I’ve got a ton of stuff to post today.  The past few months felt like only a few weeks.  Since being super busy with school, I’ve dropped the ball on the blog.  It takes a ton of effort to document thoughts, ideas, and progress of the artist in me.  Along with this blog, I keep two artists notebooks…documenting everything.  I guess you could call it a scrapbook…but they are really extentions of me…on paper…or the computer.  Uploading, editing, posting, printing, cutting, and pasteing pictures is the core element that links everything together.  A photo can say a thousand words, right?  Anyways, I’ve got some cool stuff to show…so lets get to it.  I’ll try to keep descriptions short, but the list of pictures is long, so ENJOY!!

Back in September, I started the quarter experimenting a bit more with growing plants in fiber.  Here is a few transplant samples I made.  They lived about one month,  guess watering them with nutrient rich organic compost tea just wasn’t good enough.  Oh well, back to the drawing board. 

Ivy planted in yarn, loose fiber, and felted wool.  The word is that these plants died due to lack of nutrients and drainage in their glass containers.

Succulents actually work a lot better…they don’t need much water or nutrients.  These are planted in a layer of felt around a tennis ball.  Its actually the only one still living. 

This is actually a recycled cotton t-shirt.  I pulled the threads out and planted a cotton seed in it…and it actually sprouted.  Haha….cotton growing in cotton…talk about the circle of life. 

I even took some of the cotton threads and spun it in as an accent in this yarn made from left over wool.  How savvy!

A beautiful picture of some lovely plants floating in water.  I often catch the most interesting photos in the strangest places.  This picture was taken in the garden of a local Coffee shop here in Savannah. 

See this dog. His name is Lucky and he belongs to one of the girls in the fibers grad program here at SCAD.  She kindly collected a grocery bag full of his hair so that I could attempt to spin it.  Well……

It spun up real soft and fluffy.  I didn’t have to card it because the hair was so fine….it just slipped through my fingers like butter.  A whole bag of hair only yielded about 30 yrds of yarn.  So I ask you, if you will wear a sheep’s hair (wool), or a fiber made from a plant (cotton), why wouldn’t you wear your dog’s hair.  FUN Huh?!

So, I took a class with a guess artist that SCAD brought from New York this past quarter.  Her name is Cat Chow and she’s awesome.  The class helped bridge the gap between artist and designer and focused on helping us find where we stand in the world of art.  I learned so much about both who I am in general, as well as who I am as an artist.  For the final project we had to analyze our five favorite things, pull together our favorite materials, and make something we wouldn’t normally make….that means no yarn Jamie.  So here’s my five favorite possessions….

A patchwork skirt I bought in Asheville NC, my Rainbow flipflops, a pair of Express “Editor” jeans, a handspun and knitted shawl I made during my internship to Grenada, and a few pieces of jewelry made from natural elements.  I’ll save you the details about the analysis of myself.  The picture says it all. 

My favorite materials to work with….natural beads & shells, wire, thread, fabric, &….FIBER, FIBER, FIBER!!!  So this is what I made…..

A necklace made of natural elements of jade, shells, and cotton.  I also used felt and bits from recycled jewelry.

A shawl pin made from floral wire and a hat pin, with accents in fiber, copper, stone, and gold.  This project allowed me to cross the boundary from arts and crafts to the art of craft.  I kind of shocked myself with this one. 

On January 9th, 2009 an exhibition of contemporary fiber art will be held in Savannah at Dimensions Gallery.  This Stitch Spectacular event is hosted by two of SCADs fiber grad students, Karin Soderholm and Rubi Mcgrory.  I am very excited to say that one of my pieces has been chosen to be a part of this exhibition.  This is only the second time some of my work has been featured in a gallery show, so I’m very excited.  The piece I submitted is called “Peaceful Contemplation” and is inspired by ideas of meditation and spiritual gardens. 

This panel is 30″X60″ and made of various kinds of white paper.  The piece is simple; that’s the point.  Fern leaves have been cut from the background of the piece; the delicate leaves hanging from the front are cut from tracing paper and each leaf is stitched down the middle….they move in the passing breeze, with the sound of rustling leaves.  A nesting of rocks exists amongst evenly spaced circles to resemble the raked gravel of a zen garden.  These circles are hand stitched with white thread and their simplistic form allows the eye to relax.  Vertical stitch lines have also been made across the piece.  Here the absence of thread is what captures the eye.  The even spacing of the holes in each row suggests a stitched line.  Again, its the line in its most simplistic form that eases, yet captivates the mind.  The bottom right corner of the piece utilizes the transparent quality of acetate to resemble the wonderment of water…and lily pads.  The Chi (positive energy) just flows right in from the top, trickles down and around each line, and floats away across the water on a lily pad.  How relaxing, right?

