Needle Felting Machine Investigations

I'm contemplating whether I want to get a needle felting machine, so I went over to my local sewing store and asked for permission to try their machine. The photos shown are both the front and back sides of my quick experiments.


The top two images are left over scraps from Orange Construction Fence Series #49, 50 or 51 (I'm not sure which), that I needle felted two strips of red yarn from the back side.


This is a sample that I felted the yarn on the top side of the scrap, and below is a sample of a strip of yelllow-ish wool felt and some green fleece felted from the back to the front of another scrap.


I'm not sure if I can afford to buy a felting machine right now. If I do, I will look for one that is dedicated to felting (instead of getting an attachment for my sewing machine, because the amount of lint created will mean I'll need to get my sewing machine cleaned very often), a finger guard is a must because it was very obvious how easy it would be to sew your fingers (and I don't want to find out how painful it would be to have 5-7 sewing needle go through my finger at the same time), and I want a machine that lets me change the needles individually, instead of as a group.

I've received a lot of email from other sewers who gave me their opinion about which machine I should investigate purchasing. Suggestions include the Pfaff, Baby Lock and Janome. I have no idea which is better than the other, except some do fit in to my (above) criteria and some do not.

Another use for this machine, which is of great interest is embellishing my sweaters! When I get bored with my sweaters, or when they don't fit as well as they should, I have a "habit" of cutting them up and adding parts of other sweaters to them to funk them up. Some day this winter I'll take pictures of the sweaters I gave a new life to in the past. If I get a needle felting machine, I know I'll be messing around with more sweaters. Winters in New England are very longgggggggg, and it's easy to get bored with one's clothing.

Chocolate!

These are chocolates created by master Chocolatier, Jonathan Spillane, who owns Cocoapelli Chocolates™ in Natick Massacusetts. When I opened the box, I couldn't help but think about how quilt-like it looked, so thanks to Photoshop, I tiled it for fun.

Besides his Signature Collection, Jonathan also creates custom logos on chocolate. The chocoaltes shown have the logo for my husband's company. Below is the actual opened box (not tiled). Visit the Cocoapelli Chocolates™ website for ordering information. They're REALLY delicious!

the dress project

I was walking around downtown Natick Massachusetts (where I live) yesterday, and there was a storefront filled with wonderful sculptural art dresses. They are not dresses you can wear. They're sculptures of dresses. I didn't know it but I was walking by the studio of Natick resident, and sculptor, Virginia Fitzgerald, and the dresses are part of her series, "the dress project". I met Virginia and her work, at an opening at the Danforth Museum (in Framingham, MA) in the springtime, and I totally connected with her and the dresses. I'm pretty shy about knocking on doors unannounced, but I HAD to knock this time. Being in Virginia's studio was the equivalent of a kid in a candy store!

If you have a moment, I highly suggest that you visit Virginia's website and look at the five different pages of dresses she has made (so far) for the "the dress project". Some of the dresses are made from jute, rubber tubing, stones, vegetables, and etc.


One note, this dress was created with eggshells. The picture above shows better detail. I did ask Virginia for permission to post these pictures on my blog. (I would never use another artist's image without permission.)

Painting on Fabric with Golden Liquid Acrylic Paints

I grabbed a few minutes this past weekend and tried using the Golden Liquid Acrylics on fabric. Above is the front side of the fabric, and below is the back side. I am very interested in how the paint looks on both sides of the fabric because sometimes I use the back side as the "front" side of the fabric. You can see an example of my appreciation for both sides of the fabric here.


I have more research to do about using the Golden Liquid Acrylics on fabric. Visually they are great, but texturally, the fabric is REALLY stiff.

To soften it up, it was recommended that I get some "GAC 900 Fabric Painting Medium" to soften up the paint texture. I did some research, and the description of the fabric medium is "GAC 900 is a liquid acrylic polymer emulsion which when heat-set offers a very soft hand and laundering stability. This product is most useful to artists painting on clothing. GAC 900 can be blended with various acrylic colors to produce fabric paints that can be airbrush, hand brush or screen applied."

