Paint Day(s)

 As we were expecting a quiet week, spent at home, I planned to do a day of painting.  I especially wanted to do some leaf printing.  Well, there's always flaws in plans.  Our car has been in the shop and we were told that it would take 8-10 business days to get it back. So, we  rented a car and panned ot to minimize the expense, by staying home. But to our surprise the car was ready in 4 days and we got a call yesterday to pick it up. yesterday was spent dealing with the shop, the insurance, and returning the rental.  But I have found moments to get into the studio, even though we're now on day 3 of painting, and there's more to go.

But the box has not been neglected.  Here it is, as it looks right now.  The large beads have not been sewn on, as there is still fine stitching to be done at the edges of each of the five sides ( tiny silver beads to be stitched along the dark purple line).  But the top closure parts are now fully finished including the special wrapped threads around the edges.

So, onto the painting.  The pale background of this pieces was done several months ago. The circles and checkerboards were done today. This is a very large piece, at least 60" by 24", and I'm sure it will be cut into, at least, four pieces for further work.

This is the other previously started piece that was augmented today.  the grey metallic and green spots were already there, done  with acrylic inks, and I figured that all it needed was some straight lines, but this time used fabric paint. I believe this piece is about Fat Quarter in size.

That's all I accomplished today.  The preparation and clean-up takes far more time than the actual work, and today, the camera appears to be hiding all my recent photos.  I sure hate "updates".

More Frigid Boxes

 Progress has been slow, and if I'm honest with myself, the fault is within me and not anywhere else.  I just seem to be moving slowing and spending a lot of time thinking and dreaming.  that having been said, I do get into the studio, and do putter around with whatever project I'm working on at the time.  There has been some progress with the first "Frigid " box.

While it may appear that I work in chaos, it really is an organized chaos.

But first let me show you the two lovely Blue Jay feathers that David found in the garden.  They are no safely put away in a special "feather" page in one of my sketch books.

Here is the box as it was when I first went into the studio today.  There has been a fair bit of careful embellishment so far, much of it by machine.

But now a problem.   I would very much like to echo the corner beading at the bottom, but there isn't enough room, as I need some space to stitch the bottom of the box to the lower edge of the side pieces.

Here I've very carefully placed the beads in position, but the very narrow edge space is obvious.

Here, on the right, I've replaced the long bugle beads with shorter ones, and I think it leaves enough space to carefully sew the two edges together.

So that's what will be done.  I also have an idea for adding a bit of colour along the long edges of the silver mesh.  But that will wait for tomorrow.  A quiet sunny garden calls me.

Frigid Boxes

 Studio time has been scarce lately, but bit by bit I've made a start on two new reliquaries.  The original intent for the piece was a framed beaded piece, but it kept telling me that it really wanted to be a box.  However, I couldn't choose what box shape I wanted.  As well, it's been a very long time since I last made a box, and it was back to the original book, and starting step by step in refreshing my memory of the construction techniques.  Once the basic background was machine quilted I discovered that there was enough room for the necessary pieces for two boxes, one based on a pentagon and the other loosely based on a simple house.

Here is the original book where the basic concept, several patterns and detailed instruction come from.

Yesterday was spent sorting beads, as many beads will be used in this project, and besides which, I love sorting beads.  Here's my collection of potential candidates for inclusion in the work.

The pentagon box has only two basic pieces. This  contains all of the upright side pieces, as well as the method of closing the box.

This afternoon was dedicated to getting the basic label on both boxes.  I learned how to do this in a workshop earlier this year, but still had to refer to the manual to get it done.  Of course, what could go wrong did go wrong and it was a bit frustrating, but I persevered, and got both boxes labelled.  Looking back, I realize that the titles are a bit weird, but it represented my feelings lately and, besides, it's too late to change anything.  My boxes never sell, so the title is important only to me.  While you might not be able to tell from this photo, the house box has only one piece, but for both of them, I'm not counting the feet, and how those are made is a decision for another day.