Hammered Copper Doodles and ATPs

I have been having fun making wire "doodles" with 18 gauge copper wire, and then hammering them flat with a chasing hammer and anvil. I made a bunch the other day, with no clear intention for using them, but decided they were the perfect embellishment for an Artist Trading Pin swap that I am doing on The Latest Trends in Mixed Media yahoo group. So, I made some ATP pin bases with batik fabric on Timtex for stability, and sewed on the copper doodles and beads with metallic copper thread. Couched on a decorative yarn to finish the edges, fused batik to the back, added a pin back and ta-da! ATPs!

Take it Further Challenge #4 in progress

This is the color palate and my fabric selection for the April Challenge. I really like these colors, and since I have recently sorted all of my scraps, I got all of the fabric out of my scrap bins!




I am killing two birds with one stone, and using these colors to make some swap quiltlets with fellow artists Belinda and Holly, that was inspired by a recent article in Quilting Arts magazine. So far, I have done the piecing, stitch in the ditch quilting, and a little bit of hand embroidery with these lovely variegated perle cottons that I haven't used much. I am planning on embellishing further with different made and found objects like bone beads, copper wire, and--I am so excited about this--Shark Teeth! I'll be sure to post the final pieces. They measure about 6 x 6 inches.

Bead on a Wire Week 11

This week we did the wire art pin and the bead drop necklace and earrings. I fashioned my art pin from 16 gauge copper wire, and in a shape much like the example in the book for my first try to get the feel of it. I really enjoyed making the pin, and am hoping to make some more with different designs, and maybe add some beads.

The bead drop jewelry was really fun too. The necklace has 16 dangles, and the earrings have 8 each. It sounded like a lot, but they really go fast. Again, I'd like to make these with some other colors eventually.

Fabrications Art Quilt Show in Santa Fe

I am finally getting around to posting pics from the opening night at the "Fabrications" Art Quilt show at the Capitol Rotunda building in Santa Fe. My friend Holly and I went up for the opening, and it was jam packed! There are about 30 quilts on display I believe, and I have 2 in the show. Here are pics of me with my quilts "Cuatro" and "Midnight Vine". I hate posting pictures of myself, but figured this was a big deal, so this might be the first and last time you'll see me here! The show is running through August 22, so if you are near Santa Fe, go check it out!

Sneak Preview

I am pleased to announce that I am part of a team of 4 artists who are publishing a great new book entitled "The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art"! Here is our bookcover. We are finishing up the book now, and it will be available this Summer. Meanwhile, go check out the blogs of my fellow authors:
Cynthia Powell
Sherre Hulbert
Lesley Venable
You'll see some great examples of their artwork and style that are going to be revealed in the book. We have been working on this project for over a year, so we are all very excited to see it come to fruition. You can also join us on our Yahoo Groups, The Artist's Circle, and The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Arts.

Scrap Sorting and UFOs

What have I been up to this week? Well, my rhythm is totally off from being sick, and my 2 year old's day care provider had an out of country emergency and so he has been home with me, which means Mommy can't work, so its been crazy, but.....I took advantage of that by sorting through a few large boxes of quilting scraps as you can see here They took over my kitchen table for a few days, but are now nicely corralled into clear boxes sorted by color or theme. So, the idea is that now that they are more accessible, I will use them more.



And somewhat related, I finished 2 UFOs (UnFinished Objects) over the past few weeks by sewing a little bit almost everyday. I have been trying to tackle these UFOs for a few years, after they got out of hand from when I worked at a quilt store, and wanted to do everything! Then, Laura West Kong set out a challenge on her blog to sew for just 10 minutes a day and see what you can accomplish. The purple one was supposed to be a stash buster--I think it was in one of the recent McCall's quilting magazines, but I am too lazy to look for it now. I wasn't crazy about it, but I added the purple border with orange polka dots, and I am going to quilt it with a swirly design and orange thread, so that should be fun. And yes, it matches my PURPLE living room wall very nicely!




The other quilt was a class sample for one of my patterns, Grandmother's Stars. I made the original with 1930's reproductions, but wanted to do something different for this one, so went through my beige, turquoise and brown scraps. It feels good to get these done!

I have two exciting posts coming, but not time to do it tonight, so you'll just have to be patient!

More Jewelry

These are my latest efforts for Week 10 of the Bead on a Wire workshop through Artists of the Round Table. The heart link bracelet with twisted jump rings was really fun and easy. I made it out of brass wire this time, 20 gauge I think. I then antiqued it with Black #5, and it came out pitch black! I rubbed much of it off with steel wool to reveal the brass again. Plus I made the matching earrings.

The necklace was a caged bead necklace. I combined a variety of bead types and sizes--its kind of hard to tell in the picture, but they are shades of dark red and blackish brown. I used the copper wire on this one. I made a pendant dependent for the red stone pendant--I'm not sure what exactly it is, but it is heavy!

I am trying to get some more stylish pictures--so I used the BIG shell to display these. I used to have a red velvet and a black necklace display, and never used them, so I gave them to a friend who's mom owns a bead store--bummer!

Mixed Media Journal Page Swap

These are some pages that I created for the mixed media journal swap on the Mixed Media Art group. We had to make pages measuring 4 x 6 inches, that incorporated some element of paper, metal and fibers/ fabric. I used recycled papers for the background and the paper fabric technique for the heart. I added some machine stitching with variegated thread, metal brads, dyed paper towel, and more. They are being swapped out now, so I am excited to see what I get back, and will probably bind them all together into a little booklet.