In January, my older sister will be having her first baby, a girl!!  Since I couldn’t make it up to N.C. for the baby shower, I made her this precious little baby hat.  Its spun using merino wool, egyptian cotton, silk, and recycled curtain material.  I slip stitched in the round to form this hat, and then stitched a little felted flower to it.

At the beginning of this last quarter I was given tons of tiny succulent plants to play with.  For a long time I didn’t know really what to do with them.  They just kind of sat around in my studio as a constant inspiration I just couldn’t place. So I stitched into them, I took pictures of them, and arranged them into patterns.  I eventually got frustrated and this is what came of it…

A succulent planted inside its own image, which has been printed onto cotton fabric.  Yes, there’s a plant in there.

Who knows where this idea came from.  What was I thinking?

Well, as far as the most fascinating work I produced this past quarter…that’s it.  But what have I been working on over Christmas break you ask…

Here’s a hat I made, from start to finish.  Spun from merino wool, locks, alpaca, and tons of gold sparkle.  This hat is also slip stitch crochet.

Egyptian cotton, 60 yrds of pure luxury.  What do you want to be yarn?

A search for inspiration…

Do you remember the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil?  Well, the Bonaventure Cemetary featured in that movie is located here in Savannah.  Its one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.  Recently I’ve been fascinated by the objects one keeps close to them for security and sanctuary. So what better place to find these things than in a cemetary.  I found all kinds of objects that people leave on graves for these purposes.  Jewish people leave rocks and marbles to let the loved one know they were there.  Christians leave flowers and tiny angel statues to watch over a friend or family member.  I even saw elaborate grave carvings, rosaries, and wind chimes. 

In Foresyth Park here in Savannah, we have one Ginkgo tree…and everyone talks about it like it is SOMETHING…let me tell ya.  But actually, its very neat.  So for your enjoyment…and mine too,  I made a little Andy Goldsworthy land art with leaves from both the ginkgo and Live Oak trees in the park. 

I’ve also been making like crazy.  I’ve been in need of a little extra cash lately (and who hasn’t), so I’ve been trying to sell me wares at local markets in Savannah. Here are some of those wares…

I will be setting up a website to sell some of these things online, so please stay tuned to future posts. 

And last but not least,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Greenfest was a spectacular day full of green info & goods.  I had my ora cleansed and my energies aligned by specialists in reiki & reflexology.  I learned about water that is condensed from the air and purified into drinking water.  And I picked up some local fruits and veggies.  I could just talk on and on about it, but…naaa, lets just move on. Here’s some pics of the things I had for sale. 

This is a blanket I knitted from both left over yarn scraps & handspun yarn. I knitted it on these giant needles I learned how to make when I was in Carriacou studying with Sue Russell.

This is a collier scarf I also knitted on giant knitting needles.  I handspun the yarn from repurposed curtain fabric and yarn.

These are stickers I cut from recycled fabric and embellished with hand embroidery.  These are one of my most favorite little things to make.

I made $25 that day.  Woohoo, my first sales!!  Now…I am taking a class this quarter with an artist & designer named Cat Chow.  She is a visiting professor that SCAD has brought from New York to teach a class called The Artist as Designer & the Designer as Artist.  There’s gonna be some major growing in this class folks, so make sure to revist in weeks to come for my progression. 

This morning our class ventured to Keller’s Flea Market just outside Savannah on Ogeechee Rd.  This was my first time at Keller’s and may I just say…WAY COOL!!  Here’s some pics of the inspiration I gathered while I was there today.

This is Dusty’s Antiques & Collectibles.  It was, by far, the coolest antique shop I’ve been to in Savannah.  I managed to find the owner, Gene, and one of his employee’s, Joe, who were kind enough to let me take a few pictures to show you guys. 

This is part of the garden out front of the shop.  Flowers and plants are everywhere and tiny little treasures pop up everywhere you look. 

This is Miss Brenda.  She’s sitting in the garden.  I forgot to ask her significance, but I suspect she’s there to watch over the gardens and greet the visiters.  I said Hi!!

