A Paper Chair

I've been working diligently since this past Thursday to construct a paper maché chair that will have flowers and grass growing out of it. The idea is based on one that I tore out of a magazine years ago of a yarn bombed chair. What's yarn bombing, you ask? Covering things in knitted and crocheted yarn, usually things in public spaces, sort of like tagging with spray paint only with yarn. Stuff like this:

Cool huh? I decided that since I have to make a paper maché sculpture for my art class, and I really wanted to work with yarn that I'd do two chairs: one paper and one yarn bombed chair. Both will be sprouting flowers, grass and vines in paper and yarn respectively. The paper one stood on its own four feet this afternoon, although it required a little assistance from some wire around the supporting joints. More photos to follow as work proceeds on the project.

Seven Scientific Ways to Win Any Woman

A website by this title has generated 12 page views of my blog recently for some reason. Are the guys out there so perplexed by me that they need the assistance of this web site? Well I'm perplexed too, so we're even.

The craft fair this past weekend wasn't terribly lucrative, but at least it gave me a goal for producing some jewelry. I now have a display of my stained glass earrings at The Art House in Craftsbury, plus they carry my soap. This is in addition to the Blinking Light Gallery in Plainfield which has these plus my nuno felted scarves. Next on the agenda is my application to Art on Main in Bristol. My display for that is ready now since there was such a production crunch last week.

After a few busy days with a craft fair, working at a gallery, checking out a business opportunity with a gallery partnership in southern Vermont, I've finally gotten back into the studio. I worked yesterday on a couple of collages over existing (rather boring) prints. This one is called "Open Your Eyes" because of the chocolate wrapper in the center that says "open your eyes to all the love around you." It has a puzzle piece that I picked up during a date with my last partner and the cancelled stamp from my finalized divorce settlement. A moon phase calendar, a tag from a Christmas gift to my ex-husband, and a block printed whale that I picked up during my residency at the Studio Center are included along with some vintage photos and other miscellaneous images. I made a second collage with a big red squirrel speaking in Spanish surrounded by random pieces of writings in other languages. Photos of that one will follow later.

Make Sure Your Choir is Securely Fastened

The Choir sculpture took an unfortunate fall from my wall this afternoon when its hanger disengaged from the dry wall. I guess I'll be redoing this piece. :(

Before:

After:

That's very unfortunate. Perhaps plaster of Paris wasn't the best choice due to the weight. I may redo it with paper mache or something. But hey, I have a studio now! I can do things like this without taking up my entire kitchen.

In my art class we worked last week on linotype printing. This involves drawing a design onto linoleum and then cutting a relief into it, rolling ink on the linoleum and printing from it. I started with this great tree from Hopeland Gardens in Aiken, SC.

 

Turned it into a black and white, and then drew the structure from there. For a first attempt at printing, it's not too terrible. I have to create an 8x10 print for next Thursday, so that's on the agenda.

 

I'm also prepping for Antiques and Uniques in Craftsbury on the 13th, so I want to produce some jewelry to sell there and maybe get on spinning some yarn. The same yarn has been occupying the bobbin on my Louet wheel since January, and that is just sad. I must get to work.