Sunday 14 July 2013

Reminiscing - The Joys of The Art Bra Movement

                        
 
                                                           
                          -lhh

I had the pleasure of chatting with a super lady at a family gathering this Saturday.  In the course of our discussion, the subject of charitable work came up and I would be remiss had I not mentioned the Art Bra movement and the wonderful artists who contributed to our calendars and yearly quilts.  When I was asked as to whether there were pictures on the internet, well, of course there are.  However, I got to thinking about those wonderful projects and decided to resurrect a few sites for old times sake. 

Victoria Adams Brown's Flickr site has some of those terrific art bras plus some of the crazy quilts we put together.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wtwwartbra/with/3894810155/

Barbara Blankenship's Flickr site of some of the quilt blocks:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbraproject/sets/72157594540436316/

More beautiful blocks from the yearly quilt challenges we gave ourselves
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbraproject/with/3714442427/

And one of my personal favourites & I think the one I had the most pleasure making:
http://leoniesomniumgatherum.blogspot.ca/2008/10/little-miss-dynamite-leaves-home.html

We had a wonderful time creating all those amazing art pieces and the comraderie we shared and the encouragement we gave one another is most memorable.  I am proud of the groundwork we laid for others to take up the gauntlet and make their own significant contributions to the ongoing fight against breast cancer.

                        
                  
                               Art Bra Calendar Signing Pennsylvania 2009     

Wednesday 12 June 2013

The Intrigue of Yarn Bombing


Juswhat the hell iYarn Bombing ???
                                                   
                                                                       Photo credit : an-d

Although I am a lover of all things textile and have turned my hand to many a technique, I am not ( gasp) a knitter nor do I ( double gasp) crochet!  That's not to say I might not have a dabble in the not too distant future as scrumbling has rather piqued my interest. Being a bit of a dabster in wool work, I have always had the greatest admiration for those with the patience to excel in the aforementioned art forms and the incredible way they manipulate wool and various fibres into amazing creations.  Currently a group of talented individuals has come to the fore pushing this art form to even greater and unexpected heights.

Knitting and crochet work has surreptitiously started appearing in public places where one would least expect to find it.  This newer phenomenon is known as " yarn bombing", " guerilla knitting" or even " grandma graffiti" and it is a form of street art that incorporates knitted or crocheted shapes which cover objects in public areas, ie lamp posts, benches, derelict buildings, statues , railings, trees etc.  It has become a movement that is catching on like wild fire world wide . In fact, this past Saturday June 8th was officially International Yarn Bombing Day and the participants outdid themselves in creating spectacular works of art in both commonplace and unusual areas.

Yarn bombing is traditionally deemed a form of vandalism, often done to property without permission and is considered an illegal act.  In reality, for the most part, legalities are overlooked, as in many cases the yarn bombing is an improvement to existing eye sores or brings attention to causes or encourages community involvement.  In addition, unlike other forms of graffiti, yarn bombing is not considered permanent and can be easily removed if and when necessary. It is my understanding that some yarn bombers remove their work after a limited run,  clean and recycle the wool to make blankets, hats etc. for homeless shelters and various charities.

In my travels to inform myself more about yarn bombing, I came across a few interesting sites I thought you might enjoy as well.
                                                                                    
One particular group, Yarn Bomb Yukon, a seemingly very well organized group, undertook with permission the very ambitous task of  yarn bombing a DC-3 airplane owned by the Yukon Transportation Museum, in Whitehorse.  You can view their massive undertaking in this video from their web site:
http://yarnbombyukon.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/new-video-knitting-for-history-yarn-bombing-the-dc-3/

For another Canadian take (Toronto) on this spirited movement, check out the informative article by Kayla-Jane Barrie which features an Intro to Yarn Bombing, along with some pros and cons of the activity:

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2013/06/07/yarn-bombing-day-pt-1-an-introduction-to-yarn-bombing/

Bali, of Twilight Taggers in Melbourne, Australia writes a very informative and in depth blog post on the "how to's" of yarn bombing:

http://twilighttaggers.blogspot.ca/2011/03/how-to-yarn-bomb.html

And finally ( with thanks to Graffiti Grannys in the UK )  a short entertaining MSN video showing recent examples of yarnbombing world wide:
http://msnvideo.msn.com/#/video/41afb7c0-e7b2-aba2-a39b-d89e19831720

As much fun as yarn bombing appears to be, I don't think I will be joining the movement any time soon with my limited skills but I really should pick up a crochet hook and see if I can get past that chain stitch......

