Hand-Tatted Teal Daisy Necklace

I'm beginning to make more necklaces to match the earrings I have been making now for over a year. So this is the newest necklace. I like the way it lays in an asymmetrical pattern. Then also, I am playing with different colors ways for the daisies. It's exciting to try something new and different. I never in a million years would have thought my love of lace making would lead to this. 

Walk into the Mist

Things are changing for Fibers Studio! So many plans and starting a brick and mortar shop hopefully this year is at the forefront of this journey. I'm very excited, but at the same time all this change makes me a little nervous. Like the unknown of cost and having to estimate everything out for the business plan. I am literally walking into the mist!

I came up with this little phase while having coffee with my dear and talented friend. I was waiting on her and there was a wall where I could play with words. Interesting how I picked these words isn't it?

Seriously though, a light hearted seriously, I am ready for this change. Like I have written so many times before, this journey has been taking time because I couldn't just jump and change all the sudden everything in my career and home life. I had to take small steps to get there making slower transitions and really thinking everything through. I've mostly been a quick transition gal. This is a new pace for me! I've made loads of mistakes also, but that's good because I need to and I don't mind them. It's how things are and I can't make everything perfect. Plus, I don't want to. I am accepting of mistakes.

I do though want to bring my love of art and why I do what I do to my community. I want people to come together to create for a cause that needs it or simply create for themselves. I want to teach and run a shop that reaches different age levels and interests. I've been coming up with several ideas and concepts the last few years. I need to do more research on loans, ask friends that have or have had shops what they recommend, and talk to the small business organizations out there that provide assistance for such adventures. That's the next step of my five year plan. I am on the 4th year and this is the year for the big jump. Wish me luck and if you have any advice please comment! What would you do? Really!

Teaching Maggie to Tat

In this short video above I am introducing my daughter to the movements of tatting. I think it's important to feel the movements and how relaxed one is when tatting. We are making double stitches which involves tatting two parts of the double stitch.

In the video above I am tatting a ring. You wont be able to see the actual tatting very well, but it shows you how I work & the motions. I describe it as I go.

It's been fun playing with video a bit. I may just do more and find a friend with a camera that could really zoom in and see the delicate lace I make. 

The Middle Bits - Studio Days to begin in September!

"Yes, you try strive for the final thing being good, but you're also very well aware of how beautiful the process is. People in a gallery or in the public they're missing 2/3s of what's special about what
that object was and how it got made."

Chris Palmer-material artist

From the documentary "Between the Folds"

The middles bits...that's what most people really do miss out on when creating a piece of art. As I was watching this amazing documentary, the words that material artists Chris Palmer said above just hit me. I talk often about process and loving the middle of the process of creating and I was thinking it's time to share that part with people who want to be a part of it.

I am going to be hosting "Studio Days" beginning in September where I open up my studio once a month for others to come visit, bring their own creations to work on if they like, and experience this wonderful part of being an artist.

Often I get the question, "How much time did that take?!" I do know how much time I take on projects because I track them with a program called Weave for my iPhone. But honestly sometimes people amaze me with their responses. Some are good, some are a little interesting, but most of the time if someone really asks me about this they are very appreciative of the time it takes.

So, the middle bits...I'm in love with this part. I lose myself in the repetition of what I do. I weave, knit and tat lace. And with every one of those I have a pattern I am following. Usually I have it in my head and when I move material between my fingers and hands I am my most happiest. Then the piece becomes an extension of me. I feel alive and I feel good. I love what I do and I think it shows.

I hope you will come create with me. I will post time and day very soon on this blog, twitter and facebook. I look forward to sharing the middle bits with all of you!

The Crown

So, yes, I made that. It is a hand-tatted lace crown with Schwartz chrystals. It was a huge project for me that actually made it into my very own accessory show. And in keeping up with my procrastinating tradition I finished it 6 hours before show time! Wawhooooo! Ha ha! 


