Ladybugs greet me!

So, back to Vermont and settling into the studio again.  Hundreds of ladybugs were hanging out there, ready to welcome me home.  It's so good to be back to this beautiful part of the world!

I returned with a duffle bag full of work in process and lots of packages of joss paper.  I don't think there is a source any nearer than Boston's Chinatown to buy more, so I came home prepared.  I believe I have just about reached the right length on this book made with the yellow joss paper made in the shape of a large coin.

Back to the tea bags, I am continuing to create small boxes out of two bags sewn together.  There are now over 100 pieces to the collection and I still haven't figured out how they will come together as a work, but eventually I'm sure the idea will surface.

This week I also completed a piece that I had started in December before I left.  I need to decide how the two separate pieces will attach to one another....for now I have used large paper clips to hold them together.  I also may want to use some gloss medium on the piece to finish it, so there are still decisions ahead.

I like the combination of working with the joss paper and the tea bags.  It gives me a little more variety
  rather than working with just one medium.   But clearly it is the joy of manipulating paper that is holding my interest.

Joss Paper Explorations

For the past several weeks I've been exploring a new kind of medium, Chinese joss paper.  It is sold in large packets in most Chinatowns and used in ceremonies where it is burned to honor departed ancestors.  I first used it many years ago in mixed medium works and recently constructed a piece using the joss paper and tea bags:

When I went back to buy more of the paper I wasn't able to locate any of the same size and color, so decided to buy what I could find and do some investigating.   I bought several kinds, different shapes, sizes and colors:

It seems to be a good material for book making and I am enjoying exploring ways to tear and fold the paper.  Here are some examples of some of the work that is evolving:

I'm still working on some large tea bag pieces, but the joss paper work is giving me something else to focus on and I'm enjoying it!

Tea work continues

Blogging seems to have gone off my radar, but I am still working.  I have two long-term rather slow pieces that have been in progress over a month now.  The first is quite simple, small sacks sewn out of two teabags placed across one another:

I have almost 100 made now and plan to keep going....I'm not sure yet how they will be displayed, but I know that I will need many of them to make any kind of impact:

The other project is a kind of hanging curtain where each teabag is reinforced with cut-off toothpicks on each end and threaded together.  I'm imagining something about 6 by 8 feet when completed.  I brought a good supply of bags with me, but without my usual volunteer contributions I am quickly running out of material.

I'm also playing around with small sculptures of various kinds of containers, but don't know if this will lead anywhere.  This bowl is all held together with hand stitching:

Next post I'll talk about the latest work I am doing which uses Chinese joss paper.  I'm just in the beginning stages with this material, but i'm enjoying the change.

Bees and Teas

I have recently been working with tea sacs, experimenting with ways to transform them into little pouches to hold my California pine needles.

Most of the energy has gone into filling them with various patterns created by the pine needles, then covering the sacs with bees wax.  That done, I punch holes in each sac and tie them together with red thread.  The bees wax creates a lovely finish that also strengthens the paper, so the bags will be able to form a sort of hanging curtain, once assembled.  So far, so good.  I'm not sure how big I can go without having problems with spacing, but I can surely stop at any time.  Here is the piece on my work table:

Back to Vermont

It has been wonderful to return to my old studio, clean out the cobwebs and get cracking again.  Most of the work so far has been completing pieces that began in Sydney.  The long piece that I am (at the moment) calling Book Worm just keeps growing.  I have almost run out of round tea bags and need to replenish my supply:

I have finished a layered work that I also began in Sydney and brought here in pieces in a box.  I've been trying to decide if I will keep the strings or eliminate them.  So far, they stay:

Looking to do something new, I'm experimenting with using printmaking techniques with the tea bags adhered to paper.  I have done some wood cut printing and plan to use the press soon to see what kind of results I might get.

The North Calls

Today was the first really cool day here, a harbinger of days to come and another indicator that it's almost time to head back north for spring. Sydney has been wonderful and has fed my visual reservoirs for some time to come.

