Fiber Art Earrings with Precious Stones and Glass

So, I made earrings today for the craft fair in a week and a half. The problem is I  might keep them! I like these multi-green ones with aventurine the best.

Amethyst and Acrylic?!

One thing that is unique about these fiber art pieces is the fiber I used to make them---it's acrylic!

I used Lion's brand Homespun. I know quite a few knitters and fiber artists that really don't like this particular yarn, and I can't blame them, it bunches, is to textured you can't see any pattern your knit, and the tension is wacky. It also comes apart.

But wait, it also comes apart!

 

I should clean these up a bit  more.

There are three reasons why I still choose to work with this yarn:

1.Pretty colors! So many colors merged into one yarn, so bright and beautiful. And washable!!!!
2. It's very soft and warm and light
3. You can take it apart!






By gently pulling on the plying strand I can separate it from the poofy  acrylic "roving." But was surprised to find two more threads in the second ply! This took a more gentle extraction, and the leftover "roving" is very soft and easy to pull apart.

Because acrylic won't felt, the other challenge I had was how to secure the ends of the fibers after I had wound them around the eye pin. Elmer's Glue All, anyone?

Then I wrapped the same thread I had just pulled out of the yarn around the created fiber bead. It was designed to match!

Setting up for May Art Hop

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 Location: Webster's Prime, Secnd Foor of the Radisson, Kalamazoo , MI

When: May 1st, 5pm-10pm

When Acrylic Gel Transfers Fail: An Art Post Mortem

Usually, I can fix failed transfers. This one, maybe not!



Bubbles, the alignment is off, and chunks that came off with the paper removal process. Oops. Good thing I printed it cheaply!


So why did it fail? I didn't take my time to do it properly, and I was afraid I would run out of gel, which I was short on anyway.

1. I didn't line it up properly. I may have cut it wrong to begin with.
2. I didn't use enough gel on the layers.
3. I didn't use enough gel to "glue"the print the prepared canvas.
4. Can it be saved? I'm thinking in the interest of time to let this one go. I can sand the surface and do a transfer on top of it, or just throw it out, it's only a cheap 16x20 student canvas.

New Website is Up! Changes to Blog Posts Are Beginning.

Hello everyone out there!
The official Dabblebag home site is now up at www.dabblebag.weebly.com   and will be getting it's own domain soon, I hope.


And there's an email sign up form that is very important to YOU. 

Because, you see, that will be the only way you can get coupons for my art from now on.

                                         AND

Those newsletters are the only place you will see photos of behind the scenes art making, studio work, and WIP pics.

             So why haven't you signed up yet?


                     Here's the link to go sign up!

SIGN UP

When you sign up, you will get an email with all sorts of goodies in it no fewer than once a month, and no more than twice a week.

Doing a Series of Art Works

I've been thinking of doing a series of art works, paintings, transfers, I don't know yet. I know, I know, let's do that in my SPARE time.


But I need something to express me, I need something that has an ongoing purpose or message. I need a project! 
A painting a day sort of project would be awesome, but time is always an issue with me. However, I do paint rather quickly usually. It could even be a digital painting a day! 

I need an art project to post on this blog about and make you keep coming back for more!
There are so many things I want to create, and I need an audience to support me in order to do that. So another reason to do any art in a series is to grow my audience.

How do I grow an audience? I make stuff and put it out there.

Entering Art Prize a Possibility

This is just here to be pretty.

I've been thinking about entering Art Prize this year. I had an idea for something to go on or hang from a type of room divider, like a stained glass mosaic made with resin, but each piece being a part of a photo-essay or something.

Asking "Why?" When You Make Art: When To Use It, When Not To.

Asking "Why?" can be very dangerous.

This question has changed the world, for whenever someone asks "why?" about a tradition taken for granted, a whole system of values brought to awareness for debate.

Asking "why?" can strengthen you because you examine what you believe and can defend it. But there is another side to the question "why?" that can get you stuck.

I like to think of the question "why?" like glue. It can hold you together or get you stuck.


When you have a tendency towards depression or are otherwise discouraged in your art, asking "why?" might get you stuck.

You may find it brings out purposelessness and pointlessness to your pieces. Don't ask why someone needs X. Not yet. Don't ask why we place colored mud on walls and make a living from it.
 One of the reasons for this could be because you are judging your art for the market that exists now, not for the people who actually need it. No one needs an invention until after it had been invented, and then they realized how much we needed it all along. So it is with art, and marketing to the future buyers and purposes that don't seem to exist at this very moment. But art has other purposes too.

Sometimes when I ask "why" I get very discouraged because I want to help the poor, feed the hungry, or cure cancer and here I've been pushing colored mud around on a canvas. "When I could be doing something constructive."  How do you deal with that?


Here are some ideas on asking "why?" in ways that will help make your art stronger and not get you stuck.

• Ask "why?" about the process, not about the product.
• People buy art for all sorts of reasons, and the story behind it is one of them. 
• You are the one spending your life's time making art, have a purpose to your life! 
• Have reasons for the processes and techniques you use and your art will be much stronger.
• Figure out why first before you decide on the how or the what.
• The rest falls into place, and all your work is aimed towards the purpose and message you want to create with your art.

