Tapestry Workshop with Rebecca Mezoff (Michigan League of Handweavers Workshops 2012)

Thursday evening, August 9th through Sunday, August 12th I spent in Holland, MI at Hope College's campus with some of my favorite people: Weavers and Fiber Artists!

I had chosen to take Rebecca Mezoff's "Color Gradation Techniques for Tapestry."  I was dropping something off at Millie Danielson's house and she brought up that I should look into taking this workshop.  I'm not a "workshop junkie" (a term I learned this weekend and liked) because I have so many things that I have to get done with my artwork that I hate to distract myself with ideas and new techniques. However, I do want to support MLH and the learning opportunities that they have right at our back door.  I have zero formal training in weaving wool tapestry at a tecnical level or how to color gradate. So I applied for an MLH Learning Grant and signed up for Rebecca's class.  Along the way, the Arts Council of Greater Lansing announced a new grant that is for individual artists.  It's the Chris Clark Fellowship Grant.  I decided to apply for it and see if I could get the other portion of my workshop weekend paid for.  I recently found out that I was awarded this grant also, along with a number of other artists.  The 2012 Chris Clark grantees can be found HERE.

What a class!

Day 1:

I learned how to splice so that I have no funny knots and smooth transitions.

Back of my piece/sample.  Please excuse the stray yarns...

Front of the piece, looking through the back of my loom so there's warp in the way.

Rebecca was very organized and had a wonderful power point to show up exactly how some of these techniques are used and how to do them.  She had samples all lined up for us to work on, but what I loved about her teaching style is that there were no hard and fast rules as to how you had to weave your piece.

Day 2:

I decided to try using a cartoon (line drawing behind the weaving) to follow an idea that I had.  I am using pick and pick, transparancy and gradation in the teal/black/grey piece.

Day 3:

On to serious gradation!  The yellow is the yarn we had been using (2 ply), and I started in with a purple block of single ply yarn that you use 3 strands at a time.

And then I got home, set it down in my loom room, and it sat like this until last week.  Nearly done, but after 3 full days of over 30 hours of weaving (my choice, they weren't 10 hours days!) my fingers were ready for a break.

Last week I sat down ad finished my gradation in the purple and yellow.  I remembered it feeling overwhelming because of the counting of single yarns and getting just the right mixture for a smooth transition, but it was't when I got back to it.

#1 "Stream of Consciousness"

#2 "Wing It"

#3 Gradation Block

This is the first workshop weekend that I have taken with the Michigan League of Handweavers. Since these were such new techniques in tapestry for me, I was really driven over the 3 days to get as much information out of the thress days as possible.  The last piece that I did, with the gradation block has potential for me to weave my beaded sculptures through it because the side of the purple block are completely open.  I'm playing with design ideas now.

Chekc out Rebecca Mezoff's Blog about her weekend with our class HERE (there's some good photos of me!)

I thought for a moment that it was the first 3-day workshop I had taken ever, but I'm wrong, Briony Foy did 3 days with the Greater Lansing Weavers Guild in Spring 2011 (Blog post here).

Thank you so much to both the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and the Michigan League of Handweavers for providing me with this opportunity!  I will be blocking these pieces and will soon hang them at Grove Gallery!

This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing.

Earrings and bracelet matching the Plum Dress

Large Cluster Earrings $95.00

 

I finally took photos of the jewelry I made to go with the Plum Dress for the wedding we recently attended.  

Netting Bracelet with Glass Pearl closure $75.00

 

Both pieces can be found on my website under the Beadwork catagory at www.jennyschu.com 

Forest through the trees: part 7, Leaf panel, woven and stitched leaves

The third and front panel for "She Can't See the Forest Through the Trees" is a panel of mixed fiberart leaves. There will be both beaded leaves and a kind-of stitched fabric leaf.That stitched fabric leaf is what this post is about.

