Ginny's blog

Soulumination Artists sale..and Second Stories

2011-12-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

I am finally back on the blog after the Soulumination Artists' sale which inspired me to make many of the "Second Stories" art pieces using recycled sari silks and other fibers/fabrics. I sold 9 of them to people who will hang, use as an altar cloth or a display for a Nativity scene, or a pillow cover or whatever way they enjoy them. I am very pleased.

The purple is one of the sold ones (Some more are also on my Face Book page Flowering Fibers.). And I am posting some others in various stages that are still available. I have so much enjoyed making these nuno mosaics and am already playing with new ideas and pieces while thinking of new ways to have the remaining ones seen.

Soulumination is an organization here in Seattle that takes photographs of families with a gravely or terminally-ill child or parent, leaving the family with a loving record of their time together. I will continue to donate 25% of the sale price (as at the Dec. Artists's sale. I will be listing some of these one of a kind pieces on my new website FloweringFibers.com

I'm also including a photo of our family's beautiful bambina and beautiful mom admiring one of my pieces at the sale!

Second Stories and Scarves!

2011-09-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

So, I have completed 20 of the proposed 40 plus Second Stories. The name changes a bit each time I try to describe the process.. but the process is basically the same-making nuno mosaic panels using sari scraps from second hand saris to create second or new stories. I have been adding other embellishments and fibers and fabrics, often from pieces once worn by people I've known and loved... and from gifts or purchases from fiber friends. These nuno mosaics as altar cloths/table runners/wall hangings are for a fundraising show and sale in Dec..so I will be showing you more soon...There are also some to be seen on my FaceBook page Flowering Fibers...and I expect to offer a few others via my website-in-progress of the same name...

But, back to some photos: I had made a small nuno mosaic using this bright sequined sari piece and then decided to use some more of it to make a scarf for another venue coming up soon. A neighbor is modeling. The scarf version in the first and second photos includes some silk chiffon that was brought to me from Paris by a friend; and the nylon mesh added to the scarf is from a FB fiber friend! The other two photos are,close-ups of parts of two of the smaller panels/altar cloths/wall hangings -two more of the Second Stories!Maybe the teal one should be called Third Story..it has a felted hand I made years and years ago and decided to felt it into the mix of sari silks and other things..."reaching out"....(?)

A bit more of the Process/Product cycle of the Sari Seconds

2011-08-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here are two follow-up "product-process" shots from my last blog post: the finished parading elephant nuno mosaic panel posted on Face Book today and the pile of fabrics/fibers/ideas that it started with!

And, I remembered to take several process shots of another of the second hand sari inspired Second Stories (something I don't always remember to do!) This shows some of the original pieces (they came in fat quarter size and I added other bits of a a recycled scarf and wisps of chiffon, other silks and the mesh I am so enjoying at this moment!

I am enjoying creating this series of nuno mosaics from second-hand saris and other mementos and scraps- many will be altar cloths or wall hangings or table runners for a fund-raising venue later in the year..... It is ongoingly fascinating to me to see which of the fabrics felt in easily and which ones not so much! Sometimes the ones that look the most challenging are the easiest..and it works the other way around as well. Something with lots of metal and beads worked unexpectedly very well because the background was cotton and soft...

Gatherings..little gifts from "the Heavens"...

2011-08-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not from the Heavens...but what I have been finding especially delightful lately as I gather and gather pieces together for projects: "the right color" or the right piece of silk embellishment or the right tiniest bit of wool seems to appear at the right moment! And, usually after I think the project hasn't come together yet!

So, here a few photos of projects in process with some of the "unexpected treasures" that suddenly turn up while in the gathering and lay out stages!

In the yellow flower-to-be, just the "right" silk embellishment color... on the right of it, and some refound yarn!

In the orange dyed scarf-to-be, one of my dyeing experiments-discovered some pre felts made for an earlier project...

And in the Second Story- second hand sari inspired pieces-the elephant will likely fit well with some more rediscovered yarn nd some strips of the scarf silk!

Happy gathering to all and no doubt little gifts will be turning up for you, too!

Sari Scraps Saga continued...