Being an Artist: What Media Do You Work In? All of Them

How many times have you been asked "Are you an artist? What media do you work in?"

Do most artists only work in one media, really? Do you?

Isn't being an artist so much more? Sure there are visual artists, preforming artists, musical artists, writing arts, etc. But who says your art is defined by only one way of expression? 

What is art all about? Expressing something, usually abstract through a physical means.   Emotion through sound, honor and justice through heroism and plot, beauty and dignity through jewelry, etc.

I don't like working in one media only. In fact, I can't. My brain and inspiration won't let me.

 One of the things I DON'T like about the multifaceted aspect  of my work is that

• 1. it becomes harder to market when people don't know what to expect, and 
• 2. I feel like I will never become a master craftsperson at anything.

And both of these objections can be circumvented.

But what is so great about dabbling about in so many mediums? WELL. I'm glad you asked.




 Invention. Expression. Sometimes the means carry the message, sometimes the processes merge together to create a new medium, sometimes you're poor and can't afford all the supplies so you use what you have and are more creative for it.

No art form was created without borrowing something from another industry or craft. 

Paint needs pigment and minerals, chemistry and geology. Music needs the physics of materials, math, and notation. Fiber art needs animal husbandry, fashion skills and the chemistry of dyes.

And so, mixed media, which has become another sort of media on it's own, is a creation of more art forms. Performance painting! I would love to do that, mix theater, painting, and digital arts.  Maybe I will someday and make a video. Hm. I'd need a dancer and a great camera for that.

Another thing about moving around in your media is that you won't get as stagnant about your subjects, your skill set with one of your media will strengthen and broaden. You can learn new brush strokes for your oil painting through calligraphy.


Mixed media is more than mixing media, it's about using what is best for the expression of your message, and inventing the future of expression for someone else. You can hone your skills and be a master at what you invented! Explore the possibilities of mixing oils and watercolor! Can't think it can be done?

I'll take that as a challenge. 

My handmade traveling art kit.

Chronicles of a Beginning Spinner: Short Staple Adventures

 I am a baby at drop spinning. and that's ok, because we all have to start somewhere!

Yes, it's addicting, even when you're frustrated with the short staple. The yarn on this spindle picture is my second try with this roving, so it's a little more even.

 I started out with this roving:

I think it's actually synthetic, as it doesn't felt, squeaks when wet, and leaves a hard residue when burnt. Also, it's short staple, which is giving me quite the challenge.

And this is the $h!t that is my first spun yarn. TA DA!!
I didn't have to ply it, I could have thrown it out. But .....I didn't, ok?

Later I Facebooked my fiber art friends to ask of spinning short staple was harder. It is, it's not just me!
Apparently I like to try to do things on expert mode right off the bat. But I also want to save my good, albeit still cheap, roving for when I know a tiny bit more of what I'm doing.

If I can do it so can you! 

"The master has failed more times than the student has ever tried."

 

 

 

Another update, and I think I'm getting better at it!

See? Getting better still!

Handmade Drop Spindle and Getting Addicted to Fiber Arts

I have many friends who spin and knit and do lots of fiber art, and it's very addicting. And contagious! These days, painting and fiber art are all I want to so, much to the detriment of my day job.

My friend also let me try out one of her drop spindles and taught me how to use it. I need a lot of practice to make anything that resembles yarn! But I learned a lot in the process. Fiber art, from sheep to sock, takes a LOT of time. If you paid the artist for their time for making you a pair of socks from hand spun, hand-dyed yarn, you would be paying at least a hundred dollars.


This is what I started out with. I found a hook later.

Because you tend to spend so much time with your spindle, I decided to make mine pretty. I started by burning a design in it with my soldering iron. This cuts the fibers in the wood to prevent the ink from spreading to a place I don't want it to when I stain it with india ink.










And I dyed it very brightly!!!
It's beautiful, and still I miss the simplicity of the natural wood. O well, I'll have to make more!
I dyed the stick that will be glued to the bottom as well. It's a tealish green. The picture you see here is the top disk while it is still drying from a second coat of varnish. I don't want the yarn to snag on the wood, or get colored by the ink stain. I will give it at least four coats. The varnish (polyurethane) will also bring out the ink stain and grain of the wood and make it pretty.

More pics when it's done!



UPDATE:
Here it is!

Acrylic Painting Process and Work in Progress

Still life. The staple of classical painting exercises.  Bottles and grapes being some of the most cliche and yet the simplicity of the forms still tempts the painter's eye. And I have lots of bottles and fake grapes hanging around for just such a purpose.

I don't know if I will make a lighter colored background or not, I like painting on gold usually, but this lighter scheme is nice too.


First, I set up my stuff with white canvases as a photo-booth like i usually do, and took a picture.



Then I desaturated the picture and took the color out of it, partially to see the values more clearly, and partly because I have no color ink.

I drew a grid on the black and white print out, dividing it in half about two or three times. Then I taped string across the canvas in the same pattern to transfer the picture. I used charcoal, and wish I had taken a picture of that process, but didn't know if I was going to blog it or not.



Here is what I have so far! It's on a gold ground, of course.