I started experimenting with the excess fabric I had from the Forest weaving. I wanted to make leaves out of it, but I wanted them to be sturdy. The fabric, as you can see from the photo above, is fairly loosely woven. So I got out a fun fiber art fabric that dissolves in water. I am using the Skacel Collection fabric that I got from Woven Art a few years ago. I had bought some more (because I had misplaced this packet of it) and they were carrying a new one that is adhesive on one side.  I will switch to using that one when I run out of the Skacel fabric.

  

So I have been placing the dissolvable fabric on both side of my woven and sewing like crazy on my sewing machine!  It's nice because there's very little measuring and I feel like I'm drawing with my sewing machine.

 

When I first got to using this stuff I thought just hot water would work:

 But you really have to boil the white fabric off of it (unless you like to pick at it):

I am finding that you can boil them at various lengths of time depending if you want it a little stiff (almost as if it's starched), or completely loose.  Some of the leaves I have been boiling twice because they come out a little too stiff, which you can only really tell after they're dry.

This is the most I think I've ever used my sewing machine and I'm really loving it. Other ideas are cropping up in my head along the way, but I'm sticking with making my leaves for the time being.



Plum dress: 1-day Side Project

There's something about preparing to go to an event such as a wedding, shower, holiday party of sorts that makes me want to get a new dress.  I have lots of dresses ranging from formal/cocktail to more casual and I really don't need another one, but I want one.

I have a few new rules for myself as closets in old houses are not very big.

1) Have you already been shopping this month?
-Yes. Baby gifts, wedding gifts and a bridesmaid dress.  Budget is blown.

2) Does it match one of your hats?
- I'm looking at one online, to match my yellow hat, but this is going to be a wedding with lots of hugging old friends and dancing.  So the yellow hat will get in the way.  Defaulting to my favorite big "purple" hat (straw hat with purple accents).

3) Do I still want a new dress?
-Yes.

I've just recently re-organized all of my fabric in color order and into the attic this summer.  I don't use it very often, but it's good to have on-hand.  I have had this great quilting fabric in my stash for some time.  I bought it on sale at Country Stitches because it was in my colors (purple and army green) and I couldn't pass it up.  It's been calling to me from the drawer to make a skirt out of it, but I hadn't found a good skirt design.  However, I do have a dress design that I currently like.

(Dress pinned to the form, no zipper)

So I decided to make the dress.  Since I've gotten a dress form that I keep adjusted to my size, and a nice sewing machine (also purchased at Country Stitches), I only measured up the length of the skirt.  The rest I pinned and adjusted on the dress form.  This makes dress-making so much faster!  (There were the days where I'd pin, try on, with pins sticking me, re-pin.  This is a long process.)

It had a few small issues, but really, I wanted it to be a quick and functional project, which it was.  It fit great and worked well for the wedding, with the hat and earrings in matching colors.

(Matt and Lauren, Photo stolen from my mom's Facebook)

A huge congrats to Matt and Lauren who have been great friends for most of my life.  I've known Matt since elementary school and Lauren since high school.  I'm so happy for them to start their next adventure!

Beadweaving Workshop at the Lansing Art Gallery!

(Delica seed beads, antique button)

Beginner's Peyote Stitch Workshop!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012  6pm-9pm

I will be teaching 2 count peyote stitch in this workshop geared towards beginner's beadweaving to make a bracelet with a button-and-loop closure. Materials provided will be needle, thread and velvet pads or trays to bead off of (needle and thread you keep). Beads and closure options will be available for purchase, or you may bring your own.  I can provide a materials list (with links to beads I use etc) after you have signed up for the class with the Lansing Art Gallery.  You may contact me. 
This class is to jump-start you into beadweaving while still being able to make a finished bracelet at a reasonable rate of time.

(Dynamite seed beads with large faux pearl closure)

This class is $45 per person if signed up before September 7. $50 per person after September 7.

Minimum 6 people, Max 12.

