Lilyweeds

I GOT RANDOMIZED!!!!

2012-01-15T18:45:00.001-05:00

.....and made it into Lori Anderson's 5th BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY!!!!!

I am sooooo excited and hope that my bead trading partner, Ann Sherwood, will like what I send her. Already designing in my head and thinking about what I have to complement the designs.

Just the creative boost I needed!

Watch this blog and mark your calendars for the March 3rd reveal

when you can see some amazing jewelry by some amazing artists...

and little ol' me!

Yay!

My Love With Teeny Beads

2012-01-03T02:16:00.000-05:00

Peyote stitch is so relaxing and I enjoy working with the tiny size 11 seed beads and Delicas.

I can see this quickly becoming an obsession. :)

It's All About The Chain, Gang!

2011-07-22T14:30:00.001-04:00

Yes, I admit it. I am Diana and I'm addicted to Chain Maille. Those little rings just set my heart racing!

It really is fun to do and very soothing - almost rhythmic - once you get the hang of it.

This work is progress is Noah's sterling silver bracelet -

long finished, as it was his graduation present from law school.

Worked in Byzantine pattern, it was one of the first pieces I did and I am happy with how it turned out.

He still wears it and it has stayed intact! Yay! Not all my first creations of things have. ;)

Yesterday I hit up Michael's and bought some rings in black, copper, pewter rings and bigger silver rings.

Can't wait to get back to the jewelry table next week!

The Green Book... as in Olive... as in Oil

2011-03-26T13:13:00.001-04:00

When challenged with a 'No Paper' artist book call, I started looking around the house to see what was to be had.

Thankfully, the timeline coincided with the last drop of olive oil from the giant tin in the pantry!

Lots of pictures for this one! Enjoy!

I just had to cut the covers from the part that included the bee!

It coordinated perfectly with the leather binding,straps and cover protectors.

The longstitch binding worked great for sewing the signatures but pulling the needle and waxed thread through the metal covers needed some extra help from the pliers!

All twenty pages were from fabric scraps - the numbers on this page are from a selvedge strip.

Note that the tin edges are tapped to the inside about a sixteenth of an inch so the metal edge isn't sharp.

That is why the corners and the inside stitching are protected as well.

The pages are pinked, stitched to the buckram base on only three sides,

so the new owner can fill up these pockets herself.

I hear it's going to be full of recipes!

Closed, packed, mailed and, I hear from my art friend, residing in a new place of honor in her kitchen.

Bon Appétit!

carving little stamps

2011-02-02T13:58:00.001-05:00

I've had a few people ask me about my little stamps. They are so easy to carve and quite inexpensive; a great way to add a little bitty drawing to your work or stamp your own fabric.

The fish was carved on a rectangular white eraser, while the others were carved on pieces of white Speedball carving medium.

I draw on regular paper with a mechanical pencil as I find those transfer well. Simply lay the drawing on the eraser pencil side down and rub with a spoon or bone folder to transfer the pencil marks to the eraser. Sometimes I draw on the eraser itself - remember that your stamped image will always be reversed. Good to remember for lettering of any kind. ;)

Using a carving tool or an X-acto knife and taking care to carve only the eraser (not your fingers), carefully remove the lines or remove around the lines depending on which style of stamp you would like. You don't have to cut very deeply to get a good stamp - these are approx. 1/16th inch.

I removed the background on the angel and fish. The lines were carved out on the sugar skulls. I always brush them off with a soft brush to remove the eraser dust and small bits.

Now they are ready to use with a stamp pad or you can roll on acrylic paint or printer's ink with a brayer.

I also like to brayer-roll acrylic paint onto a tempered glass palate in a thin layer and use that paint as a you would a stamp pad. Acrylic does dry quickly but I like to mix in fabric medium with the paint and use this method when I'm stamping on fabric. The glass palatte washes right off and I clean my stamps with baby wipes.

Nothing fancy and there are lots of other great printing techniques out there. These are just the ones that I like to use on my inexpensive little stamps.

Angels Unaware

2011-01-27T13:47:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite passages is

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares".

A nice way to remind us to be kind to one another.
The angels I hand-carved and stamped on silk in postcard size were inspired by the petroglyphs at

Buckhorn Wash in Utah.

The Bear Who Made Me Need Glasses...

2010-01-28T14:39:00.001-05:00

Crochet has long been a love of mine. So has 'small' work. Well this little duo for last year's ThreadAnimals Yahoo list from a ThreadTeds Challenge pattern did me in.

