Settling into Winter

 The Holiday Gift Gallery is winding down, and soon my artist friends will have their lovely things that did not sell back with them. And lots of things did sell. It was a good season. I am filled with gratitude for all wonderful things that have happened at my Pink House since I opened in July.

January is always my time to take stock of the past year, to settle into the shelter of home and the inner life, and to dream about what can happen next.

While I dive into all of that, here is a table runner I made with one of my ecoprints and some gold thread. More of these lovely and practical fabric works will appear soon in the Pink House Gallery, but this one is going to  friend.

Happy Holiday Gift Gallery!

The gallery is filled with colorful handmade lovelies made by my artist friends (and a few by me, at long last) and after some errands, my open signs will be out. For today, the bookkeeping, labeling, and other undercover activities will take a back seat to getting my "bouquet" of little balsam firs and white birch branches out in the garden arranged, lighted, and decorated with my new pink Christmas balls. (What color did you THINK I'd choose?!)

Below are some of the items in the gallery, and please go to my Holiday Gift Gallery page above to see more. I am gradually adding more to that page, so check back again. Prices range from $10 to $75 - just right!

Jean Poole's 3D fabric bags. $15 -$25.

Linda Smyth's colorful note cards. $15 for pkg of 4.

Lake Champlain painting by Linda Smyth - for your camp! $65.

Linda Smyth's watercolors in painted frames. $45 each.

Fanciful Birdie House by Lynne Taylor. $49.

Painted Box with sliding lid by Lynne Taylor. $35.

 And if you really can't decide, you can buy a gift certificate for any amount, to be used for an art class or some artwork. She will be grateful!

 

The Best Surface Design Exhibit in the Adirondacks!

Okay, as far as I know, it's the only surface design exhibit. But no matter. There is a lot of beautiful fabric in the gallery, with information to tell you how it was done. It is my personal mission to explore fabric and mixed media art in my community, with an educational component, and this exhibit has been loads of fun! Many "Wow!s" and "I want to try that!s".

Since mid-October, my gallery has been filled with the color and texture of unique, hand-dyed, printed art fabrics. Have you heard the term "shibori-dyed" but aren't quite sure what that means? See Susan Hahn's mini exhibit of "how it's made" shibori samples and her finished artwork.

Shibori samples by Susan Hahn

For lots of images of screen printed, direct dyed, snow dyed, eco printed, stamped, batiked, shibori dyed fabrics (among others) and more information, check out the page above "In the Pink House Gallery." If you want to see it all, come on in soon - up through Sunday, November 22nd. But the information will stay on my gallery page, so enjoy!

"I'm an Eco Printing Novice"

If there was a T-shirt announcing "I'm an Eco Printing Novice," I imagine I could truthfully wear it for a very long time. I've admired the results of the process for a long time but I didn't try it until I saw the wonderful results in person at The Maine Event in September.

 I documented my first go pretty thoroughly. The second one too. All of these were done with with cotton and linen, which required a premordant soak with soda ash. The first one got some ferrous sulfate as well; the second with soda ash alone. Both dye baths included ferrous sulfate. Let me know what you think!

Peony leaves on cotton

Oak leaves on vintage linen

Oak leaves between linen layers, ready to roll on the birch stick.

Bundles in the dye bath with ferrous sulfate

A bundle just from the dye bath. See the lovely lines under the string that resisted the iron?

Unwrapping a print with oak leaves. The print is on upper half.

A print with peony leaves. They worked beautifully!

Gotta See it

Perrella Gallery

On my way south through the Adirondacks last week, I stopped at the Perrella Gallery on the campus of Fulton-Montgomery Community College near Johnstown, New York. My mission was to see the new fiber art exhibit - Fiber Currents/Current Fibers - which includes the work of a few of my favorite art quilters. Well worth the trip!!!

Having a high quality fiber art exhibit in my part of the world is uncommon (although the annual Quilts Unlimited exhibit is open now at View in Old Forge). I'd like more of that, and that is what my Pink House Gallery in Saranac Lake is about.

For now, yes, I'll drive to see the work of Betty Busby, Wen Redmond, Pat Pauly, Judith Plotner, and others! You should too - so much better in person than via my cell phone photos. Nice catalog for sale too.

"Retia" by Betty Busby

"Pink Leaf 4" by Pat Pauly

"Remembering the Wind" by Wen Redmond

"Brooklyn Ensemble" by Judith Plotner

Before the Maine Event

A whole day to explore fabric dyeing techniques! First with indigo.

Beth Berman hosted us, and she mixed up this lovely bucket of indigo dye ahead of time so it could gently ferment. See that scum on top? That indicates that it worked! We learned many ways to tie, clamp, rubber band, and otherwise manipulate our fabric to make patterns before immersing them in the indigo bucket. 

My cotton fabric with 1) string pulled through rolled fabric, 2) two clamps on folded fabric, and 3) marbles fastened in the fabric with rubber bands.

My dyed fabric just out of the bucket with strings, clamps, and rubber bands removed.

The fabric is green when removed from the dye and gradually turns that gorgeous indigo blue as it oxidizes.

A clothesline hung with indigo is beautiful!

And here is my friend Deborah showing off her intricately patterned indigo-dyed shirt. Gorgeous!

Workshops and Classes at the Pink House

Mixed Media Collage - Cris Winters

I just made a new page on my blog where you can find the creative learning options we're offering! Click on the "Workshops and Classes" tab on my main blog page. Workshops coming up by Carol Boyer, me (Cris Winters), and Pat Pauly. Way fun!!!

Making Silk Paper - Carol Boyer

Improv Sketches - Pat Pauly