Posts Tagged ‘silk’

Roots of Rhythm X-Part 3

June 28, 2015

If you’re late to this party, here’s Part 1 and Part 2.
Now that the lower left and upper right cellular sections were mostly complete, I needed make some choices about how to use the  large space between them where I wanted to somehow show a flow happening. This took time-with  lots of ideas tried and rejected. This is the stage in the process where a lot of self doubt creeps in. I had a pile of felted “elements” which I had separately stitched to add shape and sculptural lines .  I knew I wanted to incorporate them but there were endless possibilities as to how. I considered color, balance and line as well as the abstract “story” in my head of what moment of change/transformation was happening. After weeks (really!), I found a direction, I was happy with.

Roots of Rhythm X-step 6

Roots of Rhythm X-step 6

 

some of the felt elements looking for a home

some of the felt elements looking for a home

Lines were couched to carve the space into flowing sections. I had known all along that including the blue felt was critical, but wasn’t happy till I stumbled on the “ladder” possibility.
This now defined the basic structure of the space so I was more sure of myself and confident I was moving in the right direction. It was then much clearer to see how to show movement and flow with stitching,the felt pieces and some lovingly placed french knots.

detail

detail

Next time: the whole enchilada done.

Roots of Rhythm X-Part 2

June 26, 2015

If you missed it, here’s the previous post about this process.
Once the underlying structure was complete, things got much more interesting for me. I selected a piece of silk I had dyed over a year ago that had a beautifully complex and intricate texture. This was cut and fused to each cellular section.

Roots of Rhythm X: step 4

Roots of Rhythm X: step 4

…until all were filled.

Roots of Rhythm X: step 5

Roots of Rhythm X: step 5

…and I happily free motion stitched each one. I love this part-podcasts and stitching!
Here’s a close up:

Roots of Rhythm X: step 5 detail

Roots of Rhythm X: step 5 detail

More to come…

Roots of Rhythm X- Part 1

June 23, 2015

I’m often asked questions about my process so whenever I start a new piece, I try to make a commitment to document it along the way…and usually fail.

BUT the piece I just finished, Roots of Rhythm X was happily an exception. So, if you’re interested, here are a series of posts looking at the steps to its creation. This piece was under construction for the better part of two months.

Part 1

After sketching out some rough ideas and making some critical color decisions (documenting that step would involve many pictures of me pawing through piles of dyed silk and looking discouraged and lost), I chose the violet background silk, fused it onto a piece of Warm and Natural batting cut a few inches smaller. I then couched varigated yarn to build the cellular grid.

Roots of Rhythm X: step 1

Roots of Rhythm X: step 1

When the grid was done, inner shapes were added. This red/rust silk is all one color. The variation comes from light catching the nap of the charmeuse at different angles.

Roots of Rhythm X: step 2

Roots of Rhythm X: step 2

…till all spaces were filled. I then stitched around each red/rust shape.

Roots of Rhythm X: step 2

Roots of Rhythm X: step 2

Please let me know if you have more specific questions about these steps.
Stay tuned for more…

Snow and felting

March 10, 2015

A good combo.  Instead of whining about the below zero unrelenting cold, I made some cobweb felt using various fibers; merino and wensleydale (curly!) embellished with bombyx silk and bamboo silk for lustrous shimmery lines. Here drying  by the woodstove. Extra credit if you spotted the bird at the feeder.

I’ll go back to whining now while it’s all drying.

cobweb felt

cobweb felt

A closer look for you all that appreciate lovely fiber texture.

cobweb closeup

cobweb closeup

Small Mounted Felted Creation #4

February 24, 2015

Biome IV

This piece is a bit different. Instead of sewing felt onto a silk background, I constructed this entirely of felt. As I’ve said before, felt is a dream to sew-both by machine and hand.
This piece is 11.5″ square and is mounted onto a 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″” black gallery wrapped stretched canvas. This  will appear on my website soon and is offered for $450 with free shipping. Let me know if you’re interested!