Okay, but hey it was the first time I did a tatting project that was in the round. It was also one in which I had beads on the shuttle and on the ball. That means I was dealing with learning as I went along tatting. I began it on I think a Monday, maybe Tuesday and finished up on a Friday. A lot of people asked me how long it took. My estimate is 40 hours, but I will go a little faster the more I make. I worked 12 hours one day I know and most days I worked 8 hours. Overall, I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned so very much that it was completely worth it!


One thing I want to really share with you is the way tatting is like weaving and knitting for me. I tend to get lost in the pattern and repitition of it all. I enjoy the process of creating. Not necessaily the beginning or the finishing of it, but the middle bits. The part where you are comfortable enough to know the pattern without looking to the book and the movements just naturally flow. Like it's a part of you and you are making this unique piece of art come to life. That's my favorite part. And I do believe it is what keeps me coming back. 


I will share photos of the crown on my princess in the accessory show when the photographer gets a chance to edit the hundreds of shots he made in two days. 


In the meantime, I am working on another design for a crown I have thought of adapted from this one. Enjoy the rest of the photos! 

She's Long Gone...

I recently made a huge transistion in my life. One that I wasn't even sure I knew how to do, but I just said, "It's time".

I left behind the girl I no longer want to be to become the woman I want to be. The last couple decades I have struggled with what is expected of me compared to what I wanted to do. I think this is a debate a lot of people go through, but who actually follows through? I know some do, but some don't like change, transitions, etc. Whatever you like to call it.

Change is so difficult...especially the ones you can't control. This change with me is very controlled. I decided to step out of the life I didn't like. I have been a graphic designer for 20 years and I just decided I was done. Like I said it had been coming, but I actually did it. I spoke the words and I did it. I told my clients I was finished and I then resigned from a contracting job which I had slowly started pulling away from. I don't feel bad either. Not one ounce of guilt. I know that right there means the world to me not to feel guilt and it's the right move for me.

Now, onto my new adventure. I want to have a shop, earn a living running it and to keep making/selling my art. It's scary you know to think I will have employees, own MORE money for a while, but then again I will have the flexibility I really need to keep myself around my kids and in there life. I need that. I think they will need it even if they don't want me there...but hey, sticking with my kids is a given. I chose that and I love them dearly. Plus there is a heck of a learning curve opening a business and I am using every possible contact and resource out there to get this done correctly and not just jump into without considering all possibilities. I'll make mistakes, but if I can get past the first, second, then third years...I will be really happy. Lots of planning to be done by me very, very soon!

So basically instead of my finding a job to fit into I am creating a job to fit all I love into it. Who needs that 8-5 life with only 2 weeks of vacation and no flexibility basically? I may need it if this adventure falls short of my expectations, but I will do my best to live my dream and create and connect with people in the community. I think it's worth a try.

And so that girl I knew is long gone...she's long gone... And that's one of my favorite songs by The Black Keys!

And the tradition continues...

When I was a little girl I was always included in the activities my grandparents and family were doing. Like cooking, gardening, creating and so as a child I was exposed rather early to things grown up people do. I remember standing at the kitchen sink at my great grandparents kitchen looking out on the farm through the window while rinsing dishes in a tub. I was about 4 then. I also remember making Parker House rolls with my great grandmother and turning some of the dough into cinnamon rolls. And so this is how we learn isn't it?

When I was very young, before I was five, I painted with oil paints with my grandma. And then over time I picked up a needle and thread and started sewing with my grandma and great grandma. I went from embroidery to sewing sundresses and on to quilting. Learning to do these things with my family has been a tradition as long as anyone can remember. Just like boys learn to drive a nail, sew a button on, farm the land. They do it beside their fathers and mothers. And I learned just like the boys too with things like: Chop & haul wood, fish, hammer things, carpentry, metal work, feeding the cattle, etc. It was just a part of our lives. And I think back on it fondly.

Now, I am seeing my children taken under my family's wings and starting to learn the same way I did. There is no hesitation. Just jump right in, make mistakes, learn from the mistakes and over time perfect what you are doing. What could be better?

