New Look

I thought it was time for a revamping--hope you like the new look!

ATC Giveaway Winners

Many thanks for all the lovely comments on the atc giveaway post. Here are the adoptees--please email me at ephemeralalchemy at gmail .com with your mailing address so I can pop a trading card in the mail for you. I will try to contact you directly in the next few days if I don't hear from you. Kayla F (so fun to meet you at the quilt show!), Doreen K, Stegart, Tish Mad Enchilada, Spiralsun65, Lila, Marilyn D, Craftyhala, Knitterista, Pelecypods, Jane S., Dstay42, KJM, Katina, Cheryl (super to meet you also in the Windy City!). Let's do this again soon! K

Lisa Engelbrecht

I had the privilege of taking a class with Lisa Engelbrecht, calligrapher and fabric artist extraordinaire. She's the lovely one in the blue dress. I was enchanted by her graceful artistry and her gentle manner of teaching. She has incredible knowledge of lettering and a great eye for design. Look for her book Modern Mark Making to be out later this year.

Over The Ocean

I need to say "thank you" a hundred times over to all the great friends who stopped by to say hello to me. When I make art, it's often in a vacuum. I'm alone in the studio and working in my head. But it's the sharing it that brings me the most joy. And hearing that you've been inspired to create through something that I've done means the world to me. We are on this journey together, in many ways. This was brought home to me most vividly during conversations with a wonderful kindred spirit named Jamie. She hopped the big pond to bring me a huge cup of cheer and share her wisdom about life, art, love, friendships and change. I am humbled and encouraged by her enthusiasm. I will be thinking about our conversations for a long time. Here's Headmistress Jamie with her mica tag book.

Gifts from the Universe

I was gifted by two people while at Open Studios. Jennifer M. gave me a sweet little tulip charm made out of fabric. I couldn't do it justice with a photo, but it's precious and it was great to meet her. Belinda S. was in a very giftie mood and I made out like a bandit! Here's a photo of just PART of the stash she graced me with. Not only did I score one of her amazing metal ATC's (I had absolutely drooled over them on her blog), but look at this spectacular altered bracelet! Then there was a big bag of handmade paper pieces, sequin waste of every shape and description and a whole vintage player piano roll! Woot!

Taping Quilting Arts TV

I can't tell you how really wonderful the people at QATV are. From Kathy, the producer, to the camera guy who looked like Sean Penn, they all made me feel incredibly welcome. They were goofy and hilarious and I felt right at home. Right before the cameras rolled, the cute camera guy who taped the mike to my lapel pointed to my hair and told me the purple highlights looked perfect. I could have kissed him. The segment should be a hoot to see, since we stopped twice during taping. Once when we blew the lights (probably my heat gun combined with my Rowenta) and again when the quilt show opened with a loud announcement. But they will work their magic and make it all seamless. There were no less than five rabid ferrets running around in my head during taping. I had to remember NOT to mention a specific product name, even though there is a giant bottle of Translucent Liquid Sculpey sitting in front of us. So I was terrified I was going to say Heat n Bond instead of "fusible webbing" and it wasn't TLS, it was a "translucent liquid polymer clay."

All Star Cast at Open Studios

Here's Belinda Spiwak (Crazy Art Girl) doing demos at Open Studios. Belinda is freakishly talented and I adore her. She is particularly generous, both in person and also on her blog. She is always willing to share everything she knows. Basically, she's just awesome!
The dear, wonderful Beryl Taylor was there in person--a big thrill for me! She was adorable, and her artwork, below, was even yummier in person. I got to touch it--yay!

Deb Silva is so cute, isn't she? She hooked me up with some nice ephemera, and since my art name is ephemeral alchemy, you KNOW how I feel about that! Her altered books are superb and her blog is a delight to read.

This is Ms. Pokey Bolton herself in her seventies disco garb. She loves to party and make sure everyone is having a great time, but she did make everyone beg for scraps and supplies during the Make It U Project Challenge. You wouldn't believe what Tracy Stilwell from ArtGirlz had to do for a blob of glue!

Art Booty

I'm back home from the Quilt Show and here's a peek at some of my booty. Just in case you want to know what kinds of things I lust after--here's a sampling...You may be able to see a theme---color! First we have some delish new angelina fibers, including angelina sheets called Textiva, plus some fun stamps from Pro Chemical. They were sold out of dispersion dyes--everyone was talking about them--so I'll have to catch them online. The second photo shows some burmese silk blends, tie dyed velvet and a couple of wonderful pieces of dyed fabric from Wendy Richardson. The third photo is of a fun stash of silk tops and rovings, abaca tissue, King Tut variegated threads and new colors of distressing embossing powders. These wonderful wonderful roving sets are available directly from Quilting Arts and come from the UK. In the final photo there are some *amazing* dyed metallic fabrics from Jeanette's Fabric to Dye For (and it was!!), hand dyed silk, crazy beautiful dyed ribbons and embroidery floss from ArtFabrik, a bunch of lamb's tail fibers and finally, my most exciting find--a starter set of fabulous paints from Stewart Gill of Ireland. I cannot WAIT to play with these!

