minimeg

Black Walnut and Indigo Dyeing

2011-09-04T12:29:00.000-04:00

Last week my copy of Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess arrived in the mail. It is a fantastic book about dyeing fabric and yarn using plants. Not only does the book tell you how to create different colors of dye from different plants, it has great information about keeping colors from fading using mordants. I wanted to get started right away, so I chose two kinds of dye that did not require treating the yarn with a mordant before dyeing: Black Walnut, and Powdered Indigo. As an added bonus, my internship already had those dyes cooked up so they were ready to go.

First I tackled Black Walnut dye. To make this dye from scratch you collect black walnuts (with gloves on, because they really will turn your hands black), put them in a pot of water for a few weeks to ferment, and then boil. Since my dye was already prepared, all I needed to do was heat the dye in a pot until almost boiling.

Then I soaked my yarn in warm water until all the air bubbles were out, and put it in the pot to cook for an hour or two. After cooking the fibers I took them out of the dye pot and rinsed them until the water ran clear.

The result was a beautiful light brown yarn. If the dye had been fresh and never used, the color probably would have been darker.

Next I used the powdered Indigo dye bath that was already mixed up. The indigo dye is very messy, and very sensitive to oxygen. So please, WEAR GLOVES if you do any kind of dyeing. The powdered indigo is mixed with water, soda ash, and a chemical called Thiox.

You can also make indigo dye from the leaves of the indigo plant, but indigo does not grow around here and the seeds need to be ordered special from overseas.

Once the dye bath is prepared and the yarn is wet, dip the yarn into the dye bath and hold under for around 3 minutes. Gently squeeze the yarn and slowly swish it around in the dye. Then lift the yarn out of the dye and put it in a bucket for the color to develop.

After about 15 minutes rinse out the dye until the color runs clear. If you want a darker color, dip the yarn again and repeat the process until the yarn is the desired color. Mine came out a lovely medium blue.

Dress Refashion

2011-08-05T12:10:00.000-04:00

I got this pink jersey dress from Target earlier this summer. I love the ease of jersey dresses, but this one was a little on the plain side. So I pulled out my trusty freezer paper to jazz it up a little bit!

I decided to add a stenciled border along the neckline and the bottom of the dress. After measuring how long my stencil needed to be I cut two pieces of freezer paper and taped them down to my cutting mat. I always cut two stencils at once, even if I don't need both right away. Then I used a pen to draw a floral design for my stencil, and went at it with an x-acto knife.

Several hours of cutting (and numerous Netflix tv episodes) later I had four completed stencils! The next step was ironing the freezer paper to my dress. If you have never done freezer paper stencils before, this is a link to a great step-by-step tutorial.

I attempted to mix up some pink and purple fabric paint... But it ended up more as a nice brown, blue, and gray. After the ink dried I peeled off the freezer paper and heat set the ink with an iron. Now the pattern is permenant, washable, and ready to wear!

Christmas in July

2011-07-21T17:05:00.000-04:00

I'm having a Christmas in July sale over on Etsy! That means 10% off everything between July 21st and July 31st. Just enter the coupon code CHRISTMASINJULY at checkout.

Check out my selection of handmade books. From Japanese Stab style to Coptic both large and small. I even have some mini books! (I am Minimeg after all.)

I also have fine art photographs ranging from animals to architectural details.

And don't forget about accessories! Recycled purses and pouches featured in previous blog posts along with eclectic jewelry made from found objects.

T-Shirt Shorts

2011-07-19T15:06:00.001-04:00

This week I found a great tutorial about making your own shorts pattern based on measurements. The weather has been so hot lately that I have been planning on making myself another pair of pajama shorts. So I pulled out some newspaper for pattern making, and a couple old t-shirts from my fabric bin. I took some measurements and whipped up a pattern on yesterday's newspaper. After seeing the size of the pattern I pulled out two standard t-shirts (think Jerzees, event t-shirts, not baby doll tees) and I happened to have two of the exact same shade of goldenrod yellow. I made a second pair using two red t-shirts and remembered to take some pictures of the process!

