Recycling Silk Threads into New Yarn

I'm wondering if this should be the first in a series of posts about how I recycle things most people would throw away. I mean, you probably would. Me? I just can't let go of certain kinds of materials. 

Point in case - these silk threads. 

I have been saving them for years. At first, I saved them because I was making paper. These threads added to paper pulp make an extraordinary paper. Simply lovely. So I had a little, zippered lunch bag that I saved them in. Now, these threads are the ones that fray off a piece of silk. Silk, that wonderous fabric! How could I let such fiber and color go? And, let's face it, silk frays around the edges like a grad school hopeful that needs those 5 more points on the GREs. There's plenty of this kind of fray if one works with silk. 

So a kind of synchronicity of events lead to the discovery of my wool carders, the silk, an old ball of yarn I spun years ago from natural wool and a wandering mind. It culminated with the box the carders was in fell off a pile, onto the floor and cracked open before my eyes. If that wasn't a sign that I should try them out again, I don't know what is. (So let it be known that I will accept any excuse to spend my time creating. I can tell quite a story, too.)

So here's how that beautiful silk looks when combed out. I added wool, and lots of it, so that there would be something to bind it together. I found that the parts where the silk ratio was too high, the whole thing fell apart. You have to have enough wool to hold it together. 

Here's the drop spindle I used to spin the yarn. I made the bottom out of fimo more than ten years ago. The dragonfly pattern in it was created by referencing a book about making colorful rolled sushi. Haven't touched this in years either, but worked like a charm. 

And here is the finished product. There is not much of it...yet. 

What I have found out is that it is possible. It works and this is something I can incorporate into my work. 

I didn't really have to spin it. I could have carded it and then used it for felting. Perhaps an easier way to make use of the materials. My mind doesn't rest. What about spinning scraps of paper into the yarn? Especially some of that beautiful stuff I get from Gwen Lafleur. I can never bear to throw away even a scrap of that stuff. 

So what say you? Does this sound like something you would do? Are you shaking your head and thinking I had better just go buy some new yarn? Like recycling? Would you like to see more articles like this? 

The Artist's Way

I've been hearing about The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron for a long time now. Several years ago my friend Cindi Huss told me about the book and about morning pages. I didn't read the book, but I got the gist and started doing them off and on. About a year ago, the book found me at a Barnes and Noble and jumped off the shelf. Literally. I took it home and it stayed on the very shelf I photographed since then. About six weeks ago I started doing morning pages every day and decided to read the book.

Thus started this journey. 

For the Artist Date portion of my assignments I have decided to set down some time each week with one of the books from the overcrowded shelf, find a skill and try it. So far this is leading to some fun creativity. I'm moving into different territory.

 

I started with the Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess. Quite a lot of paint has been seen flinging about here. Intrigued by the Paper Cloth on page 90, I mixed up some glue, unearthed some muslin and got down to business. What a fun process! Several other techniques await the right tools to make them happen (where is that carpet tape when you need it?)

Blogging for Connection

From time to time most bloggers ask themselves the question. 

"What question?" you ask.

That question. 

Why do we blog? 

If you are asking this question, pull up a seat and have a cold glass of peach infused ice tea. 

"Why this tea in particular?"you may well ask. "Why not plain? Why not coffee? "

Because this tea is the answer to your question. I hear your confusion. 
"Get to the point already, will you?" you say with a slight irritation in your voice. 

I will oblige you. 

I have never in the whole of my life had peach infused ice tea. Never given it a backwards glance. When the recipe was shared by Ricki Jill of Art@Home on her post for this year's Mad Tea Party I was intrigued. I had to try it. If you ask around, and I beg you don't, you may even learn that I became a bit obsessed with giving it a try. 

The ingredients I bought at a local farm. South Carolinan peaches were chosen over the white ones. Locally grown mint was procured. 


As we sat and sipped and proclaimed over the tea I mused upon the ties that bind us as bloggers. The richness of experience we are granted for the inspiration and kindness from each other, persons unknown to each other in our local, everyday lives. The tea was, and remains, delicious. Ricki was astute in mentioning that the recipe can last a while, but won't because it will be finished long before it's expiration date. For the record, I drank more than one glass. 