Without the medium, the paints do not wash out of the fabric when washed. I know this because I threw this sample in the washer and dryer yesterday, to see if that might soften it up. It didn't soften up, and the paints didn't change, at all.

I have to go in to Boston next week, so I'll try to stop by the art supply store and pick up some "GAC 900 Fabric Painting Medium".

Dryer lint

I want to share another dryer lint sample I have. Why dryer lint? Because it's fun and unusual to work with.

You can read more dryer lint posts on my blog by clicking here.

There are two projects that include using dryer lint in my book The Uncommon Quilter. I hope that anyone who reads my book and creates either the two dryer lint projects, or there own versions, will email me to share their results. I'd love to see them. I can be reached at jeanne@jeannewilliamson.com.

More Construction Fences in California

This is another construction fence photo taken in southern California, by Del Thomas.  Strips of construction fences are placed to show the height and/or width limit of future construction projects. You can see another picture from Del that explains this in my November 7th post "Construction Fences in California".

Thanks again Del!

See my collection of construction fence pictures
here on my blog. And you can see the result of my using construction fences in my my artwork, on my website.

More on Produce Netting Bags

Yesterday, I showed a picture of netting produce bags full at the market. Here is a picture of them empty.

My husband made a really delicious dish of shredded brussels sprouts, leeks, and pine nuts for Thanksgiving. Many people cringe when brussels sprouts are mentioned, but I just heard that when you cut them up, they caramelize when cooked. Maybe that's why this dish is so wonderful.

Netting produce bags

Produce netting bags were in abundance when I was at the market last night. Ahhh, the possibilities!


There are many projects that use netting in my book The Uncommon Quilter. Read more about how I like to use netting by reading a past post, "Making small quilts by reusing plastic produce netting bags".

New Paints, Fabric and Other

I'm running out of my (15 year old?) collection of Deka Permanent Fabric Paints, because they are not available in the US anymore. The day I was in Boston and saw the inspirational construction project, I visited a really good art supply store. I treated myself to some new paints, fabric and other.

It's not often I find fabric paints I don't know about, so when I saw Versatex Screen Printing Inks for Fabric and Paper, I decided to buy a few bottles. Since they're really for screen printing, they're quite thick. I know they'll work well for stamping, but I don't know about how they'll work when painting on fabric.

I have also been hearing nice things about Golden Fluid Acrylics, so I splurged on many 1 oz bottles. A friend of mine let me try a little of hers a few months ago, and I liked how it worked on fabric. I'm really interested in how they react on fabric, on both the front and back sides of the painted fabric. I'll paint up some samples as soon as I can, and post them.

Inspiration

Driving in Boston, near Fenway Park, I saw this incredible construction site with blue and yellow insulation materials. Notice those cool multi-paned windows in the blue section.


The orange construction elevators offer some interesting design ideas.


Glass windowed walls on the front left side. That offers a design challenge.

More inspirational construction pictures, and links to even more projects, are posted on my November 18, 2007 post.

Inspiration

I love large construction projects. The grids of the windows and walls, and the application of siding, inspires me.



There is a condo project in progress in downtown Natick, Massachusetts, where I live. I have been waiting all summer for this part of the project, when the insulation is on the outer walls, and the the siding is about to go on, or part way on. I will post updates about the progress, as I can. I look forward to using the images as inspiration toward future art work. When I print the construction fence for this piece, I'll print the holes in it vs the fence itself, because the holes can be the "windows" of the image. Below is the top printed section of Orange Construction Fence Series #20, to explain what I mean.


See more pictures I've taken of inspirational buildings in progress here, here, here, and here.

Art Books You'd Like to Read or Write

I'm sure there are artists who use book agents when publishing books, but I am the only one I know of who has recently used one in my field. Many artists assume that a book agent gets 50% of the advance and royalties, as an art gallery or art consultant would commonly get. This is not true. A book agent commonly gets 15%, which in my opinion is money well spent. An agent is your advocate, someone who tries to get you the best publishing deal possible, and someone who helps with the rest of the publishing process, if advocating is needed.