The shorts were really easy to make and took maybe a half hour of sewing. I used a three step zig-zag stitch instead of a straight stitch. This stitch uses three straight stitches for every zig and zag, and is excellent for stretchy fabrics like t-shirts. When I cut the fabric I lined up the finished shirt edge with the bottom of the pattern. This meant I didn't need to hem the legs, and the final shorts kept a professional detail. Instead of adding elastic to the waist I folded over the top edge about two inches to make a channel for a drawstring. I made a drawstring out of a strip of the t-shirt, stretched so it rolled over on itself.

The yellow shorts turned out great BUT the shorts were a couple sizes too big. They have a drawstring, so not unwearable... However, for the red shorts I cut about an inch off the side seam of each pattern piece and a little off the top edge. This made a world of difference! The shorts fit perfectly.

I am helping a friend make a t-shirt quilt, so I am sure to have plenty of scraps once the logos have been cut out of all 22 shirts! Possibilities for next time include cutting each pattern piece out of a different color shirt, using shirt logos instead of blank shirt material, and freezer paper stenciling on the finished product.

Hardcover Books

2011-06-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

Recently I made my first hardcover books! It was an adventure into the Coptic style of binding. Coptic binding leaves an exposed book spine and allows the book to open flat for easy drawing and writing.

The first step to making a hardcover book is creating the covers. The base of the covers are pieces of mat board leftover from cutting windows out of mats. After cutting the mat board down to size I chose strips of paper that overlapped the mat board by around an inch on each side. Then, apply a thin coat of PVA glue to the front of the cover and apply the paper. Trim the corners, apply glue to the other side of the board, and fold over the paper edges. Then glue a piece of decorative paper over the back of the board to cover up the folded edges. Repeat for the back cover!

The next step is punching holes in the covers. Then fold all the pages in half and line up with the covers. Mark the pages and punch holes that line up with the holes on the cover. Then it is a matter of sewing the pages to each other and assembling the book. The groups of pages (called signatures) are attached one at a time to the book, making it easy to create large books. This site has a good tutorial on Coptic binding with lots of photographs of the sewing process. This is one of those processes that seems very difficult when writing the instructions, but turns out to be very easy once you actually do it.

Mary's Necklace

2011-06-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

Recently I was given another batch of old jewelry from a friend. Naturally I immediately got to work reinventing some of these pieces. This is a necklace I made using a clip-on earring that was missing its mate. The earring had a plastic cabachon with a floral pattern. I started by attaching a bezel on a copper disc, stamping a design around the edges, and putting loops on the top and bottom. The final step was setting the cab in the bezel and attaching three swarovski crystal beads to the bottom in coordinating colors.

Before I could properly photograph the piece, my friend Mary bought it. So here she is modelling her new necklace. Work it, Mary, work it!

Ring Repair

2011-06-13T17:55:00.001-04:00

BEFORE

A good friend of mine had a little mishap with her favorite ring. It went down the garbage disposal. (Need I say more?) So she sent it to me for repairs.

AFTER

The ring is a sterling silver band shaped like a crown of thorns with black lowered areas accentuating the branches. It was pretty beat up but made for an easy fix. The first step was annealing the ring (heating it with a torch until glowing.) This softened the ring enough to be able to hammer it back into shape on a ring mandrel. After the ring was round again, it was a matter of filing away the majority of the nicks and scratches and sanding it to a smooth finish. The last step was applying a patina to settle in the lower areas, and cleaning up the raised areas with a polishing cloth.

AFTER

Repairing jewelry can be tricky. The presence of set stones complicates the process and limits what can be done without completely re-setting the stone. "Mystery metals" complicate things as well. Solder can easily be applied to silver, copper, and brass. Many other metals (like pewter) melt at a much lower temperature. Repairing jewelry made from "mystery metal" risks melting the piece entirely. This ring was the best case scenario when it comes to repairing jewelry. A plain silver band that just needed some TLC.