2011-07-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been so happy to have been inspired by secondhand saris for this series of what will be 40 nuno mosaic panels: altar cloths/table runners/garment pieces/wall hangings...

Here are some photos of two new ones...if you look back at my previous posting you can see how much has changed since the earliest "gathering stage", especially with the green one.

So far in the process I have started out being inspired by one or more pieces and colors inspired by the sari pieces and add many, yes, many other fabrics!

With the red and turquoise nuno mosaic, it was the heavily embroidered flowers piece-one large and two quite small on a red backing that attracted me; I was wanting to know how well they'd felt in and saw that the red backing didn't felt well but the embroidery seemed to do fine! There are a lot of wonderful contrasting textures..each piece a learning experience.

The green nuno mosaic includes lots of juxtaposed patterns, some sari pieces and some cotton pieces from a pillow cover backing that I got in India when I was 23 and believe that makes this vintage and repurposed.

More soon to include some of the stories and connections that find their way into each of these.

Sari Silk Stories...

2011-07-07T11:55:00.001-07:00

I've been so delighted to discover second hand sari silk scraps and incorporate them into nuno mosaic panels...here are the two

I've made most recently since the first one I made at Nicola Brown's workshop in Plainwell, MI in May... I am having a lovely time adding many other wonderful "bits and pieces" to the sari silk pieces that I am designing and making into altar cloths/wall hangings/table runners for a show/sale here in Seattle later in the year. These are a bit like story cloths and memory quilts in that I am including additional fabrics and embellishments that belonged to people I know.

One of these shows the beginning lay out, which changed a lot before the wool layers were added.

The mustard colored one has some parts of an Indonesian batik shirt that I inherited...

The last three photos show

"the gathering stage" and will be sari silk stories soon. See you with the results, tales and evolutions of these!

The Plainwell Silk--a Dyeing Adventure in Michigan!

2011-06-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hello again.....My fiber adventures have continued all spring and into summer...but my blogging about them..hmm..not so much!

I'm back in blogland now..... and here's a bit about dyeing, nuno felting and the friendships that come from fiber. When I was in Plainwell, MI in May (more about that soon) one of the special bonuses was dyeing a some habotai silk with Suzanne Petzold Higgs www.hookedonfelt.blogspot.com After a fine dinner, made by her husband, Jim, she pulled out this giant piece of habotai silk and lots of great colors and we created a piece of silk that has the colors of sunrise, dusk and sunset. She gave it to me to take back to Seattle. (I call it 'The Plainwell Silk"..maybe to be a fiber based mystery novel title?!0

The first picture is of the large piece back here in Seattle.

The second one is after nuno felting. I chose colors that I thought would work well for the color palettes of sunrise/dusk/sunset..most of them worked quite well..I will do some different things with the remaining piece of silk.

This photo (below) is a close up of the dyed piece before felting. The second one is a close-up

of a silk flower of the same material layered on. I made 7 flowers and I was happy with 5 of them..this one especially. As felters know, some of the wool/fabric mixes blend well, some no so much...

These guys who live in pots on my little porch, modeled in the absence of another model. Also the flamingo pink was more prominent than I expected, so a good match..and some good contrast.

This is the ruched/shirred side.

And this photo shows the nuno felted scarf in the front and the shawl size piece waiting for my next project. Thanks for the silk and the dyeing adventure, Suzanne.

More soon on dyeing and other fiber adventure on this blog..soon...very soon....

Some peeks at process...

2011-02-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my nuno scarves of this year. I am enjoying using various silks: chiffon, gerogette, habotai/china silk and loosely woven cotton (scrim)...and seeing the differences in the way the different fabrics work with the wools and other fibers. As all felters know, there are always surprises!
This photo shows the pink silk gauze and the yellow georgette silk in the early stages, when I'm just experimenting with general placement of colors and fibers before the final placement of fibers and the wetting down and the felting and fulling.
And here's the finished pink one..it shrunk down a bit more than than I intended..be..but I'm happy with the springlike result!
And here's the finished yellow one, which has a lot of silk cap bits and hankie bits in it. The georgette is always a bit more "nubby" not as smooth as other chiffons, but fun to work with.
AH! a large piece of purple and rust and periwinkle variegated silk chiffon was brought to me from Paris by my nearby fiber artist friend. Again, this is an earlier stage of laying it out...a small part of the big blob of shiny orange colored tencel fiber was used.
And here is one view of the finished product in which I used a merino, silk, cashmere blend from a fiber artist in Germany. This view is actually the silk only side that shows some of the ruching/shirring that happens with silks like this when the wools and others fibers are felted in.