I love this photo, it reminds me of home in North Carolina.  Its so inviting in a way, isn’t it?  So much cool stuff with so much potenital. 

I was drawn most to collections of glass.  Again this kind of object strikes my fancy as inspiration.  What does this mean, where will it lead me?

More glass bottles.  I love their colors, the stories they whisper, and the characters they play.  Glass as a natural material inspires me for sure.

Shot glass anyone?

There was so much to see at Dusty’s.  Items hanging from the ceiling were just as indulging as those sitting on the floor.  I could spend hours and hours in this little shop.  I shall return. 

Its special photo ops like this folks, that you’ve got to keep an eye out for.  These antique Christmas ornaments have a brillant glow from the lights below.  What a unique Xmas card, don’t you think?

And last but not least, these are some of the cutiest chihuahua puppies I’ve ever seen.  There were tons of puppies for sale at the flea market.  I was excited to see a few, but there were booths and booths of puppies.  All I could think of is…PUPPY FARM:(  I felt so sorry for these puppies, and I wanted to resue them all.  What do you do in such a sad situation?

Anyways, hopefully I’ll be back a bit more often now that schools back in.  So stay tuned to see what cool things will happen next.

A gem toned silk/merino blend roving, beautifully dyed locks to match, and a cotton thread to wrap it all up.

I let the mauve thread pull from the cone and wrap around the roving just before entering the orfice on the spinning wheel. This allows the roving to twist first so the thread lays on top of the yarn instead of getting twisted up inside the yarn.

I wanted to knit it up myself, but I must save it to sell ’cause I’m in need of those bucks something fierce. If ya know anyone who might like to have this Puddle of Passion….it measures 52yds and I’m selling it for $25.

Now for what’s been eating up most of my spare time for the past few weeks. My friends Sara Bumgardner & Andrea Gray have been asked, along with myself, to be a part of the arts committee for the new farmer’s Market at Trustee’s Garden here in Savannah. This new farmer’s market is geared toward supporting local farmers, restaurants, and artists interested in natural, organic, &/or sustainable practices. We are super excited to be a part of the development of this new market, which we believe will soon spin off into something truely extraordinary. The market takes place downtown Savannah at the end of Broughton St. in the old Trustee’s Garden warehouse, which was originally used for America’s first imports/exports of cotton way back when. Anyways, there will be much much more about the Market in future posts. For now, here’s some pics of my friends & I at the market.

Andrea Gray and her screenprinted treasures….many printed on organic cotton. Check out her blog in my blogroll.

This is a market bag I crocheted for Andrea’s birthday last month. The aqua yarn is a merino wool single spun and the purple yarn is a double plyed silk/cotton luxury. I love this bag and I chose to show it in this light because you can see how the bag fades from one color to the other, as well as how lovely the two yarn weights compliment each other.

Sara Bumgardner with her quilted & embroidered lovelies. You can check out her blog as well in my blogroll.

This is a fiber plant I gave to Sara for her birthday, which was also last month. Its an exotic angel plant that I planted with organic soil and colorful wool locks in a repurposed glass I got from the thrift store.

Many more fiber plants to come….I’m so excited about it I can hardly stand it.

Me spinning yarn at the Market. I love how you can see the fly wheel spinning ’round. I was very suprised to see how interested the little kids were in what I was doing. I think they just like to see the wheel go around though.

This is the yarn I was working on at the market. Its a mustard, olive, & fuchsia single plyed with a white lace weight yarn that has fringe & gold sparkle. There is 80 yards of this yarn and it is super soft….selling for $30.

Here’s a close up. What a foggy mist of fluff….I just want to roll all in it.

This is my new business card, it show a picuture of my first successful fiber plant transplant. Its also planted with organic soil and colorful wool locks. I love it.

Thats all folks. Not quite sure when I’ll be back again, But please stay tuned.

Here is the shop’s information.  Nancy is the owner and her husband owns the fly shop right next door.  So women, send your hubbies there while you shop because you’ll need plenty of time to take in all there is to see and feel. 

This is Nancy Thompson, the owner.  She is super nice and willing to answer any questions you have.  She even gave me a quick lesson on how to wash the locks I bought.  Thanks Nancy….it worked great!!

Not only did Nancy have tons and tons of yarn to choose from, she had more loose fiber than I’ve ever seen in one place.  There was lots of lucious locks, many different colors of wool roving, and even several different naturally colored cotton rovings.  I didn’t get any of this lovely cotton, and now I’m sort of kicking myself in the butt for it. 