I couldn't figure out why I was having such a difficult time finishing her and her miniscule pink friend.

READING GLASSES!!!

Ok, vanity taken care of and set aside... now maybe I will get the chance to finish them.

FiberArtTraders Trade - Journal Wings

2009-03-09T17:30:00.001-04:00

I recently was asked to take on the job of trade coordinator for one of my very favorite Yahoo groups - FiberArtTraders run by my dear friend, Normajean Brevik. The previous Queen of All Trades, the lovely and talented Deb McKenzie, left some unbelievably organized and artistic shoes to fill. However, never one to be afraid of a challenge, I jumped right in.
Since I had also not yet hosted a swap, the opportunity for that arose just this past month. It's open until next Monday on our wondeful list and my contribution is featured on the home page.

The base is hand-dyed wool from Moondance Color Company as are the wing-tips. Vintage buttons tacked at the top of little feather-shaped booklets cut from a vintage textbook on American History. An eyelet at the top allows for ring binding or a ribbon for individual display.
There are a lot of unique fiber trades - two a month - with technique weeks and challenges on the F.A.T. group. It's a membership group and newbies are always welcome. As soon as I figure out how to add a button for the link, I shall.

My work in Susan Lenz' January 2009 CyberFyber Exhibit

2009-03-09T17:06:00.001-04:00

My ATC and PC were part of artist Susan Lenz' CyberFiber Exhibit held in January in Columbia, South Carolina. The snowy weather and extremely icey roadways kept me from attending but I was honored to be part of this exhibit that included fiberart from the world over.

The ATC is dedicated to all the seals in the world.

Jordan saw the original piece and said, 'you know, Mom, that section looks like a seal.'

So it became an homage to the cute - if contrary - little critters.

The background is created from fused organza fabrics with a cheesecloth seal.

My PC is made from geometric shapes pinked from Warm&Natural batting over upholstery silks, accented with bugle beads and size 15 delicas.

Thanks, Susan!

All featured fiber art can be seen and information about the 2010 exhibit found here:

http://cyberfyberexhibition.blogspot.com/

Long Live The Queen

2008-04-18T19:52:00.004-04:00

So do you think the grand queen Marie Antoinette will come back and haunt me for making her a 'cigarette girl'? It wasn't my intention when I began this Inchie doll. Her skirt is from a painting of the palace Versaille and the whole cake thing just took on a life of itself. Marie's face is from a painting of her as a young girl, just before the marriage that would make her queen of France. She's decorated with metallic pearl paints and alcohol inks. The inchie is, of course, her torso and tray.

Collage Mania II - 'Think Pinked'

2008-03-21T10:30:00.002-04:00

'Think Pinked'

is the title of my first collage for Virginia Speigel's Collage Mania II, a magnificent fundraiser for The American Cancer Society.

Crafted from pinked cotton, shredded tulle and gauzecloth over snipped threads, this work is stitched in glossy DMC rayon floss and heavily beaded with delicas, rocailles, and pearls. It was stitched in honor of my aunt, Minerva Mains Williams, a talented artist in her own right, who is a 27 year survivor of breast cancer. Eensy, teensy delicas in muted hues are stitched in rows on this square. The simplistic long-stitched rayon floss enhances the twisted shreads of a rose-colored tulle.
This tiny square features stylized floral beadwork in glass rocailles and tiny bugle beads.
Raspberry bugles are worked across this portion. You can also see the three colors of the rayon floss and its shiny texture.
This auction comprised of the artwork of a multitude of artists worldwide begins online

Monday, May 5, 2008, with a second day on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

Complete details can be found at:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaDetails.html

My Fiber Booklet

2008-02-27T19:12:00.002-05:00

Soo I've been doing a lot of swaps lately - for practice and because I love the work done in the groups to which I belong. This swap was for a fiber art ATC book so I got to try out several new things I'd bought. The first being the Orange Sherbet Batik fabric that is the front of the book.

The next is this rainbow assortment of adhesive vellum behind which I enclosed several vintage pictures as well as pieces of sheet music and lettering. I also used on top of the vellum rub-on letters in several different fonts. I enjoyed making this little book and hope it likes its new home.

My Little Piece of Bling

2008-02-27T19:01:00.001-05:00

Meet my little tin man who is part of a collaborative artistic venture on on of my Yahoo groups. We were given the chandelier parts with instructions to add whatever we needed to make a dolly with bling! His little hat is an old perfumer's funnel - his face and arm are vintage glass beads. The wire is the new gunmetal color with which I've fallen in love.