This one is felted on cotton scrim (open -weave cotton). I did something different than I usually do with the cotton gauze and that is I designed it to leave a lot of the cotton showing with the flower pattern running through it...but with lots of open cotton area. Usually I work with more of the cotton surface and leave less of the cotton showing; I'm happy with the outcome. In some ways it takes more work to decide where the "empty of wool" places will be.

The finished scarf--one view.

A close-up.

And this organized chaos -a gathering of lots of lovely fibers and fabric bits etc. is going to become lots of flowers in the not too distant future!

Another process blog post in the offing!

Fibers of February..Coming Soon!

2011-02-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

January brings a new year followed by my birthday, then paperwork for business taxes...and time to gather new supplies and bring forward ideas and inspirations for new projects.

Now in February, some glances back at some of last year's work...and some views of what I am gathering and working on now..and I plan to show more of the process again as I enjoy seeing the process of others.

These photos show some of what I love about this magical and evolving process of felting: texture, color, contrast, playing with felting in anything that doesn't move out of the way, and also community and connection: I choose most of my hand dyed silks, cottons and wools out of the relationships with other fiber artists from many parts of the world and close to home. This year may bring some personal experiments in natural dyeing. Earth Hues here in Seattle has a fine selection.

Another posting coming soon of what I am gathering and working with now.. and hopefully, one day soon. I'll figure out how to lay out photos so I could actually could have shown them now!

This one is nuno felted with merino and silk chiffon

This one: merinos with other wools, silks, fibers with tie-dyed shibori cotton

a bouquet of double decor flowers (two flowers on one stem)

This is on georgette with merino and silk hankies

This was mostly merino, silk bits on cotton scrim

More soon...

Finalmente le foto dalla visita ad Assisi!

2010-11-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

The title is the only Italian (maybe even mostly correct) I will muster up for this posting as I write faster in English and its time to get this out here!! One of the main reasons I went there was to practice the Italian I had been learning on my own in the 6 years since my Seattle niece got married there. This was first time back since her wedding. As some of you know I stayed in Santa Maria Degli Angeli which is an uphill walk to Assisi and itself has important connections to San Francesco.

I stayed with my niece's very welcoming in-laws there and every day for three weeks (Sept 9-30th) went up to their restaurant in Assisi and ate with the family and the staff when they finished the first restaurant shift. How fortunate for me that I was able to buy gluten free products in the pharmacies and the chef, my niece's father-in-law, cooked them for me! Assisi is a beautiful town to walk around in and good excercise, in addition, with all the stairs and hills to climb.

I went to a wedding of one of the family members. Guests (and the bride and groom) came from Germany and Mexico and there were other relatives from other parts of Italy and me! The bride had to switch in the same paragraph from Italian to German to Spanish and back again.

I had planned to meet a felter and work with her in nearby Perugia but that didn't happen; but there was a lovely surprise visit from an etsy Italian friend and her husband.

An important part of the trip was the chance to speak and hear Italian for three solid weeks and toward the end of the trip I had the chance to take three four hour classes at a school in Assisi and my classmates were young monks and seminarians. I didn't do too badly but I could use about a year there!

One day on the family's land near Assisi there was the grape harvest with a chance to watch (and not work) and snatch a few tasty grapes in the basket before they went through the press.

The pictures (not in this order): one of the views up to Assisi and in Assisi or Santa Maria a pizzeria run by one of the family, one of the grape harvest, one from the wedding reception some other photos in Assisi and Santa Maria and even one of me peeking out (in my purple shirt) behind some family members of my niece's sister-in-law in a nearby town .

Flooding the Kitchen for Art!