I continue to work on three pieces, two of which I'll assemble when I get back to Vermont, as they won't travel well except in pieces. Here is one which I have just pinned together on my work board....I'll have to figure out how it will go together once in the studio:

I'm also figuring out how to box and roll up pieces to carry with me. It's always a challenge to manage to get work back to Vermont, but so far I've had good luck with it arriving in decent shape.

Working away

I've been working on a number of different pieces recently, partly to keep it interesting and partly because I have been needing to accumulate certain types of bags. I miss my Vermont supply team!

The "caterpillar" piece continues to grow, now about 30 inches long with much to go!

I've also been stitching small square and rectangle bags together. I plan to print the word for "tea" in many languages on it. (who would guess the Tamil word is the nee?)

Recently on a walk I collected a bag of wonderful seedpods and have been playing with them....I wonder what they will end up being?

I have been loving keeping up with my fellow art-wise women on the blog....it's wonderful to see what they are doing!

Time Marching On

I can't believe it's March, which means autumn is beginning here in Australia. In six weeks we'll be back in the northern hemisphere, enjoying a Vermont spring. It all strikes me as rather strange even though we've been doing this for a number of years. But work continues, wherever I am and whatever the season.

I've been working on two pieces that will take a long time to complete. The first one uses round teabags, many that I brought with me this time around. I'm folding them in half and stitching them together into what will (hopefully) be a long snake-like form. It's taking a lot of teabags and a lot of patience to do this, so I hope the end result will be okay.

The second piece uses standard flattened teabags that I am adhering to one another with gel medium. Here's the vision: a large (about 8 feet by 10 feet) sort of curtain that I will paint with many coats of shellac when it is completed. I envision hanging it in a window as a sort of curtain and hope to shape it so that will will be a bit 3 dimensional. At this point I am creating long strips that I can transport and assemble completely back in the Vermont studio.

I've put some of the strips on my studio floor here to see where it is going:

So one project is quite small, the other certainly the biggest piece I've ever made. If it gets too tedious to work on these two I'll start something else (?) to bring in a little more variety.

More ideas

Work is slowly moving ahead with lots of good interruptions. We have a number of visitors coming and going over the next weeks, so I get a bit de-railed, but am trying to stay on course.

I've gathered some information about a great gallery space here in Paddington that would be perfect for the tea work. I have asked an artist friend, Lisa Giles, if she would be interested in doing a joint show next year. She works beautifully with paper and I think it would be great fun to combine our work.

So I have completed the weaving piece, which is about 48 x 40 inches. I think the red knots add something a bit different from previous work.

Next is working with round bags, binding them together is tea-dyed linen thread. I hope to make this really long so it will sort of snake against a wall. I'm gathering as many round bags to sublimate the supply I brought.

Tea Warp and Weft

Sydney's skies have been opening wide to lots of downpours recently, so it's been good studio time. I've been connecting tea bags for quite a while by gluing them together end to end until I had enough to begin weaving this new piece. Pinning the individual pieces to the wall seemed to be the only way to work on it and once I figured out how to do it the piece has moved along quickly. Here it is before I began to add stitching and knotting and the edging:

I should be able to show the completed work in the next posting.

Back to work.....

It’s been a long time since I last posted. I closed up my studio, celebrated an early Christmas with family, flew to Syndey, and finally got settled here. My studio here desperately needed a good cleaning and that led to a major reorganization. So at last I am comfortably working away with the sun shining outside, the windows wide open to the warmth and breezes (the only problem being flying tea bags).

Time to experiment, work with some new ideas, but for now at least, still the tea theme. I’ve been putting materials together with some new thoughts......

I’ve also experimented with using text. Here I made some stamps of T E A and printed them on the tea bags, then assembled. I’m not sure where this will go.

Another try.....working on paper with grids.

I’m quickly working through the materials I brought so will have to do some local sourcing. There are plenty of tea drinkers here, but not so many friends.

