Christmas presents

I had to take a few days away from my usual artistic activities to make presents for Christmas. Here is one example.

silk flame bowl

This silk bowl, made from silk hankies, looks like the flames of a fire.

Let me know if you would like to see how this is done.

Encaustic Collage

I enjoyed teaching the class so much, that I decided to make a few of my own. These six pictures are each 6 x 8 inches, and work nicely as a group.

Craft Class Images

I teach a class in a new technique in December each year, and this year the technique was encaustic collage. I based the class on a technique demonstrated on HGTV by Kim Bernard. Take a look at http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_home_accessories/article/0,1789,HGTV_3255_4518927,00.html and see also www.kbernard.com for more of her work).

Here are some samples of the results produced by this very talented class:



Karina Bodo















Irene Mazurenko













Jill Svenson

Jonathan Robb

Brenda Kam

Siu Yu

Kendra Malainey

encaustic collage

Encaustic (unbleached bees wax) with copper and tissue on primed wood.

silk bowl 2

This is the second bowl. This one is made from several layers of silk hankies (squares of unspun made from a single cocoon), and formed over a bowl. I put this one in the oven for a bit, and it heat-bonded the medium quite well. It is gossamer thin, and see-through in most places, yet it stands on it's own, and retains it's shape, even after gentle hand-washing.

silk bowls

It has been a while since I posted, so I am posting a few images today. I wanted to try making bowls from silk paper, and this is my initial attempt. I am using Jo Sonya's Textile Medium which is great for leaving the final product still feeling like silk, but it requires heat to set it, which is very difficult when the material is in a bowl shape (kind of hard to iron). I was using a balloon resting in a bowl for the basic mold, and after it dried, it was quite difficult to iron properly.