Six new In Box Series pieces headed to the Grovewood Gallery

(Above:  Detail of In Box CDLI. Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused to recycled, synthetic packing felt with free-motion machine stitching and unique melting techniques.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

This past week included finishing and framing six new In Box Series pieces.  I only photographed the two large ones.  Why?  Well ... they are all headed to the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville tomorrow.  I really don't need images of every one.  They all look great (in my humble opinion ... but Steve agrees! LOL!)

 

(Above:  Six In Box Series pieces ... constructed and ready for free-motion machine stitching.)

I did, however, snap a photo of the six after I constructed them but before free-motion machine stitching.  The hardwood floor in my sanctuary/studio just seems perfect for "in progress" photos.  Ordinarily, I don't like any housework and have rather successfully taught Steve almost every task, but I find that sweeping my giant hardwood floor is a labor of joy.  For years I assumed that if we moved to a "big warehouse so that I could have an enormous studio", I'd be standing on concrete for the rest of my life.  That didn't happen!  Instead, I have this beautiful wood!  I really love it!

 

(Above:  In Box CDL ... as in Roman numerals for 450!!!  Custom framed with UV filtering, anti-reflective glass.  33 1/2" x 21 1/2". $595.)

One of the reasons I didn't bother with individual images of all six pieces has to do with the number in the series ... which started around 2004 ... OMG! ... twenty years ago!  My artistic mentor advised me to "make one hundred related pieces" but to make sure the last was as full of inspiration, energy, and creative juices as the first had been.  At the time, I thought it an impossible task.  

 

(Above:  In Box CDLI. Custom framed with UV filtering, anti-reflective glass.  33 1/2" x 21 1/2". $595.)

Over the years there have been all sorts of variations, sizes, and experiments.  There have been monochromatic arrangements, ones with only leaf motifs, hand-stitched ones, ones over which I poured UV filtering epoxy, and sizes ranging from 4" x 6" to more than 30" x 30".  The In Box Series also morphed into the Fiber Stained Glass pieces too!  There have been plenty of commissions for special sizes or color combinations.  I can honestly say that I still enjoy stitching these pieces and still have other ideas to try!  Tomorrow, while riding in the van to the Grovewood Gallery, I'll be hand-stitching on another one.  Maybe next week I'll finally try a piece of white felt instead of my recycled black felt.  Who knows what might come next!

The Woodsman

 

(Above:  The Woodsman.  Altered antique photo in old, birds-eye maple frame with wavy antique glass.  23" x 19". Click on any image to enlarge.)

Some anonymous photos seem to speak to me.  They call out from their frames or tattered photo albums saying, "Use me!  Alter me!  Save me!"  Such was this one.  Perhaps it is because it reminded me of my Great Uncle Howard, a WWII veteran and later firefighter who retired after saying, "I always wanted to be a farmer."  He and my Great Aunt Janet then bought a farm in "a hollow" ... pronounced "holla" outside Huntington, West Virginia where they raised a few cows and grew every sort of vegetable imaginable.  Great Aunt Janet's "green thumb" could likely raise dead plants to full growth.  Uncle Howard was proud of his farm and bragged from the front porch,"I own everything you see, right up the the rim of the hollow!"  (He'd add with a full belly laugh that the property line was at the rim of the hollow!)  They named their cows.  They had their cows slaughtered and called the steaks by their proper names.

(Above:  The original photo after used a hammer and thin nail to poke holes around the subject matter.)

Uncle Howard hunted on his land.  He absolutely adored his hunting beagles.  He once told a story of a beloved beagle who was old, blind, and crippled.  He knew that if this dog got out of its enclosure, it would run itself to a painful death, trying to be its younger self scouting, trying to hunt again.  With tears streaming down both cheeks, Great Uncle Howard told how he took his shotgun and mercifully ended the dog's life.  I'm not sure my uncle ever recovered from the experience.  In this picture, I see a man that must have been a lot like my Great Uncle Howard, a man whose identity was captured in the one photo that was probably taken of him ... a proud man, a hunter, and a lover of his best companion.  I knew when I saw the photo at the Pickens County flea market that I had to use it, alter it, save it.

After poking holes around the subject matter, I collaged the entire background with scraps of paper.  The hard board was painted a dark charcoal/green.  The board was originally that same shade but had a few nicks and expose scratches.  Then, I backstitched through the holes using a tan, #3 perle cotton thread.  Finally, I selected buttons for the edge.  One at a time, I poked holes for the buttons and stitched them in place.

(Above:  The back of the piece after stitching.)

When the piece was finished, another challenge was started.  Just how did I want to present this work?  I just couldn't wrap my head around any new moulding.  Thankfully, I had an old birds-eye maple veneered frame that looked fantastic.  (See the photo at the top of this post.  This is before glass was installed.)

