"Put A Lid On It" First Friday Opening

The new show opening at Artful Dimensions Gallery, where I have my studio and am a member, is titled" Put a Lid on It".  Each of us ahs embellished a finished box that was fitted with a bed for a 4 inch tile.  As each member works in a different medium, there are many different kinds of boxes. On the First Friday of each month all of the galleries in town have evening hours, the artists who show at each venue are present to meet the public and wine and nibbles are served. It is a wonderful evening to spend in Fredericksburg, especialy if the weather cooperates!

Here are the boxes that I created for the show.

 

 

"Bouquet"

 

 These roses were made with my hand dyed vintage damask linen tablecloth strips.  I stitched them onto a piece of velvet wrapped around a piece of heavy interfacing that was glued down into the cover.  i also added in bits of dyed vintage doily and leaves stitched from the same linen strips.

 

"Butterfly's Dream"

 

 This box is covered with Ice Resin over a sheet of my fabric /paper .  I did it in several layers and trapped the butterfly in the final layer of resin.

 

"Red Streamers"

 

 

 This box is covered with a bit of the felted piece from this post. Before the beading was done I had color copies made of each fiber piece, lined each box with the paper and then coated the interiors with Ice Resin as well.

 

"Circle Dance"

 

The orange box is from a piece that I needle felted quite awhile ago.  I then free motion stitched with circles in orange, yellow and bringt pink thread.  It is difficult to see in this picture but I did some extra stitch work and some beading on this box as well.

 

 

Here is an example of the itnerior treatment with the photocopied faber piece covered with Ice Resin. Each box except Bouquet was finished int his manner.  I  think customers might enjoy discovering the wonderful and  colorful surprise inside!!



 

This is a smaple shot of the display in my new studio!! On December 27th , my wonderful husband and kids helped me move studios from #7 to #5.  The advantages of #5 are many fold!  I am located immediately off the amin gallery floor, the space is larger and i am much closer to my art pals in this new location.    Here are a few pictures of my new setup!

 

 

This is the view from the back of my studio looking out onto the gallery floor.

 

 

 

Here is the new glass shelved display with the neato pencil sized LED lights that Tom installed for me.  The wonderful light makes all of my beaded pieces dance and sparkle!! Love the sparklies!! In the foreground of this picture you can see my new aquisition of a iron dress form.  I have skirted her with pieces of silk fabric, some silk scarves but mostly pieces of clothes harvested form thrift shop finds.  I will use these pieces in my textile collage work but I will use the  lovely colors and patterns of the fabric as a studio embellishment in the meantime.  On top of the dress form you can see the felted vest that I spoke of in this post.

 

I will be back for another post with more gallery pictures after our upcoming First Friday opening!  I hope everyone had a very Happy New Year"s celebration and your year is off to a very creatvie start!!  Be back soon!

Sun Prints, Resin and Fabric/Paper

Here are a few shots of some jewelry that i created in time for this weeks First Friday Opening at Artful Dimensions Gallery.  I have been thinking about this piece for a long time.  I love the shape of hearts, the symbol, what it represents and the universality of that symbol.  I created these hearts with fabric/paper collage and then rimmed each heart with a golden edge, backed each with my own sun printed red fabric and encased each one in Ice Resin.  I added some of my fabric/paper rolled beads that were also dipped in Ice Resin and combined them with glass beads and bits of vintage copper chains.

The second piece that is ready for display is called Blue Bee.  This wonderful brass bee is mounted in a square black bezel that contains a piece of my gold/green/blue fabric paper all held in place by Ice Resin  .  Hanging from the Bee's antenna are a collection of tiny gold chains, a tiny vintage glass prism and some glue and green glass beads.

I am having some wonderful success with experiments using my sun printed linen textiles in combination with the Ice Resin.  They are not quite ready for prime time, but I will share them with you very soon!

Splashing About in the Resin Pond!!

Several yewars ago I took a wonderful class with the Fabulous Susan Lenart -Kazmer. I ahve long been a fan of her amazing work and since taking the cold Connections Class I ahve seen her at various events and always have a wonderful and inspiring chat with her. She has an infectious personality and spreads inspiration and creativity wherever she goes. Susan ahs worked very ahrd to develope her new resin product known as ICE. I am probably one of the last people int he mixed media art world to try this product and I don't quite know why I waited so long!!!! I have heard raves about ti for a very long time and seen fabulous works created with it, but somehow I have felt timid about giving it a go. Well now I have jumped into the Resin pond and the perverbial water is just fine!!


In the heart pendant and earrings above I used bits of my fabric paper and combined wire, a tiny key and some old sheet music to create the resin filled and coated pieces.
The earrings are as light as feathers and are so suited to the season.

In this bronze bezel , I placed a small oval of sheet music as a background and added a tiny piece fo green beach glass, a tiny shard of purple clam shell and a tiny perfect lucky stone, alll gathered on the beach this summer. Finally I have a wonderful use for these itty bitty treasures!!! I also added a bit of Nauset Beach sand and a few blue glass seed beads.
(the pictures of these resin pieces do not do them justice, but don't be shy or wary like I was. Create your own pieces with the ICE Resin.!!!)

Here are some fabric paper/ mini canvas collage ornaments that just needed a bit of sparkle, so I brushed ona thick coat of the Ice Resin. The resin makes the fabric/paper glow and the depth added is just wonderful!! There will be much more experimenting to come!!

I want to thank everyone who has sent me comments and congratulations about my election to the Board fo Trustees of FCCA. Our First Friday Opening to the Holiday show that I spoke of in my last post, came off very well!! I had a great group to help and everyone was very complementary of the show and the art. I also got many compliments about the piece that I had in the National Show. It was a wonderful evening of meeting many wonderful people who appreciate art and artists! So thank you all very very much for your encouragment and support!! It really means so very much to me!!!