Long time no post

It's been a long time since I've posted. These past couple of months have been pretty...dramatic to say the least. I'm in the process of trying to go freelance (my "real" job, you know) because I really want the flexibility. That's taken up a few of my weekends, working other jobs, networking at conferences, assisting orientations for various organizations, etc. Hopefully soon I'll be able to do my work from any place and at whatever time! I can hardly wait.

I've also been undergoing a bit of a strange and unexpected phase in my life. Turns out I am quite possibly perimenopausal. I've gotten all the usual symptoms (for any of you out there who get hot flashes, black cohosh is AMAZINGLY effective!) and it's quite possible that it's going to be significantly difficult for my husband and I to have children. Mind you, I'm 31. Yeah, and already going through menopause. Not fun, let me tell ya. It's been pretty much an emotional roller coaster.

Needless to say, I haven't had the time or ambition to do anything crafty, but I'm hoping to change that this week. Kurt (kurtankeny.com) is currently in Amherst, Mass, taking a painting course and will be gone all week. Amherst is a beautiful town so I'm going to go up there a day early to explore and see what I discover! Meanwhile, I plan to do some serious crafting. Get ready, get set, gooooooooooooooooooooo!

Rockport

We went to Rockport, Mass, this past Saturday. It was nice. I liked Newburyport better, but it was still very pretty. The weather was spectacular too! There were tons of people sailing, (although this picture doesn't show it!) kayaking, and taking in the beautiful view. This is by far my favorite picture. The breeze passing through this outdoor hallway between two houses was unbelievable. It's the picture of serenity, isn't it?
Here are some other shots I took. A wrought iron gate at the cemetery.
A brook from these falls that eventually leads to the sea.A gorgeous pond...
next to this gorgeous field.
All in all a fun weekend.

Project-wise, I'm currently working on two books for a wedding. We're in the process of working out the details, but as soon as I start picking out paper and book cloth, you guys will get your first glimpse. :)

Summery silk

Had a bit of extra time a couple weekends ago and made my sister-in-law a silk scarf. She's into orange and pink combinations at the moment, so those are the colors I chose. After making the scarf, I reeeeeally wanted to keep it. :P (That wouldn't have been very nice, though)

It turned out really nice! I love how the tortoise shell design has the blurred edges.

Gilding

Yesterday, my husband and I went over to a friend's house to learn how to gild. It was a lot of fun. I got there a bit early and just relaxed in their yard and back porch. It was really nice.

After toughing it out on the back porch, my husband and I went in and started learning how to gild. First you brush the sizing on. Be careful not to get any on the wall. Use a piece of plastic to hold up against the wall and protect it. Then you put the gold sheets on and tap them down with a brush. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of that part! But the end result is this:

After you get to this stage, you go over it with a cotton ball to get rid of excess gold and then go over that with a bit of varnish, to take the edge off. Otherwise, it's too bright. And you're done!

I also took the opportunity to take pictures of Bumper, but both times he just shook his head at me. "Hell no, you're not taking a picture of me!" you can almost hear him say...

But that's okay because he's the cutest and sweetest bulldog I've ever met! :)

Plants and projects

My plants seem to like it out on the sun porch. They're doing very well. I may have to re-pot a couple which are growing like crazy, but for right now, they're very happy!

On the project front, I'm binding a book for my husband. A book I started a while back, but hadn't had the chance to actually bind it until now. I have this week off before starting my new job on Monday, so I thought I'd get some half finished projects done. The book has a graphite gray cover and dark gray paper. I chose a gray, white, and green endpaper to keep the neutral theme going. I think it'll be a handsome book.

Can you pass me a napkin please?

Made napkins this weekend. My classmates from my surface design class are all making napkins to hold an exchange. We'll each end up with five different napkins by the end of it. (It's a small class) I can't wait to see the others! I'll make sure to post all the beautiful napkins they make. Here are the ones I made:

I don't believe in white or light colored napkins unless they're only going to be used ONCE. Everyone knows they'll get all stained up and gross, right? So I dyed mine indigo with a simple shibori pattern in the center. I also mottled the indigo instead of making it a solid blue. That way, stains won't show up that easily.

I hope my classmates like them!

Best e-mail EVER!

Remember the granny book I made? Well, I just got an e-mail from my client (her granddaughter) telling me that her grandmother had received the book and loved it! She even attached photos of her grandmother writing in the journal while enjoying her morning tea. Isn't that AWESOME?!

This is my client's mother looking at all the wonderful old photos. Apparently, she didn't know who the people in the pictures were either (my client didn't know). That must have been so great to learn all that family history!!

Isn't she just beautiful? :) There's nothing more special than to see your work making other people happy. Thank you for sending me these wonderful photos and allowing me to blog about this wonderful experience!

Felt bag

I promised you a felt bag and here it is! TA DAAAAA. The picture doesn't do it justice. In person, you can hold it and feel how incredibly soft it is. I love it! It's mint green with a wispy soft white inside.

I picked just one color for the outside because I want to embroider flowers on the flap and thought it would look too busy if there were several colors going on with the roving. For the straps, however, I chose the mint green and a nice peachy color that matches nicely with the mint and white.