 

(Above:  Steve holding The Woodsman in my sanctuary/studio.)

Steve suggested using a beautiful, very wavy piece of antique glass.  He also remembered one of my pieces from my installation Anonymous Ancestors that had just the right piece of glass.  Within minutes, Steve got the pane and used it for The Woodsman.  If I can say so myself, it is PERFECT!

 

Yet another busy week!

(Above:  Mandala CXCVIII.  Custom framed:  15" x 15".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a utilitarian, wood quilt.  Objects include: A silver belt buckle on which a sun shaped disc was stitched; tear-drop glass lamp prisms; red paper clips; plastic snowflakes from a string of old Christmas lights; external toothed lock washers; red Monopoly hotels; red and white plastic lids; wooden toy wheels; and assorted buttons and beads.  $295. Click on any image to enlarge.)

Steve and I have had several visitors this past week.  It is so much fun to show off our new home and especially my sanctuary-sized fiber arts studio.  If you are reading this and ever in our area (the Upstate of South Carolina ... between Clemson and Greenville), please do come! In the meantime, I've been working on several projects and finished two Found Object Mandalas including the one above with its six plastic snowflakes.  They came off a string of old Christmas lights.  I worked hard to remove the tiny electrical components and grind down the plastic surrounding these unneeded parts.  I'm so happy that I own a little grinder for exactly this purpose.

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CXCVIII.)

Ordinarily, I don't glue my objects to the underlying quilt but I did this time.  The glass prisms did have a flat backside but I worried that the few stitches wouldn't be sufficient to keep them in place.  I dab of hot glue can be seen through the prisms.  Also, I didn't like the photos I took in which the rustic white frame is shown.  Thus, only the red painted inner liner is included in the image.

 

(Above:  Mandala CXCIX.  Custom-framed: 29" x 29".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage hexie quilt.  Objects include:  A straw trivet; bluish-green binders; little, neon yellow plastic spoons; beer bottle caps; a collection of vintage/antique bottle openers; green golf tees with the word Hawai'i; four colorful, wooden bird ornaments; and assorted buttons and beads.)

I also finished this Found Object Mandala.  I have a similar trivet on my dining room table.  I could have used it but ... well ... it's mine!  This one came from the Pickens County flea market for a dollar.  The little, neon yellow plastic spoons came from there too.  I have no idea what they were meant for ... surely not ice cream! They really aren't sturdy enough for anything frozen hard.  I have hundreds of them in assorted colors.

 

(Above:  Selfie at one of two Brasstown waterfalls.)

I'm nearly finished with another mandala and have one more started.  Soon, all six of the In Box pieces I started more than a week ago will be in their frames and ready to go to the Grovewood Gallery.  Plus, I am stitching a little every day on my Lace Forest Installation.  While we retired from custom picture framing and moved to South Carolina's Upstate so that I could be this productive and have so many projects in production, we didn't want to ignore other goals ... like hiking to waterfalls in the area.  It's been too hot for weeks but this Sunday was GORGEOUS.  Most of the day was spent enjoying nature including both the upper and lower Brasstown waterfalls ...

... and the large timber rattlesnake who apparently thought basking on the road's sunshine was a good idea!  We were thankfully safe in our car!  I've seen a fair number of rattlesnakes "out west" but never one as large as this one!

We also visited Reedy Branch Falls before going to ...

...Bull Sluice along the Chattooga River.  This river is for a short distance the state line between South Carolina and Georgia.  It is the main tributary to the Tugaloo River which, along with the lower Savannah River, separate the two states.  It is best known for its use in the filming of the 1972 film Deliverance.  In that movie, as in the 1970 book Deliverance by James Dickey, it is fictionalized and called the Cahulawassee River.  Bull Sluice is further north from Tallulah Falls where the movie was set.  We've been there ... years ago ... and hope to return.  Yet, Bull Sluice is popular with white water rafters.  We saw two groups navigate this narrow passageway ... all wearing life vests and head gear with an experienced guide.  Maybe one day, Steve and I will take a white water rafting adventure!  It sure looked exciting!

We drove into Georgia ... just for the fun of it ... and stopped at the little Warwoman Falls on our way back to South Carolina.

A couple months ago, we'd driven past the entrance to Oconee State park's section that included the Stumphouse Tunnel.  This time we stopped.  The tunnel is DARK.  I have no idea how people visited before having a flashlight function on their cell phones!  It is just over 1,600 feet into the mountain side.  It was started in the 1850s for a railroad line connecting South Carolina to the Ohio River valley.  High costs and the civil war ended construction before completion.  A century later, Clemson University used the the constant 50 degree/85% humidity tunnel to ripen blue cheese.  After the 1970s, the tunnel became part of the Oconee State Park. 