Friday 12 April 2013

Philosophy Friday - A Lesson in Living


In Fond Memory of Betty Mcleod                                              

" At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

                                                  - Albert Schweitzer

I recently anticipated a significant birthday's approach with some reticence. Usually birthdays come and go but for some strange reason this particular one struck a bit of a sour chord with me. It brought with it tides of nostalgia along with thoughts of accomplishments past and goals I still wished to fulfill. For once in a very long time I became rather self-involved mulling over the pros and cons of my life. Not always a bad thing.....but it did prove to be a distraction which took me away from other tasks and social interactions for a short while.

Last weekend, on the morning of my said birthday, I received an e-mail notifying me of the death of a well respected teacher, friend and former colleague. It did not come as a shock as the lady concerned was well into her late nineties and had not been well for a while. However, her passing gave me even more significant food for thought.

I recalled a time when I was Vice President of CEG London and this dear lady, who was one of the founders of the guild was active on one of my committees. She always had sage advice and I sat down with her one afternoon to discuss some ongoing growing pains the guild was experiencing. After business was out of the way, our conversation turned to our stitching projects and personal lives. Betty had not long lost her husband after many years of a solid, fulfilling marriage and yet she remained positive and resolute in her outlook.  She marvelled at all the years she had enjoyed with her husband, their travels together and the many things that she had accomplished in her life.
Betty had devoted years to liturgical embroidery and vestment making. She had outfitted more reverends and high priests with wardrobes than I have probably had hot dinners. She was the first Artist in Residence appointed by the Dean for St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario. One entire chapel in the cathedral is dedicated to her work including ten meticulously detailed embroideries depicting the life of St. Aidan. When I viewed the chapel some years ago, I marvelled at the volume of her art and it seemed to me then to be a life's work in itself.

As this dear lady, a well preserved ninety years of age at the time, sat across the table from me, I distinctly remember her words. She touched my arm and said, " You know Léonie, I really worry if I will ever have enough time to complete all the work I still want to do. I have so many ideas in my head that I still want to interpret into fabric and thread and I wonder if I will be able to get it all done before my time is up. "

Those words are resonating with me now as I ponder my foolish fretting over aging and birthdays.  As the saying goes " With the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise" I still have a lot to look forward to and like Betty, I hope to interpret the thoughts
and creative ideas buzzing in my head until I draw my last breath.

Thanks old friend for helping me rekindle that flame......


 

Saturday 16 March 2013

Emotional Food for Thought

                                                             

I can't pinpoint whether it is the post February " blahs" , the recent purchase of a late artist friend's work or the reminiscing that comes from a significant birthday but it seems of late, I seem to be walking a thin line with emotions close to the surface. When I came across the story of two performance artists and their poignant love story it stopped me in my tracks.

Marina Abramovic and Uwe Laysiepen ( known as Ulay) carried on an emotionally charged thirteen year relationship which encompassed working in the arts together while deeply enmeshed in a love affair.
In 1988, Marina and Ulay decided to part company and did so in rather a dramatic way.  They made a spiritual journey along the Great Wall of China.  Starting at opposite ends of the wall, ( he from the Gobi Desert and she from the Yellow Sea)  they met in the middle, embraced and then said " good-bye".  Since that time, they rarely set eyes on one another until Marina had a retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2010. As part of the show, she sat  at a table with her eyes closed as a stranger came and sat opposite her.  She then opened her eyes and engaged silently with the person sitting in front of her.  Unbeknownst to her, Ulay arrived  and this is what happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS0Tg0IjCp4

I think for most of us there is that one person who would strike an emotional chord within us should there be a possibility they could appear in our lives again.