2010-08-29T12:25:00.001-07:00

Here's something I have been wanting to do for while--not flood the kitchen--but, show you some photos of the process-or parts of it-in creating some new Bigger pieces of felting art!! And, creating two shawls took up lots of room in my home studio. This photo shows my first attempt at using silk laps (which are a silk fiber left over from the silk making process before it before it becomes a fabric);

One layer is already laid down and the next puffy bit to be stretched down is on the right; The wool in mostly salmons and yellows is ready to be pulled off into wisps and layered. No sign yet of the water soap and hand action that happens next and no photos of of that part, alas, either!

The second photo (at night with the flash) shows it after it got felted..see towels on floor--for kitchen flood wipe up process! Not an extremely dramatic flood but it keeps you on your toes trying to keep the water off your toes!

Here's the "finished product", which some of you may have seen in the Etsy Project Embrace blog interview or in my shop.

I was inspired to make big cozy shawls with silk laps by Kim of ViltalaKim in the Netherlands who wrote about them in these blog pages and Ingermaaike in Norway who sent them to her and and led me to Kate/Katrzyna of FeltFieltroFilc who dyed the silk laps and sent them to me from Ireland! So in my "kitchen flooding" experiments I also got to be in touch with etsy sellers and "fiber people" from many places, as I so enjoy doing. The wool, which included fuzzy Alpaca in the salmon and sunshine colored shawl came from woolgatherings not too manymiles from my home.

Actually, as long as I'm at it now, here are some photos of the second shawl in progress: No torrents of water captured there either but a different color palette and more steps!

First, a close up of what the laps look like before they get stretched out (they get felted into the wool and vice versa for a very soft and silky effect.) The second photo shows the stretched out silk laps taking up much of my living room; the third shows the wool laid down in overlapping layers and the forth Voila! the finished shawl on my sweet model, Emily! (Silk Laps from Kate mentioned above and wool from another etsy seller close to home, cjdelights.)

Thanks for having a look..I'm so glad I finally did this blog post! In the next next projects- in -progress post I hope to get some pix of the felter in the soap and water..flood or no flood in the kitchen! (In my shop are more pix of these and more (smaller scarves) that this project has spawned!)

An Inspiring Message to Take in and Pass Along!

2010-08-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

My very dear childhood friend and fellow New Yorker, Julie, who died six summers ago, took a class with a book artist a number of years ago. He asked the participants to create a postcard and send a reminder message to inspire themselves after the workshop. Here is what she wrote:

For her memorial service I created an edition of 200 little accordion books with her words and art materials: this is the last page:

It seemed like the right words to pass along to those who loved her as a reminder from her to all of us. She would approve of my passing this along to you in a blog post!

Part 2: Conservatory Compost Adventure...

2010-07-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post I wrote about my adventures tracking down some "missing" hydrangeas I had seen at a local conservatory.
Here now are some of the raw materials and the creations inspired by this wonderful color palette. You can see here some of the wools, silks and oddments I felted in and three completed pieces..and one in the works; another time, another palette, I aim to also capture the laying down of the wools and such and the soapy hands in the midst of the wet felting process that help transform the materials into a new fabric!

In a lot of my projects I like to include bits from other projects that seem to add texture or contrast ..and so they get recycled into a new piece-and sometimes I add a new color out of the stash! Four pieces from this group are now listed in my shop.

I always look forward, too, to seeing works-in -progress and finished creations in the blogs and shops of others!

2010-05-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

THE CONSERVATORY COMPOST ADVENTURE: a little story... Two days ago, on a visit to a lovely local conservatory I fell in love with the subtle colors--lilac purple, sea foam green and aqua, a bit of sky blue-- of some hydrangeas..but didn't have my camera. So two days later I stopped over there again and they were gone!! I asked a horticulturist about them and was told that they had been considered "too old" and had been decapitated and sent to the compost pile. I pleaded to have a look and under a large protective leaf were my hydrangeas!! They let me take what I could find and temporarily salvage to "capture" the colors!!! (I also wish I had asked someone at the conservatory to take some photos of the compost pile search, me trooping through to find these!) Next: to find some wooly colors to create some new felted pieces inspired by these..