 Nearby is the Issaqueena Falls.  Most of the trail is flat and very well maintained.  Strolls and wheelchairs have no problems, but the lower part of the trail is ... well ... what is called "scrambling".  Exposed tree roots helped us climb up and down over the boulders!  It was fun!  I'd do it again and probably will ... though there are so many more waterfalls for us to find and explore!

Another Busy Week!

(Above:  Mandala CXCVII.  Custom-framed:  22" x 22".  Found objects hand-stitched to the reverse of a vintage quilt. Objects include:  Twelve, little rubber ducks; UAW buttons from 1970; a gold plastic lid with a coffee K-pod; orange insulin syringe caps; four child's scissors; vintage poker chips; corn-on-the-cob holders; orange toy men on horses; copper colored can tabs; orange, plastic lids; copper-colored Mardi Gras doubloons; Scrabble tiles; yellow beer can yokes; binder rings; and assorted buttons and beads.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I just finished Mandala CXCVII moments before Laura Bachinski came to select artwork for her gallery, Main & Maxwell, in Greenwood, SC.  She loved it instantly.  It is now there!  It was so much fun to stitch, especially spelling out "Lions, tiger, bears, oh-my" with the Scrabble tiles.

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CXCVII.)

I got the little rubber duckies at the Pickens County flea market.  They are much smaller than the usual ones and awfully cute.  During the construction of this piece, I was reminded that I had wooden blocks too.

 

(Above:  Wooden toy blocks ... all cut in half!)

Perhaps because blocks were on my mind, I found more of them last Wednesday at the flea market.  Now, blocks are always a bit too "high" for my mandalas (or at least I don't like them "whole"!)  Over a year ago, I had lots more of the larger blocks and cut them in half using my miter saw.  It was a dangerous job.  No matter how I braced the block under the blade, half went flying and generally broke.  I attempted to hand saw one.  I attempted to use the little saw attachment on my Dremel tool.  It took a half hour to half just two blocks.  Thankfully, I found a local woodworker who cut all my blocks in half!  I'm excited now!  I can even spell "Found Objects" using these blocks.

 

(Above:  Six, assorted sizes of future In Box Series pieces waiting to be free-motion stitched.)

 

As anxious as I am to design a Found Object Mandala with my newly cut blocks, it will have to wait!  Why?  Well, I've got lots of other artwork in various stages of production.  Six In Box Series pieces are ready for free-motion machine stitching!

 

(Above:  Mr. Minnie, my studio assistant, asleep on the job!)

 

Almost every day, I stitch some on The Lace Forest ... because I really, really, really want to enlarge this installation!  The only way I'll eventually have fifty+ individual strands is if I keep stitching!  Plus, I've already finished stitching on two more Found Object Mandalas ... but we are currently out of stretcher bars.  A new supply was ordered ... which is a good thing because I've also designed two more mandalas!  Retirement seems to agree with productivity!

 

(Above:  Ariel Curry and Liz Morrow, authors of Hungry Authors:The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book, at M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, SC.)

Retirement has also allowed me to read books just for the fun of it, for the joy of a story, for the enlightenment found in beautifully written paragraphs.  It has also stirred a youthful dream of actually writing a book.  Sure ... I've had several essays published and even been paid for some of them.  Sure ... I write stream-of-consciousness "Morning Pages" (a habit I started in 2006 after going through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way).  Sure ... some teenage plans really ought to go by the wayside, but perhaps this one could come true!  To this end, Steve and I went to a free hour with two authors.  I can't say I learned anything new.  I can say that the hour confirmed that I could, if I apply myself, write a book.  Steve is most encouraging; he's always said, "Susan, you ARE A WRITER!"

(Above:  Selfie at Foust Textiles outside Kings Mountain, NC.)

Steve and I also found time to visit Foust Textiles, a place that sells only to those with retail tax numbers.  It's wholesale only and I got four bolts of Wonder Under!  I also snagged six pounds of polyester stretch velvet remnants at three dollars per pound.  I'm definitely set for future Stained Glass and In Box series pieces!

 

(Above:  Steve and I atop Crowder Mountain State Park's peak.)

Foust Textiles is near Crowder Mountain State Park.  We selected a loop trail to the peak.  There was an elevation change of 699' and most of this was in the first three-quarter mile of the three mile hike.  We were drenched in sweat but really enjoyed the view.  Thankfully, there was plenty of shade!  When the weather turns cooler, we plan to hike more!  Below are a couple more images of Mandala CXCVII.

A Very Busy Week!