Who would sit across the table from you??  .........






Sunday 3 March 2013

Sci Fi Project Revealed & Blog Give-Away

* Spoiler Free   For those not apprised of this term, in essence it means I will not give away the gist of the story and spoil it for others who want to read it!

**Please check out my exciting Wool blog give away at the bottom of this post!
          
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After what seems to have been a bit of a long haul, I have completed the Sci Fi Challenge piece and the book is:


I understand in the overall realm of science fiction books, this one is considered rather a light weight but for one who has not read this genre before, it took a bit of time to tune into the storyline. However, I persevered and found it to be rather interesting. I think what triggered a light bulb when I saw the book competition rules was that one could create " a piece of artwork of any kind" and the title certainly presented itself to be interpreted in textiles.

The book is a self publishing Cinderella story in itself and you can find out more about Hugh Howey's venture into publishing and further in-depth information about the book here:
  http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/03/hugh_howey_and_wool_how_the_self_pubbed_sci_fi_writer_relates_to_fans.single.html                                                         

I found the book to be rather dark and haunting, mysterious, suspenseful, disturbing and filled at times with tension and fears of the unknown.  In that vein, my textile piece was inspired by and portrays deception, mind games, control & power, lies and secrecy.  Two things that loomed largest in my mind were the dominant image of the silo, the 100+ storied underground tower in which the apocalyptic survivors dwelled and the spiral staircase that ran through the centre of it. Hence the silo is front and centre in my work, which is filled with symbolism and " hidden messages.

     
                             " Cut From a Different Cloth - a Textural Play on Wool "
                                                                          
The work was built up on a base fabric I created and discussed in my Feb 18th post http://stitchingwithattitude.blogspot.ca/2013/02/post-apocalyptic-teaser.html and all the needlework, stitching and fabric manipulation is hand work. No sewing machines were touched or harmed in the making of this piece!

                                                 
The silo is cut out from a man's hand knit sweater and lots of unravelling took place for extra embellishment.  The hand ( in the top of the tower) has long been thought of as a conduit of power and hands with an index finger pointing down are symbolic of an entity reaching down for the soul.  The metal spiral running down the centre of the tower was created from Sadi Purl,a metal thread resembling a closely wound spring, which I wound around a dowel overnight to hold the spirals in place.  (For those interested further in purl threads,  Mary Corbett has an indepth post on them:http://www.needlenthread.com/2008/09/goldwork-threads-specifically-sadi.html).
  The windows are tiny hinged picture frames, one fogged with an old defunct negative and one showing a hazy photo of a person.
                                                     






The words, Lies, Secrets and Hope are incorporated into the piece.  They are not too difficult to find but obscured a little by surrounding embellishments. However, if you can't see them, a trip to your optometrist might be in order (-:  The large brown eyed lentil focal bead was created by Grace Ma of Gracebeads.


                                                           




The purple/black embellishment you see throughout the landscape is dried black seaweed meticulously hand stitched down and the two toned crumpled brown pieces are black funghi, also very carefully hand stitched as they were prone to crumble if pierced too hard.  When I work on a project, it becomes all encompassing and when shopping in the nearby Chinese grocer, my dystopic landscape manifested itself !  The tree lampwork bead ( upper right in photo) " Winter Storm Warning" was created  by Bluhealer.







The upper left hand corner features polygraph readings and a head
undergoing lie detector tests. This also depicts the " head games" and brain washing I see in the story.  The large lampwork bead to the upper right of the head is " View From Another Planet" by Devil Woman Beads.  Metal springs, bones, bamboo shapes, assorted beads along with torn & manipulated dyed silk carrier rods adorn the landscape.






