Wordful Wednesday

POEM

Litany

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine . . .

Jacques Crickillon

by Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,  
the crystal goblet and the wine.  
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker 
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.  

However, you are not the wind in the orchard, 
the plums on the counter,  
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.   

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.   

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.   

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world, 
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.   

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.   

I am also the moon in the trees 
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.

Billy Collins, “Litany” from Nine Horses.
Copyright © 2002 by Billy Collins.

Playing with Alcohol . . . it’s not what you think!

Alcohol works as a resist with dyes, so by alternating alcohol washes with silk dyes, you can get some beautiful shading effects.

This silk piece was given a subtle background pattern by using the parfait method (more about parfait on another post).  I used water-based resist to draw my design.   Once the resist had dried thoroughly, I used a cotton swab to dampen the bottom of the petal shape.  I dipped a paintbrush lightly into indigo dye and applied the color to the top of the petal.  I then quickly dipped my brush point into water and washed it over the alcohol area of the petal.  This gives a pretty gradation in color. 

I repeated the technique across the scarf on both the petals and leaves — you can see the rich effect it gives.

Alcohol dries pretty quickly, so you’ve got to work quickly once it’s applied to each area you’ve defined with resist, but the results add a lot of depth and modulation to your silk painting.  Here’s a view of the finished piece, which is listed in my Etsy shop. 

  

Wordful Wednesday

KEEPING QUIET

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

                                     – Pablo Neruda

Kids’ Painted Mousepad Project

I was asked to teach a craft class at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh as part of a memorial gift in the name of my dear friend, Nancy Kevin.  Previous experience has illustrated that no one has any fun when I’m in charge of children,* but since this was for Nancy, I agreed to do it.  I took my camera to the class, but was too frazzled to get any pictures of the kids’ completed projects.   Here, though, are the directions in case some other intrepid soul is better suited to working with children.

I ordered some inexpensive blank mousepads from eBay and played around with different dyes and paints to see what would work on the mousepad surface.  I decided I liked Dye-na-Flo’s colors and the way it reacted with salt for this project.  It’s also fairly economical (unless you have an out-of-control nine-year-old boy in your class).   Note well:  Being a dye, it’s also a stain-maker, so if someone has sent their darling daughter to crafts class in her best summer sun dress and not sent a smock, be prepared for trouble. 

1. Fold a square of freezer paper snowflake style and cut designs into it to make a stencil.  Don’t let the children’s designs get too complicated.  Use a little bit of glue from a glue stick to hold the stencil in place on the mousepad. 

2. Apply the color with a fairly dry sponge, being careful to hold the stencil in place.  If the sponge is too wet, the color will seep under the stencil.

3. Sprinkle kosher salt over the dye areas while still fairly wet.  Carefully lift off the stencil. 

4. Wait a few minutes to let the salt settle and do its magic.  Have big plastic bags available for children to take their projects home, because you certainly don’t want to wait around for their parents to remember to pick them up.

As you can see, even if the stencil isn’t held in place, the results are still satisfying.  Thank goodness.

(And thank goodness I know that Nancy has a sense of humor, watching me from above. )

* I once dragged a noisy child into the supply closet with me to have a private religious education class when my husband was trying to teach the rest of the class.  Don’t even ask about the shrieking Girl Scouts on the weekend camping trip.  “Of course there are bugs:  we’re in the woods, girls.”  

Pure, Strong Color

The talented women of the Wear It Out Market inspire one great outfit after another with their versatility! Pin the chartreuse corsage on the cobalt trenchcoat and add a bright green scarflette for good strong color, then accessorize with a green cuff on one wrist and a green bangle on the other. Pull the whole thing together with a fabulous leather bag, and head out!

Felted Cobalt Trenchcoat by Vigilante Labs 
Feather Light Chartreuse Corsage by Kerreraskye
I Want to Believe Cuff by thebeadedlily 
The Artist Satchel, Leaf, by Que Jimenez
Kumah Bangle by thebeadedlily 
Patricia Scarflette by UrArtist

Shirley Temple Contest, ~1934, Chicago

Layering Colors and Patterns

You can add depth to fabric with layers of surface design techniques. For this pastel silk crepe scarf,  I made a dye paste by mixing professional procion silk dyes with alginate to make the dye a good consistency for silk screening. I cut some simple shapes from craft paper and silk screened them onto the fabric, decided that wasn’t enough, and started to play with stamps. I had some moldable foam (from Dharmatrading.com) that I heated and pressed against screen mesh and dried reeds to make the geometric shapes of the second layer.

Once I steam set those colors into the silk, I painted the thickened dye paste onto some rubber stamps I’d made and scattered leaves across the background.  I added a few scattered dots from leaf to leaf with a pencil eraser and voila, a subtle pastel leaf scarf.

You can get more information and see different views of this scarf at my 1000 Markets shop. 

This just in . . .

Found this surfing the net . . . it’s my grandmother.

Grandmother in Police Gazette

Good Greens from Wear It Out Market

Hmmm, good greens can be hard to find, but this grouping is right on the money!

Kate Wristlet in Black & White by Chic Boutique
Maya Green Leaf Earrings by Stonehouse Studio
Atomic Lace Top by Dye Diana Dye
O Green World Necklace by Amy Lee Jewelry
Silk Wrap by Althea Peregrine

Art to make one Smile

I love a sense of humor in anyone, but I really appreciate it in artists.  There’s so  much that’s precious and pedantic in art and the study of art history that it’s a relief to come across an artist with his/her tongue quietly in his/her cheek.

Steampunk is fertile ground for clever humor, with its combination of Victorian imagery with techno sensibility.  The SteamSmith has a really interesting shop on 1000Markets.  This airship is one of my favorite of his pieces, but be sure to also have a look at his Time Traveling Moose.  The craftsmanship is wonderful, even if the idea is whimsical.

I’ve been a fan of Madelyn Smoak since seeing her crown collection at the Durham Art Guild a year or so ago.  I am always mesmerized by her flawless craftsmanship and her intelligent humor. Madelyn’s a great one for seeing ironic possibilities in her fine jewelry work, as in this cuff called Man’s Time Awry.

  

Sometimes my friend Brett of Van Fleet Street Design cracks me up with the titles she gives her drawings and paintings.   I Go out Walkin, After Midnight is a print in her series honoring El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.   Somehow I get this image of this beautiful skeleton doing the Texas two-step with Patsy Cline.