Last Friday I got to play with my fiber friends. The plan was to eat, drink, and dye! LOL

Beryl, aka fiber goddess, gave us all a lesson in dying silk scarves. Geez. Endless color combinations and patterns, plus that’s just the beginning.
I’m going to do some stenciling on one of the ones I dyed.

I tied my hair back with one and wore it home, is was quite a GRAND CAKE NORA!

Love that instant gratification!

above: free form embroidery we brought to show each other

above: wet silk scarves ready to be dyed

above: mixing up the dyes

above: some of the finished results

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My dear friend Joy gave me some thank you presents last night.
(Love a brightly wrapped and ribboned box with my name on it!)

“This is an inspiration tray,” she declared as I ripped open the paper.
That’s what Joy has renamed this Zen influenced condiment tray. Brilliant I say!

You put all the bits and pieces your working on or thinking about in the trays. That way you can look easily at your creative endeavors with a clean background, instead of digging through the pile on your table.

So mine is already filled. Each item represents a color and texture I’m currently exploring.

The top tray is fiber and a fiber crayon. I love these colors, and want to remember to experiment with more rubbings on fabric.

The 2nd tray has some coral beads. Again it’s the color combination I want to remember, that purple and coral is an area I want to explore.

The 3rd tray is a zinnia from my garden. (the dishes hold water) I love the hot pink.

The 4th tray is bits and pieces of silver and copper with different patinas.

The inspiration tray is a totally FABULOUS concept!

above: Inspiration Tray filled with just that

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Today I am talking with Marcy Tilton.

Marcy designs her own line of clothing and home decorating patterns for Vogue Patterns featuring embellishment & surface design. With Diane Ericson, she conducts DESIGN OUTSIDE THE LINES creativity/sewing/fiber retreats.

“I create nearly every day, for fun, for class preparation, for the pleasure of touching the cloth, figuring out a design, for the challenge of solving a problem. I have learned to appreciate ‘mistakes’ because so many new techniques, ideas and improvements take place because of them.” Marcy Tilton

Get those sewing machines out and start creating!

above: Diane Ericson and Marcy teaching in Taos

above: Vogue Pattern 8399 Vest by Marcy Tilton

above: Vogue Pattern 8399 Jacket by Marcy Tilton

SHOWNOTES
Music Shorter Fatter/Robin Tymm
Products Rotary Cutters Bernina Sewing Machines
CD’s Where did you get that Jacket?

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The CRAFTCAST™ studio was jumping all weekend with a jam packed workshop on glass fusing.

I took today to regroup and work on lots of great upcoming interviews and Master Classes.

On tomorrow’s show, I’ll be talking with Marcy Tilton. Get your sewing machines revved!

above: this weekend’s Glass Fusing Workshop

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I couldn’t resist.

I love toys, especially ones from my own youth. I always wanted a Mr. Machine, and now I have one!

I wish I could remember all the words to the commercial jingle.

Have a PLAYFUL weekend!

above: Mr. Machine walking around the studio

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This week’s SHOWNOTES
Music Must Be A Way/Risk of the Roar/Kim Miller
Book Little Felted Animals/Marie-Noelle Horvath
DVD Telling Stories with Collage and Pain/Ann Baldwin

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Sometimes I will invite friends for tea or dinner, but other times the invite is:

“Why don’t you come over and play.”

So Susan, Joy and I picked a time to meet in the CRAFTCAST™ studio to share our toys and get to the business of playing. Each guest entered the studio rolling behind them a large suitcase used normally for extended vacations. You never know what you might want to play with.

We had no problem filling 5 hours, and barely stopped to take a deep breath, except when I demonstrated my newly acquired Tibetan singing bowl. More on that another day.

First on the agenda, was for each of us to do a show and tell. That included showing and explaining all the unfinished pieces of art you were working on, what you loved about what you were experimenting with, plus where you wanted to go next.

Next, some demos.

Clay, metal, torches and notebooks to keep track of it all were flying. The speed at which we talked and played reached maximum recommended speed.

At 3:30PM, we all had to disperse and get back to our lives and obligations. Our brains were sounding off like winning slot machines, racing ahead to figure how we would use our winnings of newly found creative knowledge.

above: the aftermath of a full day of play

above: lots to play with

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This week’s SHOWNOTES
Music Must Be A Way/Risk of the Roar/Kim Miller
Book Little Felted Animals/Marie-Noelle Horvath
DVD Telling Stories with Collage and Pain/Ann Baldwin

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Today I talk with Eileen Johnson.

Eileen is the founder and director of FlowerSchool New York.
We talk about her new book, The Art of Floral Arranging, and some of the master florists including, Michael George, Charles Masson, and Remco Van Vliet who teach at her school.

“If we have accomplished one thing in setting up FlowerSchool New York, it is to make beautiful flowers less intimidating and more accessible to those people who love them and fall under their spell as I have.“ ~Eileen Johnson

above: FlowerSchool New York

above: The Art of Floral Arranging by Eileen Johnson

SHOWNOTES
Music Must Be A Way/Risk of the Roar/Kim Miller
Book Little Felted Animals/Marie-Noelle Horvath
DVD Telling Stories with Collage and Pain/Ann Baldwin

Steiff Animals
Tibetan Singing Bowls

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I’m taking the next few days off. I’m not a fan of the term ‘down time’, so I’m calling it ‘up time’.

Long weekend, here I come!
Be back Tuesday with a new podcast.

Ps. thanks so much for all your votes at the Blogger Choice awards! Keep ‘em coming….. I need all your support!

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I had to laugh when I found myself doing just that, watching some paint dry.

It’s actually some liquid emulsion I’m playing with. I found it on the Golden Paints website. I have applied it to canvas and am waiting for it to dry before cutting it into sheets and printing on it. I’m using a canvas with a lot of texture, and am interested to see the results I get.
Stay tuned…. time to check if its dry…

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When I was 3, I had a babysitter that would pull out of her purse a set of colored pencils to keep me occupied for an evening. I can still remember looking forward to drawing with those pencils. Each pencil was divided in half with a different color on opposite ends. I loved the one that combined red on one side and blue on the other.

They were definitely magical.

So I signed up for a colored pencil class this summer. Basically… why not. Try something I knew little about with a three year olds experience of the medium.

Pencils now are much more refined with an extensive color palette. Very seductive. Our first class exercise was to draw an apple. We were shown how you can use water on a brush and turn the pencil strokes into watercolor. I’m excited to see where this goes.

They’re still pretty magical.

above: first pencil still life that I ate when finished!

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