purpleponyart | Entries tagged with fibre

One of the problems with being a textile artist is that your art tips over into the craft category. I bought a flatbed knitting machine a couple of years ago and finally made a sweater on it. I was so committed to the sweater that I have been avoiding starting anything new. I thought it could be completed over Christmas break and maybe it could have if I didn't run out of yarn. This was one time that an emergency trip to Michaels couldn't be made :-D I decided to take my time to learn and make mistakes anyway.

Could artier sweaters be in my future? I think so! A few more adjustments and it will fit hubs perfectly.

You can follow along on my sweater journey on Twitter!

Spent some quality time w my knitting machine, hoping to make hubs a sweater. It takes one 474yard ball to make the back, so I'm in standby mode until more yarn arrives from @MaryMaximUS
Hubs was surprised we couldn't zip over to Michael's this time :D#wipWednesday #knitting pic.twitter.com/UfRMQKvVuK
— Purple Pony Art 🦄🐦🌈🍁 (@purpleponyart) December 28, 2022

Ooops, I didn't realize Twitter didn't allow free for all viewing anymore :-D

It took me a while, but I made up a big box of clean fabric, cones of cotton for weaving and Paterna yarn that can be used for weaving or tapestry. It's amazing how much stuff can be stuffed in a closet and it took some time to untangle skeins of yarn. I was a baaaaad fibre student ;-D

The joke goes that collecting and buying craft supplies is its own hobby, and I agree. You dream about the things you'll make and imbue the supplies with potential. Sometimes that doesn't happen, but I'm happy to pass the potential on to someone else!

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A post shared by Christine 🦄 🐦🌈🍁 (calzephyr77)

One of the things about being a new grad is that it takes a while for it all to sink in--you've crossed the finish line--but there's so much work to do. In my case, I've spent the last few months cleaning, organizing, donating and recycling where I can. It's nice to not have to step over things and vacuum the carpet. Best of all, I get to make art for myself again. If you have been following my Facebook page or my blog for some time, you know I was a regular entrant to the Calgary Stampede Western Lifestyle Arts and Crafts Show. The show is a quiet, dim respite from the excitement of the fairgrounds but also a great place to see local talent from cakes to quilts.

I wasn't sure I would be able to complete an entry before the end of the semester and the June 20th deadline. It's probably true for a lot of grads, but once the semester was done, I was done. I could not make anything and the pressure was on. Instead of worrying about what the finished item would look like, I just simply got started!

About ten years ago I was making miniature tapestries with embroidery floss and revisited the tapestry idea by snapping a piece of aida cloth into a small embroidery hoop. Strand by strand, the landscape began to take place. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Making a mountain was the hardest part. I used a wedge of cardstock to weave the sky around it.

Once the tapestry was done, it got a haircut and a layer of glue around the edges.

Then it was time to make the front. I printed my drawing, "Little Horse on the Prairie", onto a piece of cardstock, snip snip snipped and assembled! There was no way I could weave the horse in on such a small scale. I was already having trouble seeing and ended up buying clip-on magnifiers for my glasses.

My frenzied work paid off because I won third place! My friend Luba kindly shared the news. Regrettably I did not get out to the Stampede this year to see the other works.0 I'll definitely be back at the show next year with something bigger and horse-related, I'm sure :-)

For my final Tuesday class project, I did a small installation with a photograph. I would have liked to print the photography larger than 9x12, but it was the largest size guaranteed by the photo lab for next day printing. Ah, art students! Some things never change no matter how old a student you are ;-D

It is titled Time to Bloom and it inspired by a genre of still life painting called vanitas which was popular in 17th century Netherlands. Usually they feature haphazard composition, signs of wealth and signs of mortality such as skulls. Mine is much more toned down and humble. For example, below is a vanitas (titled "Vanitias" by Pieter Boel and Jacob Jordaens)

My photo wasn't as cluttered. Some things I wanted to include I simply could not find around the house either, doh! I could see making more photos like this though. It took 169 photos to pick the perfect one.