Dutch Necklace

2011-06-09T15:49:00.000-04:00

One of my recent jewelry projects was a pair of Dutch Boy and Girl necklaces. The necklaces were created by repurposing a pair of sterling silver clip on earrings. The kissing Dutch boy and girl earrings were a little weird to wear as earrings, but are adorable when worn in moderation! The earrings were old jewelry given to me by a relative, so these necklaces are two of a kind. Get one while you still can!

Handmade Books

2011-06-05T18:02:00.002-04:00

The last couple weeks I have been learning how to make books as part of my internship at the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory. One of the most basic sewn bookbinding structures is called Japanese Stab Binding. It involves lining up the pages and covers of the soon-to-be book, making a series of holes, and sewing along the edge of the stack.

These books are all made using scraps of leftover and recycled paper. The covers include handmade papers, maps from an old atlas, and an old field guide for identifying trees.

The smaller books are made using lined notebook paper, pieces of scrapbook paper leftover from making cards, and empty Kleenex boxes.

Stacked Rocks

2011-05-25T09:00:00.002-04:00

Another project I finished recently is this group of stacked rocks. You might be asking yourself How does she get the rocks to balance so perfectly? There is actually a brass rod through the middle of the stack.

But how did you drill holes in the rocks??? Easy. The "rocks" are actually ceramic and painted to look like rocks. Gotcha.

Tea Cup Ring

2011-05-23T21:40:00.000-04:00

This next jewelry project is a real head-turner! I give you: the Tea Cup. The cup and saucer are made of copper, the tea bag and ring are sterling silver, the water is resin, and the spoon is a sterling silver salt cellar spoon from an antique shop. I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

And for everyone that has asked about purchasing the ring, this is one I'm keeping. However, if you come across another salt cellar spoon I will gladly make you a ring of your own...

Special thanks go to my lovely hand model Alisha!

BW Student Art Exhibition

2011-05-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

After the Senior Art Exhibition came down from the gallery, it was time for the Annual Student Art Exhibition. Any student on campus is allowed to enter up to 5 pieces in the show, with a juror selecting the pieces to be displayed. The juror also selects awards including 5 Honorable Mentions, first, second, and third prize, along with a Best in Show. Additional awards are also given by the Academic Dean's Office and other groups. The show ran from April 11-29 with a reception and awards ceremony on Friday, April 15th.

This year I had all 5 of my submissions selected to be in the show. I entered two framed monoprints, an oil painting, a necklace, and a metal container. My painting, titled Enter, was awarded an Honorable Mention. Additionally, one of my prints and my necklace were purchased later in the month.

The necklace is a one of a kind piece created using a Euro coin and a gold toned pocket knife purchased at an antique store. The coin is riveted between two pieces of copper and hangs from a handmade sterling silver chain.

My metal container is actually a Knitting Needle Case made from square brass tubing. The lid of the box features a ceramic cash register found at an antique store. The front of the box has glass cabachons set in silver and arranged to mimic the floral motif on the cash register.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T10:24:00.001-04:00

To all the moms out there, happy Mother's Day! This year, Mother's Day happens to fall on the same day as my college graduation (or perhaps I should say that my graduation happens to fall on Mother's Day...) Either way, it will be a very special day and I am fortunate to be able to spend the day with my mother and both of my grandmothers. To celebrate the occasion, I made some cards using some pretty pink paper from the DCWV 12x12 Lace and Linen Stack. Enjoy the pictures!

Knit Mittens

2011-05-04T11:05:00.002-04:00

I knit these mittens as a birthday present for a good friend. By the time I finished them, they were a belated birthday present, and it was not cold enough to wear mittens anymore... But it is the thought that counts, right?

I used a free pattern from Ravelry.com that redirected me to the Balkan Style blog. This style is called Newfoundland Mittens because it is the traditional mitten worn in Newfoundland. The pattern uses rows of contrasting colors along with slipped stitches to create a textural honeycomb pattern. Traditionally these mittens are worked with contrasting, but subdued colors. I decided to go with bright purple and magenta for a more modern look. I used Debbie Stoller's Full O' Sheep Yarn for this project, the same yarn I used for my Owl Hat a few months ago.

