2014 Challenge Wrap-up and Other Updates

Hello readers!  If you have been following along on my 14 Art Books in 2014 challenge you will notice that I do not have posts for all 14 books I had hoped to make.  That is because I got busy, and distracted, and lazy, and even more busy!  To recap, these are the 5 art books I completed last year, and my original "challenge proposal."

Out of the five books, three were for exhibitions, one was a benefit donation, and one was made to try out a new book structure.  (I will also add that one of the books made for an exhibition sold!)  With that being said, I have three partially completed art books that did not count towards the challenge because they are unfinished.

Instead of making excuses for myself about why I didn't finish the books, or why the challenge was too hard, I am going to do a quick "year in review" post as it relates to my artwork and artistic career.  Things have changed tremendously from Jan. 2014 when I created the challenge.

Last year in art:
- Participated in an invitational exhibition at Heights Arts
- Had one piece of artwork accepted to (and purchased from) the Morgan Conservatory's juried exhibition
- Taught two bookbinding classes in Midland, MI
- Taught a short bookbinding workshop for Art Books Cleveland
- Attended 4 amazing book and paper arts workshops at the Morgan Conservatory
- Participated in 8 art/craft festivals (12 days total)
- Had an artist bio published in the local newspaper
- Participated in Art Books Cleveland's exhibition at the Ingalls Library in the CMA
- Made the decision to quit my job and buy an art/paper store

YES, friends, you read that last line correctly.  I now own a store for paper, art supplies, and vintage goods, with a huge classroom space.  If I am going to blame any particular life event for getting in the way of my challenge, it would be this one.  I got the idea over Labor Day Weekend while taking a book arts workshop with the former owner of the store.  She had planned on closing the store and retiring at the end of 2014.  Several people had expressed interest in purchasing the business, but they all fell through.  The former owner always joked that I would be taking over the store someday when she retired... And I thought, "Why can't I?"

I talked to several close friends and family members about the idea, and did some research before making the decision in mid-September.  The last few months of the year were a whirlwind of meetings with the bank, accountants, a lawyer, the lease company, the former owner... TONS of phone calls, pieces of paperwork, and negotiations later, I finally secured a loan for the business in late November.  (Talk about cutting things close!)  The loan was much smaller than I needed, so I funded the rest of the project through Kickstarter with the help of many friends, relatives, and complete strangers.  I got the keys and officially took over the store on December 31st, 2014.  I am proud to say that I am now a business owner and my own boss.

I'm sure you will see a lot of posts about the store, and new products I will have the pleasure of testing.

Fiber Rituals - Art Book 5/14

I finished this book in late September for an Art Books Cleveland exhibition.  The exhibition just ended, and I was finally able to take photos of the book.  The theme of the exhibition was rituals.  I thought about it for months, came up with several ideas, but never actually started anything... I kept getting distracted by spinning wool and dyeing yarn.  That is when I realized that my book should be about the rituals involved with fiber- the things I had become obsessed about this summer!

I came up with seven different rituals associated with wool, and illustrated each one of them.  Scouring, mordanting, dyeing, carding, spinning, plying, and knitting.  The whole book is only about 4 inches tall.

To make the cover, I dyed strips of kozo paper with leftover plant dyes.  Then I spun the paper into thread using a drop spindle, and knit it into a rectangle.  It was my first time spinning paper and using it for a book.  It is a little tricky to get a nice thread without breaking or tearing the paper.  Compared to spinning wool, it is almost easier because you don't need to worry about drafting the fibers, you just need to give the paper twist.

I know I am way behind on my 14 Art Books for 2014.  It has been an interesting year to say the least, with several big changes in my life.  I have two unfinished art books sitting in my studio, and the ideas/materials for at least three more...  Time to get back in my studio and do this!

Dyeing Yarn with Queen Anne's Lace

 

Another one of my natural dye experiments this summer was with Queen Anne's Lace.  In the summertime Queen Anne's Lace is a wildflower that flourishes in empty lots, along highways, and any other green space that does not get mowed.  These flowers remind me of spending summer "up north" at my grandparent's cottage as a kid.  They grew everywhere and where my favorite flowers to pick.  Now that I am making natural dyes, I knew I had to use Queen Anne's Lace somehow.

 

 

I started by going down to the railroad tracks one August day and cutting giant handfuls of Queen Anne's Lace like I was making a bouquet.  I needed at least 4 oz. of flowers to dye one skein of yarn.  Then I went through the cooking process, strained off the flowers, and dyed 3.5 oz. of wool mordanted in alum.  (You can read more about the dyeing process on my these previous posts.)

 

So far this has been my favorite dye as far as aroma.  Since Queen Anne's Lace is in the carrot family, it has a kind of spicy carrot scent while cooking.  The final product ended up being a light, bright yellow.  Stay tuned for more posts about ecodyeing!  I've dyed about 30 skeins of yarn this summer and fall, and now that the weather is cooler I'm catching up on my blogging.

 

Kozo Book- Art Book 4/14

 

At the beginning of the year I set a challenge for myself to make 14 Art Books in 2014.  I got a little sidetracked by my job and other projects, but I am still plugging away at the 14.  I finished three art books for events and exhibitions in the month of October.  Here is the first of the books I made for October.