What's Project 3 for Thursday's class going to be? I don't quite know yet, but I know it will involved this tote filled with toilet paper and paper towel rolls. Is TP truly not the symbol of the pandemic and self-isolation?

Project 2, with the theme of "homebody" is taking more time than I thought. Not only do I have to measure and knit the pieces on my knitting machine, but there are extra activities like washing and blocking the pieces before sewing them onto the boxes. Washing and blocking is a great way to help the fabric maintain shape (or nudge stitches into place) and let's face it--oil from our hands gets on the piece as it is worked. So a piece that may take an hour to machine knit has at least another couple of hours to wash and dry.

I also thought by now I wouldn't have homework piling up around the house--but it is, literally, in our dining area. All the knit pieces are done--I just have to glue, assembly, make the face and more for final crit on April 14th.

I can't believe April is around the corner. It felt like there was so much time back in January and now that I'm getting to know my current classmates, it will be time to say goodbye. Such is the life of a mature student!

FIBRE 327

It's studio time and our professional package is due, which includes a resume and such. I thought it was actually due next week, so it's a good thing I checked the calendar.

FIBRE 419

We have studio time and the last round of artist talks, which includes me, will happen. My presentation is done--I just have to ensure it fits within the 20 minute time frame.

FIBRE 451

It's a studio day. Project #2 for this class is taking up a lot of time, but I hope it will be worth it!

My second paper received a B-, so surely an A something or other is in the cards for next time!

FIBRE 327–Project 3

Project 3 for Wednesday’s class is again about memory and place and a moment in time. I have a family photo from Mother’s Day 1981 which will be the centre of the picture. It’s a photo I have seen plenty of times, but looking at it up close reveals how much charm it has. Our faces are in the sun. Mom looks mad. My brother is squinting hard and I’m not quite sure what I’m doing—something off to the side caught my attention. Our ages are written on the back and it notes that Grandpa is 55! I always thought of my grandparents as olllllld most of my life and here I am with 50 creeping up on me!

It’s going to be a large book-shaped piece with some gate folds. My original thought was making it vertical, but Mackenzie suggested to keep it horizontal. Huh! It’s amazing how turning something around makes all the difference :D

I may incorporate maps into the project as well, as the neighbourhood has changed a little.

Google Map of Eastwood, Edmonton

My second project for Tuesday’s class, ST-J3R0M, took up too much of my time and mental energy. I was beset by technical problems which had many learning outcomes. My skill with sculpting and papermaking couldn’t match my imagination on this one. And that’s all right—every semester is going to have one of these challenging projects that’s hard to love!

My concept for this project was to abstract Biblical scholar St. Jerome is the patron saint of archaeologists, archivists, librarians, and other studious pursuits since I'm a library technician. I surveyed Artstor for Renaissance portrayals of St. Jerome. Two popular depictions (besides portraits) emerged—St. Jerome situated in his library surrounded by books or writing in the wilderness and leading a hermetic lifestyle. Afterward, I conceptualized an updated, high-tech rendition of St. Jerome. The figure is abstracted into a satellite dish resting on a broken, floating rock formation.

I brought it to critique unfinished and it was pretty embarrassing for me. I pride myself on getting things done on time and done well. However, my classmates had a lot of good feedback and like the natural textures of the paper as well. But, I spent a ton of time patching bare areas and finished the satellite so I could get some pictures.

Titled "At Home With Muffin" this is part of my "homebody" series for Thursday's class. The original idea was the same, but I planned to make Muffin a 3D paper sculpted object. Then I tried for a hybrid object. Neither approach worked and I fell back on what I knew--pet portraits!

My secret here is that I have no carpentry skills, but I do have ingenuity, so I bought a 2 pack of scrapbooking frames from Michaels and some hobby wood from Home Depot to make the case. Then I gathered scraps from around the house such as styrofoam and fabric and threw them together to make an interesting scene.

It was well-received! One classmate commented on the sheer joy that is present in the image. My teacher thought it looked like a comic book panel and he was right--imagine a bunch of these stacked together to form a narrative. Ooooh! So much potential.