New Scratchboard Etching

I'm nearly finished with the center of a new scratchboard design. I quite like this one.  I haven't figured out what to do with the border yet. Stay tuned.

3D Kirigami Scene - Step 3

I finished cutting this three dimensional scene last night.  I perfected small details, like the people's clothing, bars on the shed doors, more greenery, and two goats in the shed.



I glued it all together with zots.

Now my dilemna is how to attach the back to the plastic box.  That will be the task rolling around in my head today. Until anon....

3D Kirigami Scene - step 2

Last night, while it was snowing heavily (in October no less) I sat comfortably in my night studio and cut another two-movie piece to the kirigami scene I am creating for the Artistree Gallery show.



This layer depicts two gardeners resting on their implements in the garden.  The man has a bucket of berries beside him. 

 

The woman has a (huge) butterfly on her dress.

 Next I will be perfecting the couple's clothing and I will put something behind the shed door. My dilemma is how I will attach a backing to all of this to make it stay together in the frame.  Well, that is tomorrow's problem.

A 3D Kirigami scene - step 1

I am creating a three dimensional kirigami piece for the new Artistree show here in Woodstock, VT.  I've used much heavier paper this time - Arches hot press watercolor paper in off-white. This makes it much more difficult to cut but it should stand up better.  Here is my first cut, done last night - a two movie project.

My intention is to mount it in a plexiglass case like this one.  (Barbara Bartlett gave me this idea.  Thanks Barb.)

 

Stay tuned, amici.

On Paper

Working on paper with tea bags is a new experience. I'm doing some 3 dimensional work that actually has the tea bag extending from the paper rather than laying flat (as I've done in the past).

I've purchased a number of plexiglass box frames to hold the new w

ork and I'm quite curious to see how it will hang. Here are several pieces that are completed.

This piece is in the final stages....I'm not sure if it will hang vertically or horizontally but will be able to have a better idea when it is completed.

Sizzling in Vermont

These long, hot summer days haven't lent themselves to posting. I'm in the studio not quite as much as I'd like to be, but some pieces are in process. I've been working on an old 3 by 3 foot canvas, covering it with tea tags. It is a time-consuming task requiring patience and a huge number of tags. It's difficult to knowat this point if it will be successful in the end. Here's an image from last week.....it has progressed since then:


At the local church fair last weekend I found some interesting odds and ends that may become part of the series. I've played around with filling a shallow round basket with still full tea bags. I don't think I like all the strings hanging down as shown in the photo, so have tried it without the strings. The jury is still out.


I've also been working on the exhibition UNBOUND that is opening next Friday. It's going to be a fantastic exhibition of book art from all over New England that Pentangle and Artis Tree Gallery are sponsoring. I can't wait to see the pieces displayed as a whole.

I'm also pleased that my tea bag swimsuit made it into the AVA Summer Show and won an Honorable Mention. On these steamy days I imagine gallery visitors will be amused to see it there.

Tea bag gown

After a busy week with visitors I was very happy to have more time to work in the studio. I decided to try to make a gown out of (yes.....) tea bags. I found a pattern that gave me the basic shape and I extended it to make it floor-length. After sewing the dress together in white muslin I began gluing on torn tea bags with a great (new to me) glue called Fabri-Tac.

As I worked my way up from the bottom it became necessary to create a sort of mannequin out of an easel, bubble wrap and masking tape that would keep the shape of the dress while I glued the layers on. Here's how it looked a couple of days ago (I am closer to finishing it now):




Initially it was to have straps and be displayed on a hanger, but I am liking the strapless version. It means I'll have to create some sort of mannequin to display it, maybe from an old discarded floor lamp or tripod......all part of the challenge that keeps me engaged.

Another Page

One of my favorite beetles.

Unbound - An Insect Book

I've been entranced by the process of creating books. I've learned the coptic stitch and have two books partially finished for the Unbound show that will happen in Woodstock.

Here's a first look. This wee book is only three inches square.

A second page.

I'll post more, when there is more to see.

Carol