Hard Ground Etching

2011-05-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

After completing our explorations of monoprinting in my printmaking class, we ventured into the world of line etching. The first process we explored is called hard ground. The process starts by coating a zinc plate with a tar mixture and letting it dry. When the ground dries it is hard, but fragile enough to chip or scratch through. Then an image is scratched into the ground so the plate is exposed. The plate is then put into an acid bath to etch the lines. The etching process is typically done in multiple stages by scratching additional lines into the ground and then etching for half the time... and so on until all the etching is completed. This creates some very dark lines, some very light lines, and some in the middle.

For my first hard ground plate I used a drawing I made while in Florence last year. It shows the statues in the town square next to the Loggia of the Lancers. I printed an edition of three for my project, as well as two Artist Proofs. An edition consists of multiple prints off of the same plate, printed to look identical.

Artist Proofs, also known as AP, are unique prints made from a plate. APs can be created by leaving extra ink on the plate before printing, hand coloring a completed print, using a mixture of colored inks, applying cut pieces of paper, etc. The process I used for my APs is called chine colle. After applying ink to the plate and preparing it for printing, cut pieces of paper are moistened, coated with wallpaper paste, and carefully placed on the plate glue side up. The plate is then printed like usual. The pieces of cut paper are adhered to the printing paper, and the image is printed on top.

Stay tuned for a post about another etching technique: soft ground!

Turquoise and Red

2011-04-17T16:55:00.000-04:00

Based on the comments from my last post about yarn, I decided to try a combination of turquoise and red. (Thanks Fenna!) I dyed two balls of yarn using red kool-aid, blue kool-aid, and a little bit of lemonade. It is amazing how the same colors can turn out so different! For the first ball of yarn I started with two packets of red. The red is a very strong tinter, and sort of overpowered the batch. I dyed the remaining white parts with two packets of blue. It turned out with a primarily red yarn with a few purple bits, and some bright blue bits.

For the second ball of yarn I started with two packets of blue. The blue ended up much lighter than the first batch but covered more of the yarn. Then I added one packet of red in an attempt to not overpower the blue. I ended up with a lot of white space left over. I added a packet of lemonade, but it still turned out very light (especially in comparison to the first batch.)

In other news, my yarn is now on sale at Crafty Goodness in Lakewood, Ohio! Stop on by and take a look at all the good stuff available from NE-Ohio artists. Also, check them out on facebook.

Handmade Cards

2011-04-12T18:16:00.000-04:00

I recently got some new decorative paper for making cards. I got two new 8 inch square paper stacks by DCWV. The Citrus Stack of paper is primarily orange, red, yellow, and blue with several different floral and paisley patterns. The Green Stack is made from 70% recycled paper and is themed around nature and various woodland creatures (birds, squirrels, skunks...) in muted blues, red, green, and brown.

In addition to the new paper, I got some new paper crafting tools that have made card making much easier. One tool I absolutely love is the Xyron sticker maker. It was between $8 and $10 and turns regular paper into a sticker. To use the little machine you drop your cut paper in one side, pull the sticker tape on the other side, and rub the paper onto the backing. It basically coats the back of the paper with double sided adhesive. On a similar note, I got a roll of "glue tape" that is little strips of the double sided adhesive in a roller similar to white out tape. The other glue I had been using made the cards wavy and took a long time to dry. The glue tape bonds instantly and always leaves the paper flat. It is a must have for any paper crafting project!

I also got two new edge punches. These things are addicting, I swear. My first edge punch was a heart shaped border that I used to make Valentines earlier this year. The new punches I got are Fiskars brand. One has a braided border, the other is a series of swirls and dots. I love edge punches because they are so versatile. You can use them to layer papers, create borders, punch both edges of a paper strip, use the punched out pieces... The options are endless.

BW Senior Art Show

2011-04-06T17:15:00.001-04:00

For those of you that might have missed it, here is a recap of the Baldwin-Wallace Senior Art Exhibition. The show is put together by the graduating seniors of the art department and represents their finest work. This year there were 11 seniors and the show ran from February 21- March 25 with a reception scheduled for Friday, February 25. However, a massive snowstorm rolled in the night before the reception, so it was rescheduled for Friday, March 18. Despite the cancellation, there was a great turnout at the show with many friends, family members, and faculty in attendance.

