Woven Works

Just for Us Originals--THE Wearable Art Show

Well, the show is over for another year.  Such a lot of work!!  The venue was lovely-filled with light.  The loading dock was easily accessible and stocked with several large dollies.  The staff was exceptional.  Thanks to all of them for their help with various challenges that occurred. There were several exit possibilities, so that aspect of the show went rather smoothly and quickly, as we only had an hour to clear the Atrium and the Galleria.

We are so lucky to have had such wonderful artists participating in our event.  Their work was amazing!!  We have booked the Mississauga Living Arts Centre for next yea r as well, so that should make the planning a little easier now that we are more familiar with the space.  Now to debrief and begin all over again.

Show Display

I have been out twice now looking for some display lights that will clamp onto the grids for our booth in the Just for Us Originals wearable art show.  www.just-for-us.biz   Our booth is 15' x 5' this time so I don't think just two lights will do it.  The venue at the Living Arts Centre is quite bright, with floor to ceiling windows on one side of the atrium, but on Friday night we will be open until at least 8 o'clock, if not 9, so lighting is probably a good idea.  Josette and I  www.mariejosette.com  did not put up lights for last year's show and were sorry later.  It's always best to highlight some of your work, even in a bright venue.  Finally, tonight, at good old reliable Canadian Tire, I found some clamp on lights that should work for us and look much like the two lights we have.  One more job done in preparation for the big show.  The next job is to load the van from Josette's storage locker with grids and judies and the rest of the display bits and pieces.  One week from now and Just for Us Originals will be history for another year.

Juried Textile Exhibition

The Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA) in partnership with local artists, volunteers and sponsors are pleased to be presenting a major juried exhibition of contemporary fibre art pieces, shown together with historic pieces from the Museum’s extensive textile collection. Several items from the Museum’s collection have been chosen for their design, aesthetic and historical significance and these are the artifacts that we are asking artists from across Canada to interpret and look to for inspiration as they create contemporary fibre art pieces for show and sale in this beautiful and unique exhibition to be launched in the Spring of 2011. Images of these pieces may be found on the Stitches across Time website  www.stitchesacrosstime.com  under Photos for inspiration. Descriptions for each of these pieces have also been added to the website.

 

We are pleased to announce the jurors for the 2011 Stitches across Time Juried Textile Show. They are Eva Ennist, Jean Johnson and Judith Tinkl.

Deadlines

What would we do without deadlines?  How much would actually be accomplished without them?  I know they work for me.  I'm weaving the last ( and 24th ) of the first chenille scarf order.  Then I will finish the washing, pressing and fringing and deliver them to the Guild Shop around the middle of the month.  I have a small order to ship to the Winnipeg Art Gallery Shoppes by the end of September, so that should be quite possible if I keep going at the same pace.  Most of the hand-dyeing is done for them, although I may have to dye a couple more warps.  Once these orders are done, I really want to have some of these scarves ready for the November shows, three in three weeks.  What was I thinking???  Thankgoodness I am in these shows as part of the ArtWear Network and will have plenty of help with setting up and manning the shows.  Why do they all happen at the same time???

Sorry no photos today.  Something is not working here.  I'll try to add some images later.

Blog! Blog! Blog!

Bear with me.  I'm trying to set up a basic website for myself and link the blog to it.  Let's see if I have succeeded.  Keep those fingers crossed. Well, it didn't work and I really have to finish setting up my loom tonight as another small wholesale order came in today, so the website and any linking will have to wait a bit.

Chenille

I understand that many people do have problems weaving with chenille yarns.  There are many different chenilles-rayon, cotton, synthetic, silk-and each possess their own qualities, making some chenilles much easier to use than others.  I would avoid using synthetic chenille yarn.  It won't stand up to long term use at all.  I would suggest that cotton chenille is the best behaved of this type of yarn, but will not give you the beautiful, shimmering results of a rayon or silk chenille.  Your end product will determine which yarn you choose.  I most often use rayon chenille yarn for scarves, shawls and blankets.  This variety of chenille takes the dye beautifully, resulting in deep, rich hues.  I usually use 1450 yd/lb chenille, but have also used 2000 yd/lb yarn for shawls.  The finer chenille makes a better fabric for the larger work.  The most important point when working with the rayon chenille is to set the warp very closely or you will get 'worming' down the road. Give chenille a try.  You will love the results and so will the public.

 

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I`m beginning to feel like ye old town crier trying to get the word out about Just for Us Originals.  Today was partially spent distributing more of our postcard invitations.  I dropped some at the Pearl Company in Hamilton, where  Barbara Milne runs Art Bus tours the first and second Fridays of each month and she prepares a little goodie bag for everyone. Barbara is good enough to add our postcard to her goodies. www.thepearlcompany.ca   I also spent some time at All Sorts Gallery www.allsortsgallery.com which is also in Hamilton, on Ottawa St. N.  Michelle spent a lot of time talking with me as I had tons of questions about just what is involved in starting up a coop gallery, my dream.  It is a lovely gallery space with quite a variety of fine craft and art.  Michelle was very gracious and she did take some of the Just for Us Originals postcards to have in the gallery.  Thanks to everyone that agrees to display some of the postcards and posters in their galleries and shops.  It really does help to get the word out.

Wearable Art

What is wearable art?  Our definition is unique one of a kind garments, designed and made by the textile artists.  Perhaps there is some help along the process to complete the work, but solely directed by the textile artist.  We feel that jewellery also falls into this category, as do accessories, such as hats and handbags.  Many of the artists participating in Just for Us Originals also dye their own materials.  The weavers most often hand paint their warps.  So the process is much the same as a fine artist painting on canvas, but the textile artist is dyeing on yarns instead. All the same disciplines and theories must be considered, such as colour, value, and proportion. 

Wear your art!!

Wholesale Work

I'm off to the loom to work on some chenille hand-dyed warps for scarves for a wholesale order for the Guild Shop in downtown Toronto, Canada.  The Guild Shop is the retail outlet for the Ontario Crafts Council.  I usually wholesale these scarves to this shop each Fall and have been doing so for many years now.  I do weave many other things but this is the item that is viable to wholesale.  I sometimes get a little bored weaving the same item, but the colours change often along the warp and this keeps it interesting.  I usually try to dye the warps in a colour combination that will allow for different weft yarns to work with them, thus getting different looking scarves from one warp and one setup.  I fringed and tagged most of the scarves last night.  It makes a good t.v. watching activity and now I have about six more to weave, wash, lightly press, fringe, tag and stitch.  I should make my deadline.  Wish me luck with that!!

Just for Us Originals--THE Wearable Art Show

W e're in the home stretch now with the planning for our annual wearable art show and sale here in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.  This will be our fourth year and it is definitely the biggest and best yet.  The Mississauga Living Arts Centre is the ideal venue for us with all their craft studios and theatres.  We are very excited to be there.  For all the details go to www.just-for-us.biz  You will get a feel for the fabulous textile artists and jewellers that we have showing this year.  Visit their websites and you will see what I mean.