                                                                                                                                                                                       The upper right hand corner features a pair of eyes shrouded in wool.  Reference to " pulling the wool over one's eyes".  It also begins to show the green creeping into the landscape that the residents see or think they see?  Two green tear drops appear below the right eye and I leave that to the viewer to fathom.   To the left of the eyes, ( see overall photo at top ) the green leaf leads into the word "hope"......something I think every resident of the silo holds close to their heart.

                                                                                                    
The black Wensleydale wool is direct from the highlands of Scotland along with some Drenthe Heath ( thank you Monika)  which went into the underlay. It was an exercise in patience trying to manipulate that fleece just enough to indicate what I wanted to achieve without covering the eyes too much.  Lots of fiddling and farting about with tweezers, stylus, and eventually a very light hair spray to hold it in place.  However, it turned out better than I anticipated it would.
There are other little innuendos within the overall piece that a viewer might pick out with careful observation .

I succeeded in my initial undertaking which was to challenge myself in a completely new & unusual ( to me)  format . It gave me an opportunity to expose myself to a different form of fantasy, one which offered me new variants to consider and ample food for thought.  Thank you Mr. Howey for introducing me to another way of seeing and thinking.

AND for those whose interest has been piqued by my coverage of WOOL I am having a
 Blog Give Away of one hard cover copy of the 2013 Random House publication of WOOL to be determined by Random Number Generator on the evening of March 11th, 2013.  All you have to do to be eligible is to leave a comment in the Comments Section on this post on either my Wool competitive piece or as to why you would like a copy of Mr. Howey's exciting book.  You won't be disappointed in the book!  Good luck to all !

         ******THE WINNER OF THE BLOG GIVEAWAY IS:  ANGI MULLIS******

I have contacted Angi for details in sending the book to her.
THANKS to ALL who have visited my blog and left comments and I hope you will continue
 to drop by.  LHH


                                                                              

Saturday 23 February 2013

Indie Rock Bands and Sewing Themes ?




What takes 1 kilometre of thread, 73,000 embroidery stitches, 6 Kg of fabric scraps and 100 needles and pins? Would you believe a pop/rock band video?

The 5 piece Indie band Black Books, who hail from Austin Texas have done just that. They approached famed director Christophe Thockler ( aka DaBrainkilla on YouTube ) to create a video for their song "Favorite Place" from their most recent EP " Aquarena".
 M. Thockler, who directed, filmed and produced the clip, chose
 to explore the world of fashion, taking two months and 10,000 photos to create the stop motion music video . The photography is fabulous, the lighting superb and the video compliments the music of this group.

Here's a link with a few stills and if you scroll down you can click on the video to see the fabulous results of this collaboration. A delight for music fans and stitchers alike !

http://www.pedroandradetv.com/en/black-books/

Monday 18 February 2013

Post Apocalyptic Teaser



Work is well under way on the science fiction project/challenge and while I am keeping it under wraps, I thought I might tease you a little and show you the fabric I created to build the scenerio on.  I started out with a two tone grey and off-white mottled cotton which I cut roughly to 19 inches square.


I have Wonder Under fusible web on hand by the metre, so measured and cut a piece out to be around 17 1/2 inches square. I can't impress upon you enough when doing any kind of work of this nature, to leave a big enough border to compensate for any shrinkage, little mishaps, stitching etc. You can always cut extra fabric off when you are sizing up your final piece but it is far more difficult if you find yourself in a tight spot to add any on !

Leaving the backing paper on,  I laid out the Wonder Under ( Bondaweb to my Brit counterparts )  with the vilene ( glue) side up on a  large plastic sheet, and then proceeded to wet it down with water and a brush.  This makes a nice base for your paints to flow onto.  I then painted the surface with fabric paints and acrylics in very dark hues. When doing this type of procedure, please note that water based paints work best.  I emphasize this as there is a lot of work and time involved and using other based paints can prove disastrous at the best of times and we are not experimenting at this point. Once painted,  the Wonder Under was left out on the table to dry overnight.  You want to ensure that the Wonder Under is totally dry before proceeding to the next step.

