Yesterday I put the final context words onto the Summer of Love collage for the Midland Theater 's Friday auction. Cloth, papers, stamps , spurts of colors and lace bits from the 1960's all encompassed into a bright pink and green and orange day glow colors. Today another gallery talk to about 25 and for 90 minutes I shared my inspirations and my women's stories. Then I hit the thrift stores for a variety of vintage items to use for attractive storage. I am also looking for a large electric skillet to melt soy wax to stamp my hand made stencils out of interfacing and hand cut sponges. I love finding vintage clear jars with lids to hold my delicate buttons and assortment of ribbons, trims and zippers. I found a five foot tall wooden rack to hang my sample printed fabrics and rescued bits of laces and raw edges from embroidery table cloths and small odds and ends of fading lace networks. I bought a roll of vintage drawer papers for 25cents to be employed in collages and assemblages. At Goodwill I bough a plastic bag with Iris linen...a full meter for originally $23.00 and about five other samplings of Irish fabrics and cross-stitch cloth all for.... an amazing $3.00...I felt as if I was shop lifting :O). I found several large handmade ceramic vessels to hold my numerous and varieties of brushes I use in several of my different processes. I am exhausted just retelling you of my thrift store treasures... I will spend the rest of the evening cleaning fabrics, sorting odds and ends of sewing implements, a large Diego Rivera ceramic cup that I will display with some of my sculptures and carvings from Mexico. I need to finish my small grant application and set up a time to visit the panel for my presentation at the end of the month. I had better return to my duties so I can finish the final coat on top of the collage work that is on a 16 by 20 canvas. Pray that the rains let up and the humidity abates so every aspect will dry properly...rain rain go away come again on another day. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
I learned an interesting process from Suziblu for using wax. She didn't melt it in a chunk any more but used a hard piece and one of those small little triangle shaped pressing irons. She would hold the wax over the area she wanted it to fall, hold the hot little iron against the wax and let the wax drip onto the piece. Then she would use the iron to smooth the drips out. Gave it an interesting texture. I have a little, very small slow cooker that I use for my wax melting. It's probably not really a slow cooker but something you use to keep a scent in the air? Well, how's that for confusing the heck out of you? lol :)Bea
ReplyDeleteI keep all my brushes, pens, pencils, etc. in an assortment of interesting vessels. It is so much more fun that rummaging through the boxes! (plus they are where I can see them....)
ReplyDeleteI find that good storage makes everything so much easier to handle. You know where it is and spend less time looking for it. Except this morning, when I was looking for some plain oaktag letter stencils that I *knew* I had a long time ago, and the brain refused to cooperate.
It is going to be a bad brain day....! ;)
XXOO!!
Anne
I want to work with wax, but it's just one more thing for me to get into and right now I can't buy the supplies and stuff for it. It looks so neat, though! I love the softness and the texture it adds. It sounds like you found some great Goodwill treasures! I love treasure hunting at garage sales and thrift shops!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm just so unimaginative...I keep my brushes in old jars. I also keep my new ones in jars, but have a plastic zip lock bag over them so the desert sand storms don't get into them!! As for organizing, I'll need to do that with my unfinished wooden things spread throughout the floor next to my work table and clear off my slab roller. It's only seen clay once, now it's a catch-all table!! Perhaps I should just start painting my boxes!! LOL
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week and send some of that rain our way..need to break this 100+ temps.
xxoo,
Georigna
Great finds! It's fun to go treasure hunting!
ReplyDeletefun hearing about your thrift rescue mission ;)
ReplyDeletethat is what I like to think of it as ... when I bring home someone else's cast off treasures ... now they have a chance for a new life!
you are a good shopper and will do wonderful things with your goodies!
Enjoy!
oxo