 

(Above:  Found Object Mandala CXCV. Custom framed:  15 3/4" x 15 3/4".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Objects include:  A ViewMaster reel; a coffee K-pod; eight racing medals feathering the profile of President JFK; blue toy cannons; brass keys; external toothed lock washers; circles for grommets; wooden wheels for a toy, assorted buttons and beads.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I keep promising myself that some sort of regular routine for finishing artwork will happen now that I've retired from retail framing and moved to Cateechee.  This involves all the stitching, mounting, framing, photography, entering into my inventory book, blogging, and posting to social media.  So far, it hasn't quite happened.  I'm still playing catch up but that might have something to do with how busy this past week has been!

(Above:  Found Object Mandala CXCVI.  Custom framed:  22 1/2" x 22 1/2" when hung as a square; 31 1/2" x 31 1/2" when hung as a diamond.  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Objects include:  A metal clock spring; old-fashioned, wooden clothespins; wooden wheels for a toy; plastic protractors; belt buckles; turtle shaped trivets; wooden mahjong tiles; cafe curtain rings; red dice; Tinker Toy connectors; Monopoly hotels; assorted buttons and beads.)

On Monday I presented a Power Point lecture to the Lake & Mountain Quilt Guild in Seneca, South Carolina.  I returned on Tuesday and Wednesday for an in depth melting workshop.

All the participants had taken my two-day HOT workshop in 2022.  This workshop is where I explain how my In Box and Stained Glass pieces are created.  I provide everything ... from the sewing machines to the polyester stretch velvet which is already prepared with heat-activated adhesive ironed to the reverse.  For this workshop, the participants wanted to "work bigger" and created a "Window" instead of just one, little melted piece.

Because a workshop can often find participants waiting around to use the ironing station or the sewing machines or the melting equipment, I decided to also demonstrate how the hand-stitched In Boxes are made.  No one would be idle!  If otherwise waiting, there would be hand-stitching too.  Therefore, everyone was able to construct a larger Window and also a little hand-stitched In Box.

I planned the workshop so that everyone had the last afternoon to start anything else they wanted to make.  Lots of great pieces were finished and more were even begun.

I don't bring "example" to the workshops I conduct.  I've always figured that the best way to present artwork as a professional artist is to MAKE ART!  So, I made a Window and a little hand-stitched piece too!

 

(Above: (Left)  Window CCXV.  Framed:  18" x 15"; unframed: 13" x 10". Layers of polyester stretch velvet on recycled synthetic industrial felt with free-motion embroidery and melting techniques. $265. (Right) In Box CDXLIX.  Framed:  11 1/4" x 9 1/4".  Same approach except it is entirely hand-stitched. $100.)

Later, I got them into frames ... both behind glass.  I forgot to take photos before this was done.

 

(Above:  In Box CDXLVIII and what will become In Box CDL.  Both hand-stitched.)

When I took the photo of the two pieces I used for my workshop demonstration, I realized that I'd also forgotten to take pictures of In Box CDXLVIII.  It's on the left in the photo above.  At least I put In Box CDL in the photo too ... just in case I forget to take a picture of it after I melt it, mount it, and put it in a frame under glass!  All my hand-stitched In Box pieces are created while the synthetic felt is stapled to a stretcher bar.  They remain on the stretcher bar when I expose the reverse to the intense heat from an industrial heat gun.  The thinnest layer (the space between the shapes ... where it is only the thickness of the felt) melts away in a matter of a few seconds.

(Above:  In Box CDXLVI.  Framed:  19" x 15". $375.)

Thankful, I remembered to take pictures of two earlier, hand-stitched In Box pieces.  Above is In Box CDXLVI and below is In Box CDXLVII ... BEFORE they were put in frames under glass.  I'm getting plenty of hand-stitching done while watching the Olympics.  Tonight, however, the Olympics come to an end and I've already got a couple Found Object Mandalas ready to go!

If it hadn't been for the fact that I spent last Thursday at Bay 3, the cooperative gallery in Anderson which I recently joined, and delivering artwork to the Reeves House Visual Art Center in Woodstock, GA on Friday, I might have remembered the photography ... but maybe not!  It is different being retired.  All I really want to do is stitch, stitch, stitch.  Without the interruptions from retail framing and without living in an urban area, I am tempted to just stitch ... nothing else ... except that I am reading books!  I finished Ron Rash's The Caretaker this past week and am now enjoying Joseph Luzzi's Botticelli's Secret.  

So ... what did Steve and I take to Georgia for an invitational exhibit called The Cabinet of Curiosities?  Well ... the curator requested my piece titled The Cabinet of Curiosities! LOL!  Also, she took Time, Time Signatures, The Wall of Keys, and an art quilt that has never been seen in public called My Teeth.  (All these pieces can be seen on my website.) I wish I could return for the opening but it's a little too far for just an evening.   

Melting synthetic felt on a hand-stitched “In Box” series piece