Biome IV

Biome IV

Zoomed in:

Biome IV detail

Biome IV detail

Small Mounted Felted Creation #3

February 21, 2015

Roots of Rhythm IX

While using the Roots of Rhythm underlying composition, I explored including blue vertical elements.
This piece is 11.5″ square and is mounted onto a 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″” black gallery wrapped stretched canvas. This  will appear on my website soon and is offered for $450 with free shipping. Let me know if you’re interested!

Roots of Rhythm IX

Roots of Rhythm IX

Zoomed in:

Roots of Rhythm IX detail

Roots of Rhythm IX detail

Small mounted felted creation #2

February 17, 2015

Roots of Rhythm VIII
I continued to explore the Roots of Rhythm motif with this one but skewed the orientation to a diagonal and included a section of 3D elements.

This piece is 11.5″ square and is mounted onto a 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″” black gallery wrapped stretched canvas. This  will appear on my website soon and will be offered for $450 with free shipping. Let me know if you’re interested!

Roots of Rhythm VIII

Roots of Rhythm VIII

And here’s a close up:

Roots of Rhythm VIII -detail

Roots of Rhythm VIII -detail

Smaller mounted felted creation #1

February 13, 2015

About 6 weeks ago, I wrote that I was exploring new felting techniques and had decided to focus on creating smaller work using all that newly dyed felted wool and silk. I’m very glad I went this route. Working small allows me to try out new compositional  ideas or extend older ones. Each finished piece ended up about 11-12″ square and was then mounted onto a 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″” black gallery wrapped  stretched canvas. I created four pieces using felt and silk from the same dye baths- in colors I had chosen because I felt they’d work sensationally together. Having a restricted pallette freed me up to really concentrate on texture and composition.

These new pieces will appear on my website soon. They will each be offered for $450 with free shipping. Let me know if you’re interested in owning one!

I’m going to introduce each of these pieces one by one in a series of posts.

#1  Roots Of Rhythm VII

Roots of Rhythm VII

Roots of Rhythm VII

This zoomed in detail may give you a better sense of why I’m in love with working with the rich textures possible when wool and silk have a serious felting relationship!

Roots of Rhythm VII- detail

Roots of Rhythm VII- detail

For several years, I worked on a series called Roots of Rhythm-the title borrowed from a Paul Simon lyric which worked for me on many different levels:

“These are the roots of rhythm and the roots of rhythm remain.”

This new piece further explores cellular structures dancing with various forces and rhythms.

 

 

Give (affordable) Art!

November 29, 2014

Looking for a  unique gift? I’m offering three new mounted pieces for sale. All are constructed of silk I dyed, commercial crinkly taffeta and yarns. I have put the same care and attention into creating these small gems as I do for my larger pieces. They will arrive ready-to-hang.
I accept Paypal and shipping is free in the continental US.

Biome I
$225
8″ x 10.5″ mounted on  11″ x 14″ black gallery wrapped canvas. Can also be hung horizontally.

Biome I

Biome I

Biome II
SOLD
8″ x 10.5″ mounted on  11″ x 14″ black gallery wrapped canvas. Can also be hung horizontally.

Biome II

Biome II

Biome III
$175
8″ x 8″ mounted on  10″ x 10″ black gallery wrapped canvas.

Biome III

Biome III

Interested? Questons? Email me-kkfiberart@gmail.com

Cultivating Connections II

November 25, 2014

My newest piece continues my exploration of combining various raised felted textures with richly shimmery silk charmeuse. The original seeds for this composition were images of purkinje cells-some of the largest neurons in our brains. They have fantastic branching dendrites.
Maybe my fascination with how these tiny connections in our brains basically enable us to do or think anything has to do with my growing awareness that my own aging brain’s connections aren’t always so reliable!

Cultivating Connections II

Cultivating Connections II
31″ x 44″ (approx.)

Zooming in:

Cultivating Connections II detail 1

Cultivating Connections II detail 1

Cultivating Connections II detail 2

Cultivating Connections II detail 2