Something About Nothing

 The Utah Surface Design Group asked me to teach them how to carve stamps and print on fabric. We decided to make it a two day class to give them plenty of time for carving and printing. The students were wonderful, and they created some great stamps and fabrics. I'm looking forward to seeing what they create with these skills in the future. We had plenty of space for all nine students. My sample pieces for the class. Printed samples on paper and fabric, as well as magazines with my articles on stamp carving. A small sampling of my stamps

 I recently took a class at Saltgrass Printmakers in Suminagashi Japanese Marbling on paper. So much fun! Unfortunately our instructor, Anna Bugbee, tore her ACL while skiing and was unable to teach. Stefanie Dykes from Saltgrass took the reigns and taught the class in her absence. She did a great job. Suminagashi Marbling by Anna I've done some marbling on fabric using shaving cream and water as the base, with Procion dyes. The results were good but always too much white space for me. I've also had a kit from  Jacquard  sitting on my shelf for Erbu marbling, which requires the base be made from Gall and some other stuff. It has intimidated me for some reason, even though it's a kit. Suminagashi marbling is created using ink on just water, and can fill the entire paper if desired. It seemed like a great place to start, and also so much better to be in a class with a teacher to help me overcome my nervousness about the project. Stefanie demonstrating how to pull the ...

 While visiting my sister, she asked if I could mend a quilt her Grandmother had made for her. I happily accepted the assignment as it would give my hands something to do in the evenings while we watched movies. I picked up some perle cotton, and needles and then ordered myself a thimble. My sister sacrificed a cotton shirt she hadn't worn in years. There were several place like this where the fabric had torn, or worn away. Patches were applied, raw edged, and stitched down with gusto.  And the fabric was great to use on both sides. It's all set to enjoy for a few more years. Most importantly the cat loves it.

It's been a few years since I went to college. Things have changed in the umpteen years since I finally graduated. I found out from my friend, Judy Coates Perez , that Makerspaces are now a thing at colleges. And a wonderful thing they are. Sacramento City College  has a fantastic Makerspace with all the great equipment! A beautiful space to create. Judy gave me the full tour (was so excited I forgot to take photos!) and afterwards I had a great visit with Judy and several students. It's was so fun to be around all that young energy.   From SCC's website: " The SCC Makerspace serves as a hub for innovation and collaboration, attracting those that wish to apply their skills in design, science, technology, arts & crafts, engineering, mathematics, medicine, physics, and more." I'm so happy for the students at SCC to have Judy, as well as the other wonderful teachers, and all of the high tech equipment to create anything they can think of. It makes me wish I w...