Recently my family was able to get together to celebrate the birth of our newest family member. And in the small amount of time we were together...look what happened...

This is my daughter with my grandmother, her great grandmother learning to piece a quilt. Now I look at that and see what a wonderful bond those two got to form that day. A little lesson introduced and knowledge had between two family members. What could be better? Nothing in my opinion is better.

I have very fond memories of just these types of things I got to do with my family. I was very lucky to know all my grandparents and three great-grandparents, two of them lived long lives up to when I was married and had kids even. I have memories of riding the tractor with my dad's father. Fishing and shooting a rifle with my mom's dad. Gardening, cooking, sewing with all my grandmothers and great-grandmas. And now many of them are gone, but I still remember those treasured moments I had with them. Working and learning right beside them, but it wasn't work at all. It was fun. And that is how these traditions come full circle. Maybe someday I'll teach my grandchild or even great grandchild some art. It's something to look forward to.

Trust Yourself & Happy 3rd Birthday Fibers Studio!

Off and on for a couple years with Fibers Studio I have been posting two words for Tuesday as a kind of inspiration or happy thought for myself. Today my two words for Tuesday were: Trust Yourself.

Sometimes that is really hard to do though. Some of us question what we need, should be doing, want, don't want, etc. To the point where we freeze in our steps. Or even ignore our most basic needs.  Just get through our days and hope for the best.

Do you know what you want in your life? Do you know what you want to do? Do you know what you want to be? I've been thinking about this a lot lately because at one point I had reached all my goals and then I was like...well, now what!? I was a bit confused and honestly rather lost. I had not thought what I wanted after all those goals were met.

So I took time to think and plan out my next chapters. And one of them was starting my own business. Then I got to dream a bit more. Which is one of my favorite things to do! Dreaming for me means planning. So I dreamed up Fibers Studio. I didn't want to limit myself to just one art/craft because I love many different things. That's how the name came to be. Fibers...all things created with fibers. This can include wool, cotton, yarn, cloth, plant fibers, woods, paper... you get the idea.

So I am going forward with the next two years in my five year plan for Fibers Studio. I just celebrated year 3 on April 1, 2012. Yes, April Fool's Day. I posted items for sale on that day three years ago. I didn't it on purpose also. Why not? Just a fun fact. Now I have the big plans to get through. Funding, expanding, possibly having a business space for people to come into and many, many other things I am trying to work out. Be patient...it will come I keep telling myself. And it is. Just taking time. And thank goodness my youngest child is entering full day school this year. I really think that will help me to have more than 2 hours to devote to this fun job I've created!

Trust in you to know what you need for you, what you desire & the life you want to lead. No one else knows. I learned to trust myself and honestly there's no turning back. I love my life and the choices I've made for me.

One Day at a Time... Working out of a Rut!

I've been in a funky rut. Yep, a rut. Something overwhelmed me and I just couldn't focus on my art! Not good for me and I felt a little lost for a bit. But honestly, every day isn't always the best is it? There are those ups and downs in life. I just didn't expect my rut to hit so hard!

I'm happy to say I have new energy and I am loving it! I've started tatting again and really thinking about what I want to do. What can I leave behind in my life? Why do I tend to repeat self-defeating patterns and how to solve that? I mean...really!? So, I turned to some help to get me focused and really pin point what I could do so I don't fall into this again. I have a long road, but step by step I'm getting there.  That reminds me of Eddie Rabbit's song, "Step by Step". Hmmm, now I am showing my age! haha

Hand-tatted heart with red glass seed beads necklace

But good things are on the horizon. I am tackling how to go about tatting bridal crowns, some with crystals and some without. Then I was thinking about small crowns for babies...like ones that photographers could use in photo shoots. Who doesn't have a baby girl who thinks she's as sweet as a princess? Really!?

