My First Assemblage

At the request of my former collage teacher, I agreed to make an assemblage incorporating a paper maché heart for a charity auction. After a few fits and starts, I decided to base the piece on a metal sign from an aircraft carrier that says "Ice Cream Room." Thus the ice cream colors and the attempts at coating the elements with "ice."






















The ice is made from a product called "Frozen Opals" plus layers of "Glossy Accents." I found that if I squeezed on the Glossy Accents, let it drip just a bit, then hit the drips with a heat gun, I could capture the drips.

Once again, I've run up against my limited photography skills, but you get the idea!

Last Postcard of 2007: Gossamer Curtain

December's postcard exchange colors were "on gossamer wings." I decided to do a gossamer curtain instead. I made the curtain fabric using water-soluble fabric and lots of different fibers all sewn with metallic thread. Here's the whole piece of fabric when it was done. You can see the fibers more on one side than the other.





Here are a couple of close-ups. This stuff does NOT photograph well!







I'm not sure how well I captured the theme, but I'm kinda partial to these cards, which look waaay better in person, as you can see through the fabric.

Huntington Garden with Nona

Last week I visited Huntington Gardens with my art friend Nona who was visiting from New Zealand and does research there along with her professor husband. I got a few good shots at the Japanese Garden so I thought I'd share them here. It was an overcast day, which made shooting photos kind of interesting. As you can see, I love the Japanese icon sculptures.

Xmas Hats

I was stoked when my sister and her family moved to Denver. Not that I wouldn't miss them terribly, but it gave me four people to knit for who would actually need warm stuff! I made them all hats for Christmas.











Here's Jen wearing Lexi's hat:



And in this one Lexi was way too interested in pumpkin pie to cheerfully have her photo taken:



Who wants pie?

Felted Xmas Stockings

My new "gift item" this Christmas was stockings made from felted thrift store sweaters. These are fun, quick to make, and I think they'll be wonderful family heirlooms.

I made this one for my son, who loves anything black:





This one was for my daughter:





Here's the one I made for my daughter's boyfriend:





And here's my mom's:








And finally my dad's (this one is a little different on the front and back):









Everyone seemed to enjoy them. Next year, I'm making one each for myself and my hubby!

Ojai House Artist Faire

My friend Jean and I participated in a pre-Christmas art faire at a local shop, where we shared a table. It was an enjoyable afternoon, and fun to see what the other vendors were up to, but most of the attendees were just looking for ideas, I think. Can't blame them, I do the same thing!

Here are a few shots of our table.











We were situated under a huge old oak tree, which was beautiful, but not great for photos!