Work in Progress: Creating the Supporting Background

I am working on two projects where the featured piece needs to be supported by a strong but unobtrusive background. This is new territory for me as far as incorporating marbling into the process. I'm excited to be experimenting, especially with new materials and techniques, but I'm also feeling out of my element and therefore incredibly novice and, quite frankly, stupid. But what the heck...you only live once! Some shots from one of the projects:

There are a few more layers I have in my head that I want to add here but I'll be taking baby steps with those. I'll share the process along the way. Stay tuned. Who knows what will happen!

New to the Shop: the Madison Wristlet!

Just added to the shop: the Madison Wristlet, named after my sweet niece who is proof that the awesomest things come in small packages! This versatile wristlet is the perfect go-to for your on-the-go, hands-free needs. Or carry it in your purse as a wallet and then pull it out when you just need the basics!

The Madison Wristlet is large enough to hold most phones and the perfect size for your lip gloss, keys, and more.  There is also a zipper drop pocket on the inside to keep your credit cards and cash safe and secure.

$45 + shipping (and tax, where applicable).

New Clutches, Purses, and Accent Pillows in the Store

The day is FINALLY here!!! I'm so excited to let you know that the shop has been updated with a whole new round of amazing clutches, purses, totes, and ACCENT PILLOWS!! All are made from my hand-marbled fabric in collaboration with the ridiculously talented LA fashion designer Jeanie Joe.

New items include the Mini-Barb Purse, Envelope purses, and totes.

And of course we restocked the store with the ever-popular Veronica Clutch and Nina Coin Purse.

And next week I'll unveil TWO new purse designs...so stay tuned. In the mean time, for more eye candy, check out the store!!

The Fun Never Stops Around Here

Accent pillows using my marbled fabric made by the talented Jeanie Joe! Yep, it's happening.

New Clutches, Purses, and Pouches on the Way!

The incredibly talented seamstress Jeanie Joe and I are working on some new purse and clutch designs for my marble-ous marbled fabrics! A big sale is around the corner...stay tuned for some exciting announcements!

New Paints

I have to thank my wonderful marbling friend Sue Cole who turned me on to Golden's High Flow acrylics. Though there are a few tricks to working with them (they spread like mad...don't work with them in a tank smaller than 20x25), they work straight out of the bottle, no thinning necessary. I especially loved the florescents, as seen here in these overmarbled wood panels. I marbled a traditional bouquet pattern in regular paints over a stone pattern in the High Flow acrylics. Just another fun adventure in Marble Land.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

You may have noticed I was pretty quiet this summer. That's because I was busy working on my latest marbling adventure...creating and shooting a marbling eCourse! For all of you who want to learn how to marble but have been unable to find a marbling class or teacher in your area, now you can take a class online! There will be three segments ~ an intro to paper marbling, advanced techniques, and marbling on fabric. Stay tuned...more details to follow!

Loving this New Color Scheme

I love it when I mix new color combinations together and they surprise me. Colors I wouldn't expect to go well with one another as I stare at them in their jars and then they come together on the bath and BAM! Beauty.

Marbled Scarves...on a Windy Day!

Joke is on me today. I tried to photograph some of my marbled scarves but the wind wasn't going to let me...so I took some video of them instead. http://youtu.be/WSi47XXberI

http://youtu.be/LHRKxLkEpsI

Experimenting with Fabric

I spent some time yesterday marbling on new fabrics to see which ones take color well ~ here I've got linen, cotton duck, hemp, and denim. These have to cure for a week before their final wash and rinse and that's when the true color-hold test happens! http://youtu.be/637TA8d4klI

The Bloom

I've been applying some of the whacky techniques I learned in the alternative marbling workshop I took a few months ago to paper (we worked with fabric in the workshop) and am loving the results. You have to work really fast when using these particular dispersants together or you lose the magical special effects. This piece is an overmarble and I'm posting a close up of it so you can really see "The Bloom" around the edges.

The Bloom is my favorite technique I learned in the workshop ~ and the particular formula was developed/discovered by a combination of our teacher and another student in the class. And this is another reason I love marbling so much...it is an equalizer. Master marblers can be schooled by beginning marblers just as easily as the other way around!

