I sold two tea cozies this past weekend to a woman from Moscow! It makes me smile to think that one will warm her mother-in-law’s teapot in Moscow, another her mother’s teapot somewhere in France! The design began as a paper cutting. I call it my Haiku House finch Tea Cozy. The haiku reads:
Curious house finch
Tastes the ripe crabapple —
Daylight grows short.
I’m working on a new online shop that will feature my katazome work. If all goes smoothly, I plan to launch it sometime in November.
I am using katazome tools and materials in a non-traditional way with this piece. I have added paste and and dye layers, approaching it a bit like a painting but more backward and indirect. It will get 3 or possibly 4 more layers before I set it aside. In the beginning I drew out the composition, and had a sense of what stencils I would make and incorporate, but I did not plan the precise order of how various layers would come together. One part planning, two parts seat-of-my-pants, kind of like life.
Here I’ve pasted a new stencil based inspired by Meadow Rue leaves in my garden.
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The Art at St. Kate’s show/fair was a great experience and exceeded my expectations! A windy day, two rain squalls, a sky with gorgeous clouds, and good sales. I was pleasantly surprised at the popularity of my runners, and sold out of the Minnow design (but can always make more).
This week the garden needs attention. I can’t bring myself to weed the wonderful Great Mullein specimen — it’s such a gorgeous plant, and quite useful – I wonder if it can be used as dye … I wouldn’t be surprised if K. Baxter Packwood has tried it! Tomorrow morning I’ve set aside time to weed, after spending two days accomplishing mundane errands and tasks I’ve postponed for months. It sure feels good to get these off my plate — no excuses for NOT getting in the studio next week!
Next week I dive into the work in progress for an October show at the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing in Minneapolis. I will be combining natural juice dyes along with natural pigments, in a layered approach. I’m using two rather sturdy silks, as well as some vintage linen tablecloths I found at an estate sale in my neighborhood, as my canvas.
silver minnow 