A Modern Quilt for The New Puppy
I have not been able to write here for a couple of weeks. I have a big project going on. And I am not talking about this quilt!
I am talking about the owner of the quilt!
She is my new beagle puppy Stella! As you can see from the pictures, see appreciates my hard work for the quilt.
I made the quilt from scraps that I found in the closet. I used to make a lot of quilts many years ago. Then I stopped. The reason was the lack of time to make really artistic detailed hand embroidered quilts and the lack of inspiration to make traditional ones. But now I have found a new trend: modern quilting! I am so excited!
Stella wishes a long and warm summer to all of you! See you soon!
Painting With Wool
For a long time I have believed that the most valuable things are those that you can make yourself from start to finish. The question is only, where to start. This project was a very special one as I started with natural white wool. I had the idea of painting with fiber and I thought I could take a layered approach as what I have done with papers.
My first step was to dye the wool by painting colors over it. Here’s one of the rovings I dyed.
Then I spun the wool.
Here’s some of the finished yarn. With spinning I added “painted” layers.
Then I chose the pattern. I could have designed it myself but I find so perfect one I decided to go with it. It’s Stockport by Sarah Hutton from Rowan magazine nr 46. I chose to make mine it a little longer to really show off the yarn.
When knitting the sweater I made random stripes, another layer of paint. I think that the result really proves that the layered look can be done with fiber too!
Some Things Never Change
Creating Wood by Doodling Layers
My husband is into woodworking, and he often shows me stuff that inspires me too. Like this box! After seeing it, I wanted to work with papers like they were wood. Carve with my pen and all!
Here’s my little piece of wood, only on paper!
Doodling on a Transparency
First, I only had an idea of how wood is constructed. It has lots of layers. I made the bottom layer with inks and chose deep orange shades. Then I took one of my illustrations, converted it black and white with a computer and printed it to a transparent film. It was pretty full of everything – as my work usually is – even in black and white, but of course it was not quite enough. I added some more doodling on it with a black marker. It already began to look like wood when setting the transparency over the orange background.
Doodling on a Print
I was not finished, though. The two layers were then scanned and manipulated digitally to make the black look like it’s gone deeper into the orange layer. The result was printed on paper. I added “the carving” using a white gel pen. Then back to the computer! I cut the piece in Photoshop and added the original scan as a background. Some fine tuning and there it was!
Doodling Layers – Creating Your Own Visual World
An American artist Georgia O’Keeffe said: “To create one’s own world, in any of the arts, takes courage.” I do not know about courage, but it surely is the best art can give to me: to create my own world. By process-oriented approach like by doodling layers, it’s both easy and fun!
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