Blogging, instagram, and a variety of other ways of connecting are a blessing to those of those who stick with it, who engage and who share. It requires a certain level of engagement, however, and that connection does not come without effort. We blog to see and be seen, to inspire and be inspired, to express and find expressions that help us understand our own experience. We blog to send beauty into the world and to fill our lives with that beauty. 

These are all things I am thinking as I muse over the beauty of the connection we gain from blogging. There is so much more. I need not be complete in this post. 

Dear reader, thank you for being part of this blogging experience. Ricki Jill, thank you so much for this recipe. So delicious! 

Why do you blog? Why do you read blogs? What do you get out of the experience?

Flip, Flops, Pockets and Cut Outs with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

It's getting to be a tradition for me - a class at Kept Creations in Whitman, Massachusetts each summer. This year my daughter took the class with me! Double the fun. Notice that even after washing up we were covered in paint. 














This year I took a class called Flips, Flops, Pockets and Cut-outs with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. It is always inspiring to meet and get direct instruction from someone you have been following and learning from online. Julie has been a big inspiration for me in so many ways.

 

We started with cut outs. Thinking I could make a better circle, I traced inside some tape to make my shape. That didn't leave me much wiggle room. 

While I like my first attempts, I note to myself that next time I will try making a bigger cut out for this technique. It gives room for the possible. 

Expanding on our cutting techniques, this beauty emerged. 

What a surprise it was! 

Who knew I could make this kind of thing? 

 Always the rebel, I tried making paisley shaped pages. We will see how they work out in the end. Currently they remind me that I am adventurous. 

Here are some of the flaps I made. On the first few you can see how the flaps were integrated by painting the background. 

And a paisley flap! Imagine that! When the background is done it will look quite a bit different. 

It took two days for the paint to be removed from this lovely pair of hands. 

Julie is an amazing instructor. Her class is packed full of techniques and ideas. She has humor, energy and is quick to encourage. If you have a chance to take her class, do it! 

Cool idea from another participant of the class. Store washi tape on embroidery floss holders. 

Taking classes provides information, inspiration and the company of others - all things that push us forward. This was a wonderful experience for me. 

Julie posted about the class on her website. If you like a better look at the class look here: 
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2016/07/three-classes-at-kept-creations.html

Assigning Meaning

I enjoy making connections. Whether they are connections between people, ideas or things the connectivity of life excites and intrigues me. Sometimes I think I would have been a good detective. Being a librarian, however, I get to do plenty of sleuthing, finding and scoring in the search for information. 

That search for connection is part of my career path, part of my leisure and simply, part of me. 

I connect the dots.

Sometimes the dots are pretty faint. Sometimes you can barely see them. No matter. I can find connectedness when none is plainly in sight. 

Some years ago I read a book that made me pause. It made me wonder if my search for meaning and interconnectedness was a good thing after all. The book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee. Frost and Steketee make many observations about hoarders that were at once fascinating and terrifying. Although I read the book years ago, several things stay with me: 

1. Hoarders are experts at creating meaning even when there is no meaning discernable to the average person. The problem is that they are then unable to rank the meaning or value of items. They cannot distinguish so they keep everything.

2. It was striking how many of the hoarders were, or had been, librarians. It seems like I am in danger. It makes sense. As librarians we are trained to look for connections, for meaning. To assign meaning when we are cataloging. To find resources for any occasion, no matter how random. 

3. The authors state that people who they studied hadn't always been hoarders. A loss, a stressful time, a shock could all send a perfectly reasonable person into a spiral of hoarding. 

I don't want to give up the joy of making connections or of assigning meaning in my life. It brings much depth and beauty to my life. However, I do want to cultivate a more meditative sense of meaning. Rather than focusing on the ownership of that meaning, I am practicing an ability to notice the meaning, make the connections as let it go by me. Sometimes I create and let it go out in the world to touch others, sometimes I give it away, sometimes I do keep the end product. I am becoming more mindful about curating the materials I keep and letting others go. 

In art and life allowing the flow to be uninterrupted makes for less friction and more joy. That's part one. Now I have to go fill another garbage bag. 

Intention

 These days I don't hear many people talk about making New Year's Resolutions. A trend I have seen over the last few years is the tradition of choosing a guiding word for the year. I have been intrigued by this idea, but didn't think I'd do it until several things occured to make my word find me rather than the other way around.

1. I was telling my child about how some people do this. I remember where I was on the road when this conversation took place. I then said "I don't know what word I would choose unless it was...." and out the word popped. What a surprise!

