Author Archives: Colleen Kole

Dyeing Blue This Week

     I started two indigo vats this past week-one with the pre-reduced indigo from ProChem and one with the natural indigo in  a lime-fructose-indigo vat. It was easier than I thought it would be and the warm weather helped me jump outdoors and jump into fabric dyeing.

Silk Habotai with natural indigo

Cotton with natural indigo

Pre-reduced indigo with silk 

     It was interesting to see the variety of values between the vats and the different types of fabric I used. The pre-reduced indigo resulted the very dark blue fabrics.  It is a stark difference between the two and I think I enjoy the lighter blues. I used silk, bamboo/cotton blend and cotton to try with this batch. The only assignment was to start the vats and do test swatches which I have done and now labeled for future use this summer.

    I also am continuing on my series but ran out of navy blue for one of my pieces. So out came the  Procion navy blue and few pieces of cotton for the fabric dyeing I needed. I am ready to move on to brighter spring colors to use up what I have already dyed.  Fabric dyeing is time consuming but I didn’t want to waste the 75 degree weather here this week which has been unexpected and pleasant.

Bamboo/cotton with Procion Teal Blue

 Back to work on my blue lines next week.

I can’t get a few of my pictures to load so on that note -off to guitar lessons with my son.

A Treat For You

     Have you heard of Radka Donnell,  Nora Lee Condra or Grace Earl? I stumbled upon this documentary which was made in 1980 and just loved it. Hope you enjoy it: Quilts in Women’s Lives-it’s about 15 minutes long but you will be inspired. I loved Grace’s sewing organization and her design wall!

    I have been working in blue this week and will share tomorrow.

A Peek at Last Week

       I definitely went into class withdrawal last week on my series. But as I did some uploading of photos, I realized that I kept working away for the whole week.

     I went to a demonstration day at our local sewing store given by the group I belong to- Lakeshore Fiber Arts group. We meet monthly to learn new techniques and review what we have worked on the past month. A few of the members gave demonstrations on surface design techniques and it was very well attended.

I also started an indigo vat down my basement using natural indigo, fructose and picking lime for the online class (called a 1-2-3 vat) I am doing given by Glennis Dolce at Shibori Girl studios.  I was just going to be an observer this time and wait until summer.  But thought I would just work a little each week in case I had questions so summer I can start a vat and keep it going in the sun.

Bad lighting in the basement but  this is really a nice range of light blue on linen, silk and a bamboo-cotton blend.

  I spent a day sewing with a friend on my baby quilts for our annual March drive for the NICU at our local hospital.  It is nice to have two of them done for the meeting and fun to catch up with a friend who is very busy. Thanks Betsy!

 

     And finally, for the week’s work, I was machine quilting an old piece deemed worthy of finishing. I think about ten more hours of work left. And the new week has begun with this piece under my machine.

Settling In and 4 Minutes of Dreaming

     I was really tired for a few days after I had finished my class work. The adrenaline must be wearing off. I kept going though and have weeded through my work basket and purged a few projects that really never need to be finished. They truly were just experiments or class exercises. That was a good feeling. My studio was all  sparkly clean on Saturday and ready to go.

     I am machine quilting an oldie deemed worthy of finishing and hope to have it finished  in a few days.

      I also started a 1-2-3 lime fructose indigo vat.  I love blue.  I know -what am I doing now? After a long weekend of pondering what to do with my current class schedule, I decided to proceed as I scheduled. And paid for.  I had joined in on the on line class of dyeing indigo with Glennis Dolce before Christmas.  I may not fully participate and save some of the info for summer.  But as I was mixing it up tonight, I realized that I really missed my little  Rooflines motif the past few days. And figuring out that I missed what had been working on just was even more confirmation that working in a series is what  I want to do. And then I wasn’t a bit tired anymore. Just ready to go back to work.

     I won’t stop with surface design work but will contain it. How would you like to go to school here? What a beautiful video of a beautiful place! Enjoy and dream.

Just Beginning

     I finished uploading my last assignment for my class yesterday. I was actually finished with it earlier in the week but procrastinated on it I guess because I just wasn’t ready for it to be over with.

     I set a S-T-R-E-C-H goal  for myself this time:  I  wanted to entirely finish the piece right down to the sleeve and label.  I had a huge cloud following me around. It was the cloud of unfinished projects and I was building up this huge barrier inside my head that these pieces would not get done. Ok, enough of that so the stretch goal.

