Beads and Bones, Feathers and Fibers

Do any of you save stuff like this:

 Rusted bits and sticks and bark,

 feathers and broken bits of pottery found along the river,

just interesting "stuff".

 Of course we can't forget the feathers, can't throw any of those away now can we?  No, of course not!  I'm trying to actually use some of these things, even if only to make something that I will stick out in the woods along my walking trails.
Saw this article in the most recent Quilting Arts magazine:

I wanted to make some of these cuties.  So I did.

Then I thought, what else can I cover with fabric or fibers?  and I found these old bones so did this with them:

I'm on a roll now!  Gotta go roll some more.
Be well.


 

New news

Been busy with outdoor work and also finding time for some art.  One other thing has been grabbing my attention but I'll get to that later.  First, I'll show you my recently completed art work. 

 This is sort of a Dooleybobber.  Rather different from the others but then they are all different, aren't they.  I used some cut off pieces from another work and then needle felted, stitched and beaded it.  I had my embroidery stitch book open and was trying different stitches, it was fun. 

 Most of the threads I used were some that I got from Maggi.  The colors are gorgeous.

This is what it looked like in the beginning stages.  Sure looks a lot different after the stitching and working on it.

 I did a challenge/trade with my creative group after being inspired by an article in a recent Somerset Studio magazine article, the Jan/Feb 2014 issue.  These are ATC/Matchbox art.  Fun!

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I used a paper napkin for the background of all mine.   I have a bazillion of them but did you know you can buy single napkins on ebay?   Who'd have guessed?  What a selection!  Now I have two bazillion.

 I decided to experiment with some non woven fabric stuff I had laying around after seeing something like it on a blog somewhere.  Sorry, I lost the link so can't share that.  I used different paints on pieces of this stuff, I don't know what it is but it starts out white.

 Then I rolled them up and hit them with the heat gun and they turned into these neat beads.

I found that if I painted different colors on either side, they looked cool on the edges with the reverse paint peeking through.  If anyone wants some of this stuff just ask and I'll mail you a piece.  I have a huge chunk of it.

Mike

I have begun a new series that relates to the dogs I've loved.   I started to say all the dogs but I can't quite say that, there are too many to make art about all of them.  Above you can see the first of the series, it shows a photo of my family and our first dog, Mike.  He was a German Shepherd mix.

 I love this photo.  It captures my love for dogs beautifully.  That is me, gazing into Mike's eyes with love.

Duke

 Our next dog was Duke, a German Shepherd.  Duke followed me everywhere through my growing up years, walking with me through the neighborhoods and to the store, waiting patiently outside, unleashed.  Can you imagine now, seeing a big German Shepherd dog sitting outside a big grocery store, not tied or muzzled or anything?  He used to get in ferocious fights with other neighborhood dogs.  I'm glad I know better not to allow anything like that to happen any more.

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See the brown/orange plaid fabric at the back of the piece?  That was the scarf I wore when I was a teenager.  It is rather moth eaten now but I have held on to it and finally found a use for a piece of it.  I also still have Duke's collar, 40 some years later.  (No I'm not a hoarder!!) I am going to hang the collar from the wood hanging rod.  The plan is to display all these dog pieces outside and allow them to weather.  I might hang them out in the woods or maybe just on the wall outside the studio.  The coyotes (Trickster) tend to steal things I put out into the forest.

This is the next one of the series, I started stitching on it today.  It shows the first three dogs I got after I moved out of my parents home, Bilbo, Heidi and Gandalf.  Yes, combining my love of books and dogs with these names!  I'll show a better photo someday after it is finished.

Roscoe

Now, for my big news!  We got another dog!  Windy has been seeming lonely without a friend to play with so I got her a puppy;-)  Meet Roscoe, a 10 month old Chihuahua/Dachshund mix.  He is such a sweet boy and so playful and happy!  I call him Roscoe Bean, he has sure brightened up our lives around here.  He and Windy play and chase each other and the squirrels.  Charlie cat is not happy about it but he is beginning to venture out of the basement and testing the waters with a dog smaller than he is.  He'll come around, he always does.

Heidi from long ago

 Never before have I had such a little dog, I was wanting a bigger dog but this guy came along and I couldn't get him out of my mind.  Maybe because he reminds me so much of the first dogs I had on my own, Heidi and Gandalf were Dachshund/Beagle mix, brother and sister.  They were closer to Windy size though at around 30 pounds.  Roscoe is only maybe 10.  He is learning not to chase llamas or cows or horses or CATS!  Squirrels are okay, they never catch one.

 

 Here is Roscoe and Windy, snuggling in the bed together in the studio.  Oh, and Roscoe likes to sleep under the blankets with me at night!  I've never had a dog do that before.  Probably a good thing since most of my dogs have been rather large.  

Well, that is about it for now.  I'm sure I'll be sharing more about Roscoe in the future.  He is so stinkin' cute! He came with that name and I decided to keep it, it suits him.  Hope you all are well and enjoying your lives.  Till next time,

Be well.

I guess I have been busy

I enjoyed making the first woven piece so much I had to make another in mostly blues and greens.  This time I attached it to a piece of old linen napkin that I dyed and stenciled and wrapped that fabric around a piece of foam core board.  It is about 6"X 8".

Here it is, still on the loom.  I put the gift card in the photo to give an idea of the size of the piece.  Plus it is a cute gift card from Powell's book store, my favorite book store.

As you can see I have continued to make large tote bags out of feed sacks.  There are so many colorful bags, and they are quite strong.  I have given plenty away and I use several for my recycling stuff.  Still there is a big pile of them waiting to be turned into totes, mostly the plainer ones.

