Author Archives: ruthlane

Friday’s Dyeing Session

Posted on by under Dyeing, threads

 For my stitch class, I needed to do a dyeing session at home. I usually only use acid dyes since I mainly dye wool and silk. For the assignment I needed to use Procion MX Dyes. So I mixed up a set of dyes and here I am about to start. You can see my color notebook on the left where I was working out different color combinations.

 I dyed a bunch more cotton threads and here they are all rolled up in plastic batching. I did try dyeing some wool thread and using vinegar to soak instead of the soda ash. Ann (Shepherdess) had suggested it. I’ve tried the wool thread with Procion MX before but soaked in soda ash and they don’t turn out very well. But this worked, they aren’t quite as bright as they would be with acid dyes but they still have a lot of color left. Before, I always ended up with very pale colors.

 Here are some of the fabrics that I painted. These will be used for our stitch samples. I dyed linen, muslin, cheesecloth, commercial felt, silk organza, burlap and cotton organdy.

 Here are the threads after rinsing and drying.  I wanted more purples and greens to round out my colors of thread that I now have.

Don’t you just love the colors? The turquoise one at the bottom left is the wool thread. Now I just need to iron all the fabric and wind all the thread into balls.

Focus in 2012

Posted on by under intentions, word for the year

Last year, instead of making goals, I chose a word for the year. I saw this first on Christine Kane’s blog and she explains about choosing a word in her post Resolution Revolution.  I like that the word you choose is related to everything in your life as it is about “being” instead of “doing”. Keeping one word in the forefront of your thoughts is much easier than trying to remember a list of resolutions. Last year, my word was “choose”. I did get a lot done last year in relation to my fiber arts, I was happy with the choices I made and I want to keep moving forward in that same vein. While I was looking at the list of possible words that I might choose for 2012 on Christine’s blog, I came across several that spoke to me. I wrote those words down and my list included clarity, focus, mastery and discipline.  After I looked at these words for a few minutes, it seemed to me that all four of the words fit under the word focus. Focus has several meanings including the center of interest, to adapt to the prevailing light and become able to see clearly, to concentrate or to think about closely. So for the coming year, I will be thinking about focus and how that relates to fiber art.

 I also have a list of intentions that I want to accomplish during the year. I’m not sure how I’ll get them all done but I’m sure if I focus…

  • Continue the Level II Hand and Machine Stitch course
  • Promote my book when it comes out in August
  • Begin teaching felting classes at a local yarn store
  • Investigate future teaching possibilities (felting/fiber art) at the local community college
  • Mentor artists through the Montana Arts Council program at the store about the business of art
  • Participate fully in our new virtual studio The Felting and Fiber Studio
  • Continue exploring the combination of hand and machine stitching with felting
  • Begin making video fiber art tutorials (which I’m sure will involve more than I think it will)
  • Learn more about Photoshop and use it more frequently
  • Continue to explore surface design including more eco-printing with leaves with my local group
  • Begin researching and planning for The Yurt Project

Now if you were paying attention, you might be saying “What yurt project?” I have really wanted to make a yurt  in the traditional way with a felt covering for a long time. It will be a ton of work and I’m sure I won’t get it all done this year. But I’m going to start working on it this year. I have already gotten some books from the library and my hubby is going to help with the frame construction. I may see if I can involve some school groups or civic organizations and teach more people about felting. The idea is still brewing but I’m excited about moving forward with the idea.

What are your plans for 2012? I’d love to hear about them.

Thank You’s

Posted on by under Felt, gifts, yarn
I received this lovely felted index card holder from Zed before Christmas. Isn’t it gorgeous? She used a variety of fibers and parts of it have a wonderful sheen.

 This is the back side and the colors are so yummy.

 She has used blanket stitch around all the edges. I am using it for keeping all my notes from my hand and stitch course. Perhaps I’ll be able to stay more organized now. Thanks Zed, I love it!

 Then I got two skeins of merino yarn from Nanci, my co-worker. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous.

She put on the container, future rock, trees, bark and leaves. She knows what I like! Thanks Nanci!

I got another fiber related gift but I didn’t get a photo of it yet, it just arrived last night. So that will have to wait until a later post. Happy New Year!

Reflections

Posted on by under goals

As the year winds down, I have been reflecting on what I have accomplished in the last year. At the first of the year I had decided my word for the year was “choose” and that I wanted to make decisions with intention. I actually did most of the things that I had planned on doing and then did several more “big” things that I had no idea I would choose to do. It was a pretty exciting year. Here’s my round up of the fiber art related things that I completed in 2011.

  • The Design Focus Friday series of blog posts was completed. I really think that writing about design has helped me think about how to design a piece with a better focus on the principles and elements.
  • Continued exploration into surface design including making my own silk screens, screen printing with oatmeal, torn paper and water soluble glue, gelatin printing, Eco printing with leaves and fabric painting.
  • I played with encaustics and even though I probably won’t do any more, it was fun.
  • The fabric book page swap came to an end and I fabricated my “tree” book.
  • I did attempt to get my work into another gallery in Missoula and sent entries to two fiber art competitions. None of my work was accepted but that’s OK, at least I tried.
  • Completed two rice paper and watercolor collages in my studio journal. 
  • Dyed a variety of scarves and made tons of cat toys to sell in the store.
  • Completed Level I Hand Stitch at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center.
  • Began Level II Hand and Machine Stitch with Gail which will continue until February 2013.
  • Carded half of a fleece of merino wool (still have the other half to finish).
  • Felted three bird houses for Felt United Day.
  • Felted a mobius scarf for the “twisted” challenge.
  • Felted and direct dyed a bag for my husband’s new tablet.
  • Made a felt scrap bowl and Christmas tree ornaments with a step by step photo tutorial.
  • Mentored another artist in nuno felting.
  • Wrote the book ‘The Complete Photo Guide to Felting‘ which is being published by Creative Publishing International. This was 6 months out of the year of very hard work. I felted tons of samples and projects for the book but wasn’t able to show anyone any of it. The book is still in the editing process and I still have to work with the editor on making sure everything is in the right place and it says what I meant it to say. The publish date will be August 1, 2012. It will be so exciting to see it completed.
  • One of the most fun things I did this year was to get together with a group of three other felters from all over the world and develop our own virtual studio and forum. I have so enjoyed interacting with my felting friends in creating the website and I look forward to our work together over the coming year.
So, for me working a full time job, that’s a pretty impressive list. The next time I ‘choose’ to write a book, I think I will have to quit my other job. Writing a book is a full time job in itself. But there are no plans for another book at this point and the next year and a half, I will be concentrating on my Level II stitch class. I am going to be considering what my word for next year will be and what my other plans will be. Once I’ve decided, I’ll write another post to let you know. What are your plans for the coming year? I’d love to hear what you want to accomplish in the coming year.

Happy Holidays!

Posted on by under Felt, Felting and Fiber Studio, forum

These are a couple of felt scrap ornaments that I made at the last minute. I did add a little loop of ribbon at the top for hanging. They use the same technique as the Felt Scrap Bowl Tutorial that I posted on the Fiber and Felting Studio. Please do check out our new virtual studio and if you’d like to join our forum, just click on the forum button in the sidebar. We welcome anyone interested in any kind of fiber arts as we just aren’t limiting members to felting.

Thanks for stopping by my blog this year, I appreciate all your kind comments. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season.