This picture is from the Spinnery’s website, and shows a nice assortment of the fibers they offer.

Ooooooooo, cashmere!!  This was by far my favorite fiber that Nancy had.  It was the first time I’ve seen loose cashmere fiber, and it was ohhhhhhhhh sooooooo soft!!!   She also had several other somewhat uncommon fibers like buffalo and llama. 

I couldn’t quite pinch my pocketbook enough for the cashmere but I did manage to squeeze it enough for lots of natural and dyed locks, some mint and raspberry merino wool, and a silk/merino batt in a mixture of….you guessed it, the same colors.  So, how many of you tend to grab for the same colors all the time?  I just can’t help it, I love those jewel tones something fierce. 

For any of you craftaholics who may be traveling through the Gatlinburg area anytime soon, take it from me…you’ll find the best local handmade goods at Arrowcraft, a shop and gallery of goods from the Southern Highland Craft Guild.  Its located just in front of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, a visual arts complex that offers two-week workshops in many craft fields.

I got these fabulous featherwood earrings at the craft shop.  They called my name from the corner when I walked in.  I couldn’t resist….they’re wood!!

The process of batik starts with hot wax and a  paint brush.  This lady is painting a pattern onto stretched cotton with hot wax.  The wax will dry and when dipped into a dye pot, the wax will prevent any color from soaking in where its applied to the fabrik.  Once the fabric is dyed, it will be soaked in a pot of boiling water to remove the wax…which rises to the top of the pot and is skimmed off and recycled….I think that is so cool!!

Whenever possible, Chris and Lilo use beeswax from the local bee farmers in Grenada.  However, this has become increasingly difficult due to a few destructive hurricanes which have passed through Grenada in the past few years.  When the local beeswax isn’t available, recycled wax as well as paraffin wax are used. 

From the left…recycled wax, paraffin wax, & beeswax

These are design templates which are used to trace motifs onto fabric before wax is applied. 

This lady is using a tjanting tool (like a fountain pen filled with wax) to outline a design in wax with a thin lineweight.

This is Lilo and some of her batik fabric.  Both Lilo and Chris were just so friendly and willing to share their knowledge.  I must extend a true sense of gratitude to both of them for letting me step in for a little glimpse of the art they get to make everyday.  It was encouraging to see such a successful production based artist studio…as this is the kind of operation I hope to run some day.  Thank you Chris and Lilo!!

This is an image of washed batik fabric drying on the line.  It truly captures the essence of Grenada and the lovely environment hiding amongst the hustle and bussel of downtown.  I love this image and will hang it as inspiration in my studio for many years to come. 

Ahhhhh, handmade!!!!

Please visit Art Fabrik’s website for more information about batik and the range of products they make. 

Since arriving back to the States, I have gained a beautiful baby niece, found my lost cat, and returned to a full time job at the surf shop.  I’ve also got some exciting news of an artist co-op that I’ve been asked to be a part of.  It is in the very initial stages of development, but we already have some very innovative artists on the bill and a location we are all crossing our fingers hoping to get.  So stay tuned because as things start to happen I won’t be able to help but to blog about it…..’cause we’re all very excited about the opportunities it will bring. 

Oh yeah, and I have actually gotten a chance to do a bit a craft work since being back. 

These jeans belong to a very special fellow that I know.  I’ve had them for almost six months trying to find time to patch some gigantic holes in the knee.  I’ve never patched holy jeans before, but I thought they turned out pretty good.  It took me two days and $60 to fix them.  I dropped them off on this fellow’s doorstep in hopes of mending a friendship I f*#(^ up while I was gone.  I’m only sad to say that, I don’t think it worked.  Me so sad, but…. c’est la vie.

I shall reverse my sadness by doing a little spinning on a wheel loaned to me by our local Fibers Guild in Savannah.  Thank you Bonnie Carter.

This is a tabletop loom with four harnesses, set up for plain weave.  You lift the harnesses (which lift certain strings) with a little handle in the top right & left corners of the loom.  This loom is good for small projects and it was already threaded…lucky me! 

A close up of what I’m weaving with….palm leaves, cocoa bark, tropical fabric scraps, and two kinds of organic cotton (white & brown).

I didn’t think I would use the yarn I spun the seaweed onto, but I managed to slip it in here and there.  I’m planning on making a small beach bag with this weaving when I get back to Savannah. 