    The last assignment was to simplify or elaborate our design. I chose elaboration and …fell flat.  I didn’t like how I overworked the motif.  If I look at my motif which I tried to increase the complexity of it by adding more lines, it is just too much, too busy. If  I cover up the lower strip on the right purple motif or “house”,  I like it better. So next piece I make I will eliminate that angled strip and see if that helps.
Rooflines # 6,  36×36, Colleen Kole, 2012
      When I put it up on the wall to photograph it, I saw what was wrong with it and when I wrote my self critique, it no longer felt like a failed assignment but another learning experience. And I set up parameters for the next piece. I love the phrase”the next piece”.  I know I  learned many things but the “next piece ” gives you freedom to try new things and not be afraid to fail.   I felt fantastic that I met my stretch goal for the week which was to finish the piece and have no anxiety about machine quilting the other pieces.
Finished!
      It was truly a gift to take this class. I highly recommend  Lisa Call as a teacher and the online experience was better than I thought possible.  I am finished with class but just beginning to find joy in working in a series. 
      

Another Assignment Done

     This one was by far my hardest assignment. I chose a few parameters for myself and then realized I had chose a silly construction method that just didn’t work for me. I spent hours on this one. It became a case of me against the piece and I truly felt like I had to win. Which really made me crazy and then I just really needed to get a grip on reality and know that the piece really had no vested interest in me succeeding. It really did not care. Oh boy. I didn’t want to give up on all the time I had invested in the project that involved a lot of lines.  I kept telling myself that this was a true learning experience. ( And  few friends reminded me of this too.)

     This was my reference composition and I wanted to work off from this piece.

Rooflines #4
Taking a look at values with my camera

I set my parameters for my assignment : change the thickness of the lines to less than 1/4 of an inch, use a color I don’t like (brown), add more colors within the motif, and try to vary the placement of the motif.
I also tried a different way of constructing the block or motif and that is what made me crazy and tripped me up. Last night when I went to write up my assignment after taking pictures, looked at it and sure enough, I had flipped one of the sections. This –

Ooops -bottom right section flipped the wrong way

Should have been: 

Rooflines #5, 37×37, Colleen Kole, 2012

This is done for the week. And I have never been so relieved. I finished assignment 4. One more lecture on Sunday night, and then one more assignment. I will really miss this class.

Something Different: Vermont Artisan Cheese

Mount Elmore

     Last week while we were on vacation, my neighbor asked me if I wanted to observe his artisan cheese making process. He started an artisan cheese making business last year, Mount Mansfield Creamery, using the milk from their Brown Swiss and Holstein cows. They have been very successful and now have award winning raw milk cheese which is being sold locally and on the East Coast.

     I observed for about a four hour time period and I know now that cheese making is as labor intensive as making a quilt. The milk is carried over from the farm in large steel mik cans-heavy milk cans. It is then poured into a large steel vat, heated slowly and enzymes added over time and at a specific temperature and pH. (? Don’t know exactly but I listened!) The vat is slowly stirred by the electric paddles and when a certain temperature and curd consistency, the curds are scooped out and placed in molds.

Stan, the cheese  man

Just after the stainless steel vat, curds in the molds

 The whey left behind slowly drains off over the next few hours as the cheese is flipped every thirty minutes which allows it to settle. The whey is collected for the pig farmers.

Flipping the cheeses in the molds

A proud cheesmaker

Beautiful cheese mold pattern

    I can’t believe I am showing you this picture but I did get to help.

making cheese:)

Over the next sixty days, the cheeses are placed in cold storage, their rinds washed  periodically and tended to. Then, after it is aged, you get to enjoy the most beautiful tasting cheese there is! 

I enjoyed watching and appreciate even more the cheeses that their farm produces and the labor it involves. 

A Few Updates

     I looked at my last post date (after a prompt from a friend) and couldn’t believe I hadn’t posted in over a week. So, I return and will give you a quick update.

Vacation: We returned home last Saturday to a houseful of furniture which needed to be moved back into place as we had our hardwood floors refinished while we were away.What a mess of dust to return to. And my college daughter was home on winter break and just left yesterday so I wanted to spend some time with her.  It also just takes me a good 48 hours to transition and get back up and running smoothly. No matter how efficient I try to be!