Catching up again...here's my second project for Wednesday's class themed around memory and place. It's made completely from thrifted materials and things around the house. It's based on two photos of my grandparents home--one of the basement and, if you look really close, a transparency with my husband sitting in the living room. My grandparents lived in their house for about 50 years, so it was something of a museum. I don't know the providence of the chair or the pillow. Who sat there? Who made the pillow? Why was it relegated to the basement Oh, and by the way, my grandparents had a tiki bar with beaded curtains :-D

This was a fun project, but it was full of challenges. The vintage frame was not straight. The mat was hand painted that wonderful yellow shade already and the original print inside had a date of 1973. Still, I liked the square shape, which is why I bought it.

The title is Whose Chair is There? and it generated discussion about what we reveal and conceal in our homes. For example, the basement is usually not meant for guests.

Today was another busy Saturday working on homework. If it was possible for a candle to have three ends, I’d be burning them all. It sucks in a way because I value friendship and my friends, online and offline, are not getting as much attention as I would like to give them.

Today I tackled FIBRE 419’s project #2, my asteroid. It’s not coming out like I hoped, but I’ll just finish it and call it done. I challenged myself with papermaking and a sculptural technique, so it does have that going for it. I plan on taking it in on Tuesday and installing it. Pictures soon, although I would like to forget it exists :-D

I also planned out project #3 for FIBRE 327 and made a second model with dimensions. Mackenzie pointed out that hinging will be tricky and I agree.

FIBRE 451’s project #2 is coming along as well. I went grocery shopping and bought another cracker box and granola bar box for the legs and hips. I wish I knew what the top was going to look like. Sometimes it’s fun not to plan too hard! My flat Ultimate Sweater Machine was being a right b*st*rd on Friday night though. A panel that should have taken me an hour to do required five tries. It kept dropping large amounts of stitches. It’s okay to drop two or three, but more than that and it takes too long to rehang the stitches.

My theme for Thursday's class is "homebody" (if you need a reminder, that's okay. I remind myself constantly!) and project 2 is taking shape. I don't know what it will look like, but as you can see, it's building from the ground up. I have been saving boxes and cardboard tubes for months now, thinking I would need them for class. For some art projects, you'll need material in a hurry and it's not like you can just go out and get them!

Besides the theme of homebody, this project speaks to an intense desire to knit. The feet are two tissue boxes weighed down with beans and covered with shape made from wool. The legs, which are technically the thighs, are granola bar boxes covered in Shawl in a Ball. I don't know if they'll be weighed down yet. It's kind of exciting to make something with only a vague idea of how it will turn out! As always, stay tuned!

All right--where did I leave off? Here's the bottom part of my asteroid before it was covered in paper:

Here's during--I probably should have worked from the bottom up, but I wasn't sure how fast it would dry:

That was last weekend. Here's a photo from this weekend before I started applying paper. I'm so bagged, truly--I stood all day taping and shaping and pulping and couching and applying. I wrapped things up around 6pm and watched about six episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal because that's all I could manage.

This project is due March 8, so I have another weekend to work on it.

Reading Week officially started Thursday at 1pm for me. I packed up all my things, made sure I didn’t need to buy anything from the bookstore and felt a load off my shoulders! Monday is a holiday in Alberta and I have Friday off, so I should be able to work hard on my projects.

Believe it or not, the one thing I wanted to do most was clean house and get organized. I didn’t do anything on Thursday afternoon or evening, but on Friday I vacuumed, cleaned the bird cages, cleared the kitchen table, organized the piles in my office and cut up cardboard boxes for projects or recycling. The piles were really annoying, but they were the best way to organize all the little pieces and things. It would be so easy if I was in drawing or painting, but both big and little “c” craft takes up space.

So, back to today, Saturday…I worked on the second project for Tuesday’s class. When I was generating ideas, I wanted to delve into Renaissance art and fashion someone new. A breakthrough occurred this week—Tuesday’s projects are about the future, Wednesday’s are about the past and Thursday’s is the present. Whoa!