My pieces for the show included a series of 5 digital photographs displayed in lace stencilled frames. I also presented a necklace hanging in a frame painted to match my picture frames. The necklace was created as a tribute to my good friend Sarah. She was killed in a car accident last year, and the necklace represents the accident and the process of coping with such an unexpected loss.

New Dyed Yarn

2011-04-02T13:41:00.000-04:00

I recently dyed two more skeins of yarn using Kool-Aid. (See my previous post for information about the dyeing process.) The first skein started as white 100% wool and was dyed using Strawberry, Orange, Lime, and Lemonade. The result is a bright, tropical, tutti-frutti kind of color.

The second skein was a gray 100% wool skein dyed with Strawberry, Grape, Ice Blue Raspberry, and Pink Lemonade. Using gray yarn as a base created a muted color palette for the finished yarn. My next experiment will be using tan yarn as a base for dyeing. Any suggestions for color choices? What has been your favorite Kool-Aid dyed yarn so far?

Sewing With Recycled Materials

2011-03-29T12:41:00.000-04:00

Three things you need to know about me and anything crafty:
1. I love recycling
2. I never throw anything away
3. I never turn down free stuff

That being said, I do a lot of sewing using recycled materials, stuff people have given me, and little scraps from other projects. I like to save things and wait for just the right project to use them on. Lately I had the opportunity to create a yoga mat bag for a friend. The yoga mat is very thick and heavy so the bag needed to be strong, and she wanted a pocket for cell phone, keys, etc. This is the same person that gave me several bags stuffed full of upholstery samples that a local furniture store was going to get rid of. So I sorted out a bunch of the upholstery samples that looked good together and went to town! I also just happened to have a navy blue shirt pocket that fit perfectly with this project. I lined the bag with cream colored canvas to make sure it was extra sturdy, and used an old pair of blue jeans to make the drawstring strap. (The only things I bought to make this project were the grommets to attach the handle, and the canvas.)

Pulling out my upholstery samples inspired me to create some small zippered pouches using the leftovers. I bought another bag of upholstery samples at a rummage sale a couple years ago. Most of the fabric is heavier cotton with fun prints. At this same rummage sale I picked up a big bag of assorted zippers (both the zippers and the fabric probably cost less than $2.) For these pouches I used bits of coordinating upholstery samples, some of that canvas I bought for the yoga bag as the pouch lining, and whatever zipper I could find. I also am using scraps of old button down shirts I had leftover from making purses.

This brings me to my shirt purses. I started making these a few years ago from my own pattern. Since then I have made at least 7 of them. The bags are slouchy hobo-style purses made from old shirts and upholstery samples with necktie handles. Not only are these bags recycled, they are reversible! I try to pick fabrics and neckties that go well together, and sometimes the button down shirts I choose are really awesome fabric... but really ugly shirts.

Speaking of ugly shirt fabric... this ipod case used to be a ridiculous lime green plaid shirt. The inside is a scrap of green fleece, and the gray portion is from the leftovers after hemming some dress pants.

Construction Site Photos

2011-03-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

On Monday I had the opportunity to tour the construction site for the new buildings on campus. The "new" buildings are actually two old music buildings and an old church that are being rennovated into music performance and practice spaces. The project is being partially funded by historical tax credits after the buldings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places last year. The architect of the project gave a presentation about what it means for a building to be on the Register of Historic Places and how that changes the requirements when rennovating that building. Maintaining the integrity of the original architecture is one of the main restrictions when rennovating an historic building. More information about the National Register of Historic Places can be found on the National Park Service website.

(Click on the photos to view the full sized versions on Flickr.)

Etsy Treasury

2011-03-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

I created an Etsy treasury full of my favorite M-related things. Follow the link or click on the picture to view the complete treasury.