Vermont: Had a great vacation and I was a hermit working away and enjoying my time with family. I  made cheese one day and will share tomorrow. Very fun. Very little snow but they did ski with lots of snow made by the snow guns.

My class (Lisa Call Working in a Series): I am still in a lovefest with this class. I have had my moments of self doubt (why should I be taking this class? who do I think I am fitting in to this class?  why in the world would I think this piece of fabric would work or this color?  I don’t even like this piece so why would I show it to her, my classmates or you ? Why am I working so hard?) Ok maybe a few hours or  a day or two of self doubt. But in the end, I just want to create and be more focused in my creativity. Working in a series is putting everything I have previously learned into a framework. Have I made anything exceptional? No, that isn’t the point. Learning how to move forward is and to create more work is. You work hard and I am learning to be patient with myself and my work. Well worth every minute of work and money I have spent on this class.

    I see glimpses of hope in each piece as I move forward-an area of each piece that I like and can improve upon. In the next piece. And the next piece is what I am working on!

PS- I say all this even after I made one huge wrong cut in a piece last week-it wasn’t salvageable so I have no new pictures for you.  I have moved on.:)

Snowshoes and Sunshine

     I didn’t really know if I needed my snowshoes on but knew I would be deep in the woods so put them on anyway.

     No wonder I love coming to Vermont.  It was a  glorious day for a walk and I definitely didn’t need my snowshoes. I walked along the cross country ski trails on a neighboring property. Better go again today as it will soon turn bitter cold.

Assignments #1 and #2

     I thought I would finally take some time and show you what I have been doing in Lisa Call’s class  Working in a Series. I just needed a little breathing room to post on what I have been doing and realize that it may take me 10 or more pieces before I really find what I may want to work on in a series.

*** This is a long post but then I will be caught up. ***

     The class is structured with a 90 minute telephone lecture from Lisa on a specific topic each week, an assignment given ( seven total ) and follow up emails on the topic three times per week. She has many references for you within the emails so you can do as much or as little research as you would like on a given topic. Within each assignment you can choose from 6 different exercise to design your weekly piece. You set the parameters for your exercise before you begin. (Very good thing to learn for Miss “do it all here” and then never get anything done worthwhile. )

     The first week’s assignment is based on your original macquette which I posted previously. It was  inspired by the rooflines of the local botanical garden. I chose a motif that I wanted to explore and my base design was created.

Colleen Kole, Rooflines # 1 ,  First Series sketch

     The next week’s assignment focused on color and value. I thought I would be in trouble with all my bold and bright colors so after conferring with Lisa decided to change up my original design ( save this for more subtle colors I dye this summer) and use the fabric I have on a new design. I chose the assignment of using a color combination which I hadn’t used before-red and green.

Colleen Kole, Rooflines # 2, 47 x 37

     The proportions weren’t right with this piece and I feel the middle third needs to be re-done. I fell in love with the linework while doing this piece. And I am becoming less dyslexic with triangles.

     I got a little bolder and more comfortable and thought I would try to use my bold and brights on the original design.  The second week’s assignment was on space and scale so I modified the size of some of the elements.  Looking at how successful piece was as far as figure-ground composition was also part of the self critique.

Colleen Kole,  Rooflines #3 ,  37x 46

MMMM….the bold, bright colors worked but I really played it way too safe and worked in a grid rather than bringing any interest to the piece. Plus I ended up with a huge visible line dividing the piece  and little to no value change within the elements or background. Even though I like the piece, it wasn’t what I knew it could be.  The great thing about working in a series is that you critique your work and decide how the piece can be improved in the NEXT piece.  I also found you can enjoy a piece and like it but it can be improved upon.  I love the moving on part! But this piece frustrated me so I re-did the assignment. 🙂

Colleen Kole, Rooflines #4, 38 x78 

     This piece turned out really large.  I haven’t done a self critique yet on this piece.  I photographed it on the barn as we are in Vermont on vacation this week and the sunlight on it is kind of odd. But this feels better and now I will go write down why. Needs improvement but that’s ok too.

    This class has it all: working at home at your own pace, a kick in the seat three times a week with informational e-mails, establishing a good studio practice, and learning how to actually work in a series. I feel it is finally giving me the tools to move forward. Finally.