Makers gotta make

It's been almost a year since I posted so I don't know if anyone will care but here are a few of the things I've been making this year. There was felt, polymer clay, sterling silver, copper enamel and collage. I tried laser cutting, beading and knitting hand warmers. I still have a love affair with paper, printing and linoleum prints. So many ideas and so little time.

Japanese seed beads, with brass and gold highlights.

 Detail of a beaded necklace

African glass, brass and leather necklace 

 Textured enamel earrings

 needle felted brooch

Two needle felted, beaded and embroidered brooches.

 Polymer clay beads

Sterling silver forged cuff

10 x10 x10 and Might Tieton

I've just finished submitting two pieces to the 10 x10 x10 art show at Mighty Tieton near Yakima.

To qualify, each piece can be no larger that 10 inches in any dimension. I submitted two of the handmade books I made last summer at Penland in Laura Wait's class.

Here are some photos.

More needle felting and knitting up on Etsy

Here are two new listings for my Etsy shop, Artnest. One is a needle felted pin in the shape of a house with embroidery and seed beads. The other is a hand knit scarf with fabulous colors which are good for chasing away the winter blues.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/artnestbydiane

Needle felted pin with hand dyed silk and beads

Hand knit ribbed scarf

Home from Penland

Penland View

I'm back from two weeks at the beautiful and wonderful Penland School of Crafts. The school teaches all kinds of crafts and arts from glass, metals, printmaking, textiles to bookarts. I took a book/lettering/painting class with Laura Wait. It was fabulous. We started with large pieces of paper and then started writing words with sticks, shingles, rocks and whatever primitive materials we could find. Next we graduated to brushes and calligraphy pens, creating layers of text which bagan to take on the look of abstract forms. The next step in the process was learning to sew exposed bindings such as the herringbone. Paint was added to pages before and after the sewing process. Here are some pictures from the workshop.

Writing tools

Sample text

exposed bindings

Sewing a book on linen cords

Laura Wait demonstrating writing and painting with sumi ink

Palette and books in progress

Exposed binding book

My books on display

Some of my books

Evidence of the Hand

I'm starting a new series of photographs called "Evidence of the Hand" and eventually want to do a show on this subject. It concerns looking at the handwork involved in making whether it be a sweater, or a piece of art.

beads and threads

Here are pictures from the first series in Evidence of the Hand. I found a beat up sweater at Goodwill by the pound. The lining was shot but I decided to upcycle the beads and save the beautiful beaded handwork for use on something else. I even love the label inside the sweater.

Linoleum block carving for Christmas cards

My friend Kelly had her annual lino-block carving party. This is about my sixth year to attend and I'm finally getting the hang of it. Here's my card for this year.