Also, over the holidays I was commissioned to create a custom pair of panties for a gift. I incorporated hand-tatted lace into the design. And honestly, I think they are super cute! Some of my friends were like...will you make more? How much are they? Then I started making more lace for more pantie designs and I am starting to work through those now. It's just going to take time to get through my ideas and make it into a process I can work with!

Prototype X Lace Panties with Hand-Tatted Lace insert

I'm also preparing for festivals and art expos on the horizon. Which means my production of products are getting to be in full swing. I am happy to have so much variety in what I do - weaving, tatting, knitting. Creating things with fabric, paper and thread. It's really limitless and honestly I am my own boss and I like the idea that I can change gears and do something different.

Enjoy the leaping forward this weekend! Longer days equals more time to create! Right?

Close-up of my tag, a new line of intimate and bridal apparel - embrace.

Close-up of the hand-tatted lace insert

Packaged up for the customer, ready to send!

Design presented to the customer for the concept for the custom panties.

                               

Happy New Year, Plans and Excitement!!

Hello! Happy New Year to All! 

Its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life for me
OH I'M FEELING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

2011 was a fabulous year for Fibers Studio! Record sales along with record custom orders made it a great year for me!

I am so excited about 2012. I have been working through some ideas for new products and working on improving my old products. And determining which things I really will or wont make along the way. It's a learning process and I love it. Plus, I have developed a working production schedule that I hopefully will be a good step for me to keep my products in supply and so forth. Having a working schedule will also keep me moving forward with ideas and not just doing them when I want. Artists work, but they need the discipline of work also to make their work successful!

But really, what I want to say is I am trying to do more of what I LOVE. Leaving behind those things that drive me nuts and I don't enjoy. So with my new ideas and new production schedule I am hoping to achieve this.

Part of my new schedule is also posting more often so you know what I am doing! One other way to follow me is on facebook. I usually post more pictures of current products there also.

Like Nina Simone sings, "And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me..." Be BOLD! Do what you love and happiest wishes to you and yours in 2012!

Creamy flowers with Apple Green Beads

Some new colors for this jewelry. Just had an idea of a soft cream with a fresh green splash...here's what I came up with. It is a variation of the black with sliver beads I made a few weeks ago for a fundraiser.

Flower Bracelet

Simple Flower Earrings

Medallion Necklace

Close-up

Everyone have a wonderful weekend. I will be working on a custom order of this design in black with silver beads.

CREATE EVERYDAY! Do what you LOVE!

Everything's Coming up Daisies!

Lately I have been working through some designs in tatting. I came across a daisy pattern I liked and thought I could use to make jewelry. So I did. Take a look at these..

Simple Daisy Earrings

Daisy Bracelet

Daisy Medallion Necklace

After I put these together I was going through some old broken jewelry and found some beads I thin I will add to the tatting in the center of the daisy design. Usually I include the beads when I make the lace and not an after thought, but this time it's a little different.

The lace is delicate and light weight. Adding the beads wont add too much weight to any of the pieces. 

Hope you liked!

CREATE EVERY DAY!!!!

Custom Cowl!

I am so excited to begin this project! My dear friend Erin from grad school wanted a cowl so she asked me if she found some yarn she couldn't live without if I would make her one. And of course I said I would!

Look at what she found! It is gorgeous and feels so very soft. Made of pure Merino Wool is why it is so fabulous. I love the colors also. Reminds me of a sunset.

Got to get the pink cowl off the needles so I can get going on this one!  I will keep you posted with further pictures. I just hope she loves it as much as I know I am going to!

Have a great day and do something you love!

Black Sparkle Cowl!

Whew, finally done with this gorgeous extra large cowl. Yes, cowl! A tube for your head! ha, ha...

I created this on circular needles

So I started this lovely in early fall. Made a huge mistakes, ripped it out, made another huge mistake and ripped it out completely again. Finally, I got it finished up. It is super soft and has a nice band of contrasting yarn with a bit of sparkle on each end of the cowl. Adds that little extra fun.