I made two handles. I can't decide if I should just attach them separately or if I should braid them (just twist them together) and then attach them. What do you guys think?

Doesn't the peach look nice against the mint?
I'll keep you posted on my progress with the embroidery. I've never really embroidered before, although I have all the materials, but I can't wait to try! I'm determined to make this bag look awesome! :)

I also picked up some more roving for another project. I want to roll it up (like the handles above, except thinner) and make it really really long. Then wrap it around my wrist a bunch of times and make an awesome bracelet!!! Won't that be cool? I'm still trying to decide how to connect the ends, whether with gold clasps from the bead store or what...Still have to work that out. This project may have to wait, though, until after I move up to Boston, unfortunately. Currently, I'm hoping to bind a book for my husband, make a scarf and a bandanna for some friends in Boston, and make that bag as my final project for my textiles class. ALL WHILE PACKING. I'm tired already...

Arashi Velvet

Pole wrapped some velvet to see what it would do. I had originally wanted to overdye it with a fading (darker to lighter) indigo, but I think the technique I used was not the best, as you can see! You can barely see any difference in the color. Oh well. Now I know for next time! But I took it off the pole this morning and it was soooo pretty!! It took the pleats just like silk does and has a nice fuzzy feel.

Here's the back (left side) and front of the scarf (right side of the photo).
The tips of the scarf. I always like the tips! :)

I'll be posting this scarf on my shop soon. So stay tuned!

Granny Book

A while ago, I mentioned that I had been commissioned to make a special journal for my client's grandmother, who's 88 years old. She wanted to give her grandmother a special journal for her birthday where she could write her memoirs. She wanted 26 pictures interspersed throughout the pages of the book to make it more personal. I absolutely loved the idea and quickly set to work, choosing the paper and color combinations for my client to choose from!
She chose a beautiful blue silk linen book cloth and Japanese screenprinted end paper with gold accents. I added a turquoise and navy silk ribbon for the bookmark, which really brought out the lighter tones of blue in the linen. Before covering the book board, I shaved three edges at a slant (all but the spine) to give the book a nice rounded feel when you held it. Seems like a bit over the top, but the difference (shaving vs. not shaving) is amazing! I also chose a bright yellow linen thread to bind the book with.

It matched beautifully with the blue linen and the gold in the end paper!
Unfortunately, after I was all done, I picked up the book and it was incredibly wobbly!! :( The yellow thread is unwaxed, which makes a HUGE difference when doing a coptic stitch binding (as I found out the hard way). It works well with full bound books (with a spine) because you glue the entire spine in place before putting the cover on. But when the thread is the only thing that is holding the book together, unwaxed thread does not work well. I had to undo the whole thing and bind it again. (bummer!) This time I opted for thicker ply, waxed linen thread in purple, a color also found in the endpaper.

The purple looked pretty as well and held the book nice and tight, which is most important!

For the pictures, Kurt was kind enough (thanks, Kurt!) to lay out the pictures and turn them all from black and white and color into sepia tones, which I thought would look very nice with the antique white pages. I took the file to a print shop to get professionally printed and then evenly distributed them among the signatures. We attempted to put them in chronological order, as best as we could, placing our favorite one on the first page. Isn't that a gorgeous picture!?

As a finishing touch, I gold stamped Grandma's name to the front of the book.
This is the final result!

Ribbon bag

My mother in law made me a ribbon bag for Christmas last year. It's so awesome I have yet to use it. You know how it goes. It's so beautiful, you're like, "uh...better leave it at home, just in case..." Just in case what? Who knows! But one day soon I am going to take it out of its tissue paper, fill it with my usual stuff (3 lip glosses and my wallet) and leave the house before I have time to panic.

You can see the beautiful stitching that attaches the ribbons. The zipper is one of those cool "hidden" zippers and the lining matches the overall color, orange.

The handle is a delicate pearly, satiny cord that tucks ever so stealthily in the sides of the bag. Very nice work, Janet! Can't wait to use it! :)

Woodgrain indigo

Here are the final results of the smocking process. This type of stitching yields a "woodgrain" effect, which I'm particularly drawn to for some reason. This is the light cotton piece. It turned out really nice because the fabric was thin enough that I could get it to fold and overlap in certain places, creating a more interesting pattern.

The linen piece is much more even because the fabric was much too thick to overlap or fold. Apparently, it also took the dye a bit better than the lighter cotton since the color is significantly darker. You can see the sections where the needles were broken and the fabric remained unbound. Both pieces have a really great texture that I'm tempted to leave and not iron out. It would add a nice feel to the bag I want to make. I think I'd like the bottom of the bag (and a third of the way up the sides of the bag) to be oilskin and the top of the bag one of these shibori pieces. I really like the combination of indigo dyed shibori with oilskin. I've made projects using this combination before and have really liked how they turned out. Plus I think the oilskin will look nice with the bamboo handles and protect the bottom of the bag when I set it down. I'm picturing a bag that has an oval bottom and structured sides, like a bucket bag, but I've never made one like that before so it's all an experiment at this point! I'll keep you posted on my progress.