CPS Special Purse

I'm always in the mood for a new handbag. I took the cover of Cloth Paper Scissors (my favorite cover, I wonder why!) and printed it on fabric. The images were then hand painted with additional fabric paints to give it a little more oomph. I beaded, stitched and embroidered it as well, then made it into a small bag that's perfect for my wallet, phone and a lipstick. I'll post pictures of Chicago and the International Quilt Show when I get back! See ya :)

Paper Bead Earrings

I've been asked about an ETSY store and I'm going to get around to it as soon as I get back from the Quilt Show. My first offering will be some Paper Bead Earrings made on sterling silver ear strings. I'm addicted to ear strings--they are so fun and dangly! So check back if you fancy them. I hope to get about a dozen pairs listed next week some time.

Studios Issue

I've been featured in the STUDIOS special issue of Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors! For this still moment in time, my studio was clean. If you can find this issue, I highly recommend it. It's full of inspiration and glimpses inside the art spaces of many cool people. I can't put it down!

Vintage Spoon Books

Look for these colorful vintage silver plated spoon books in the upcoming issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. I had so much fun with these!

Sculpey Pin

Here's my darling daughter in a TLS transfer pin made of fabric and stitched. I took the image from some of the ATC's I have been doodling. She has pink hair or green, depending on the day, and she likes to wear a set of kitty ears wherever she goes.

Garden District Quilt

This is another TLS transfer quilt. I'm very pleased with it so far. The background is hand dyed fabric. The image is a photograph of a window I took in the garden district of New Orleans. I made the translucent transfer and backed it with a map showing Louisiana. Then I started stitching to echo the bricks in the wall around the window.

Mica Quilt

I'm trying to incorporate some mica tiles into a quilt. This didn't photograph well with my lighting, but I've made transfers of some New Orleans cemeteries onto the tiles and here's the quilt I'm creating.

Progress on Monoprinted Quilt

Back a few posts I shared this monoprinted piece of fabric. Here's where I am to date.

Open Studios Gifts

Last year at Make It U Virginia Spiegel presented me with a lovely gift. This year I'm coming prepared to share gifts with the other open studios artists. I made some rolls of dyed, printed fabric tied up with paper beads. The process for making these fabrics is easy (to me). Soak some plain muslin sheets (approx. 8 1/2 x 11") in Bubble Jet Set for 5 minutes. Squeeze them gently dry and iron them to dry them completely. Pour the BJS back into the bottle for later use. Iron the sheets to freezer paper and cut to 8 1/2 x 11" to feed through your inkjet printer. For mine I printed on some alphabets in various fonts. Let them air dry for 30 minutes and iron. Remove them from the freezer paper and pop them into some dye (I used Procion MX dyes) for an hour. Rinse and iron.

TLS Transfers

I've been busy making use of Translucent Liquid Sculpey transfers on quilts, canvases and even a mini pin to wear. Here's some of what I've been doing. The process is very easy. Simply spread a thin layer of TLS on the front of a color copy from a copier or a laser toner print. Use a spoon to spread it out evenly. Pop it on a baking sheet covered with foil and bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. There will be fumes, so open the windows and warn the family. Carefully remove it from the oven and move it off the sheet to cool. It will only take a minute. When cool, place it in a bowl of water for about a minute, then lay it face down on the counter. Use your fingers to roll the paper off the back until it's translucent and no paper or fiber remains. Attach it to fabric with Heat N Bond, then you can stitch it to anything! I've added a layer of text behind mine for additional depth.

Crazy Stuff & News

I'll fancy this up with some illustration later, but suffice it to say that I have been in creative overdrive! I managed to whip up no less than 5 art quilts this past weekend and now I'm paper beading it like a mad fool (if you stop by my Open Studio at Make It U in Chicago, I'll let you dip in and take a bead home). Here's what's on the agenda for me: Friday, April 11 I'll be at the International Quilt Show in Rosemont Illinois. From 12:30-2:30 I'll be doing an "open studio," which is a fancy way to say I'm available for chatting and will have a bunch of art to share. I'll be working on hand needle felted atc's and gabbing. From 4:30-5:30 I'll be offering a workshop on Mica Tag Books and I've put together some really fun bags of hand dyed tags, fabrics and printed images for everyone who comes. They'll do an entry raffle and all Make It U classes are ten bucks this year, but a steal! On Saturday I'm taping an appearance on Quilting Arts TV, which will air next season (Fall 2008-Spring 2009). We'll be showing stitchable transfers using Translucent Liquid Sculpey. Finally, thanks to the wonderful peeps at Interweave Press, I'm writing a book! All we have to do is wait until Fall 2009 and then, as if by magic, a book will appear! And it will look very proper and booklike, with a table of contents and an index and everything! So ends this productive episode of my life. More to come...