Monday, March 2, 2009



I made two more attempts to do the rug for the tree and both of them, as they increased, began to pucker and dance. Evidently no matter how loose I try to work, there is not enough 'give' in the shape of a glass bead, to make smooth round shapes. There surely is. Probably I need to change the sizes as I go around the curves, but this was beyond my ability as I have showed in my attempts. So I laid the rug idea aside comforting myself with the idea that maybe I really did not need one.
Thus I turned my attention back to the haiku book. The "river" page has been lying on my desk for weeks and it felt good to turn to working on it with relief (from the rug) and not out of a sense, 'this needs to be done.' I was amazed how quickly I was able to sew around the letters. I had been dreading the job, but it was not that bad after all. Yes it was a hassle turning the work area around and around with 24 foot of fabric, but it was doable. Now I am wishing I had sewed around the letters of "fog" but with the sparkles already on, it would be a beastly job (I think) to finish sewing the letters down.
When I refolded the panel I could feel how fragile the fabric is and now know that I must also make connections to the top.
Aha! I had been dreading that job because it would involve attaching the supporting threads to the rods and I would not be able to easily move the fabric around with the rod on it. Also I feared I could not get even tension on the supporting threads causing the fabric to buckle. Just as I typed in the preceding paragraph, a solution flashed into my mind! I will sew in the support threads up to the bend where the rod goes before putting in the rod! I had planned to glue the fabric to the rod anyhow. Now I can glue down the support threads at the same time!
This what I love most about making art. Making problems for myself and then watching my greater self solve them.

With "river" sewed to its panel, and a storm that kept me out of the studio to glue down the words on the second panel, I turned to a job for Claire. She had bought a glass leaf with a glass loop on the back. Because the loop was in the center of the leaf, it refused to hang down and tipped over. She had showed me the problem in the January meeting and I had suggested she make a beaded 'plate' to hold the leaf and suspend it from a beaded bail

She brought beads to learn how to do the brick stitch and she did very well with learning how to do it to last week's meeting. But we recognized that making the plate with a hole in (for the protruding loop) was a lot to ask of her now. So I offered to make it for her. We discussed the size and she showed me other beads she thought of adding to the 'plate.' So I did this for Claire and am eager to see how she changes it to fit her idea of the necklace.


Aha! I see from the photo why the bail would not stay straight. There is a bead missing! Here is the plate with the glass leaf. I love the colors Claire picked.The auto-fix for the photo dimmed these.

The leaf still needs to be attached to the plate. I am thinking of beading a small rod that can pass through the loop and then sewed down to the plate. So I have talked myself into more beading today!