Here’s the finished piece.  I actually thought it was a lot longer when it was on the loom.  Oh well.  It’ll be a small bag.

There is a small museum here in Carriacou and a managed to sneak a few pictures of the historic spinning items they had. 

These are wooden &/or stone spinning wheel weights.  And it might be my ignorance showing, but I’m not quite sure where they go on the wheel, or exactly what they’re purpose is.

This is a spinning wheel from c1800.  It is very similar to the type many spinners used once upon a time here in Carriacou.

This is an old knitted bag and camisole made from spun cotton fibers.

This past friday night, I went to a near by town called Harvey Vale (my favorite town in Carriacou) and heard a steel band play.  I enjoyed it very much.

The band didn’t have a name and most of its members are young people.  In the afternoon, this man in the middle offers lessons to anyone who wants to join.  If I lived here, I would like to learn for sure.

Steel drum set up.

This guy is playing a car rim and brake drum.  Surprisingly, it sounded really cool.

A crab that came to join the festivities.

And one last sunset for the journey home.  I’ve had an incredible time and will cherish this experience so long as I live.  Oh yeah, and I will visit Carriacou and the Caribbean again, and again, and again.  Thanks guys and I’ll talk to you soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7wq2eKGWxg

I had to upload this video to YouTube in order to get it into this blog.  It was my first time as a YouTuber and I’d have to say they make it pretty easy and self explanitory to upload videos.  No wonder everyone’s doing it.  — This performance went on for a couple of hours and many people took a turn dancing in the circle.  All the women wore skirts with a split down the middle and another slip or pants underneath.  When they danced they would face the drummers and hold their skirt open, why? I don’t know, I never asked.

I managed to get right up around the edge of the circle, so I had a pretty awsome view.  There were a bunch of little kids in front of me who were fascinated by my digital camera.  I kept noticing them look up at it again and again.  Finally one little girl looked up and said very faintly, “Can I hold your camera?”  It was so cute, I just had to let her try.  And you know when you let one try, they all have to try.  So I ended up with like 20 extra pictures on my camera and this was one of them. 

This is Andy, and this is his 1977 police issue BMW motorcycle with a 1947 sidecar.  So why do you think I’m showing you this picture….because I got a ride in the sidecar….and it was AWESOME!!!

There was also a big artist here from Jamaica here on Saturday (Mr. Vegas).  It was a free show put on by one of the political parties here.  Apparently they will be having a big election pretty soon here as well.  There were thousands of people there and many of the locals brought grills and coolers to sell consessions.  Sorry, no picures though…it was too dark.

Sunday, I had probably the best day yet.  I took a water taxi out to swim with the sea turtles.  It was amazing.  We saw like six or seven of them just pokin’ along.  I couldn’t take a picture under water, so I found a picture on Google of the kind we saw. 

Don’t ya just love the pattern on its shell.  They weren’t very big…just about the size of my torso. 

We also saw these star fish.  At first I thought they were dead, but then I got to hold one in my hand and I felt his fingers move.  It was cool but it freaked me out a bit.

And look guys, Kite surfing!!! I was totally stoked when I saw this and I made the water taxi stop so I could take a picture.  I haven’t seen a surfer yet, much less a wave big enough to surf on. But you know what, its much the same on the coast of Georgia, so what do they do instead…they kite surf.  So this picture is for Tim @ High Tide Surf Shop where I work in Tybee Island, Georgia.  Do you see what kind of kite he’s got? Cabrinha!! Woohooo!!  This is off the coast of Union Island….and that’s all I can really say. 

Oh, so this is the Caribbean.  As I use to dream of what it would be like to visit the Caribbean, this is what my imagination saw.  Ahhhh, what a wonderful day this was!!

But wait, does this view look familiar to anyone?  Hint, hint…a movie with pirates.

Yep, you guessed it…Pirates of the Caribbean. This spot is from the scene in the first movie where they dug up all the rum…and thats all I know.  I think it was in the first movie, but I’m not sure….Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m the world’s worst when it comes to recalling movie scenes. 

Anyways, no sign of Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom here now. Too bad, so sad!!

And this folks, is my favorite picture yet. I will blow it up and hang it on my wall when I return.

Okay, Okay!! I know, I know…where’s the fiber at?  Well, I have to be honest and say that my top priority for the past few days has been my research paper.  I’ve had three weeks to research, formulate an opinion, map it out, learn a new writing format (Chicago/Turabian), and write 10 pages about it.  So if you’re tired of hearing about it, tuff…’cause my brain is tired of thinking about it.  Can you say mentally tapped, ’cause that’s how I’m feelin’ right now.  So how do I fix it, by knittin’ it up!!! Woohoo!!

