Class Prep

Another small piece (not quite finished) that will - hopefully - help to inspire a beginner art quilter. I wanted to use all commercial fabrics for this one but I couldn't help it....I had to add some hand dyes....

J-E-L-L-O

Some more gelatin printed cloth from class last night. Right now I plan on keeping this as a whole cloth piece and to add hand stitching with some beading and other embellishments.
On another note I rusted some silk organza yesterday and like how it turned out (husband did have to call me at work to inquire what was in that old rusted tin sitting out in the sun). Right now I'm not sure how I'm going to use this but the thought of revisiting my fascination with cairn and standing stones has resurfaced. This organza might make some great ethereal appearing stone images....we shall see.....

Disintegration

These pieces with foiling, beads and shimmer paint are really difficult to photograph....of course, the fact that the batteries in my camera need recharging doesn't help any either! Anyway, this is another in that series inspired by cairns, standing stones and now old stone building elements. Another 4x6'er....but I do think I'm going to start on a larger one today...might even reach for those double digits.

Beautiful Sunday Morning

Clear, sunny and cool seems to be on tap for the weather today....absolutely gorgeous! Sept and Oct are my favorite months of the year. I am not a beach person - more a wood fire, homemade soup person. No doubt this blog will have at least one posting showing a bonfire that we will have out at our pond sometime in the next few weeks. You are all invited as long as you bring the marshmallows!

I made this 4x6er last night from hand dyed & painted fabric that was further embellished with foils. The other elements are rolled cloth that was secured together with gel medium and wrapped with beads and wires. I call it Ancient Ruins and is further exploration of this cairns, portal, standing stones series I've been busy with.

Oh...and....the class Thurs night went great (at least that was my take on it). I believe I realized some success in my mission to only provide inspiration and encouragement to design creatively rather than instruction on specific construction methods. Part 2 will be this Thursday. I hope the participants are all as enthusiastic as they were last week.

Cairns, Standing Stones & Inunguaks

A piece of Wikipedia information on the section Cairns As People....

"The practice is common in English, cairns are sometimes referred to by their anthropomorphic qualities. In German and Dutch, a cairn is known as Steinmann and Stenenman respectively, meaning literally "stone man". A form of the Inuit inukshuk is also meant to represent a human figure, and is called an inunguak ("imitation of a person"). In Italy, especially the Italian Alps, a cairn is an "Ometto" a small man."

I am fascinated by these rock art structures.

Large man-made formations are also know as standing stones, megaliths and orthostats. These huge stones standing upright are believed to be as old as 2800 B.C.E. (how politically correct am I?), maybe older.

Amazing....