While the drying process was going on, I selected several different batik fabrics in shades of greys, browns, rusts, blacks, dark purples, dark teals, and a few mixed greens. I cut five to 6 inch squares from each fabric I chose .  I use batiks specifically because the colors & designs are true on both the front and back.  Many commercial fabrics are just printed on the front and the back is often very white or faded.  The next step is absolutely MURDEROUS on your cutting boards and rotary cutter blades so stand warned.  I keep an older board solely for the purpose of doing this type of work and make sure you have a couple of extra new rotary blades on hand too.  With a new sharp blade in your rotary cutter,  take your squares, one at a time, lay them on the board and with a firm hand, slash them continually about  1/8" -  1/6th " apart and then slash them the opposite way so they are in little snippets.  Using a quick back and forth motion on the rotary cutter ( quite opposite to how you would use it normally ) and with a firm and steady hand,  you literally demolish the fabric squares. Depending on what fabrics you use, you can almost turn them to dust and often you have to scrape them off your board.  Unfortunately I was so engrossed in the process, I forgot to take a photo of the little piles all sitting on the board but I did take the photo below afterwards of the leftovers, so you can see the approximate size of the snippets and also you can see in the upper middle and upper right, the damage done to the board.

                                                              

    I leave all my little piles on the cutting board and put it on one side in a safe place, where it does not get knocked over or easily blown by movement etc.   The next step involved putting a teflon coated ironing sheet on my worktable and laying the grey and white cotton fabric face side up onto it.  Then I took the painted Wonder Under and placed it painted side down on the grey cloth. I then took a sheet of parchment paper ( which protects your iron & fabrics from any drizzling, gluey fusibles )  the size of the grey cloth and laid it over the two layers.  Taking a medium heat iron, I ironed over the parchment paper slowly and deliberately, applying a bit of pressure so that the  Wonder Under would adhere to the grey cotton.  I periodically lifted the corners of the parchment paper to ensure that the heat was sticking the WU to the cotton.  When it had cooled sufficiently ( not too long) that I could handle it, I then peeled the paper backing off the Wonder Under leaving the painted vilene adhered to the grey and white cotton fabric.   It is a bit touchy and you need to make sure you do not tear the vilene or lift it as you remove the paper backing, especially when using a larger sized piece. WHEW - so far, so good (-:

     Now the fun part comes in.  I scattered the various colored snippets over the painted vilene surface.  I tried to make a little dimension but not too deep or you will have floating and loose snippets later on. Because the snippets are so very tiny, they do not always fall where you want them to, so I used a little pair of tweezers or forceps to distribute them in a more pleasing manner. It's a bit fiddily but worth the effort. You will notice they are very static to your hands, so using the tools really does help. Because I chose to add a little more depth to this piece, I decided to go one step further than usual and I cut a piece of black Mistyfuse - a very light web-like fusible - the size of the overall piece and VERY carefully laid it over the entire piece.  Be patient as with each added layer, it's a bit tricky ensuring that nothing underneath moves!  You have to be cautious, as any kind of air current can move the tiny pieces and layers in a heartbeat, especially with your hand movements. Fortunately, I was in a good place with this and the fabric gods were being kind.   For the very last fabric layer, I used an old black chiffon scarf. which I delicately laid over the entire piece, smoothing and fussing as I went to make sure all the layers were as level and wrinkle free as possible.  Then, for the final layer - another large piece of parchment paper and I applied a medium - to med.hot iron so that all layers would fuse together.  The heat is something you have to judge for yourself - you can always turn it up slightly if you feel your layers are not fusing as you would like but you do have to be very careful and vigilant, or you can get patchy spots.   Once it cooled, I pinned it up to the work board and photographed it.   My base fabric is now ready to build on. Much has been added in the way of stitching & embellishments since then and I am finally beginning to enjoy this challenging project.

