Fabric Printing at Home Blog Tour & Give Away

Many of you know Julie B Booth as being my Roy G Biv partner. Have I ever mentioned that we're old friends from my days in Virginia? That I really and truly know Julie? Have I mentioned that she is a book author as well? Her first book, Fabric Printing at Home, was recently published. To kick off its release, Julie is celebrating with a blog tour of 13 artists whose work appears in the gallery as well as daily give aways.

Fabric Printing at Home is filled with ideas and step-by-step instructions of how to print on fabric using normal kitchen objects. With chapters about Kitchen Textures and Found Object Printing, Beyond the Potato Print, Wrap It Up! Wraps and Foil, Recycled and Repurposed and Irresistible: Fabric Resists Using Kitchen Ingredients, Julie offers something for everyone.

The piece that I contributed to the gallery falls under the found object printing category. When Julie first asked me to participate, I pondered what to use. My collection of wine corks seemed fitting. Now, I think Julie pictured a pattern of dots created by stamping the end of the cork, but 

I inserted toothpicks in the cork ends, rolled it through my inks and paints and then printed on paper.

The cracks in the corks make varied and interesting marks.

Once enough papers were printed, 

I cut and tore, assembled and reassembled,

stitched and repeated steps 1 thru 5

 Cloud Paper Water 1, Jennifer Coyne Qudeen

 until there were 7 pamphlet stitched books. The set is entitled Cloud Paper Water 1, based on Thich Nhat Hanh's Clouds in Each Paper which Sandra Brownlee so intuitively read to me during her Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word workshop at Big Cat Textiles in August 2013.

  Cloud Paper Water 1, Jennifer Coyne Qudeen

Each book contains a word from the poem so cleverly hidden that even I can't find them now and, well, I wrote the words. The cover above appears in the gallery of Fabric Printing at Home. 

Julie is having a daily give away to celebrate. Stroll on over to her blog and leave a comment for a chance to win. I'm joining in the celebration as well by giving away a copy of Fabric Printing at Home. For a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post by midnight New York city time on February 13. The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day. 

I'm curious...what's the most unusual object you've used to print with?

--------------

 Be sure to visit all the stops on the Tour:
February 2: Lisa Chin
February 3: Lynn Krawczyk
February 4: Jane Davila  

February 5: Carol R. Eaton

February 6: Judy Gula

February 7: Susan Purney Mark 

February 8: Teri Lucas 

February 9: Jennifer Coyne Qudeen 

February 10: Deborah Boschert 

February 11: Lynda Heines 

February 12: Cheryl Sleboda 

February 13: Terri Stegmiller 

February 14: Jackie Lams

Searching for Roy G Biv - Indigo, update 1

Welcome to the latest installment in the search for Roy G Biv! We're up to I = indigo.

Indigo is a color that I've come to love in the past few years. For me, it evokes a deep stillness, a presence of mind and body at peace with the world and, more importantly, oneself. There's a truth, a grounding to this elusive color that intrigues as much as it soothes. There are stories there - ancient ones to be sure. But to hear them, we must be still...

Enjoy!

ring toss at the carnival

detail of batik purchased in China, 2008

artful creases in knee of blue jeans 

seen at Kansas City airport in May

sidewalk tile, New York city

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, violet

That's Grace holding the indigo really high - you can just see her eyes.

Ellie is one of the violets.

indigo skies between Kansas and Connecticut

indigo skies patchwork chair featured in Sundance catalog

my Being There journal

indigo fabrics from Shiborigirl Studios

If you've found indigo, let Julie or me know via a comment and we'll be happy to link to your post.

---------------------

Update 1 - My apologies for just now updating. Today is the first full day of summer vacation for my little urchins. To celebrate, we went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 and it was great! 

Back to indigo...if you're intrigued by indigo and want more, check these out:

Julie searched her archives for favorites

Fiona's indigo took flight

Maya has been having fun with Google doodles

Jill has summer time indigos

Mary Ann has compasses, sacred vessels and myths

Susan found indigo in public art and Pogo's bed

Yarngoddess begins her post with an indigo dye vat

Bridgette's indigo melted...in the very best way

---------------------

If you'd like to join in the fun, July's color is violet.

July 17 - violet

August 21 - pink

September 18 - black

October 16 - white

November 20 - brown

December 18 - blogger's choice

In the studio

Been doing a bit of art math this week.

Paper +

paint +

text +

stitching =

x.

What answer do you arrive at for x?

Searching for Roy G Biv II - Indigo - updated

Indigo. That most elusive and seductive of colors is July's focus in our search for the mysterious Mr Biv. Enjoy my variety. Pardon the shortness...the beach is calling!

The sky as I flew to Pam's December 2011.

 Blueberries on our blueberry bush.

Care to guess the name of our street?

 Tile in the bathroom at the Boston Children's Museum.

 Mosaic at our hotel in Boston.

 Denim in the studio.

Started with the intention of being another apron...

 Morning glory on the back deck at home.

 Beach towel.

 Carpet in the beach house.

Stroll over to see the indigo that Julie, Fiona, Kim, Charlton have. Enjoy!

Lisa, Cindi and Christine have indigo too.

Pondering the new year

It's that time when thoughts turn to the coming year and what it will hold. For me, it's time to organize the studio, unearth my worktable, mull over a few old ideas and ponder a few new ones.

 The indigos are calling

 as are the story tiles.

  My Morning Tea

for the Sketchbook Project needs a short note and to be mailed.

 I'd like to experiment with rust and paper more.

Do a bit more stitching as well.

 Continue to search for Roy G Biv.

And set a few challenges for myself. 

More on those later.

What would you like to do in 2013?

Indigo revisited

Once again, I find myself amazed and thankful for the friendships made via the blogging world. Your wishes for a happy birthday were appreciated. Your thoughts and prayers for my family's safety during Hurricane Sandy catch my heart and still leave me stunned at the power of friendship via cyberspace. You'd think I would have learned by now, wouldn't you?

There is a lot that could be dwelt on concerning the hurricane, however, I choose to move on with life as normal as possible and to be very thankful that this time my family was spared. Having little ones in the house really leaves one with no other choice.

With schools closed for the week...and, let's be honest, with a disgruntled heart at the week not going as planned...remember, Pam was to have been here until Thursday...my studio was the last place I could be or wanted to be. That's not to say that there is no work to be done. Just the opposite in fact.

A comment Ersi left on the Roy G Biv - Indigo post has stuck with me, so yesterday morning the indigo mono prints were unearthed and strewn across the work table,

with me oohing and aahing all the while

 and wondering just why I had put them away last year.

Acutally, I remember why.

 

The intersection of what next? 

  and how do I do that? had been reached.

I'd had a vision

of a long forgotten treasure box being found and opened

 Inside were remnants of a life -

pages torn from a well loved book,

bits of a painting,

stories written in another language,

maps and blueprints,

codes to be broken...

Ersi, I owe you a huge Thank You! for getting me back in the studio. Photographing the indigos was just the little push that was needed to get the momentum going again. School is back in session tomorrow. Can you guess where I'll be once the little urchins board the bus?