2010-04-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

Guess What! I'm in this new book, 1000 Artisan Textiles, published by Quarry Books. Two of my hand felted flowers are featured (pix below!) A click on the book will lead you to Google Products (for purchasing purposes and the like!) and if you go to this page in my etsy sold items you can read more about the two pieces pictured! I am really pleased--excited, in fact, that two pieces of mine were included among so many fascinating works of fiber art. Also, it is nice to know that one of those pieces is now living in Kuwait and one in Kentucky!

2010-03-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here's another before and after peek. I am pleased when I remember to take a photo of pieces in progress! I'm still always amazed by the felting process: what starts out looking like four piles of organized fluff turn out (with soap, water and hand friction) to be a clutch and two flowers attached by a stem. This is what I've listed as "Three in One for Spring" .. the little clutch can hold a cell phone and a couple of cards, a lipstick and piece of jewelry, those sorts of things; it is made differently than the little wooly envelopes that sold in my shop recently; those were made by wet felting a flat piece in three layers and needle felting it to form a pocket; this one, is four layers thick and uses a plastic resist to form a pocket between the four layers that holds things! Clear? If not, next time, I'll show a photo of that, as well! The long lariat/stem with two flowers attached and clutch is a versatile collection, as it can be a walking work of art, with the flowers wound around the clutch, your wrist, your hair or as a necklace....or a stay- at -home, displayed in a clear glass vase or as decor with multiple uses. I continue to play with ideas and experiments for more little envelopes and clutches and more long stems with flowers attached..

2010-03-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Here I am again and I won't say a word about being absent from the blog so long (lol!) Here's a before and after shot: a piece I recently listed in my etsy shop and some of the materials it came from; The wool, shiny angelina, sheep locks, silk caps, yarn come from several etsy sellers, and from my stash.. Another thing these materials show: is the potential for a mix of intention and "happy accidents/the unexpected" as happens (most of the time enjoyably) in wet felting: I didn't realize the light blue in the silk was going to be as prominent as it was..and I liked the outcome.Aanother time I'll also remember to photograph a piece as I am making it..One more thing: the little dark brown dots in the photo of the materials are chocolate (dark French) and thus far don't go into the felting, just into the artist but are an important part of my process!

2010-02-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

Karon, who is the inspiring proprietor of WildWomanJewelry and thegardenshed has kindly nominated me as one of 12 recipients of this award, given to bloggers! I am now to choose 12 bloggers who inspire me and pass it along! That part isn't hard; there are some wonderfully inspiring bloggers out there... I have some good ideas of who to choose..now I just have to see if I can figure out how to do it! Yikes. Hopefully, I'll figure it out within a day or two!!

2010-02-19T21:38:00.001-08:00

Long pause again between postings... However, intentions are to visit here more and include what goes into the creative process...literally!

I recently listed a hand felted new piece in my etsy shop which listed three etsy sellers whose wools I used in the one piece; I really enjoy combining things and I really enjoy using materials from etsy sellers from various places. So here is "Colossal Corsage For Spring-or Whatever is Your Next Season" which uses light pink merino wool and some green mulberry silk from Jacinta11 from Australia, hand dyed wool called "field of flowers" by greenwoodfiberworks in Utah and some handspun yarn by TheUrchiness in California; along with those, some Angelina fabric made with fibers from my stash..soap, water, hands, cutting, collaging, constructing..a bit of needle felting..and voila!

2010-02-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

I thought I was getting the hang of these blog posts, but still need some lessons! Meanwhile, I will aim to do what I know how to do, inspired to learn more by some of the wonderful blogs out there! I have been absent from this blog scene for almost a month, but if I still have "bragging rights" on my First Ever Front Page Treasury (which has a Valentine theme) I'm going to post it here with the 4 silver star items as well:

1st row: ajawin, jacinta11, faffina, emmarts; 2nd row: happyment, 3LambsGraphics, NimiJewelry, guymelamed; 3rd row: pixiepaper, loveartworks. dancingintherains, twoknit; 4th row: IraRott, Nyblaque, creativelytangled, ixela

Here's another follow-up from a while ago: My "Ciao, Bella" hair barrettes ( hopefully a first step in using more words in my felting that I posted an "in progress" shot of are now in a lovely Treasury by glasfaden (above, right!).