This is an overall shot of the entire base fabric with rough edges and overhang cropped out. The Centre area was left plain for a reason and yes, there is some green in the outer areas even though we are talking about a post Apocalyptic era. Of course, there is a reason for this, as time will reveal.







Left and below are a couple of close up pics so you can see some of the details.  Using the chiffon scarf and the Mistyfuse has given the fabric a bit of a hazy cast which is what I was
aiming for.  A more subtle background is the perfect foil for me to build up bolder textures and features on the surface by way of stitching and embellishments.

                              
         
    A gentle reminder that this is my interpretation of what I have read into the book in question and when you see the finished product, you may not recognize it from what you have seen here - but then again you might????

            Stay tuned for the next episode.......
                                                             

    
                        

Saturday 9 February 2013

Triple Crown Today




                                                      Gung Hay Fat Choy
                                         Cantonese roughly translated means             
                      Best wishes & congratulations. Have a prosperous good year.
                                                   

Today kicks off celebrations for the Chinese Lunar New Year, The Year of the Snake. The Lunar calendar follows a 12 year cycle with twelve animals representing each year. If you were born in the year 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 or 2013, you were born in a year of the snake and that means this will be an especially good 12 months for you.

Fireworks are set off to ward off evil spirits and red lanterns abound.  Wearing red ensures good luck will stay with you for the year ahead.  It's a great day to excuse yourself from housework too!  Tradition dictates that those who clean on a new year's day sweep away good fortune in the year ahead.  More studio time today and less cleaning.  I'm for that!

To celebrate Chinese craftsmanship today, I'd like to share with you a lovely piece of hand carved ancient jade from my collection. 

                                             
Then it's off to the kitchen to prepare sweet and sour spareribs for our celebration dinner tonight.

While the ribs simmer in the oven, it's time to also celebrate a good book....


.....as it is also NATIONAL LIBRARY DAY today. Now which one of these little beauties shall I tuck into?






AND to top it all off it's HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA so I am also tuned into CBC in the studio as we celebrate our national game from the grass roots level right up to our pros, 24 hours today.  Four NHL games, OHL, our juniours, little guys and special thank yous to the dedicated Mums and Dads who are the foundation and real heroes of our  game

                                                          


A triple header in Celebrations today makes me a very happy camper!  Oh, and while the hockey plays out in the studio, the ongoing Sci Fi project slogs out at a snail's pace.     



 

 
 
 
                                 




Saturday 2 February 2013

TAPPING DYSTOPIA



                                                      
    Alas, I lost a large part of January to illness, so I felt like I needed to be totally challenged by something right out of my league that would shake off the creative lethargy I found myself wallowing in.  

     Quite by accident, I came across a most intriguing proposition and decided to investigate it further.  The order of the day is to read a specific novel and then produce a piece of artwork of any kind inspired by the book.  Once the piece is finished, you upload it to a designated web site where people can view and vote for their favourites.  I thought this could be a unique experience, a source of cerebral stimulation and my medium might provide a different slant in what appears to be, so far, a heavily laden field of drawings and photographs. 

    Now here’s the hitch for me – the book is science fiction!  I did say I wanted a challenge but I didn’t anticipate jumping off a cliff !  I am currently slogging my way through my first ever science fiction novel – a lesson indeed in developing strong critical reading skills.

    I tried to get a copy of the book only to find that for the most part, it is a download.  I think it is possibly a generational thing, but unless you are born with a mouse in your hand, it seems that many of us of a certain age do not enjoy reading even a smaller excerpt of a novel on line. There’s something about conveniently flipping those book pages back to re-check a character, or re-follow a plot line and somehow it’s just not the same for some of us backtracking on a computer.  AND believe me, I am backtracking a LOT trying to keep up with the who’s and what’s of this story line.