Alternative Marbling Class with Elin Noble

Wanted to share with you some photos from the class "Alternative Marbling: Building a Personal Methodology and Vocabulary" that I took with the fabulous fabric artist Elin Noble. We marbled mostly on methyl cellulose (a first for me!) and used a variety of dispersants to create some really funky and fun effects. It was a week-long intensive where we got to experiment and play in the tank...and I'm thrilled with the results! I still prefer to use carageenan as my bath for all of my fine-art marbling, especially on paper and wood. Carrageenan gives you those crisp, clean lines that make marbling so wonderfully beautiful (and stunning). The edges on a methyl cellulose (MC) bath are a little more fuzzy. But MC is perfectly fine for most fabric projects since the fabric's weave tends to be larger than paper, making crisp lines appear fuzzy anyway. The other advantage to MC is that once it is made, it lasts up to four months, compared to just the four- to seven-day lifespan of carageenan. So I will now have MC on hand for those spur-of-the-moment marbling itches!

New Clutch Purse: Split Personality

Well, she did it again! The wonderful Jeanie Joe dropped off a new clutch purse last week (along with some more small and large coin purses) and boy-oh-boy is this another beauty!

I'm calling her Split Personality because she has two different faces...and I can't decide which one I like better:

This roomy purse easily holds your cell phone, wallet, make-up, and more. There is also a deep, inside zipper pocket.

Details:

• Cost is $95 + shipping (and tax, if applicable).
• The clasp is shiny silver and easily fits on the hooks of public bathroom doors (very important detail!).
• Each clutch purse is one-of-a-kind, made with high-quality materials, and washable.

Approximate measurements:

• Top of frame is 8 inches (20 cm) long
• Bottom of purse is 10 inches (25.5 cm) long
• Middle of purse is 13 inches (33 cm) long
• Width at bottom is 2.5 inches (6.25 cm)
• Overall height is 5.5 inches (12.5 cm)

~ Head on over to my shop to purchase. ~

Pinch Me

I have been dying to share this news with you and am thrilled I can finally do so!

Above is the cover of a new book by esteemed poet (he's got 12 books and a ton of awards under his belt, after all), Philip Dacey. And if you haven't noticed already, that cover art...it's none other than Symphony I, a collaboration by Rebecca Tager and me for our Triptych Fusion show last fall.

A few months ago, independent press Rain Mountain contacted me expressing interest in using the piece for the cover...and was wondering if I would be willing to work with them. Ladies and gentlemen, how could I respond to this inquiry with anything other than a big, fat YES? So Rebecca and I agreed, a contract was drawn up, and next thing I know, I'm sending image files to the publisher.

But it doesn't end there.

As the editor and I emailed each other back and forth, I shared the story behind Symphony I and Triptych Fusion. She then asked if I would write an appendix for the book, explaining the art of marbling in general and the birth of Symphony I specifically. Would I? How could I pass up another opportunity "to bring marbling to the masses"? Of course I would. The editor gave me free reign on length (when does that ever happen?) and style and I ended up writing less of a technical piece and more of a personal essay about how marbling came into my life and how I engage with the art form. And I have to say, I think this is my favorite piece about marbling that I've written yet.

Which is fitting considering Church of the Adagio is a collection of Dacey's most cherished poems. In his own words:

Church of the Adagio is my first miscellaneous collection since my 1999 book, The Paramour of the Moving Air. Five books have appeared in the 15 intervening years, all with special themes or foci: Thomas Eakins, New York City, sonnets, short poems, and “fives” (a format of five five-line stanzas per poem). It’s therefore been a long while since I could choose poems for inclusion in a book solely because I had a special fondness for a poem or took a certain pride in having made it. Variety is a keynote of the book--variety of style, subject matter, form, and tone. I hope the ultimate effect is kaleidoscopic or cornucopian.

If you haven't read Dacey yet, you're in for a real treat. Wrapped up in his unwavering command of language of structure, you'll find his work to be contemporary and accessible, playful and witty, engaging and emotional without falling victim to over-romanticizing or over-dramatization. In other words, my kind of poetry.

Church of the Adagio will be released on July 1. You can pre-order at Rain Mountain or on Amazon. And if you'd like to get a sneak peak at a few of the poems, you can do so here.

Yesterday's Work ~ Today's Joy

Marbled nature ~ specifically, marbled magnolia leaves. These are much bigger than the last round of leaves I marbled and they are more browns and mustard yellows than the lovely red...but I had just as much fun working on them. I once again finished them with a light spray of glossy acrylic spray in hopes of preventing them from continuing to dry out and crumble. Only time will tell if that works.