You may pay with cash, check or credit card to the Lansing Art Gallery by stopping in (119 N. Washington Square, Lansing MI 48933), calling in (517-374-6400, ext. 3) or sending them an e-mail (lansingartgallery@gmail.com)!

This event is brought to you in part by a grant from the

Arts Council of Greater Lansing

Convergence 2012

The Handweavers Guild of America hosts a huge conference every two years called "Convergence."  I have been trying to think about just how to write about my awesome time there, but I've been so busy beading, weaving, drilling, sanding, hanging, and laying things out, that sitting down to reflect my mini-fiber-vacation has not made the top of my list.  So, in short, I had a GREAT TIME.  Now here I go rambling on about it:
I decided not to take any of the classes since I had never been to a Convergence before and I wanted to get a feel for how it's organized and how much time you may or may not have to see exhibits and meet people.  Plus I wanted to consider this a little vacation and get in some relaxing and seeing Long Beach itself. I signed up to see the fashion Show (including dinner before hand), Lucy Dunne's keynote, and the breakfast talk with Aaron Kramer.  This kept my schedule nice and open to enjoy doing other things.

The exhibits of what weavers and fiberartists are doing around the country/world were amazing.  I feel very honored that my "Bamboozled Bangle" was chosen to be in the Small Expressions Exhibit along side many other wonderful artists. Also, this makes the first time that one of my pieces has made it into an Art Museum, how cool is that?!  It's at the Long Beach Museum of Art until August 12th, 2012.  It also was chosen to be on the Exhibit page for the LBMA's website, which is like winning a prize.

Bamboozled Bangle, Photo by Luke Anthony Photography

Thankfully my light schedule allowed me to figure out how to get around Long Beach (the red Passport bus, $1.25), hang out over on 2nd Street in the Belmont Beach area, and I even took a long walk on the beach from Belmont Beach to Long Beach picking up some interesting seaweed pieces and a log that I plan on using in my beaded sculptures.

AND I got to have dinner with my roommate from freshmen year at University of Michigan.  It's been 12 years since we lived together, and we didn't see much of each other in college, so we had LOTS to talk about.  Thanks for meeting up with me Jen, and lets not wait another 12 years, eh?

Jenny and Jen!

The energy of the conference was exciting and I got to talk to and meet a lot of other weavers and also many of the HGA Reps from other states. I would say we had a pretty good show of Michigan weavers there too.

Thank you HGA for putting on such a great conference!

Forest through the Trees: part 6, woven "trees" panel

I know it may appear that I have been slacking in July, it's really been slacking on blogging.  July has been a busy month and I cannot believe we are at the end of it!

Since I've finished the first panel of "She Can't See the Forest Through the Trees" I've been trying to focus on the next two panels.  The middle panel is strips of St. Petersburg Chain stitch which represents the "trees" in this piece.  I am playing with various sized seed beads and beginning to mix colors for a more blended look on some of the "tree" strips.

This has led me to playing with various sizes and types of seed beads.  The above diagram is largest beads on the left (Size 6/0 are the biggest) and smallest on the right (Size 15/0, which is what I usually use for my lariat necklaces).  I prefer to work with Miyuki and Matsuno brand beads as they are a high quality and for the most part consistent in shape.  I did, however, purchase a cheaper brand called Ming Tree which is what is labeled "Irregular Seed Beads."  I wouldn't normally use these beads in my jewelry due to the fact that they are not at all consistent in shape and therefor is hard to make fit together properly.  I do like the different texture they are providing for the "tree" strips in this piece, so I will continue using them for that.

I am just starting to hang my strips to see what other sizes I will want on hand to work with.  I really love the feel of the larger seed beads so they are top on my list to order more.  The above image is the weaving behind the strips that I'm starting to weave together.  When I actually hang it, they will be spaced apart much more (this photo they are right up against each other).  As you can see, I have a lot more strips to make.  Hence my lack of keeping my blog up-to date.

This activity is made possible in part by a

grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing