Monthly Archives: November 2005

Spent most of Sunday playing with fabrics. Dyed some silk, and I would have done even more if I didn’t run out of the dye! Dying is so addictive, the paints/ dyes flow like watercolors. Here they are, hanging.

Lately I’ve been exploring ideas on WHAT to do with all this colorful fiber goodness. Lots of secret ideas…
Oh, and I am constructing my faerie house! Here’s the back wall, made of oak twigs (and others as well- rose, maple, willow….but mostly OAK!) To be druid-like, I wanted to make the house solely holly and oak but I became confused over the origins of my twigs:(

The face in the top window is an antique print that I have hanging in my studio room. It’s Psyche- 1909, by William Sergeant Kendall. Goodness, what a beautiful painting. She has very small discrete wings on her back. I am convinced that these are the best (I’m sooo sick of whacking people in the head and other places with mine!)
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/CP/WSK1909.jpg
My holly leaves look great so far. They will done “curing” this Thursday. I hope to have my faerie yuletide cottage complete by then so I can “shingle” the roof with them! I still need to make some furniture as well- a table and shelf for downstairs (yes, it’s two levels!) and little twig bed for the loft. And I will most definitely want to sew a mini quilt for the bed. I’m using mostly natural items in the house, with the exception of the quilt and maybe a few teeny tiny glass jars (to hold herbs and gems) on the shelf.
I’ll post pics of all this soon!

Hooray! My little winged doll is in Quilting Arts Magazine! It’s been so long, I had almost forgotten. It was a pleasant surprise. I created this gal for “The Guardian Angel Art Doll Challenge”. AND…she’s a faerie!
I scanned part of the page here-

Maybe one day I’ll create some more art dolls (in the fiber medium, of course!)
Today I gathered more twigs for my faerie house. I glued the walls together. It still needs a roof and a bark floor, and THEN the holly shingles (my favorite part). I have been very, very crafty lately. A break from my artwork I guess. I’ll post pictures of all this very soon.
I also dyed some silk. Dying fabric is SO relaxing. I’m in heaven! I have this idea to start dying my own fabric for my fiber art. That’s my goal, so I’ll post a pic of that as soon as my custom stash is complete!
…Back to my silk dying.

Today I took a break from my art to make some fun faerie crafts and things. I was feeling very cozy and happy about the coming winter. I made rose petal and patchouli soaps, gathered holly and oak twigs for my Yuletide fae house (more about that later!), prepared a magical mixture to preserve the holly leaves, and created TWO yule-ish crowns.
Here’s some of my soaps (still in the mold), with rose petals!

PROJECT #1-I have a HUGE holly tree outside my house. I gathered some leaves (mostly ones from broken branches *treehugger!*) and put them in a glass tray.

Ok- here’s the plan. I am going to preserve these holly leaves, which will become “shingles” on my “Holly and Oak Yuletide Faerie House”. The recipe is as follows: place holly leaves in a glass container, mix one half glycerin and one half water, add green food dye, cover and let sit for 6 days. The holly then soaks up the glycerin solution, replacing the water. This sort of “preserves” the leaves, which would normally crumble if dried or pressed. The supplies:

I rambled around outside and collected oak twigs for the walls (sort of rustic cabin style). I spotted this cute gnarly piece of bark alongside the road- a perfect little window!

PROJECT #2-I had extra glycerin left over, so I decided to make some soap! a few weeks ago I bought rose buds and patchouli leaves at the apothecary, perfect for the soap!

Mmmmm….my hand picked rosehips were a colorful addition, as the rose petals turned from a deilcate pink to BROWN when they were exposed to the glycerin! “Captured” rosehips!

PROJECT #3- TWO crowns! Here’s a frosty silvery white crown I made today as well…

Tea is so yummy in the winter. And when you have the sniffles, it’s essential. So I have been brewing up teas in all kinds of flavors, painting, and curling up with great books (I’ll post more about those later) Oh, and I have been going to work everyday too. I was inspired to paint three little tea paintings- “Rosehip Tea”, “Green Tea” and “Jasmine Tea”. I made the tea cups quite vessel-like, with swirly steam whirling off the top. Joyful gals adorn the tea cups, figures inspired by a wooden candlestick that I recently painted (see behind the cut below)
Teeny tiny jasmine tea…

Here’s “Green Tea”, quietly meditating…

Here is “Rosehip”…

I have quite a sudden fascination with birch trees. Maybe because I recently read “Ogam, the Celtic Oracle of the Trees” and learned lots of enchanting tree lore. Birch trees are so pretty with their papery silver/ white bark. They usually grow at the forests edge, where they can soak up spots of the suns warm rays. So, this week’s art theme was…birch trees! Heres a plethora of some of my paintings. The ideas just seem to flow while I sketch from little images in my head. The ones of the girl wrapped up in the cozy blanket (me!) was inspired by a sketch by Klimt. More on the way! Watercolor, metallic and painty markers and pigma pens.