Close up of detail yarn added for sparkle

I love cowls! They are the most fun. You can wear them around your neck as a super warm scarf or you can pull them up on your head as well as a hood/scarf. So very versatile and adds that extra to a simple dress or basic coat.

Black Sparkle Cowl!

I created this by alternating 4 pearled stitched rows with 4 knit rows. I noticed this keeps it from curling up on itself.

It really is a tube!

I am very glad I hung in there with this project. I think I made the mistakes I did because of the dark yarn I was working with. It is harder to see than a lighter yarn. So I learned to move into really good working light. It made all the difference. And I just keep on going! Now I have a fun project to sell and I have lots of new ideas in mind to try for the next few cowls I am planning to create!

Rat-A-Tat-Tat

I have had the best time learning to tat over this past summer. Now I am working on creating lace for garments and some holiday snowflakes to either be worked into an outfit, used as jewelry or simply an ornament.

Double Five Spoke Tatted Snowflake

I got into this because my great grandmothers use to tat long ago. When they both passed away I inherited their tools and over the years it added up to a lot! So, I decided I would take it upon myself to give it a whirl. It was not easy! It took me basically a week following detailed instructions from books and only 1 or 2 videos on You Tube were helpful.

Close-up

At first, as typical when I am learning something new in fibers, I was so tense I made the double stitches very tight! And I did not figure out "The Flip" for a while. "The Flip" is the KEY to tatting.

Look here to get a pretty good instruction on how to tat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as2gXQ-RYeQ&feature=related

Detail of a lace pattern I am creating.

After I learned & mastered "The Flip" for the double stitches and then how to make a picot I was on my way. I loosened up and it is such a comfortable relaxing activity now. It's slow going and really does take a long time, but for me it is very rewarding.

I am going to quit writing for now and go sit down in my favorite rose chair by the window, watch the snow fall and work on a custom order for snowflakes I need to get done by the 14th! Happy Tatting!

Have a Cowl Man!

Oh Cowls...the new rage. At least for me they are. I have been thinking about making cowls for about two years now. They are so nice to wear as a scarf wrapped around your neck or even pulled up over your head like a hood. Very nice addition to a wardrobe especially if you live in a cold climate where you need that extra warmth!

Drapes beautifully around your shoulders and neck.

So far I have created two and I like they way they turned out. The first is the Autumn Cowl. Nice rusty reds and oranges with some teals, yellows and greens throughout. I didn't knit this one in the round, but instead I just knitted a rectangle. Then I sewed up a seam to join the two shorter sides of the rectangle creating a tube.

The cowl worn as a hooded piece. 

I knitted my next cowl in the round with circular needles. So much fun! A little harder to keep track of where I was so I put a safety pin in where I started. Worked like a charm! So instead of buying all those little plastic stitch holders that are expensive there is a tip...safety pins do the same thing! I have named this cowl Orange Crush. It is so very soft and really flows well.

The Orange Crush cowl worn as a scarf.

Love them! I am going to make one for me even which just doesn't happen, but I am determined to have a black one in the softest material like Orange Crush.

Take a look around out there on Etsy. There are tons of style... so big that loop a couple times around you, some are narrow and just for your neck, some are very open weaves and look just gorgeous! There are also a lot of free patterns out there if you do a search.

So "Have a Cowl Man!" and make a fashion statement this year with you wardrobe!

Val Weaves Like She's Playing the Piano

That is what my friend told her grandma the other day after watching me work at my loom. It hit home with me. I talk about this all the time to people who will listen. Like everything in life, there is a rhythm to weaving with the treadling of harness changes and passing of the shuttles. I can see where she could see that in weaving.

That passing back and forth, working the loom, and watching the weaving grow into my art is relaxing for me. Once you get the rhythm down you fly. Before you know it you've woven several feet of material. It's like I fall into this zone and the music I set in the background helps me keep pace with what I am doing.  I always have music on, or I am thinking of music in my head, or singing when weaving.

