My Flags Are Done And Flying High Atop LillStreet Art Center

Hi!
It has been a very busy month. I wasn't sure I would be able to get four nuno-felt flags done (from conception to design to final product to installation) in a little over a month but I did. It was a crazy ride and I am sorry I didn't find the time to blog as I went. So, I will put up as many in-process pictures as I have for each flag over the next few days. The theme for the flags was the four elements; Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Let's start with the Earth flag.


These are some of the sketches I made and planned to follow (though I ended up changing my mind and going with something different on the water flag).


This is heavy plastic that I pieced together and drew the stencil I was going to follow on the backside in blue (didn't want sharpie coming off on my wool so that was why it was drawn on the underside).


The beginning of the layout process.


Further layout on side one.


Silk stretched out on first layer.


Second layer completed.


Flag after it has been rolled for a few hours and fulled.


Finished flag with canvas reinforcement and grommets...I should have dyed the canvas brown or green, but thought of it too late. The canvas on the other 3 flags is dyed appropriate colors.


Finished flag flying from flag pole.

That's it for now. Hopefully they weather well (since it is going to rain tomorrow). I am going to try and blog about at least one flag per day over the next few days. I also have an entry up on the LillStreet Textile Blog with pictures of all four flags at http://lillstreettextiles.blogspot.com/ . I hope you enjoy the pictures. I am off to make up some more of the sleep deficit I gained over the last couple weeks.
Thank you for reading!
Frances

What I have been doing the last couple weeks.

So, what have I been doing? Well, just before Valentines weekend I dyed some lace and vintage textiles found at one (or a couple) of the many local thrift stores. I was in a green mood so inspired by one of my fellow LillStreet monitors I mixed up an immersion bath of a sort of chartreuse color. I like how the color came out.



Then for Valentines weekend my husband and I got away for a romantic weekend in Saugatuck, Michigan. There is a lovely antique mall just outside of Saugatuck in Douglas, and of course I just had to stop by. I went a little bit nuts. It was a vintage-textile-and-textile-supply-palooza! They have these nice people who wander through the mall who's only goal is to help you or run your stuff up to the front to be put in a numbered cubby (this place is huge - it takes at least an hour to walk through it if you are hurrying). Needless to say you don't realize how much you have actually collected till you get up to the front...lol. Anyway this was my haul (not sure what I am going to do with it all yet, but I will think of something).



I bought tatted and crocheted lace, a tatting shuttle, lots of thread on wooden spools, two bags of edging and piping, a vintage heart pin cushion, thread on a wooden spindle, a vintage wood grainer, and a vintage mirror and brush set (I wanted the mirror to use at craft shows so people can look at themselves wearing my scarves or my mother's hats - the mirror we have is way too big).

I also have picked up my silkscreened-embroidered piece again and have been working on that (you can see some of the progress I have made on it below)



The last thing I think I will show you is a rough sketch that I am thinking of adapting for an embroidered piece.



I am thinking of embroidering it against a green cloth. It is really kind of an organic image and green make me think organic. Maybe I will use one of the ones above that I have already dyed. I will have to think more on that. Right now I am thinking that I am pretty tired. I woke up fairly early this morning for no reason. I didn't have to work until the afternoon I could have slept in, but nooooo, my brain wanted to wake up and be active. My body said "hey more sleep would be good", but my brain would have none of it and just had to have things its own way. The result being a nightowl who is tired early. So, I say unto you "Goodnight".