First I had to spin a little more yarn to get the length I wanted for my scarf.  I chose a dark domestic fleece and plyed it with the same metallic blue thread as the previous yarns.  It reminds me of the black sand on the beach right outside the Roundhouse. 

And here is the finished piece, with me and my cheesy grin.  i took like 10 photos and hated them all, but who cares…that’s not the point.  Isn’t that scarf beautimous?!  I love it with the blue tank underneath.  Oh, the perfect vision of the sand and sea, hehe! This scarf is super soft and warm, even with the big holes. 

It reminds me of a fishing net or even some of that camouflage netting thats out now. 

Here’s a close up.

These little jars are from my cabin.  Each one has sand from a different beach or island close by (Sandy Beach, Sparrow Bay, Anse La Roche, & Jack-A-Dan). They were a source of inspiration for this scarf. 

So what’s next? Weaving with this stuff…palm leaves, cocoa bark, and I thought this seaweed yarn…but now I’m thinking not.

This is camel down, red alpaca top, grey domestic wool, some angelina hot fix sparkle fibers, and all the scraps from various fibers that were left over from my samples.  We don’t have carders here to comb and mix the fibers, so I had to do it by hand…and spin it like this.

This is how it turned out.  I spun the fiber first thick and thin, then plyed it with a metallic blue thread…like the ocean at sunset.  When you hold the plying thread taught and let the yarn just kind of loosely wrap around it, you get this kind of wavy effect in the yarn.  Pretty cool huh!

A close up.  I didn’t soak or wash this yarn when I got finished plying it, so I don’t know what’s going to happen to it over time.  Soaking yarn after you spin it helps it to hold the twist so it won’t pull apart.  This camel down is super soft and slippery, so it might peel later since I didn’t soak it.  We’ll see though.

Organic cotton I plyed with the same blue thread.  I just love this wavy look…and its very easy to make!!

A close up.

Giant knitting needles that Sue made.  They measure approx. 48″ long. These are super fun to knit with and the perfect tool for teaching because they create loose stitches and there’s just more to hold on to.  It like a kid coloring with giant crayons.  I am definately going to make me a pair when I get back to Savannah. 

I’m knitting a scarf, a beginner’s favorite.  Its really going to be about the size of a pashmina, so I can wrap it or tuck it like a scarf.  These are the two yarns from above.  I have run out of yarn though and will have to spin some more in order to finish.  The big knitting needles make knitting go really fast, which is a bonus because I’m a rather impatient person.

A close up.  This is knit stitch only.  I tried to string a few shells onto the blue thread before I plyed the yarn, but they wouldn’t fit through the orfice on the spinning wheel, so I had to take them out…so sad.  I was going for a sand, ocean, shell concept.  That’s okay though, this scarf told me he wants fringe instead.

And look everyone, my fiber plant is growing like crazy! Its only been a week and look at it.  I’ve just been watering it with rain water and trying to keep it moist.  The roots on the bottom started to turn brown though, so I took him out of the direct sunlight and wrapped a cloth around the bottom.

Now some odds and ends…

I won’t go into much detail, but just take my advice…If you go out of the country, whatever you do, don’t loose your debit card.  Its like the key to life as we know it.  If you loose it, you’re f$%#!!, ’cause its cash only down here folks.  Your debit card is only good at the ATM.  Don’t worry though, after much distress, I eventually solved my problem and the cash is flowing again.

A snipit of a little something that I’m crocheting for my twin sister’s baby.  She’s about to burst and should be having a little girl any day now!! I’m very excited, and I can’t wait to see her.

See this crab, isn’t he cute.  He’s very tiny…and guess where I found him….IN MY BED!!  I was watching a movie late one night on my computer sitting in my bed and I guess he wanted to watch too.  I pulled the covers back to slide under after the movie was over and he came crawling out.  Yes, I was freaked for a moment, but was just glad I saw him before I went to sleep, else I might have gotten a rude awakening in the middle of the night.  Yikes!!  So before all of you go to bed tonight, better look under those covers!!