My agent is looking for artists who have ideas for books they'd like to write, about paper, jewelry and knitting. If you have an idea about a book you'd like to write, please contact Sorche Fairbank at sorche@fairbankliterary.com, and put "Jeanne Williamson referred" in the subject line. I love working with Sorche, and I highly recommend her to other authors!

Also, if there's an art quilt book you'd like to see in a book store (but you don't want to write it), please write to me at jeanne@jeannewilliamson.com. I'd be interested in hearing your ideas.

12 x 12 x 12 November

I have finished my November 12 x 12 x 12 piece. It was made with one piece of fabric, that has monoprinted strips of orange construction fences, and layers of paint to enhance or tone down different sections. It also has the die-cut pattern printed on it (sideways), from a left over piece of fabric from my October 12 x 12 x 12 piece. To capture the pattern from the die-cuts, I used black "Tulip Cool Color Spray for Fabric". In the lower right corner, there's a piece of loosely knitted cotton fabric that I purchased a year ago when I was on a trip to Budapest, Hungary.


I always try to go fabric shopping when I visit a different city or country. On my trip, I was fortunate enough to meet Eszter Bornemisza, who lives in Budapest, and she took me to a wonderful fabric store where we spent many many hours. I got this fabric in both white and black, as well as a few other interesting pieces of fabric.

You can see all of my 12 x 12 x 12 pieces to date on my website, or see what I've blogged about them so far, here on my blog.

Next month, I'll create a 12 x 12 x 12 piece for December, completing the series for 2007.

Project Runway

Yeah! I am very much looking forward to the 4th season of "Project Runway", which begins on Wednesday, November 14th.

My book, The Uncommon Quilter is focused on using unusual materials in quilt making, so it should be no surprise that my most favorite episodes from the past three seasons were those that used unusual materials in the creation of clothing. Click on the links to the Project Runway website to read the descriptions of the challenges, and then click on the "Photos" link to see work in progress and the finished garments.

Season 3:
"Wall to Wall Fashion", garments are made with the contents of the designers' apartments.

Season 3:
"Waste Not, Want Not", the designers must make garments made from what they brought back from a recycling plant in New Jersey.

season 2:
"Flower Power", the designers create garments made from real flowers and plants.

season 1:
"Innovation", after a visit to a Manhattan supermarket, the designers must create garments with their purchases.

Autumn Color!

Nice Autumn color around my neighborhood this past week.

Rubberband Ball

The last time I posted my family's rubberband ball was on October 24th, so it's time for an update. The picture above is the front and below is the back. I don't see any major changes, and it's still measuring 6.5" tall (not including the broken pieces on the top). The black band seems to be holding the whole thing together, but doesn't look like it's going to break any time soon. I'll post new pictures again in two weeks or so.

Shopping a Project Runway winner

When I was in Houston, Texas last week, I went to visit Lot 8 Boutique, a clothing store owned by Project Runway's Season Two winner, Chloe Dao. I LOVE looking at how fabric is used in fashion, and it was well worth visiting Lot 8.

I tried on two things while there. One was a really funky jacket that had a lot of fabric that poofed out at the pockets, and was pulled in tightly at the waist thanks to a elastic form-fitting belt. I liked it a lot, and it looked good on me, but it was short sleeved, and I wasn't sure I'd have that many occasions to wear it since I live in New England where we have a short short-sleeve season.

I also tried on a black silk/cotton/cashmere sweater that had a double drawstring tie, that created accordian pleats along the front edge and collar. The pleats vary, depending how tight you pull the drawstrings. It was fun, it looked good, and it seemed like something that I would wear for years, so I decided to splurge and buy it. This photo is a closeup of the front, enhanced a little by photoship to show off the pleats. It was hard to show the pleats on a black sweater without a little tweaking. Now the photo looks like a watercolor, but at least the pleats are visible.