In my last post I showed the piece of felt I had been playing with on the needle felting machine.  I turned the felt into these little pillow hearts.  I like the above one the best.

This heart has the foil on it but I think I needled it too much and most of the foil came off.  It does look better in person, the photo doesn't show it to advantage.  It has sequins and beads, including some polymer clay beads I made.

Last but not least, I finished a beaded bracelet I have been working on for awhile.  I had to crop in real close so you didn't have to see my sun damaged skin so much.  This pattern came from a book by Beverly Ash Gilbert titled Beaded Colorways.  It is a lovely and very inspiring book showing how to create free form bead weaving projects.  I'd recommend it.

Sometimes I feel that I don't get much accomplished down here in the studio.  That is one good thing about the blog, it helps me to focus on what I have done, rather than what I haven't.  When I began to gather photos for today's post I realized I have been busier than I realized plus I haven't even shown all the things I've been working on.  I have several nieces either getting married or having babies so I'm also making baby quilts and thinking about what I could make for a wedding gift.  Not any big quilts for wedding gifts!  I'm not up for that much focused work at the moment!  Not with all the garden chores at this time of year.

I hope you all are enjoying some fine late spring weather.  I'm continuing to enjoy this fine spring rain here.  Sorta.  It is better than too hot or tornadoes, that's for sure.

Be well.

Beaded Hearts

Recently I have been making these beaded hearts. I didn't blog about them because they were gifts and I wanted to wait until the people had them before I showed them to the rest of the world. I put little charms on them that correspond with something special to the person I made them for. The first one went to my friend Martha who raises lots of birds including peacocks, so I chose a peacock charm for her. I think her favorite colors are green and purple so I chose those colors for her heart.

This one I have shown before. I sent it to Anja over in Germany. The face is representative of our friendship. She does a lot of bead work herself and likes most all colors but seems to especially like dark pink and turquoise.

This last one is gifted to Anne. She is especially fond of sacred heart images so I created this one for her, with the sacred heart charm in it.
They are all the same size, about 2" x 3", and they have pin backs on them. Now I want to make one for myself.  I have a little charm that reads GIRLFRIENDS on it, but I also have a necklace that Martha sent to me that has a sort of Pit Bull dog charm on it. I might use that. It is cute.

Listening to a mix on my mp3 player, last song was from Into the Woods, I love Stephen Sondheim.  Now there is some Leonard Cohen, "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in...."

I see I have picked up some new followers.  Welcome!  and thanks for joining me in this artful journey, I appreciate your support.  

Until next time, be well.

Dooleybobber # 7

Here is my latest needle felted, beaded, stitched piece. 

Again, this is built on a piece of wool batting.  The finished piece measures about 5.5"x6.5"

I pick up old jewelry at garage sales and some of those pieces are finding their way into my art, which is why I buy them.  The little 4 point thing with turquoise in the center of the buttons was a part from an earring. 

I love these little felted beads.  The dark pink fringe stuff at the bottom there is a piece of selvage from a cotton fabric.  I knew I was saving that for something! 

The white thing is a piece of shell from the beach, and the star pin is another garage sale find.  Oh, and a bit more avocado net bag in there.  Can you tell I am really enjoying creating these little dooleybobbers?  Finding a way to use all the little collected odd bits and pieces.  On to my next piece.  Hope you all are enjoying your weekend.

Be well.

Doolybobber #6

I need to just start numbering these pieces since I seem to be unable to come up with good names for them. Here is another one of these doolybobbers. I guess this would be about number 6. Must be a series!  I photographed this on top of a piece of golden batik fabric, that is not part of the piece.

This one measures only about 6"x6". I used a wool batting background and needle felted various colored rovings and strips of silk fabric and scrim before doing hand stitching and adding buttons, bottle caps, felt beads and a stamped, painted piece of paper clay. Oh, and there is a little bit of netting from a bag of avocados too, there next to the green heart. A few beads, of course.

Below you can see the bottle cap with a little paper flower on top. 

I like the paper clay piece, I have made several of these and this is the first time I have used one.

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Tomorrow is my Stitch n' Bitch day, meeting up with my BFF's.  That is always fun, we are going to make some more of the little folded books.  It has been cool here again, temperature wise.  Only got up to about 62 today.  I was painting papers to use in folded books, I finally had to iron them dry so I can take them with me tomorrow. Listening to Radiohead.

Be well. 

Beading Larson

Remember this beaded piece I showed you in my last post?

After I posted the picture and saw it on the blog, I was struck by how much it reminded me of one of those characters from a Gary Larson cartoon, most particularly, one of the women with a beehive hairdo and the cats eye glasses. Can you see it?

This one below is very much what I am talking about. She even has beads on her head. Doesn't she?? Bugle beads, maybe?

Okay, back to being serious. I finished the bead work on this today, tucked the edges back. Here it is:

Cats Eye glasses, what do you think?  I might put it on this black leather purse I picked up at a garage sale for $1.00.  It is brand new but a  bit of the webbing on the handle was coming loose from the bag.  That was easy to fix. It has lots of zippers and compartments and even a little pocket on the side for a cell phone.

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I bought the bag, thinking I would decorate it somehow, and this just might be the ticket.  It will be difficult to attach it to the leather, but I know I can do it.

It is a gray day out there, we had a lot of rain yesterday and might get more today.  That's okay, it fits my mood.  Oh, I see I have hit 60 followers!  I can't believe it, thanks so much for following me, I hope you all enjoy the visit.  Leave me a comment and I will answer you somehow.  Some of my followers are German.  I have looked at their blogs, beautiful work being done by them.  Even if I can't read a word of it, the photos are inspiring.  I can use Babel to translate.

Hope you all have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend.  See you next week.

Be well.