What A Great Day

I had planned to write about something else today but had such a great day in my studio that I'm going to write about my work.

Both my husband and I decided we would take the day to work in our studio. My husband is a woodturner and he has been making some really beautiful candle holders. He put the finishing touches on those today and made a small pepper mill.

I have three projects going. Two of them have been hanging on my design wall for months. I have posted about the piece I am making titled "Uncle Dave" but I ran into a snag that had put that project on hold. I need some hand dyed gray fabric. Vicki Welsh is presently trying to dye some close to the color I need. I also decided that I was going to have part of the design come off of the bottom of the piece. I've done this many times before so that is not the problem. The problem stems from the fact that I need to put a part of Uncle Dave's body in front of the object. I know that I will come up with a solution it just takes time and planning.

Planning? Well I don't always do a lot of planning when I work on a piece. Most of my finished works have undergone many transformations before I call it finished. The other piece I am working on is just one of those. I started the part of the piece in a class at Arrowmont. The class was on surface design, printing on fabric. I used PhotoShop Elements to make the design and then printed it in four banners to make a large image. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make it larger by adding other elements. I took the photo that I manipulated in PhotoShop and did more manipulation in filters until I came up with six different photos. I added a boarder of black around the center design with gray along the sides. I then put three photos on one side and three on the other.

After I had done this I ran across a piece that I had made out of fabric of the same photo. My mind started reeling and I decided that I didn't like the six photos, they were too pat and everything was too symmetrical. Besides I like the one I made out of fabric better so I decided to make three to go on just one side. I got that done and found the center piece was not square and that threw off my lines. So, I took it apart. As I was doing that another idea came to me so I acted on that today and I am elated. I'm so excited about how this piece is turning out. This time I did have to do some major planning/math, which I hate, but found it to be necessary. I will post photos a little late.

I also worked on a new doll that I am making today as well. I told you I was busy today. I have the doll finished with the exception of the facial features and the hands. The doll will be either sitting or laying on the back of a turtle. That has been another real experience. I'm signing off because I need to mellow out a little so I can sleep. Today has been a great day.