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!