 

Art Book 4/14 is called the Kozo Book.  I made it for the Morgan Conservatory's annual benefit and silent auction.  The organization gives sheets of handmade paper to artists, and asks them to make a piece out of the paper to donate for the benefit.  This year the papers were handmade kozo paper with chiri, and a kozo/gampi blend.

I decided to continue my theme of books with stick bindings, and used kozo branches for the binding.  The pages ended up being too flexible for the book to stand up on its own, so I created a stand for it out of book board.  Finally, I added kozo leaves cut from some of my naturally dyed papers.

 

Dyeing Yarn with Blueberries

Another one of my natural dye experiments was dyeing yarn with blueberries.  I started with a skein of 100% wool yarn and pre-mordanted the fiber in Alum.  Mordant helps the yarn to accept color better, and Alum tends to provide the brightest and clearest colors, compared to using copper or iron as mordants.

 

I made the dye bath using a 1:1 ratio of berries to fiber.  In this case, the blueberries had been left behind in the fridge at work and had started to get wrinkly and soft.  Instead of throwing them in the compost, I took them home for dyeing.  To get the maximum amount of color from the berries, I added a small amount of water to the pot and crushed the berries with a potato masher.  (I did this without the water at first and ended up squirting berry juice everywhere...)

 

 

After keeping just below a simmer for an hour, I strained out the berry pieces and added the wet fiber.  The dye bath looked like a gorgeous pink/purple, and I was really hoping that would transfer to the fibers.  When the fiber was rinsed and dryed, it ended up looking more like a blue-ish lavender.  It is still a lovely color, but definitely shows how unpredictable natural dyeing can be.

 

Dyeing Yarn with Zinnias

As I mentioned in a previous post, my interest in natural dyeing has been renewed.  I have kind of gone crazy with dyeing yarn (which you will see in my next five... or ten... blog posts) starting with zinnia flowers from the garden.

I started out by weighing the flowers and getting a 2:1 ratio of flowers to fiber.  My skeins are 3.5 oz, and I also dyed a small amount of wool for spinning, so I used about 8 oz of zinnias.  Then  I simmered the flowers in my dye pot for about an hour to extract the color, and strained out the flower pieces so it doesn't tangle with the yarn.

 

The yarn is 100% wool, pre-mordanted in alum so it will accept the color better and be more light-fast.  Before adding the wool to the dye bath, I soaked it in water so it will dye more evenly.  After an hour or so in the hot dye bath, I removed the yarn, let it cool, and rinsed out the remaining dye.  The zinnia dye turned out to be a gorgeous buttery yellow, much more subdued than the turmeric.

Processing Raw Wool

Most of my friends and blog readers know that I am an avid crafter and artist.  (If you haven't figured that out by now, you really haven't been paying attention...)  I have been crocheting and knitting for many years, and last year my friend Mary taught me how to spin yarn.  Spinning is something that got put on the back burner with all the other things going on in my life, but recently I've had a renewed interest in spinning and natural dyeing.

Part of what fueled my renewed excitement for spinning is this large trash bag full of raw wool!  I made friends with a woman named Diane that had come to Cleveland to take workshops at the Morgan Conservatory where I work.  She has a flock of sheep and three herding dogs.  (I have not seen any of her sheep but I met her dogs, they are adorable and very well behaved.)  On her second visit to Cleveland, she brought me a bag of raw wool from her Leicester sheep, half white wool and half black.  Now that I have the raw materials there is no excuse not to spin!

Before I could start spinning, I had to learn about processing raw wool.  Raw wool has a combination of dirt, grass, and lanolin embedded in the fibers.  Lanolin is a waxy substance secreted by sheep to help protect their skin.  Lanolin helps make the wool waterproof, but it also feels oily and is more difficult to work with than clean wool.  To clean the wool I filled a bucket with very hot water, added several squirts of dawn dish soap, and let a bunch of wool sink into the water.  It is necessary to use very hot water so the lanolin can melt out of the wool and get absorbed by the dish soap.  Once the wool is in the water, don't touch it.  Heat and agitation together will felt the wool into a blob.  After 15-20 minutes, remove the wool from the bucket, pour out the dirty water, and start again.  I soaked the wool 2-3 times in hot soapy water and 2-3 times in clean hot water to remove the soap.

Once the wool is clean, use a towel to gently squeeze out excess water.  Don't wring out the wool or it will turn into a blob.  I spread my clean wool out on a folding drying rack with a mesh top so air can get above and below, and help it dry faster.  If that is not available, a towel on the floor will work fine.  After the wool is dry, there are still a few pieces of grass and dirt tangled in the fibers, and a little bit of lanolin holding the ends of each lock together.  To help clean and detangle the fiber I purchased a set of hand carders.  The hand carders basically brush the wool and loosen the fibers so the remaining dirt particles can fall out.  After carding, I remove the wool and roll it into a cylindrical thing called a rolag.  These rolags can be used to draft the fibers for spinning.

So there you go!  That is how I got from a bag of raw wool to being ready to spin.  I have cleaned 3-4 buckets of white fiber, 2 of black fiber, and I have only made a dent in the amount of fiber left to clean.  Needless to say, this will keep me spinning through the whole fall and winter.  I have enjoyed using the clean wool in my natural dye experiments.  Pretty soon I will have my own hand dyed and hand spun yarn.