Blog Archives

Felted Bowl

1/30/2015

I created my first felted bowl recently. I wet felted it using a resist technique. I did enjoy the process and want to play around more with this technique. I have admired many felted vessels and I'm happy that I started learning to make them too. If you would like to see the tutorial that I learned from, you can find that here.

I used earth tones this time around. I used a mix of wool and alpaca roving with a little silk and fancy yarn for the outside.
Inside I used a lighter color green roving.

You can see the silk and fancy yarn on the bottom of the bowl.

Here is another side view.

This bowl is pretty small. It would be perfect for putting your keys or loose change in by the door when you come home. It would also look beautiful filled with pretty stones or shells, or some other small pretty bits.

Next time I want to try a larger bowl with different colors. I would also like to opening to turn out a bit more organic next time. I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of what I have been up to. Enjoy your weekend,
Janelle

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Arting for Fun

1/24/2015

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I have been working in my art journal, just playing and having fun. I have been working on some art lessons that I never got to and creating pages based on current inspiration too. I hope you enjoy getting this inside glimpse.

The stag was from a Lifebook lesson. It was fun to do and adding all the pattern was an interesting experience. I would like to spend some time creating more deer and using more realistic colors too.

I had fun using a stencil and modeling paste to create the heart. It went perfectly with the sticker.

I'm trying to remember this motto and live accordingly. Some days it is harder than other days.

This is the front of a tag in my journal. I may add more to this at sometime. I'll probably write on the back of the tag. The orientation is the same way as here in the photograph. I added interesting papers to make these tags or extra smaller papers in between the larger pages.

I have many more pages that are in various stages of completion. I'll share those as I get them done. Have a wonderful weekend.
Janelle

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Painting With Dyes

1/14/2015

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I haven't gotten back into my regular art practice this year yet. I have been dealing with a sore shoulder, cold and snow and some snow days for my kids. My husband's grandma passed away last week, so he took a long snowy and in parts dangerous drive from Michigan to Minnesota, to attend her funeral. That and I had my older kids driving in dangerous winter conditions too. About all that I have accomplished is some worrying and praying for my families' safety and going to physical therapy to get my shoulder healed so that I can work mostly pain free. I have been a bit down lately, but I trying some creative things and hoping that I get that creative drive to come back soon. When it warms up a little and my work space isn't so cold it will help too. It is hard to create when you feel like you are freezing. That is normal for this time of year here though.
I will share a project that I worked on in December and share more art when I get back to creating.

I played around with painting with dyes over a glue resist on silk scarfs last month.

I started by drawing with washable glue straight from the bottle.
Once I had my design completed, I let it sit overnight until it was dry.

I mixed up a couple of colors of thickened dye that I could paint in my design.

I painted the dyes onto the scarf. The glue resits the dye and those areas will stay white. I let the scarf dry overnight while the dye cured. Then I washed out the excess dye and the glue.

After the scarf was washed and dried, I added some gold so that it would have some shimmery parts. I used a Shiva artist paint stick. These are oil paints for fabric in a fat stick. They can be heat set after curing, so that the fabric can be gently washed without the paint washing out.

I want to create more textiles this way. I am also planning to experiment with putting the glue into different applicators so that I can get finer line and more detailed designs. Painting with dyes was a lot of fun and I want to do more.

Until Later,
Janelle

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Hands and Harts Blog

Felted Bowl

Arting for Fun

Painting With Dyes

Serenity Cabin

Janelle Marks

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Check out my husband's website. He is a writer and has written about our life and many other amusing stories.