     To be fair, I did go ahead and read an excerpt on line but really felt I needed something more to sink my teeth into.  After checking with our local bookstores, I was told about a “previous download” again, but their records indicated that there was a hard cover edition due out March 12th.    Humph – funny thing is the competition closes March 3rd.  This perplexed me, so I fished around online some more and discovered that Amazon in the UK had a hardcover copy ready to ship.  I felt I was invested in the project this far and time being of the essence seemed to warrant the cost of the book and having it sent Global Priority.

     The book arrived promptly but to my untrained non post-apocalyptic eye it appeared rather daunting, much like reading 563 pages in Greek.  Fortunately for me a librarian friend came for a visit and was immediately helpful.  He suggested some on-line sites I might peruse to glean more information and I discovered in the process, there are communities, fan bases and forums that have been created for avid followers of this book and author.  It is now beginning to sound rather cultish to this Sci Fi virgin whose needs of a challenge are definitely being met!

     Nevertheless, as time has elapsed I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the genre, although it is much like a first date when things fall into place nicely but you’re not quite ready to jump into bed yet.  Despite some misgivings, I am actually starting to see designs form in my head, as I hit the half way mark of the book.  Excursions to the stash cupboard, some new bead purchases on my quick trip to Toronto mid week and a few rough sketches have been conducive to the actualization of this project. I have no realistic expectations of my foray into this competition bringing me anything other than the satisfaction of  goading myself into new areas that are out of my comfort zone.  However,  in the spirit of the contest, I will throw down the gauntlet and give it a run (-:

     For now, I am going to keep you in suspense as to the name of the book until I am ready to upload the finished project to the appointed web site.  At that time, I will discuss the book and my interpretation of same in greater detail while respectfully soliciting your votes.  In the interim, a tiny hint lies in the photo accompanying this post. 
    Thanks for sticking with me so far and I look forward to sharing more of this challenge with you.   Keep watching this site – further updates coming soon!!

   

 

 

















Friday 1 February 2013

PHILOSOPHY FRIDAY - In Pursuit of Challenge



" If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are? "
                                        - T. S. Eliot



Well, if this doesn't say it all this week, I don't know what does.  Sometimes you  are lucky to happen upon a quote that is very appropriate to the circumstances.

I decided to take on a challenge that would be stimulating and push myself to the limits. That is an understatement!


What could possibly trigger the following words?
 
Formidable  Push  Goad  Prod  Examine  Calculate  Ponder  Compel  Incite

Provoke  Motivate  Envision  Imagine  Analyze  Speculate  Dissect  Dare

Dream  Reflect  Seek  Reckon  Surrender   ........

Follow up on my next post tomorrow to see what has sent me into such a quandary.......

  







                
 


Wednesday 16 January 2013

Lampwork - The Most Glorious of Arts


   
                                                             Sculptured floral focal by Geneva Perkins  
 
                           
During a recent online discussion with some friends, I mentioned my love of lampwork and  discovered that a few folks were not that familiar with the subject. Well, we'll have to address that won't we?  I think the utmost I can do is to lead you into temptation and indoctrinate as many of you as I can in this passion of mine.

I will give you a brief introduction to the art form and then happily share  photos of some of my favourite acquisitions.

A basic definition of Lampwork is the process of sculpting glass by twirling thin rods of colored glass over a gas-oxygen burner.
Lampworking is an ancient art form which flourished in Italy in the early 14th century, although evidence of the art dates back as early as 550BC in China.  Glass artists used an oil lamp flame to melt glass in the process of creating beads, which was both labour and time intensive.

Nowadays, conditions have much improved and people generally use propane-oxygen torches  to melt the glass. The glass is melted and wound onto a mandrel (steel rod) and then it is shaped and embellished in and around the torch flame. After that process is completed,  the bead is then annealed.  That is a procedure where the decorated bead is put into a kiln which evenly heats the bead,  removing any stress in the glass.  Then it is slowly brought down to room temperature taking about 8 hours to do so. Annealing makes the bead strong and durable and without this process, the beads are prone to cracking and breaking.

