This year I decided to actually get off my butt and participate in MICA’s annual Art Market doing what I do best- weaving! These little hand woven bookmarkets make for a perfect and unique Christmas gift, so if you’re around Baltimore Dec. 9-12 (I’ll remind everyone again as the date gets closer) you should stop by and pick one up for your favorite bookworm and art lover. The best thing is they’re made mostly from eco-friendly fibers and recycled fabrics, making sustainable cloth look super classy.

This silly fish print fabric made that bookmark!

I have quite a few, so anything left over will probably go on etsy, and keep a look out in the coming months for more hand woven awesomeness from yours truly.

This costume was made using purchased pieces from a thrift store. The clothes were altered and aged using dye baths, sandpaper, and acrylic paint to describe a character.

Suplementary weft: to add in weft separate from or in addition to the given weft. As you can see, in the weaving above I have alternately supplemented the weft of the tabby (far right), the actual weave structure, both simutaneously (the middle section), and in place of the weft (the bright green to the left of the photograph is woven without interruption of the regular weft, forcing the regular shots of plain weave to curve slightly around the shape after I completed the shape and resume regular shots of plain weave…easier done than said). This sample is for a much larger piece that I’m hoping to complete, the proposal for which was e-mailed out earlier this evening. So, more details to come. For now, enjoy the layers of color, pattern, and structural interruptions:

Front and Back View

Detail- Apron Pockets

Detail- Handwoven Belt and Apron Attached by Buttons

More about this costume here.

Costume Sketch with Fabric Swatches and Button Design

Here are the completed sketches for my Russian folktale costume design. To tell you a bit about the design: each element is inspired by a piece of traditional Ukrainian or Russian costume. I was really interested in working with pattern (check out the home furnishing fabric which was once used to upholster a couch I sat on as a little girl) so I decided to trade in the intricate embroidery for pattern overload. The shape and style of the dress is an updated/ modern take on the details and layering of a traditional Ukrainian woman’s garments: the drawstring is replaced by a pleated neck, the cut of the dress and differentiation between the body of the dress and the shoulders was taken from a layering of blouse and overcoat, the apron relates to the story (the pockets as a means of storage during a journey) and references the apron that was once worn to cover the opening of a warp-around skirt. I am opting to hand-weave the belt that attaches to the apron (via the most perfect buttons- they reminded me of patterns I saw in my Russian folktale/rituals class) as a tribute to the many references to weaving in the story and throughout Russian folklore and history, as well as to add my own personal flare to the costume. This past week I completed the mock-up of the costume (which I still can’t believe I actually pulled off) and coming up is the real thing. And trust me, there will be plenty of pictures.

After spending thirty minutes at Sav-A-Lot standing in line trying to buy pancake mix, syrup, and two cans of spaghettios (seriously, half an hour), I knew I didn’t have the strength to start putting together the mock-up for next week’s costume right away. I am damn terrified of that project (having never made human-sized clothes before). So, to help myself feel better by getting a little organized, I made myself this handy (and freaking adorable) zippered bag to house my sewing kit. Look at those frogs; they are so, so excited to get sewing. More excited than I am. Maybe when I’m asleep at night the frogs will come to life and do my costume design work for me. Probably not.

Sketches for "The Maiden"

I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what I’m doing when I’m not weaving like a maniac (it’s like a drug, I’m addicted, I can’t stop weaving any spare moment I have). These are sketches (to be colored and scanned later) for a costume for the female protagonist of the Russian folktale, “The Feather of Finist the Bright Falcon.” More details to come as I work on completeing the costume over the next two weeks.

For my costume design class, our first assignment was a sewing test, given to evaluate our skill and craft with patterns and sewing. The test was to complete a miniature version of a dress, and while mine isn’t perfect, I worked so hard to make it as perfect as my little heart could.

Dress Front

Dress Back

Dress Back with Zipper Open

Roommate, Sock Monkey, And Dress

I know there has been a serious lack of updates lately, but this artist is busy busy.  After being a TA and an RA for MICAs pre-college program, an experience that had me working with amazing artists (Valeska Populoh and Margaret Hluch for two) teaching fiber (garment, sculpture, shibori), I took a few weeks off to travel and enjoy my summer. That’s not to say I didn’t get a lot of work done- pictures to be posted soon of recent work- but I also made myself stay off the computer as much as possible.

So now school has started once more, and I wanted to give you an overview of what this semester will be like for me, both academically and professionally, with more details to follow.

September:

• Try to figure out how to make clothes for my costume class, and develop some sort of confidence about fashion illustration.
• Meeting between my Woven Imagery class and the Textile Museum in Washington D.C. to start planning an interactive and educational exhibit involving the documentation of the traditional Ikat process to compliment their show on Asian textiles due next fall.
• Weave my little butt off and plan for/ install my work in a show for October.

October:

• Weaving show at el Rancho Grande with  friend, former employer, and member of the Charm City Craft Mafia, Miss Carly Goss. (Running through November)
• Planning for the Textile Museum exhibit

December:

• Collapse in a pile of satisfaction at having completed another 18 credit semester full of film theory, fiction writing, costume design, weaving, and some other nonsense.