Sunday, September 30, 2012

Quick cooking and slow bundling.

An exercise in  extracting color from plant matter.
The last of a 3 part workshop series was also the celebration of the end of summer.
At Terrain we set up outside under there huge tent and got ready to make some hot bundles for immediate gratification: folded silk stuffed with fallen dried leaves and rusted found objects. Onion skins and Eucalyptus leaves were added for certain bursts of color, and the fabric was then folded and clamped with bull clips.

The hot bundles were steamed for 45 minutes, and the results were astounding! The more metal, the more black and purple. 
Joyce's peace had what looked like a clipper ship appear on one end... magic.


We then finished up the session by rolling and twisting cigar like bundles of muslin to be left in the autumn elements to cure for a few weeks.

Again, thank you India Flint for sharing these techniques in your book, Eco- Colour.








Hot bundle results!







Ready to roll!  Eco Bundle Cigars.








And thank you, Nancy Worrilow and Terrain for making these workshop such a huge success!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Leaf like looks... Look like leaves... Fall colors.

These colors are are starting to appear on the trees, and in stores, too.
Une Minette in Wilton has these new all silk ponchos, and cotton cashmere pieces as well.






How an Hermes comes into the world.

Wish I could have been in San Francisco to see this!
THE scarf. Hermes. From start to finish.
http://honestlywtf.com/photo-diary/festival-des-metiers/

Monday, September 24, 2012

Put on a Hapa-Face.

Happy faces were everywhere at Terrain this weekend. Beautiful surroundings, gorgeous weather, extraordinary people, and a bounty of fresh forage for our Hapa-Zome textile project.
Wild grape dye right off the vine made on the spot and mineral pigments were used to embellish after the banging began.
Forage- Fold- Bang- Repeat.
The results were of this earth, and heavenly all at once.















I wouldn't have pulled it off without the help of Roxanne, from the Quilters Alley. Her friendship and experience as a teacher gave me all of the support that I needed to "bang this one out"! Merci, Rox.
Thank you to Barbara, Nola, Bonnie, Nancy Worrilow, Joyce, Meredith and most of all to Genevieve, my daughter (the gorgeous blonde!). Her radiant energy and smiling face brought an element to the workshop that gave me such a feeling of pride. Mother and daughter sharing in the beauty of this season. It was a special day for me.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

I'm keeping an eye on Cate Sheehy- Maxxinista!

As should you! Meet Cate Sheehy. This blue eyed beauty does more than look stylin' herself. She styles for major fashion shoots making models and celebrities look their finest. This pic is fresh off of the digital monitor from a recent shoot with my husband, Tim Geaney.
Recently Cate was chosen from a cast of thousands of NYC fashion stylists to represent TJ Maxx, as a "Maxxinista".Watch the video!
She is adorable in the spot, and stunning in her Vagabond's Daughter silk fringe scarf.
In fact, she is bringing a few to use for a shoot with Goldie Hahn this week! I can't think of a better celebrity endorsement. I hope they use the scarf... fingers crossed! Great things are happening for Cate.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Foraging the Terrain.


I can't think of a better way to end the harvest season than to create a piece that can be in your home for winter  to remind you of warmer days and greener landscapes.
 In this class we will color cloth and thread using leaves, water and heat. We will work with bio-regional dye sources and gentle meditative stitching during an explorative journey in stitch and color for cloth.
We will take windfall-leaf collecting walk around Terrain to gather material and may supplement the harvest with discards from the kitchen and/or green grocer.
This technique was first introduced to me when I read India Flints book, Eco-Colour. She is an amazing artist and must be checked out! 




Here are some examples from last season.

Monday, September 17, 2012

New Terrain for A Vagabond.

Welcome to Terrain! What a glorious day it was to hold Vagabond's Daughters 1st Shibori Technique workshop. The sky itself appeared to have been washed with indigo. The warm September sun and a brisk breeze worked beautifully in tandem to dry the finished scarves before the workshop was over. I was joined by a group of lovely ladies, some were old friends from past lives, and I believe some new friendships were forged as well. The elements were all in place for a creative fest, and I am so grateful to Nancy Worrilow manager of Terrain for inviting me to come and share my knowledge and love of what I do. I will be back there this Saturday and the next to teach 2 new natural dying techniques: Hapa-zome and printing with Pigments, and Eco- Bundling. These can be further explored in India Flints books "Eco Colour" and "Second Skin".















Special thanks to my friend Deb and husband Tim for all of their help.




What a nice way to spend a Saturday.