Project 2 is about St. Jerome, the patron saint of libraries, librarians, archivists and translators. He’s the perfect subject for art! He’s often depicted as a cave-dwelling hermit with a lion. To be honest, my first idea was to depict myself as a modern St. Jerome, but my teacher read my mind, hah! I would still like to do that rendition, however. Anyway, hubs and I were watching The Mind’s Eye, a 1990 collection of computer animation and the optimism on display inspired me to sketch an asteroid with a satellite dish on top with the title of ST-J3ROM.

I’ll share some pictures later. I’m just dog-tired. Standing for five hours pulping paper and sculpting was a lot of physical effort. If you want, you can watch The Mind’s Eye and sequels on YouTube. We’ve come a long way in a short time :-)

I did my administrivia today and I don't think there will be another week with back to back projects due for critique. Last week was tough. I missed Wednesday's critique because I was feeling run down. Only four or so people finished anything for Thursday--and I ran into technical problems, so I was mildly embarrassed I didn't finish. I'll get more photos soon.

FIBRE 327

We have studio time and a portfolio building workshop. For years and year, teaching business skills to artists was almost non-existent. You might learn to write a resume, artist statement, biography or such, but it wasn’t a huge part of art education. The worst thing you could do 20 years ago was be a sell-out. The Internet has thankfully flattened out the old gallery structure—artists can be in charge of marketing, photography, bios and deal directly with buyers. It can still be hard to pick up these skills and most of what I learned was along the way through trial and error. It’s why I‘m so active on artist alley and Etsy FB groups. Sellers of all ages and stripes can avoid pitfalls by asking good questions!

FIBRE 419

We're having individual meetings and my group needs to meet for our presentation on March 2. Reading week is February 21-25, so we gotta get on it.

FIBRE 451

A field trip was on the schedule, but field trips are not allowed across all classes at the moment, so we'll just have studio time and individual meetings.

Yesterday's class was okay. We used Art/Work to discuss challenges of being an artist and running your practice as a small business. I've been doing that for years. It warms my heart that there's more education in this realm, because so many young and/or newbie creators learn the hard way. Scams, ignoring laws and people who generally take advantage of someone else's inexperience are common traps.

My project is the least developed out of the three. Fortunately the 10th is not a hard deadline. To quote my teacher, "it's a marathon, not a sprint!"

The theme for this class is "Homebody" and these are my shapes covered in handmade paper.

This week is all about ideas into action—especially since my projects are due February 8, 9 and 10!

I'm not entirely sure what this project is going to look like, but the stage is set, literally!

I had a busy day of making today and it's still not over! It's a total kitchen table takeover kind of weekend.

My first task this morning was pulping paper for Wednesday's class. I did papermaking in 2012 or 2013 and even though I found it messy, I still bought an Arnold Grummer kit from Michaels at the time. Over the years I hemmed and hawed about thrifting it, but just in case stops a lot of creative people from destashing.

I saved an old blender too just for pulping at the time. Pulping produces small fibrous bits and there's no sense ruining the newer blender. I grabbed some various colours from my scrap pile and created a gross berry red for a tree. The paper is still drying and will be lighter in colour by that time.

In the meantime, enjoy this video of how you too can easily make paper at home! And if you do, remember to screen the leftover pulp liquid. The leftover fibres can clump and clog your pipes.

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Purple Pony Art Blog

Art, photography and other creations by Christine Bennett

Entries tagged with fibre

I made a sweater!

The Post-Grad Life: Giving away, giving back...

The Post-Grad Life: I'm a winner!

FIBRE327--Time to Bloom

FIBRE451 - Project 3 WIP

FIBRE451--Project #2 WIP

Week 11 at a glance

FIBRE419--Project #2

FIBRE327--On to Project #3

FIBRE419--Project 2

FIBRE451--Project 1

FIBRE327--Project #2

Another Busy Saturday

FIBRE 451--On to Project #2

FIBRE419--On to Project #2

FIBRE419--On to Project #2

Week 5 in the can! Gearing up for week 6

FIBRE451--WIP

FIBRE419--WIP

Gearing up for Week 4!