2010-01-06T21:38:00.001-08:00

Hello again! Maybe I'm getting the hang of this blog posting stuff a bit better! So, I am going to post a lovely photo from my sweet niece, Ruth, who is one of the people who helps me learn Italian. It is a perfect photo for a birthday (it says Good Wishes) in Italian and also is a great way to welcome in the New Year and wish everyone a healthy, productive, year full of joy and well-being as the year already races along!

2010-01-06T19:33:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, January 5th was my birthday and my etsy friends, many of them from Etsy Project Embrace helped make it the best birthday ever by making a slew of treasuries to celebrate it!! Laura, our EPE inspiration, put the idea out on the Thread, JennReese7, the intrepid captain of the ACS site, started it all off, and there was another greeting from loveartworks, Kristin, our EPE Team Leader but I got the idea to post here after those Treasuries expired. Groan!. So please accept heartfelt thanks, without screenshots! I did make screen shots of the others and will hopefully get the links right as I work out the kinks in my blog posting!! Here is one from simplysuzula, thanks, Suz,

and another from WildWomanJewelry, thanks, Karon; and one from KnotOriginal, thanks, Sharon and thanks to

sigmosaics, Kerrin, for hers for me and theBeadAerie,

Peggy, with whom I share a birthday; And also big thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings in their comments in the treasuries! I feel very honored, indeed. And look forward to a wonderful year! Now, let's hope this blog post works!!xoxo

Ciao, Bella

2010-01-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

It's the third day of the new year and I am going to post " as advertised" a photo of what I am working on! This photo is my first fun shot of combining two passions, felting and the learning of Italian!! I've laid out some turquoise/teal wool roving and spelled out "ciao, bella" (without the comma); the letters are cut from felted bits from other projects. These are going to be two hair clips. ..And now, I'm off to work on this and other projects and to let more people know what my blog address is!

2009-12-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

Yay! I remembered I have a blog..and my intention on this last day of 2009 is to post regularly, to invite people to join up and to create a blog persona that reflects creation and connection in my Etsy Project Embrace life and other parts of it!! Today I am going to include the poster sketch of the Treasury I made, showing all 16 picks. Thanks to all my etsy friends for making this such a good year. It has been wonderful to be inspired by people's lives and their work and their blogs. I have loved being in Treasuries and making them.. I know how to next to get a bit more technological and less shy and include here more photos of what I make, where I make it and new ideas that are hatching here. Happy New Year to all.

2009-11-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Here is Mollie's Treasury West in celebration of Laura's hospital homecoming; Laura, our Etsy Project Embrace inspiration! YAY. As Mollie says, a Happy Dance..thanks for including me in the collection, Mol, and now I've done two blog posts in two days..a first for me. pretty soon these won't be about "will she or won't she" on the blogging process!

2009-11-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hi all! I am aiming to get more proficient at this (blogging) and post more here soon. I am inspired by the blogs you guys have and am pleased some have found their way here. My intention is to write more and show more about my passions for felting, for etsy, for connecting, for Italian! Today's blogging project: to include my latest treasury with all 16 boxes showing.

It has many Etsy Project Embrace artists in it and is posted here with good wishes to Laura, the inspiration for this incredible team.

2009-11-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Inspired by VickiDiane's ArtistsExposed etsy treasury for EtsyProjectEmbrace and Karon's (Wildwomanjewelry blog posting the screen shot) I have decide to "leap" back into blogland and have a try at a second posting..with the screen shot..

Blog Lesson # 2

2009-10-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today I had a blog lesson and learned, well sort of, how to create the gadgets from my etsy shop photos and my favs..I still want to rearrange them, but I can breathe a sigh of relief that this is started. Maybe this will be fun after all, like everybody says it is!! Now, I'm going to end this and figure out how to post a photo. Don't worry, hopefully, this will get more interesting in future posts.

First Bloggy steps

2009-08-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

So, I have created a blog! Who would have believed it! All you bloggers seem to be having fun and I actually read others blogposts (mostly).