2. The next day I was reading the blog All of Me and her post was about, surprise, her guiding word. She also posted a link to Susannah Conway's Find Your Word for 2016. I promptly signed up, went through the process and ended up with exactly the same word. It was a great process, one I would highly recommend. Thanks Lynette and Susannah!

My guiding word for 2016 is Intention. 

While there are plenty of other worthy words out there, I know what I need this year is Intention. There are so many demands. So many tasks that need doing, or seem to need doing. There is no way to fit them all in. So being guided by living intentionally I may start being buffeted less by the winds that blow and start charting my own course with more accuracy. 

I want to be intentional about my work, my family, my art and about my living space. I am sure I will find more ways in which intention enhances my experience of my life. 

So when I finally got down to doing my warm up page for Life Book 2016 (I need a little more intention to get that rolling) I knew that my message would have the word Intention front and center. 

I want to make sure I make time for creating. The intent is that I fit it in every day. It is like meditation for me. 

More often I'm intentional about whether a thing, activity, obligation really has a place in the life I want to live. There are still winds of unexpected changes, but I am starting to choose more carefully. 

Those days

Some days are for finishing, for forging ahead, for executing visions with paper, pencil and paint. Other days are for starting. 

Today I am thinking ahead. Preparing pages for those days...the bleak and barren ones...the days that there is little energy left and deciding to give up would take but a moment. Those days are days I would not like to loose momentum. I would not like to pass the day without creativity. Yet on days such as those there is not a shred of inspiration, motivation or drive. Those are days that I can pull out a sketchbook with some colorful ink or paint or paper already installed. 

A page that seems begun is a resting place. A place to feel peace. It is a place I can go and stay for a moment until I can see the hint of a shape, the breath of a life. On such days I can pick up a marker or a gel pen (have you heard how I love them?) and add a hint of this and a sparkle of that. Those are the days for such tools. 

On days such as those I will be glad that today I chose to spread ink for future happiness. Storing away the color and the warmth for a day less blessed. Today I felt like banking the colors and inspiration I could feel and invest it for a future which needs this color. Which needs the vibrancy of me on this day. So some day I will look at these backgrounds and see the love that pours through me on to the page and into the blogosphere. 

That day I will be happy I had today. 

Work, Family, Art Balance

It's not easy to balance everything. That's exactly the reason I am determined not to give up. So finding ways to sneak in more creativity is an art I want to pursue. 

Some people would stick with one journal and see it through. 

Not me. I am a firm adherent in the multiple journals philosophy. With just five minutes to create, unfurl three journals to in progress pages - usually pages that are in their first few layers of existence. 

Choose one color of acrylic paint and then another as the first one is dried up. A dollop of paint on the palette, a make up sponge and a couple of minutes is enough to move three pages along....more if you have space to spread them out and have them dry. 

Always having something in progress - rather having multiple things in process has been a technique I have used to keep me moving forward. 

It works for me. More pages. More art. More finished products. Happier me. 

Remembering June

Remembering June and planning for this year's Roses. 

I left my play journal out on the desk. There were many chores waiting me, but I stole some time for me. There is nothing that centers me like putting color on a page. Tonight it was prismacolor markers that did the trick. The feeling of the marker making contact with the paper - this makes me grounded. 

I had prepared this page over a month ago. Big red circles and then petals from a silk flower gessoed down to the page. The rest was added tonight. Once again....it looks completely different than when I started.

There are chores to do and I'm running behind in my art courses. But I'm adding color to my life and moving forward. 

Busy Time Play

It's been hard to fit in time to paint lately. Too many things to start a new year. I am signed up for two classes and had hoped to make progress in each of them this weekend, but alas, it was not to be.

Still I just had to listen to that voice that begs for expression. Some time ago I decided that I needed to create a forum for just such times. Using a thin journal I splashed paint on the pages, added ink and started adding extra paint/ink/stmaps from other projects. The concept of this book is that it would be easy enough to pull out and do 10 minutes of playing. Some of the pages have ended up favorites.

Too bad it lay forgotten - until tonight. I pulled it out and added color with abandon. It now looks nothing like the page it began as. Transformations are fun. The page wasn't the only thing energized. I was too.

Note to self: This should be a core activity and done so regularly that it is not forgotten in overwhelming times.

Hope you will make a play journal too.