New Paintings

2011-03-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

The first completed project for my painting class was an "unusual view" painting. The idea was to paint a space that would not normally be considered art, or to take a normal location and portray it in an unusual way. My painting is of the bushes and icicles outside my kitchen window. My current apartment is a ground floor apartment, so the windows look out at ground level. This creates what I consider to be an unusual view. In this painting I focused on creating a subtle color variation in the otherwise neutral areas. I also wanted to capture the radiant qualities of the ice.

Another recent project was a painted self portrait using subjective color. This means instead of using realistic flesh colors I used various shades of violets. To help create the small changes in the planes of the face, I added red-violet and blue-violet in certain areas. The self portrait was an intriguing challenge and I can see more self portraits in my future.

Textural Monotypes

2011-03-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Last month my printmaking class experimented with textural monotypes. A textural monotype involves blackening a plate with ink, placing textured materials on top, and printing the plate. The areas with textures placed on top will print white unless rolled with ink, and the background will print black. The fun part about textural monotypes is rearranging the textures and reprinting the plate. Moving the textural materials will leave impressions in the ink on the plate, and will coat the back of the textured material with ink.

This set of prints was created using yarn, part of an old knit sweater, die cut scrapbook paper, lace, and ric-rac.

This set of prints was created using lace, die cut scrapbook paper, paper doilies, and a photocopy of a photograph.

I transferred the photo using a paper lithograph technique. I coated the photocopy with gum arabic, which allowed ink to stick to the black areas of my photocopy, and resist the white areas. It basically turns the photocopy into a temporary printing plate.

Lace Picture Frames

2011-02-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

Next week is the opening of the Senior Art Exhibition at my college. Every student majoring in Art or Art Education prepares a body of work to display in a large gallery show at the end of their senior year. For my pieces in the senior show I chose five digital photographs and a large necklace created specifically for the show. To spice up the presentation of my photography, I spray painted the frames using lace as a stencil. I got the idea from Lee Meredith's do stuff! blog and the photo frames she painted for her wedding.

I started with a colorful base coat to coordinate with the photo going into the frame. For example, my photos with blue sky belong in the frames painted with a blue base coat. After the colored base coat dried, I sprayed some thrift store lace with spray adhesive. Then I pressed the lace onto the frames and painted them black. After peeling off the lace, a colorful lace pattern was left on a mostly black frame.

These are a few preview shots of my portion of the gallery show. Myself and the rest of the seniors have been in and out of the gallery this week hanging paintings and photographs. More photos to come next week after the opening reception!

Painting Alla Prima

2011-02-12T20:19:00.005-05:00

For the first week of my Intermediate Painting class, we worked from a still life to create an "alla prima" painting. Alla Prima is an Italian term meaning an initial painting, or painting done all at once. Essentially, the painting is worked all in one sitting, or in multiple sittings while the paint is still wet. The method of painting encourages a looser, more expressive style with an emphasis on interesting brushwork. The alternative method of painting includes multiple layers of paint and thin glazes to enhance colors and add details.The still life I chose to work from included a piece of red cloth, an animal skull, and purple foliage. The painting was completed in roughly 2-3 hours and not reworked. I consider this painting to be more of a "sketch" using paint as opposed to a piece I would hang on the wall. It had also been nearly a year since my last painting class, so this exercise was great for reaquainting myself with the materials.
Stay tuned for more posts about painting. Photos of my first painted self portrait are coming soon!

Making Valentines

2011-02-09T22:21:00.005-05:00

Last week my college closed down for a rare snowday. Instead of braving the ice and snow, I stayed inside all day and made valentines! I bought a small pad of Martha Stewart valentine's themed paper, and a heart border punch at Pat Catan's a couple weeks ago and decided to put them to good use.
The border punch is neat because it lets you punch a section of border, line up the already punched section, and continue the border along an entire sheet of paper. I also decided to make some envelopes using brown craft paper that had been stuffed in boxes as packing material.