I am writing a research paper on an exhibit that just recently left the Museum of Art and Design in New York called “Pricked: Extreme Embroidery.”  The idea behind this exhibit was to show how traditional craft techniques, like embroidery, are being used in contemporary art.  There were over 50 works from artists in 17 different countries.  I exhibit would have been way cool to see in person.  But ya can’t just up and travel to New York every time you want to see an art exhibit now can you.  Anyhow, here’s some pics of some of the art that was exhibited…

“Lessons from My Mother” by Andrea Dezso….she had 48 of these in the exhibit, all showing a little stitched image to go along with each lesson her mother claimed…

“Death of a Blinded Philosopher” by Angelo Filomeno…my favorite piece in the show.  This is the biggest I could get this picture to post.  But, its all hand embroidered on silk with tons of swarovski crystals…that you can’t see in this image.  The detail is incredible!!

“Phrenology Head II” by Morwenna Catt…phrenology is the study of how the lumps and bumps on your head determine your personality and criminality characteristics.

“Afro Abe II” by Sonya Clark…Abraham Lincoln has a french knot afro as a way to symbolize his aid to African Americans while in office.

“EBbb” by Kate Kretz…these are eyes embroidered on a white pillowcase with human hair and eyelashes.  They appear just about actual size on the pillowcase.  Cool huh?

Okay, I have also been spending a tremendous amount of time putting together a flyer together for Sue’s workshops.  I had to use three programs to get the thing done because I didn’t know how to do everything in just one program.  So when you see it, the graphics may appear simple but it has proven difficult to create in more ways than one. 

The “Wool n Dance” is an event that happens outdoors in a public place where tons of wool is layed out to form a carpet and sandwiched between two big sheets.  The sheets are then soaked with water and soap and people are invited to come and dance on it to live music. The pressure and friction from people’s feet, along with the water and soap, make the wool fibers felt (stick together).  And even if you didn’t want to dance and get wet, you could just stand back and giggle at all the other silly people slipping and sliding around.  The dancefloor would be padded by all the wool, so if you fell it wouldn’t hurt.  I think it’s gonna be super fun and maybe we can eventually get a “Wool n Dance” set up to happen in Savannah. 

Other than staring at my computer for days on end, here’s what else I’ve been up to this week. 

Here at the Roundhouse, its all about recycling. I helped Sue carry some old tires down to the beach so we could build a dam that will prevent the waves from washing all the sand away. 

Sue and Nicol tieing up the tires.  We stuffed them full of rocks and sand so the waves wouldn’t wash them away.  And I’d have to say, this little make-shift dam is already doing a damn good job…hehe!!

and…just to add in a bit of other info I think is cool.  For a better part of their time, Sue and Rico live in and help to run an EcoVillage called Pianta Monda in Southern Switzerland.  Its up on some steep, somewhat rough terrain, but they’ve managed to renovate a few abandoned cottages and plant plenty of organic fruits and vegetables to live on.  They use solar power, compost toilets, and utilize running water from a nearby river.  If anyone’s willing to lend a helping hand and wants to learn a sustainable way of living, then an adventure to Pianta Monda is an excellent choice.  The website for the Pianta Monda is written in German, so if anyone can read German or just wants to check out some pictures of the place, then here ya go…www.piantamonda.ch

Oh, what? What’s that you say?…You want to see some more fiber!!! Well then…OK!!

I spun this organic cotton earlier this week.  Its super soft, lumpy and bumpy.  Lumpy and bumpy is easy to spin, but smooth and even?…don’t know, haven’t tried yet.

Hope you guys like my silly pic. I spend a lot of time here by myself and this is the result.

Anyways, those of you who have been keeping up with my work of recent months know that I’ve been doing some studies on getting plants to grow in fiber.  Well I’ve decided since I’ve got all these cotton seeds at my disposal, that I might as well try to grow some.

So first, I spun some cotton fiber with the seeds still in it.  I spun it using what’s called a core yarn/thread (the orange one you see to the left of me) to prevent the yarn from tearing while spinning because this fiber had a lot of seeds in it.  Big stuff has a hard time going through the orfice (where the yarn is entering the wheel) so its nice to have the added strength from a core thread.                                             

I decided it would be a good idea to knit this yarn into a tube on some double pointed needles.  It was my first try with these things, and let me just say it was a bitch to work with.  I’m not very good at knitting anyway, but leave it up to me to do something the hard way the first time around.  This little ball of yarn and these little needles didn’t get me a very long tube… but it did give me something to work with.  The idea was to knit a tube with seeds, hang it up, and water it to see if it would sprout….this is how far I got.