There are days I do not find that ease and grace...there are days I struggle with just how much to beat the material into place and those days drive me nuts! I recently had one. I was weaving with my favorite ~ pearl cotton. Beautiful material ~ deep violet, but for me who was trained and worked as a rug weaver was finding it hard to do that "lack" of whacking the reed against the material. Meaning I needed to be more gentle and consistently softer with the material. So I achieved this awful banding in the material. It's where your beating is not consistent and then you end up with this uneven beaten effect. NOT GOOD!

See the darker areas where I beat the material more? makes banding...

So, in order to get my project done on time I switched material. I chose a cotton yarn, but mixed in with a little flax and rayon to help me out. It's not as soft and smooth, but it worked. Because truth be told even though I am a weaver and worked as a weaver I have not woven consistently for a long time...since about 1998 exactly.  So, I unwove the material which was about 22 inches and started all over. And guess what? It worked. The new material worked out much better for me and I am happy with the result!

Switching material and using a color that was closer to the warp color helped.

This just goes to show that practice makes perfect and everyone needs to practice their technique. Everyone can improve on what they are good at. And I play the piano also...which I haven't played or practiced in a long time. Maybe I should get back to that and find that rhythm I need for the more delicate work I would like to achieve on the loom. I see scales in my near future!

I'll Probably Die with Fiber in Hand

I told that above to a friend yesterday and I am completely convinced I will. You know it's true. I know it's true. Fibers are becoming more and more a part of my life because I want them to be.

But have you ever loved something so much it's very hard to put it down? Think about it. Music in your headphones as you run down a beautiful path or a book that has you captivated. That's how I am with fibers. There's something to making something by hand. I put myself into every stitch I make. A part of me is in every pass of the shuttle when it flies through the shed as I weave. Creating is an extension of me.

I am completely drawn to the feel of some yarns and threads. They are just incredible. Some are soft and relaxed while others are more rigid and refined. Some have slubs, bumps, lumps in them that make for a fun texture. They are all unique and have their own characteristics that defines what they will be made into. It's up to the artist to figure out how to manipulate them and make them into something new.

I will probably create as long as I live and I figure I'll die creating. Because really living means doing what you absolutely love. You should do what you love as long as you can. That is exactly what I intend to do.

Autumn Cowl hot off the needles!

Paper Woven Cards

My second activity I provided at FestivALL in Charleston, WV this past June was weaving with paper. This was the shorter and simpler project to choose from for the children. They could do both if they wanted.

I cut slits in blank cards to weave narrow pieces of handmade paper through. The paper we wove with was hand-made and a very wide variety of colors. Loads of glitter were on a lot of the pages too. Extra sparkle is always hard to pass over!

Here are some fun photos from the those two hot days in June!

Getting started, over and under!

Couldn't have done this all without Mom and Stephanie!

A parent assisting their child

What a fun time we had!

Treasure Pouches woven by kids!

FestivALL in Charleston, WV was so much fun this past June. I had the pleasure of teaching weaving to children on cardboard looms I had made for them. 

What is GREAT is that some of the kids I taught have sent in photos. I also included other photos to show you what we did those fun days in late June.

In two days in I introduced approximately 120 children to weaving. That's a lot! I am so happy I was a part of FestivALL. It was a great experience and I would completely do it all over again!  Enjoy!

Completed Treasure Pouches! 

Made by Xander, 5-years-old, Charleston, WV

Made by Emma M., WV

Another made by Emma M., WV

Made by Maggie, 4-years-old, Lexington, KY

 

Here's some photos from two days of fun!

Setting up for the crowds!

My Mom measuring out some of the yarn.

Starting at the bottom of the loom and going around, up and over...

Here I am working with the kids and parents.

Kid working hard with their parents assisting.

Close up of a child weaving on the cardboard loom.

Working on the flap for the pouch! Very close to done.

A child working on the flap for the pouch. Almost done!

Ready to slip off the loom!

One of the kids stayed pretty much all day and here's what she did! 

Almost done! 

Completely finished. She had the biggest smile!