Nancy King sold fabrics, buttons, ribbons and other new and vintage findings that were perfectly chosen. It was a beautifully curated shop. But alas, it's no more. Many of us still mourn it's passing.
She was kind enough to take my collars, she probably sold 20 or so. You can see a couple of them on the "Remade Stuff" page on this blog. Those collars were very similar in shape to ones I learned how to make from Kay Khan a year and a half ago at a Design Outside The Lines retreat. But the shape is where the similarity ends.
I was so taken with the technique she has developed I joined Peninsula Wearable Arts Guild just to take another class from her a few weeks ago.
Kay is a phenomenally talented artist. And a very generous and fun teacher. Most of her work is quite a bit larger...vases, urns, armatures, various sculpture. But she does make beautiful, sculptural necklaces.
I'm a rank novice at this but it's just so much fun! It's like painting or sculpting. For me it's very freeform. It's about color and shape.
The pieces begin with a layer of thick felt that is sewn on to a base fabric, front and back. From there, you just take off adding pieces of fabric, cutting out, turning around, sewing back together, cutting, sewing, adding...on and on till it's "done".
I love how you can use little scraps of fabric and I especially love that I can use pieces I've created that are painted, silk screened and stenciled. I have many such small fragments that I can't bare to throw out.
And, I can use my grandmother's buttons!
This one is from the first class. It was originally way too big (yes, I know, you think this is big, too!) so I worked with Kay to cut it down.
All of these are very comfortable to wear and will travel well. I love wearing black but I need some color around my face these days.
If you ever get the chance to study with Kay I highly recommend it. Both of her classes were very fun. The time just flew by, you get so absorbed in the work.
I don't know if I'll ever do more pieces but I hope to. I'd like to do some that aren't quite so colorful-crazy.