The outside of my little tube.  Most of the seeds ended up on the outside, and yes many of them may fall out, but there’s at least 300 seeds in there…and you only need one to plant a bush.

The inside of my little tube.  Here you can actually see that its knitted.  I mixed two different colors of cotton fiber when spinning this yarn, a white one and an off white one.  They look nice together here don’t they?

Did you know that aloe plants are a natural source for dying fiber.  It will turn your sheets purple if you go to sleep after rubbing some on.  So, I decided to give it a try.

You gotta split the leaf open and scrape out the jelly.  The jelly is what will dye the fiber.  And boy, does it reek…like a smelly armpit to be exact.  We’re use to smelly substances in the fibers department though, right girls?

I also just put some loose cotton fiber in the bottom of this bottle with some seeds and water to see if it would sprout. So, do ya think it worked?   Weeeellllll…….

After only two days, look what I’ve got….some sprouts in the bottom.  They haven’t popped out through the top yet, but they will hopefully within the next couple of days.  Yaaaa, I’m so excited!!!

And to round out today’s super long post, how ’bout some odds and ends…

Some more beach findings.  The crab is all dried up and hollow, but the sea urchen looks as though it may have only died a few days ago.  There’s a yellow shell there, do you see it?  Have you ever seen a yellow shell? Not me.  Oh yeah, at home on Tybee Island, my friend Darcie and I collect broken shells a lot because sometimes that’s all you can find.  But don’l look over the broken ones…for they can be some of the most interesting…like to corkscrew ones to the left here. 

This is the bay in one of the next towns over from Bogles where I’m staying.  Its called Harvey Vale and its where all the the traveling sailors and yatchies come to dock their boats.  Its one of my most favorite locations in Carriacou yet.

A sea urchin on the beach in Harvey Vale.  This one wasn’t quite dead yet, but there were tons of other ones…however most of them were broken. 

And another beautiful sunset here at the Roundhouse to end another busy week.

I brought a big bag of various fibers with me to the Roundhouse and I’ve been trying to spin a little sample of each of them to put in my notebook.  There are a lot of them so I will only show you a few of my favorites.

This is mohair, a type of wool that is super soft and shiny.  Its a fine fiber that’s easy to spin.  Mohair is one of the hottest fibers on the market in the US and Europe.

This is Australian merino wool.  It was one of the easiest fibers for me to spin because of its long stable fibers. I like it because its super loafty.

 Uncarded organic cotton.  Sue say its best not to card the cotton because the fibers are short and pull apart easily.  Besides, when you spin it uncarded you get a cool lumpy and bumpy effect…I love it!!

The following two pictures are shots from the samples I put in my notebook.

My notebook, I made it.  I cut the pieces and covered them with this nice ocean blue handmade paper and used a fabric strip to connect the front two pieces for easy opening.  The fabric will also keep the front cover from tearing away from the binding through many openings and closings.  It wraps around the outside and inside seam.

I used waxed thread to sew the book together using the noble binding method described in the following book.

This is a great book that explains many different ways to make books and sew them together.  Feelin’ crafty?  This book is probably available at your local library, so check it out and start cutting.

Okay folks, time for some spinning wheel action.  I started using the wheel today and it took a bit to get the hang of how all the parts work, but eventually I figured it out. 

This is one of Sue’s spinning wheels.  Her uncle made it for her a very long time ago.  The craftsmanship is amazing.  Even though this one is handmade, you can find similar ones on the market…refered to as castle wheels. 

Sue spinning cotton.

A helpful tip.  When spinning, hold the fiber in one palm and let it slide between your thumb and index finger while teasing (pulling) the fiber away with the other hand.  The key is not to pinch the fiber coming from your hand too tight.  Tease the fiber with the other hand and use the fiber holding fingers like a small venue to pull the fiber through.  Hold the fiber too tight and it will not tease…and you will get frustrated because your yarn will break again and again. 

Me spinning wool. Weeee, look at me go!!!

My first yarn on the bobbin.  The U-shaped piece with the hooks is called the flyer.  It spins with the yarn and guides it onto the bobbin.  And the tension, the tension is a whole other story I can’t even begin to explain yet.  But the tension determines how fast the yarn pulls through and onto the bobbin.  This, for me, is the trickiest part. 

And after a long day’s work….we watch a beautiful sunset.

And oddly enough, the sun sets just as beautifully on the Georgia coastline.