Construction Fences in California

This photo was taken in Monterey, California, by Del Thomas.  She told me, "When new buildings or renovations will block someone's view, these poles with construction fence strips are placed to show the height and/or width limit."

This use of construction fences is really cool! I've never seen anything like it. Thank you for sharing this Del!!!!

If you see any unusual uses of construction fences, please feel free to send pictures of them to me at jeanne@jeannewilliamson.com. I will credit, and link you, if I post your picture/info.

Back from Houston (Construction Fence City)

I'm back after eleven days Houston (where the temperatures were in the upper 70's and low 80's). There is SO MUCH construction going on there that I think Houston should be nicknamed "Construction Fence City". There are fences on just about every other corner downtown, and many many of them are lining the main drags near the residential areas. It's like a dream come true for me, seeing that I'm pretty much obsessed with using them in my art work. I've been creating stitched monoprints of construction fences for five years and counting.

I met two women in Houston who are using construction fences in unique and wonderful ways. (I apologize that in my tired state right now that I can not remember either of their names.) One used an actual strip of fence (which didn't look like a fence at all as used) and sewed it to a beautiful quilt she designed and stitched. The other woman printed a fence on a one yard wide piece of fabric, using potato dextrin (which I know nothing about) and procion dyes. I immediately fell in love with what she showed me. It looked like a piece of batik, with the pattern of a construction fence on it. Truly incredible!

At both the International Quilt Market, and Festival, I was selling and signing my book The Uncommon Quilter. There was an article, "Quilters sew meaning in fabric of life" in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, that mentions me, Karey Bresenhan, the Journal Quilt project, and some participants.

Thanks everyone from the Quilt Art email list, who stopped by to say hello. It was very nice to meet all of you.

The shows in Houston are very special. I have NEVER met so many nice people in my life. There were 50,000+ people in attendance, who came from all over the Untied States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Japan, and many other countries. It didn't matter whether I was on a shuttle bus, on an elevator, waiting in a line somewhere, or signing books, everyone was really friendly and eager to start up a conversation.

I want to thank Karey Bresenhan, Vicki, Amanda, and everyone else who works for Quilts Inc, for a very beautiful and smooth show. You are very good people to work with!

Art with Fiber - on exhibit at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Earlier this week in Houston, I visited the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. I saw quite a few pieces of art that had fiber as a main element in it.

The show, Women's Tales: Four Leading Israeli Jewelers, is open though January 20, 2008. One of the artists, Esther Knobel, displayed many pieces for jewelry, but of note were those that were created with nickel silver and fabric, knitted enameled copper, and also one with nickel silver with hot peppers.

Also in the show was, Deganit Stern Schocken, who displayed many pieces, including some with silver and silk, and nickel silver, stainless steel, paper, silver and shell. I tried to find a good website with visuals of her work but have had no luck. Sorry.

In the store was "Breadth of Ten Thousand Leaves II", a very nice (huge) kimono created with paper that had iron-on text and had cigarette size holes burnt in it, created by Lisa Qualls (her website should be ready in early November) from Houston, Texas.

An Artist In Residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Greg Rubio, is creating really interesting hand stitched functional archery targets. I can't find any easily accessible images of his work on the web, but I highly encourage you to go to http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.cfm, and type "Greg Rubio" in the site's search. You won't be disappointed.

The Uncommon Quilter and more, at the International Quilt Festival

I've been selling and signing The Uncommon Quilter, and helping to sell the Creative Quilting book, here at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

We also have postcards for Virginia A. Spiegel's"Art, Nature, Creativity, Life", an online book which is available exclusively by donation to the American Cancer Society.

I have been meeting many many wonderful people who are stopping by the Journal Quilt Retrospective exhibit. Some are participants who are stopping by to say hello and to see their quilts, and many people stop by who have never heard of Journal Quilts. I enjoy explaining that I made a quilt a week for seven years, which influenced how the Journal Quilts developed in to a monthly quilt project by hundreds of members of the Quilt Art email list for the past five years.

If you are at Festival this weekend, please stop by and say hello. Here is a map of where I am in in Special Exhibits.