The teenage son...

Jason, the crucifer, as he is called now! Another rite of passage for parents, and we're sure that Martin Luther would be proud. He didn't realize how heavy it was, and the closing hymn today was a long one - I was hoping that his big grin was coming from deep down in his soul, but I found out that his fellow confirmation classmates were smirking at him!

He's changing so much these days, in size and maturity (?) - last week we went to a meeting at the high school that he will be attending next fall. Tomorrow he auditions for the "Creative and Performing Arts Academy" that is at that school. He's trying out for dance, and is interested in the tech side of drama, but still has to recite something for the audition - it should work out, as he is quite the extrovert.....

We got silly in class and dyed our hair -

 

and maybe we shouldn't have cut it first ~

just kidding! These are really pix from my "Sensational Silk Paper" workshop -
This is Catherine's hand, and she's playing
with her beautiful blue mulberry roving.
In the super macro closeup above, we see
Cheryl's luscious lime...

Another student thinks I should market my dyed roving - hmmm...food for thought! I had 20 or so colors ready for class, and I think I can safely say that "extreme eye candy" would be a good way to describe the palette.....

An inspiration to us all...

I am delighted to announce that "Artful Quilters" from everywhere are taking on the challenge of the "Scary Studios" project !!! You must check out princessandthepea
to be truly inspired ~ what messes, what creative chaos ~ IT IS A THING OF BEAUTY !!!
Join us, won't you? See my post from Oct.18 if you're interested.....

New Treats from "The Three Muses"

Let's see...

There's my piece,

then Bonnie's,

then Sherrie's !!!

Today's Photo Transfer class...

was great!!! The ladies learned how to make photo transfers using the acrylic gel medium process on toner copies (good quality paper IS important) - doing it again by adding a bit of Setacolor paint to the gel medium before brushing it on the images - adding a little color to images first with Prismacolor Art Sticks - and making beautiful, ethereal transfers using Lumiere and FolkArt metallic paints and inkjet tranparencies - check the photos below of the beautiful women, both in the transfers and the students themselves.....

Tonight I will be dyeing the silk roving for my "Sensational Silk Paper" workshop next Saturday, October 29 - THERE'S STILL ROOM FOR 2 MORE STUDENTS !!! Is it time to come out and play?

FolkArt antique gold metallic... 

Lumiere bronze... 

Lumiere magenta pearl...
~The credit for this technique goes to
Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts Magazine,
Winter 2004 issue, page 80~

admiring her class favorites... 

phun photo transfer... 

They say confession is good for the soul!

I offer this challenge to everyone on the "Artful Quilters Web Ring": if your studio is a bit untidy, a bit scary (Halloween is coming soon, you know), then let's scare each other with pix of our studios, bravely posting them on our blogs!!! Then after Halloween is over, we can inspire each other to clean up, organize, and maybe find some stuff that's been missing for a long time...

It's a perfect time - before the mad holiday craziness takes over, and we start making gifts for everyone. Remember, when you do start the major (or minor) overhaul, write down where you put things, so you'll be able to find them. That always happens to me if I don't keep track...I couldn't remember where I had put a beautiful piece of bronze silk/cotton that I purchased at IQF/Chicago this past spring. When I finally found it, I couldn't imagine why I had put it in that place. I made no sense to me!

How about a deadline (sort of) of November 30th?.....

Before...very creepy! 

Embossed wool felt

Yummy!!! The photos below are small pieces that my "Fabric Surface Design" students created in class today - what a great group of creative ladies!!! Some day, I will share what they did last week in class when we did "frottage" (rubbings). Okay, if you want to know, you'll just have to e-mail me -it was crazy with a capital C...

Today's class involved painting with inexpensive acrylic paints on white wool felt; sprinkling on ultra thick embossing enamel; embossing it; repeating that process a few times; pressing a rubber stamp into the hot enamel; waiting for it to cool; removing the stamp; and to finish, rubbing a little color(s) onto the piece with Lumiere, Shiva paintsticks, and Crayola metallic crayons.

If you haven't tried this, it's easy, and is as close to "instant gratification" as you get! Try it.....

One of my students loves spirals - her name is Joy - connection there? 

close up of "gorgeous" 

another view...

Julaine gets a new Toy...

And she is having some fun now! I finally got a digital camera - be proud of me - I purchased it from a local camera shop here in Rockford, instead of going to one of the "big box" stores. It's a new one - with cool features - my son grabbed it and the video cable that came with it, and hooked it up to the TV, and has already made a MOVIE of me with it without my knowing (that's okay, I'm already planning the payback). Anyhoo, I'm excited because I can post my own pix of my work to this blog, and maybe some other things, people, and the other stuff in my life.

My first pic above is of silk fibers that I have been dyeing, making into paper, rolling into long beads/cocoons and doing all sorts of other funky things to, like crazy. Since I will be teaching the "Sensational Silk Paper" workshops soon, those of you interested can get an idea of what we'll be creating (and going beyond)! Let me know soon if you would like to join us, as these workshops are starting to fill.....