This is a new fabric bowl I made, using a new process shared by Hilde Morin on her blog. I have made bowls before, but not the way she does, She gave us a simple 2 fabric idea, but of course I had to change it up and try to add Circles. I am pleased with this but learned a few things I would do differently next time...assuming there is a next time.
I have been watching several friends in my art group RAFA (find us on Facebook - rafa-rochester area fiber artists) exploring the process of silk fusion. Hoping I remembered most of what they said, I decided to try the technique. I purchased the silk roving fibers, textile medium, screening and set to work. Of course, my experiment would have to be purple.
The silk fibers look like this when they arrive....
After spreading and smoothing them across screening, I placed an identical sized screen on top and wet all the fibers with soapy water. After being sure the fibers are thoroughly wet, I brushed the textile adhesive medium across the screen letting it sink into the fibers. Flip the screen over and repeat, Then you let it drive and wait for the magic, After removing both pieces of screening this is what I got.
Now you are only limited by your imagination. I chose to apply some fusible web and cut shapes to create a couple of pieces.
I purchased my supplies and used the instructions at Treenway Silks. You can also find YouTube videos showing the process. I am hooked enough now that I bought some more colors to play with. Can't wait for the, to arrive.
Created from my wet cyanotypes pieces done last year. These pieces were really "ice"cyanotype as I tried the process on a 10 degree day. I brought in ice, which sat and melted into a pool of water, so I was skeptical as to what I would get. However, once rinsed and dried, the transfer of greenery was there.
Below are the individual blocks. This first of the blocks used a flower from my amaryllis plant. When I brought it in, it was very dreamy and muted. This was my result, Since it was slightly pink originally, I quilted it with variegated pink thread and added some pink beads, the next two are houseplant leaves. All in all, a very fun and interesting process. I have many more to play with from those I did last summer.
Seems I'm doing more with my photography than quilting. Anyway, I shared my Amaryllis bud last time. This is what I got the next day when it opened!
It's time again......that time of year when I wait for the Amaryllis to bloom. Sometimes it is a time of surprise because the color I think I picked is not the one I get. The apple blossom variety is my favorite. I've had every other color along the way, even though the box pictures that one, This year it looks like I will get what I purchased. The blooms are just getting ready to open.....after watching it grow to 34 inches.....the tallest one I have ever had or even seen, It is well staked because it is now top heavy!
The first bud
A reference to how tall this thing is!
I'm working on some ideas to go with a poem I found. I will share the poem later with my finished piece. The essence of it is the changing scenes of November, Always a gray month it seems and this year also very cold. The poem deals with changing beauty that occurs within one month, I started with a photo I had taken of some sumac which had changed into its glorious pink, orange and yellow colors.
I decided to use dark green fabric I had and do some tile or mosaic appliqué on it to portray the greenery seen here, In this process I appliqué strips that are 3/4 x 3 inches. Placed on a handdyed background you can see the various shades coming through the spaces to give movement and variety.
I then set out to appliqué leaf shapes onto this tiled background. I used cording for the branches. This is how it is right now, I thought it was done, but now I'm not so sure. I left plenty of fabric around the tiled area in case I want to go further.
So.....stay tuned to see how it evolves. I will be starting another panel similar to this showing how November morphs into winter.
I have 4 beautiful hibiscus right now. Two are hardy and two are tropical.
This is my oldest one....I moved it to this house from our former house 7 years ago....so it is older than that. With all the rain, it is thriving this year.
So, deciding one was not enough, I recently bought a companion so it wouldn't be lonely...
Both of these of the hardy variety have blooms at least 8 inches in diameter.
Then I have this tropical.....a variety called Mandarin Orange...
I said, I have 4.... and that is true. The other one is yellow. However, the resident deer decided they liked it more than I could and chewed it down, It is rebounding and I am hopeful for more flowers before the season ends. This is what it looked like before being eaten.....
In addition, here are two gorgeous hibiscus. One is very small and it is a round bloom. The other is huge after 3 years and it is called "Limelight". It has the cone shaped blooms.
This week's photography class challenge was just way too much fun. "Architecture Abstract".
My favorite way to shoot photos is to capture something that might not look like what it really is - or might zero in on a certain point as in "contemplative photography".
This was the photo I chose to enter: It is a stairway, manipulated in photoshop - the original picture is just below this one.
The original of this photo is a barn roof line, which has been mirrored, merged, flipped and rotated. It reminds me of a level of a Frank Lloy Wright House that might be cantilevered out into the landscape.
This one is a stair way again - much the same process as the other stairway. Mirrored, merged, flipped, rotated - all for interest.
The top dome of one of the buildings. Mirror Imaged - it looks different depending on where your focus is.
This was how it started......around 9:00 AM. Fern leaf on slightly misted canvas. Ready to sit outside and bake in the sun.
A little later in the day
24 hours later before washing.
Rinsed and ready to dry.
Fully dried. 
