It was a great group of women. Sixteen of us worked our way through ideas we brought and new ideas that Diane and Kay introduced.
This is going to be a long post so hang on!
Here's Diane Ericson demonstrating one of her techniques. She's wearing her latest remade men's shirt creation. Each one is more inspiring than the last. She's a genius mix of left and right brain, engineer and artist.
We met Kay Khan, a Santa Fe fiber artist. Her work is incredible. Mostly constructed vessels and wall hangings but she also makes jewelry. She brought several pieces to sell that were swooped up quickly.
Her work takes time...and lots of thread! Very intricate pieced textiles with lots of wording.
She worked on a men's jacket while at the retreat. Cutting it, sewing into it, really inspiring.
The holes she cuts in her pieces got a lot of us thinking!
A finished hole...or not. She keeps working into her pieces so you never know if it's really finished.
These are two pieces she made out of sweatshirt hoodies. Stand alone helmets that were so powerful both thematically and in their construction.
An example of her jewelry.
And then there's Helen Papke. A long time DOL attendee. Here she's working on a piece of her own boro. Her inspiration...a shop in Venice California selling pieces of clothing made with the Japanese textiles.
Not yet finished piece she sewed to a men's shirt.
And then I got going on a piece inspired by Kay. She was very kind to help me construct a collar/necklace from a 12X15" piece I made. Here's the start.
And here's the finished piece. It's big, it's kinda cartoon-y but I like it for my first attempt.
View of the side/back
View of the other side/back
And then here's the piece I bought from Kay. So fun and wearable.
We ate one night at Los Agaves in Santa Barbara. It's my new favorite Mexican restaurant hands down. Great service, gorgeous presentation and terrific food. Here is my Green Pozole, delish.
Now I'm done with the DOL recap. Here's a few shots of other stuff I've been working on.
I took a class in October from Sandy Ericson of The Center For Pattern Design on making paper beads that are folded, Swedish style, into little origami type beads. I sort of stink at it...still...but love the process.
I started the necklace with the beads in a single layer but realized it needed some depth.
So I restrung it. I don't love the old covered wire I used, need to find another something to hang them on.
Don't look to closely. Sandy, if you are seeing this I'm sorry, they are NOTHING like yours. I still have a long way to go in making them tight little square bundles.
Then I worked on a copy of a necklace my friend got overseas. It's a mix of covered plastic curtain rings, painted wooden beads made of dowels and painted plastic rings. I covered the rings with ribbon, vintage kimono cloth and yarn.
It was like reinventing the wheel but I love the outcome and I wear it a lot.
It gets crazier and crazier. This is a scarf I knit from strips of vintage scarves. I have hundreds that I've collected and want to use them. It became a collar of sorts. Doesn't look that good as a scarf but wound around my neck it's pretty interesting.
And warm!
