She Can't See the Forest Through the Trees: Finishing Up

 

As you can see from the above photo, "She Can't See the Forest Through the Trees" is coming along nicely.  The "Forest" (woven) panel and the "Leaf" (mixed woven, stitched, beading) panel has been handed over to my photographer Luke Pline.  I'll have the "Trees" panel done this week.

 

It baffles me how long it took for this to come together, but I tend to forget how long it takes me to develop a concept to my own satisfaction, then actually produce it.  Plus the procrastinate on the finishing of a piece for much too long.  This is coming together great and I'm excited to see it up in the gallery rather than in my basement. 

 

 

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

Uprooted 1: Finishing Touches

Now that the tendrils have been set, the wood has been oiled and waxed, I get to address the final embellishments for "Uprooted 1"  It's exciting because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and have the wonderful scent of the walnut oil and wax finish in the air and clutching on to my hands as I work.

I had asked local woodworker/artist, Tom Cannon how he finishes his bowls without stain and varnish, just to keep the piece looking natural and he suggested a walnut oil and wax rub.  I looked up ways to make it, but decided that after collecting to ingrdients and taking the time to mix it up, it was faster and easier for me to order it.  I found BowlMakerInc.com and ordered the oil/wax combo.  I'm exremely happy with the outcome. You can find his finishes here.

As I was addressing where to put individual bead accents into parts of the root, it seemed like it was missing something.  There are two areas that needed tendrils "growing" out of them also.  They are much smaller than the original tendrils, and I've gotten a bit quicker at beading these shapes so here I go into 2 more.  They should take 30 hours or less to get done.

 

 

Let the countdown begin.  I swear I will get this piece done soon to have photographed and put on my postcard/exhibit promotion!
 

 



Forest through the Leaves: part 8, Leaf Panel

 

As it turns out, stitching leaves together always takes about five times longer than I think it will in my head.  I've spent over 25 hours sewing this panel together, I cannot even begin to fathom how long all of the leaves took me to make! (ok, 30-45 minutes per leaf x just over 120 leaves is approximately 90+ hours....and I've been hard on myself for slacking.)  It's a good thing that I love to do detailed work. I'm not even close to being sick of making leaves. Rather, I have even more leaf panel designs floating around in mind and my sketchbook.

This panel is made up two different leaf-techniques.  The first is the Russian Beaded Leaf that you see in so many of my jewelry designs.  The second leaf is a new exploration for me, with my handwoven remnants cut and stitched on my sewing machine for the leaf detail.  

The white background doesn't give this panel justice.  I stained the dowel that I'm going to attach it to this morning, so it will soon be hanging free and open.  You'll have to come to my exhibit in March/April to get a good look at it. 

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