For those of you who might wish to delve into the process of lampworking in more detail, there is a very good article here :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampworking
 
I have long marvelled at how artists can manipulate a torch at such high heats and create the most intricate and detailed work while dealing with the equipment and other factors. To be honest, it truly fascinates me.  It is a skill that requires a great deal of patience and practice.  The artist must understand the various types of glass, how much heat it takes for glass to flow, how different colours and types of glass interact with each other, at what point to add decorative elements and other various aspects of the medium. So many other things factor in too, safety being a major issue -  the handling of propane, eye protection, safe clothing, respirators, kilns, ventilation, glass slivers, eye strain looking into the flame just to mention a few important details. In spite of all this, it seems that those who take up this art are dedicated and passionate about it. They are also some of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of knowing.  Please let me share some of the beautiful pieces I have acquired.  Most I will use in my work as I go along but some are so exquisite I will just display them in order to enjoy them daily.


  Sea Garden by Bobbie Pene
    Auckland, New Zealand

This is a large lentil shaped focal bead which has beautiful texture and depth.  It depicts the ocean with a reef of coral, barnacles and anemones. Look closely as there are tiny semi-transparent jellyfish floating among the kelp.
This bead is 38mm round x 16.5mm thick with a 2mm hole.  Bobbie's work is very intricate and masterful.


              Splash by Susan Jones
             Minneapolis, Minnesota

This is one of those pieces that looks
even more magnificent in reality. The dimension and flow is astonishing. It
is a flattened oval of gorgeous ink blue
raku and clear glass with spirralling light
blue discs accented with layered dots.  This piece looks fantastic from all angles.  Size - 48mm x 25mm.





                                                                     


   Sunflower by Julie Christie of Cocktail Glass, Edson, Alberta, Canada.

This gorgeous piece by Julie is incredible in that she has the sunflower on
both the front and back side of the bead ( see pic on the right above).
The colours are vibrant and the cane was hand mixed and hand pulled to create this beauty.  In addition, she has lacquered the hole which has made it virtually disappear.  The texture, dimension and colour of this
piece is phenomenal.  I love it so much and with the two sides raised, it would be a waste to stitch it down so I am going to hang it from a rod in the
studio window on clear nylon where the sun can catch the beautiful highlights.



     Sunset Lake by Amy Kinsch
                Ione, California

This is an unusual and brilliant piece.  The base glass is deep blue and then Amy used blues and deep browns with a hint of an orange sunset.  It has a wonderful crackled
effect in the larger dark ivory dots in the upper half.  The small accent ivory dots are done on a band of Olympia Rain which has a nice metallic lustre.
Size is 28mm x30mm and 2mm hole


And for the last piece for this post - a little whimsy for you:

 

Bacon and Eggs, special ordered and well cooked by Marcy Lamberson of Studio Marcy,  Atlanta, Georgia.  I commissioned Marcy to make these two sweet little pieces for  me as she is a specialist at miniatures and in particular food items. I hope to make these into a little brooch to fasten onto a playful embellished scarf I have in mind.

** Myself, along with several others, have currently been experiencing problems with photo loading on Blogger due to our browsers ( Blogger & Google are working on it )  so I am not going push my luck in loading any more photos for the moment but if you have enjoyed this post I am going to make a follow up post shortly with continued discussion on lampwork and I will feature more photos of  some amazing pieces by some very talented artists.  Please visit again soon.


 
                                                                                   
 

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Featuring UK artist Angela Huddart

My Twitter buddy Angie has just opened her new Etsy shop.  She does marvellously detailed machine embroidery.  I just purchased this lovely thread painted piece of her work.  At 4 x 6 inches, it is packed with detail. 


                           Weeping Willow - copyright Angela Huddart

Angie is adding more work to her shop soon so give her some time to load up and please check out this talented artist's work:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/AngiesTextileArt