Monotypes Week 2

2011-01-30T23:30:00.007-05:00

My second week of printing monotypes was an experiment with dark field monotypes. A dark field monotype starts with a plate coated in black ink with a sheet of dry printing paper on top. An image is then drawn onto the back of the sheet of paper. Pressure from the drawing utensil (pen, pencil, stick, cotton swab, fingertip, etc...) transfers ink onto the paper, leaving a white area on the plate. After the drawing is transferred, the front of the paper will have dark lines on a white background. Running the plate through the press will create a print with white lines on a dark background.
For my prints I used a drawing I made while in Rome this past spring. The drawing is of the obelisk in St. Peter's square in the Vatican. As with most prints, the image turns out backwards from the original drawing. Next time I will probably reverse my image on tracing paper before using it for a print.

Monotypes Week 1

2011-01-27T17:10:00.008-05:00

One of the classes I am taking this semester is all about Printmaking. The first few weeks are focused on creating monotypes, and then moving on to the various methods of intaglio printing. The first week of class focused on light field monotypes.
A monotype is a printing technique that produces unique prints that, unlike most forms of printing, cannot be exactly duplicated. Light field monotypes are created by painting printing ink onto a non-porous surface, and pressing paper onto the plate. After the initial print, the artist can add or subtract ink from the plate and create an additional image. This process of reworking and printing is what makes monotypes so unique.
I created two prints of waterlilies. The first print had a dark background with lighter lily pads. For the second print I added more ink to the lily pads, and splattered some solvent on the background for some texture.

WIP: Owl Hat

2011-01-24T10:00:00.005-05:00

My current Work In Progress (or WIP) is a knit hat with an owl cable pattern. Whenever I find an interesting pattern or project idea I file it away to pull out later. I found the pattern on the Penguin Purls blog in December... and it didn't stay stashed away for very long! I needed to make myself a new hat because I walk everywhere and my crocheted hat was letting in too much cold air.
I'm using a Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller yarn called Full O' Sheep. It is a gorgeous single ply Peruvian Wool in a color called Thyme. This happens to be my absolute favorite shade of green (my winter coat is even this color), so when I saw this yarn at the store I just had to have it! Stay tuned for photos of the finished hat.

Kool-Aid Yarn

2011-01-17T13:57:00.007-05:00

A couple weeks ago I spent the day dyeing yarn in my crock pot with Kool-Aid. I have used this technique before, and wanted to share! I started my experiments last year after seeing this tutorial from the do stuff! blog. The idea is to use a crock pot as the dye vessel instead of a pot of boiling water on the stove. Dyeing yarn this way is easy, but it takes some patience... and is highly addicting!
For this skein I used pink lemonade, black cherry, ice blue raspberry lemonade, orange, and two packets of lemonade.
This was my first attempt from a year ago. I followed the article's instructions closely, down to the color/flavor choices (although I might have used cherry instead of strawberry.)
My next dyed skein used strawberry, grape, and orange. Blending colors closer together in the color wheel produced a more subtle variegated yarn. The orange and grape worked well to create a less intense color. I used this yarn to knit a slip stitch lace scarf.

About Me

2011-01-17T10:43:00.002-05:00

Like most people, my life for the last two years got busy and things like blogging fell by the wayside. I decided starting fresh and refocusing my blog would be the best path to take in a situation like this. So this post will tell a little bit about me, and what I've been busy with the last two years.

I'm a college senior studying Art Education. The last two years have been characterized by investigations into different art media including film photography, oil painting, figure drawing, metalsmithing, and digital media. I have also had the opportunity to teach art at the elementary and high school levels. Getting in the field and teaching was a great experience, and I am looking forward to a semester of student teaching in the fall of 2011. I was also fortunate to embark on a study abroad trip through Europe in the spring of 2010. I traveled with 27 classmates and 2 professors through Greece, Italy, Germany, France, and England visiting museums, churches, and archeological sites. During that trip my confidence as an artist and as a person flourished.

Condensing two years into a short paragraph hardly seems sufficient, but hopefully this explains why my posting has been severely lacking. In the future you can expect to see posts about the projects I am currently working on (both for classes, and on my own time), tutorials on how I do what I do, and links to art and craft articles I find interesting or enlightening.