Something About Nothing

 May has felt like a slow month art wise.  I feel like I've done absolutely nothing, but I guess I have done stuff. Call it play, experimenting, practice, whatever. Trying out new stencils in my sketchbook. Playing with someone's TikTok tutorial. Wish I could remember who it was. Coloring for hours while talking to customer service trying to figure out what happened to the website I manage for the Utah Surface Design Group. Turned out we were hacked. Malware. Sigh. I'm now spending hours rebuilding the site. utahsurfacedesigngroup.com Had to start from scratch. Fortunately I found the pre-built theme I'd used before so it wasn't as much work as it could have been. And yes, I did have a backup, but that's a whole other story. It's looking almost back to normal! I just need to upload the gallery photos. My evenings are being spent in front of the TV working on blocks for the Social Justice Sewing Academy. This is one of 12 blocks I have. I bought myself a new ...

 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 ...

Really enjoyed the work my students produced in my two dye classes at the Utah Quilt Festival. Marbling with Shaving Creme and Dye. Gradation Dyeing  The Atrium makes a great classroom. Pole Shibori Stitched Shibori Lots and lots of hand stitching!

Every July my quilt guild has a dye party. For some members it is the only time they get to dye, and even though others dye often, it is always fun to dye as a group.  More colors, lots of great ideas shared, and just fun to be together. Betty Jo (back left) has let us use her lovely yard for the last ten years. Not everyone dyes fabrics during the party.  Some sit and stitch, or just visit, and some bring wonderful show and tell projects like this one made by Ruth.  Anne and I mixed the dyes in a very heavy concentrate. We have two junior members in the guild and this is one of their favorite nights too. Betty Jo has property in the back which she rents out for grazing.   This year it was these beautiful miniature ponies.  The group likes to do ice dyeing so I set up a "station" which allows them to dye without the powders flying. They place their bucket or bag in the box, then don a mask and glasses before applying the dy...