Last weekend I wandered in the woods looking for moss and such to adorn my November table. I have been feeling quite earthy recently, so my table and art reflects that part of myself. I just love barren tree branches against blue skies and fallen leaves crunching under my feet! And then there’s the moon…
Here it is, under golden candlelight:

“Three Earthy Maidens and an untitled one…two more teeny watercolor paintings of many, the one on the right is also acrylics.

Here it is- so much to show! I painted the goddess on the giant center wooden candlestick- a thrift shop find! My art from above is behind the candlestick, leaning on the mirror.

Here is one painting, under her are collected fallen leaves.

Here is a close up of my little blue glass victorian slipper, filled “to the ankle” with giant rose hips! I placed a bejeweled trinket case next to it, along with a jar of bronze glitter.

And to the right of the table is my “Three Earthy Maidens” painting. The glass stones in the vase will be a mosiac in the future.

Also on the right side is a bronze moon dish filled with dried rosebuds, a stage before they turn to the rose hips. I purchased these buds at a herb store in upstate NY last weekend. The store had other apothecary jars- all filled with herbs and spices. Heaven! The teapot is actually an oil burner- filled with frankincense essential oil.

In the center is a moss filled tin, with a little log. On the log is a sleeping fae, surrounded by crystals, amulets and charms. The forest now sleeps, until the spring. So I guess the fae in me is sleeping. I hope to get a better picture very soon.

In front of the mossy tin is a blue wooden box filled with pathcouli from the apothecary shop as well. Two trinket jars on each side.

I placed tree branches on each side of the alter. Aren’t the little blackbirds cute? I strung giant rosehips and draped them over my antique mirror. Smaller, wild rosehips (the kind that grow in the woods) make a lovely bouquet- with black ribbon to match the birds! My hands bled from the thorns when I gathered these.

Whew- this took awhile to do! I need to step away from my journal in the coming days to create time for ART!!!

I snipped some bittersweet off the vines outside my “other studio”. I just love bittersweet!

And I love blackbirds too, especially in the bare November trees against the blue skies. Such a contrast! I was inspired to paint two small watercolor/ ink pieces (which I think I will use for my current silk piece!)

I had a relaxing weekend. Sipped tea and created lots of little paintings in my cozy studio room. My husband snapped this picture when I wasnt looking. I am in deep concentration here, painting a series of birch tree scenes with blissful women under and around them:

I will post some of my teeny paintings soon! They are on watercolor postcards (you can see them in the photo off to the side) and I find it so rewarding to play with color and composition for larger pieces to come.
Besides the art I was much inspired by my woodsy walks. Clad in mittens and a toasty hat I collected moss, tree branches amd a little log from the forest floor for my November inspiration table, which I will post pictures of soon. Gathered wild and domestic rose hips and strung them into a garland for my mirror. I even placed to little blackbirds on the table’s tree branches. The theme of the table/alter and my recent art is earthy and grounded. I believe that have lost my wings!

I just sent the following three pics of my commissions to Faery Magazine!!!! They had a call for “faery fiber art”. Perfect.

I have spent months practicing painting on silk, and FINALLY I am getting somewhere. Silk is sooo tempermental, as the colors wish and wash all over the place….arg! But I have discovered a few products and techniques that help. But most of all it takes practice…arg again! PLUS, I am using real fiber dyes (not paints) which need to be steam set for a looong time.
And heres the painting, before the stove top steaming. Ignore the blue, I was playing around with the colors. I am in love with the shimmer of silk! My new canvas!
Its sooo cool becasue the dyes “become one” with the silk during steaming, and the art seeps through the silk, so its on both sides! I’m holding her up to the light, you can see its rays shining through.

so after painting, I roll her in newsprint… carefully!!

Fingers crossed as I steam set the dyes in this nifty pan that goes over two burners…I saved myself $800.00 by discovering a fish poaching pan (the upright silk steamer costs this much!) But now I’m limited on the size of the silk piece that I can steam. For now, oh well.

Scrub-a-dubb…It worked! A few weird dye spots here and there…but ok. Now I wash the piece, and then iron. Now to experiment with the stitching.

I’m going to do some paintings stitched, some not. No promises on this one, but hopefully I’ll post her when shes done!