Black and Silver Beaded Crochet Wire Bracelet

Black and Silver Bracelet

Click photos to embiggen.

Detail

This is the second crochet wire bracelet I've made. I learned how to secure the clasp better with this one. I may take the first one apart and do it over now that I've got the hang of it.  The first one doesn't wear as comfortable as the silver and black one. I learned, also, how to crochet in a tighter fashion during this one. It doesn't take much time to make one of these. I will make some more.  I wonder what else besides beads there is that one can crochet onto wire. Any suggestions?

My Bead Adventure - Crochet Wire Glass Bead Bracelet

This bead bracelet is made with crocheted wire and glass beads. Watching a woman on a TV show make one brought back the memory of crocheting as a teen and I decided to make a couple for myself. The next one will be in black and silver beads. Lot's of fun to make and whimsical to wear.

Sun Infused Color

Remember this row of Mason Jars from yesterday filled with fabric and dye baking in the 100 sun?
Watch what happened! I can't believe the variety of color that came out of the mixes. 

The hot weather (100+) has been wiping us out around here but I've found a good use for it.  It's perfect for baking sun infused color into fabric with dye. Using the summer's heat was one of the things I learned at Judy Gula's  dye day and I placed my filled mason jars out in the sun for a day. I kept checking on them outside and loved the feeling of the hot glass with the promise of liquid color inside turning to gold like alchemy. Some of the results were quite surprising. Judy's method is from the book titled "Color by Accident" and there were many happy accidents. The distressed pieces are especially surprising and I am planning on a dye session mainly using cloths that will fray. Burlap and a particular type of cotton did this well.

These pieces  tangled up a lot in the wash, but they are worth it.
I carefully pulled and cut them apart. It was the best surprise of the lot
as I love the disintegrated effect they have. Of course, I had to
 save the tangled cut off pieces too because they were pretty too.

It was a fair amount of work rinsing out the dye and running the fabric through the wash twice, untangling the pieces and ironing them out. It gave me time to imagine what I might do with the fabric. Lot's of ideas are forming for collage work and I am toying with the idea of putting some of the pieces up for sale because I know I'll end up with more than I can use. For now, they hang on a rack, full of possibilities, reminding me of the feeling of this summer sun.

Which is your favorite? 

 

This is a piece of Jacquard Cotton that I printed numbers. I used an
inkjet printer and they held up surprisingly well. I thought for sure the
inkjet would run and muddy, but it didn't.

An old piece of lace.

I used many different textures.

The velveteen on the left is great but the purple/green floral piece
is not my favorite. I will definitely dye more white cotton velveteen.

The old chenille bedspread was found in a thrift store.

A purple/green combo that works better than the one above.
The blue cheesecloth on the right is heavenly.

Dye Day at Artistic Artifacts

Judy Gula, fabric artist and owner of Artitist Artifacts, occasionally holds a Dye Day workshop. I've wanted to go for a long time and saved up hoarded some great fabric to use. At the moment the fabric is waiting in jars in the sun for 24 hours.

We used Procion Dyes and dyed inside wide mouthed mason jars. The dyes are available online at Dharma Trading or Pro Chemical.

Some of them look muddy and some look awesome already. I can't wait until tomorrow to see what I've done.  It's a mystery.

Row of Mason Jars with Fabric and Dye

Looks like a nice purple.

Hot!

This might be my favorite in the jars. I wonder what it will look like when it's dry?
I'll show you soon.

The Night Circus and Paperwhimsy Reader's Group

 The Paperwhimsy Group has a Readers Group inside the forum. As a book is read and discussed we make pages for a group art book. The first project I participated in was Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and now The Night Circus. These are my pages showing Poppet in the Labyrinth with one of her trained kittens and the key that was used to free her from the cage.

Pages in progress

Pages in Progress

Finished page with folds open

Finished page with folds closed

Seth Apter has his finger on The Pulse of Mixed Media

I attended a talk by Seth Apter hosted by Judith HeartSong at her Judith HeartSong Fine Art Studio and Gallery in Glen Echo Maryland.

It was wonderful to meet Seth in person who is very much the kind and intelligent person that you might have gleaned he is from reading his blog.

I admire the way he has created a community of mixed media artists online and through his book. If you have a chance to go to one of his signings or talks, don't miss it! I highly recommend the book. It is packed with artwork and insight into a broad artistic community.

There is also still an opportunity to participate in this book. Read about the Open Call Seth has here.
Deadline is - April 30th.

Available here:

The Pulse of Mixed Media

    •    North Light Shop
    •    Amazon.com
    •    Barnes & Noble

eBook edition available now

 

    •    Nook at Barnes & Noble
    •    Kindle at Amazon
     

Marie Antoinette and a Valentine

Winter 2012 Art Quilting Studio

My latest article is out in the current issue of Art Quilting Studio, titled Variations in Red, Fragments, Scraps and Remnants. The work in the article was inspired by a post on Robyn Gorden's blog: http://artpropelled.blogspot.com/, specifically this post: http://artpropelled.blogspot.com/2011/01/fragments-scraps-and-remnants.html

Through Robyn's blog I found Lisa Jurist's etsy shop which can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jmozart Lisa has many beautiful things in her shop right now! You can also read more about Lisa here: http://mudhoundprimitives.blogspot.com/ and see some of her inspiring work.

Mixed Media Jewelry - Horse Pins

A sample of the mixed media jewelry I'm working on now.

theresa mARTin now represented by r.h. ballard gallery

My work is now available through the r.h. ballard gallery in Little Washington, VA. Stop by and see their beautiful gallery and shop if you are in the area. If you can't make it, you can always browse the gallery through their web site.

It's a pleasure to be working with Joan and Robert Ballard.

Together, Robert and Joanie Ballard combine their love of travel, great design, fine art, quality textiles and just plain beautiful things into a stunning store which has received numerous accolades. Most notably they were heralded by the Editors of SOUTHERN LIVING MAGAZINE as one of the

“TOP 50 SHOPS IN THE SOUTH”

 
Now, through a newly enhanced website, the world has direct access to Ballard's unusual gifts, fine art and beautiful rug collection. They have searched the world over to bring together a unique product mix that has inspired a loyal clientele from Washington, DC and around the globe.

Frock in a Box

Frock in a Box

by theresa mARTin

Detail Frock

Frock in a Box is the name of a recent swap at paperwhimsy. Don't you love the name Frock in a Box? About 20 people participated and we didn't trade, but were assigned names so that everyone who made a Frock received a frock. These photos are the frock I made which was sent out to Carolyn H.

How would you describe your style?

Style File on Seth Apter's blog


July 3rd on Seth Apter's blog many artists will answer the Question, "How would you describe your style?" and there will photos of art work to illustrate the styles. My work will be included! Can't wait to watch THE PULSE as it reveals itself over the summer. It promises to be BIG this year - Seth received a good response from many wonderful artists.