Halloween ATC’s ready for trade at the monthly meeting at Artistic Artifacts, Alexandria, VA
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Category Archives: Blog
Handmade Market – Oct 13 and 14, 2018 Alexandria VA
For sale – several of my new small handbags, some mixed media jewelry, some fiber collages and lots of the silk paper you saw here. My colleagues have some awesome offerings available as well. Hope to see you there!
Experimental bag with dyed fabric and silk collage
Front of bag
2018 has been my summer of using the materials I’ve been making and this bag is a fusion of some of the hand dyed fabric and silk papers. I call it experimental because I want to see how the silk paper holds up on the bag before I offer this type of work for sale. So far it’s holding up well for light everyday use. The bag is 6.5″ x 11″ and the handle is some of the ribbon I’ve been dying. This was the first time I used gunmetal grey in the dyes. Many of the pieces came out with an interesting camouflage look.
Close up of the front of the bag
Back of the bag
Close up of the back of the bag
Silk Paper Collage
Now that I’ve made approximately 100 sheets of paper silk I’m working on ways to use them. One is mixed media collage using a combination of silk paper sheets, paper and vintage silk flowers. I’ve also cut some up for ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) and used some small sections on greeting cards.
As I make and dry the sheets I’ve noticed how nice certain colors look against other colors. It’s inspiring some interesting combinations.
Along the silk road
Here are some details and full shots of the most recent silk paper collages. These photos were taken in the sunlight, where I tried to capture some of their sparkle and shine.
An Adventure in Handmade Silk Paper
A few years ago I started collecting silk roving with no particular project in mind. I came across a tutorial on Judy Gula’s blog here. and decided to give silk paper making a try. Well, I have a LOT of roving, so lots of photos follow.
I collect materials that will likely end up in a project one day but there’s not always a plan. A lot of these materials have been waiting to come together in some way. I used silk roving, art yarn, Angelina fibers, Japanese metallic threads, paper, sequins, silk carrier rods, hat veils and glitter.
The “paper” is somewhat stiff, but is flexible like fiber. Some are more paper like but most feel like soft textiles. Originally I thought of them as paper that would later be embellished with embroidery and other collage elements. As I made more they became collages in and of themselves.
You made it to the end! Here’s a bonus. This is a LINK to a lovely Etsy shop where you can find Art Yarn Fiber Bundles. Here’s a LINK to the silk roving section of Judy Gula’s website.
Indigo Dye
Experiments with pre-reduced indigo dye.
The best thing about summer is that it’s the ideal time to dye fabric. This was my first time setting up an indigo dye vat. I love watching the fabric coming out of the vat with it’s strange green tint, then slowing changing into indigo as it hits the air.
