not sure whether I'll need some sort of stitching or other decorative element on top of that, but I'll have to see once everything is together. I think they turned out pretty well, even considering I used a mediocre camera.

As for the action I mentioned, this week is not only the ending of summer classes, but also my trip to Asheville. That means that I have to finish all three pieces, a midterm, an article review, a discussion board, and pack for a trip. Oh, and go to work. Action packed!

Almost Done With Project One.

According to my independent study proposal, I should start working on my third project this week. As it turns out, I am just now finishing up my first piece. To be fair, the first project is the most time intensive so it's not surprising that it took longer than my projected week and half.

Today cut the pieces to the proper size and finished the edges with layers of zig-zag stitching. A simple finish that turned out as well as expected. Before the stitching I noticed that the stacked panels made a nice gradient. Ignore my amateur photo skills with the obvious finger in the corner. Here's the ancient Greek and Telegraph panels, two of the most successful pieces:

After sewing today I'm pretty positive that my sewing machine pulls to the left. Is it something I'm doing or something wrong with my machine? Perhaps my feed dogs are messed up? It's not bad enough to warrant a trip to a repair shop, but it is troubling.

Tomorrow I'll start on Project Two! This one involves collecting photos of hands and handwritten quotes. Luckily, there's a party tomorrow where I'm going to bring camera and paper so I can get it done!

The Downfall of Iron-Ons.

Today I did the iron-on transfers for the last 7 panels. It worked, but it's not quite the look I wanted. There is an ugly outline around the whole area of the transfer and the dying only made it more visible.  It's bothersome, but not a total loss. It'll do.

Here are all 12 panels together before panels 6, 7, and 8 were dyed.

Here's a close up of panel 11:

I didn't like how shiny the iron-on was, but after washing it dulled down a bit.

I also starting the finishing on the panels today which consists of a a layer of thin fill in between the two layers of cloth and attached with fusible web. But of course, I ran out of fusible web on panel 8 so I have to get some more. Good thing I have a coupon for JoAnns!

The Dying Art of Communication

Before that shiny new diploma finds its way into my mailbox, I've still got two summer classes to finish up. There aren't too many classes being offered this summer that I haven't already taken (or want to take) so I'm doing an independent study. I could have just made more hoods to go along with my previous concept, but I think I'm done with that. I've said what I needed to say and I'm ready to move on to a new concept. This summer I'm working on three new pieces that are all about the dying of communication, especially the handwritten letter. I'll expand on that concept in future blog posts as I get more of the work done.

I started my first piece this week and it has definitely had its up and downs. Its a series of 12 panels that show the progression of writing from cave paintings to text messages. The first five panels are done with batik and that turned out wonderfully.

Here is the hieroglyphic piece with wax before dying:

And here it is after dying:

And here are the first five together:

The last 7 panels were intended to be screen printed. Unfortunately, I learned today that that isn't going to happen. After 5 screens and 2 tries exposing photo emulsion screens, it was apparent that the fine lettering was not going blow out and printing would be impossible. I first thought that I'd coated the screens too thickly with the emulsion so I tried some screens with thinner coats. Still no go. I don't know if it's the emulsion or my acetates or the light table or something else. Instead, I've decided to use the much less interesting route of iron-on transfers. Hopefully they won't look like something you'd put on a sweatshirt for your grandma. I think it'll turn out just fine since it's just a series of basic black lines. We'll find out tomorrow!