a brief moment in silk screening

i felt lucky that i got to learn and try out the silk screening process even though i was in an embroidery projects class!

it's a pretty satisfying technique. i didn't document the entire process because i was IN IT. but here's what i got.

1. make your image. i redrew/traced this one out with technical pens and didn't include the ladder. this was time consuming, but it turned out pretty well.

i did 3 different designs. could explain why this was so time consuming!

2a. take your image to staples and spend lots of money on copies playing around with enlargements.

2b. once you have your image ready, you might have to baby oil the paper to make it more translucent. now your paper smells bad.

you can't tell here, but once oiled, the paper is more like vellum or soft parchment paper.

3. prepare your screen: my instructor was kind enough to put the emulsion stuff on a screen for me the night before, so i never saw that process. but it smells like dark room chemicals. the screen has to dry in a dark place for about an hour.

4. cook your screen: put your image face up under the screen/emulsion on this tanning bed type machine. close the lid and a vacuum will come on and suck all the air out so it makes a light tight seal. then turn on the UV lights with a timer. takes a minute or two.

5. rinse your screen off. the emulsifier that was blocked out by the black parts of the drawing will rinse away to later allow ink to go through. everything else gets baked on to block the ink out. let it dry, tape the edges

6. print! pin down your fabric and cross your fingers that you don't screw it all up. i used some thrift store pillow cases.

7. let it dry. iron to make it permanent. wash, use, sew on it, whatever! i plan on experimenting with some embroidery things on 1-2 of them. i have a matching pillow case in the large size that i might someday do a different drawing on to create a set. 

i know this would make more sense ON an actual bed!

8. realize that i just made pillows into art. just another thing i never thought i'd be doing :-)

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hair stitched

this week i started another embroidery course at Lill Street. this one is informal and all students have embroidery experience (at least 1 class). we're all working on different things and the instructor is there for trouble shooting and suggestions. once i've made some decent progress on something, i'll be sure to share.

for now, i have the completed chart we did in my first class as well as the completed hair project i did on my own and posted waaaay too many progress posts about. oh, and imagine these ironed flat!

the plan is to have 2 more of these and stretch them each over an 8x10 canvas.

if i decide to continue with this project for the course, i think this is my design. the braid seems like it will be fun and challenging (or a nightmare).

holiday makings part 3: hair piece

decided to make some snazzy hair pieces for holiday parties. my clothes tend to be pretty basic and boring, so it's fun to have what i coined in college as a "formal head." at least i can usually rely on my hair and sometimes even my face to look okay.

some of the materials:
i ended up not using the starry paper or the headbands. let's face, most of the time headbands are uncomfortable. i pulled apart 2 cheapo holiday floral picks to get the snowflakes, strands and balls.

i wanted one to be noticeably dimensional so the base had to help defy gravity a little, hence the foam ball (cut in half).

with the magic of hot glue and foam, this one one turned out REALLY snazzy and i didn't even have the courage to wear it out. too much attention drawn. but it's so pretty! (and maybe a little dangerous to others??)

i knew that i might chicken out in wearing that one, so i made a bobby pin with a single one. this was easy to wear.

bobby pin accessories also need a base to attach things to. i painted & glittered some painters tape and simply hot glued the remaining snowflake and ball on to the tape.

glitter, glitter everywhere!

braids in blue

i made this early on during the  30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!

green

i made these weeks before the 30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!

threes

just playing around with composition. and drawing hair the exact same each time is much like trying to actually style you own hair the same each day: nearly impossible.

(i made these weeks before the 30 day challenge. honestly, i wanted to give myself some time to regroup before posting 2-3x a week again...so i posted dated this for a breather. ahhh!)

day 29

"When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg." --Guillaume Apollinaire

i try to avoid quotes that use the word "man" to mean "human" but i made an exception this time. 

day 27

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." --Helen Keller

another unintentional shape association: granny smith apple.

day 26

"If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar."
--John Henry Newman

didn't occur to me while i was painting this that i was painting a caution cone. a flat one. i sorta don't mind that.

day 25

"Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it."--Hunter S. Thompson

day 24

"People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved."

--Anne Sullivan

not sure how interesting the results are, but i've got several more of this type in mind--though the traditional collage didn't work for me yet, they did lead me in this direction which i'm enjoying.

dang. i wish i hadn't outlined the entire triangle. and i wish it were on wheels.

and is it me or do the stairs and the ladder appear more "human" than the hair? i have more to say on that...but it probably needs to marinate a little longer...

day 23

"Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse." --Doris Lessing

the quotes started out as motivation for a handful of friends doing their own personal challenges, but they have become an appropriation for the drawings that i sorta like. even the cheesy ones.

day 21

"The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it." --Dale Carnegie

i was dreading the last collage today so rather than that, i avoided it all together. this has a bit of felt tip pen in it and pencil. and scanner dirt.

day 18

"What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his?" --Emile M. Cioran

day 17

"Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky."--Fran Lebowitz

i am about as good as a toddler when it comes to more delicate collages. i have bits of paper stuck on all my fingers, dirt everywhere on the paper and the inclination to have tantrum at any moment.

this one looks much better scanned--some of the mistakes and dirt blended away.

day 16

"There is no black-and-white situation. It's all part of life. Highs, lows, middles." --Van Morrison

i'll have to try something similar on bigger paper. and, graph paper is one of my favorite art supplies.

day 15

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." --Theodore Roosevelt

this week's focus is adding collage elements. only a slight change for today....trying this out "strategically." so what is it? a stylish, literary unicorn?

i also think i overdid the editing on this photo. it's not nearly that bright or blue in real life. i'm not that bright (or blue) in real life either.

by the way, this 30 day challenge is half way over! quick reflection on this: 

pros:

• it's been good to feel obligated to sit and finish at least 1 thing a day. 
• a few limitations really help me from becoming overwhelmed with options.
• get lots of small work done quickly.

cons:

• several aren't very good and they seem to be getting worse, so now i'll be happy if there will be 20 to be confident with.
• not sure anyone (including me) should care about this series. i don't really know what they are or what to do next. my inner critic is talking a little too loudly.
• it's not a good way to work if you're doing larger or more intricate stuff....i suppose that's a different challenge....
• i'm tending to get into a "well, i did my one for the day. guess i'm done!" mindset. this was NOT the intention. they were meant to be a warm up before working on other things.
• not being as experimental as i thought because i know they will be posted...so fear of failing is also seeping in. the result is they are getting stale. hopefully the collage ones will help make things interesting again.

day 14

"This is unexpected... like squirt from aggressive grapefruit." --Earl Derr Biggers

the painting underneath is so simple but i really enjoyed making it. the drippy point on the top most triangle fell directly into the still wet outline of the hollow triangle beneath it and just stayed there. it was really beautiful to watch. 

this past week i focused a little more on background & foreground, revealing/concealing. i'm looking forward to being able to changing it up a little more this upcoming week.

day 13

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." --Benjamin Franklin

i really didn't want to sit down and draw today...but here's for the sake of the 30 day challenge. i guess it's silly to think i'd like ALL 30 of these.