Building in 2013

My chosen word in 2013 was Build. I can’t say that I really thought about the word itself much throughout the year, but I did build things, the most notable of course was the yurt.

The yurt building process began in March and we had the yurt raising party in mid October. This was the biggest felting project I have ever tried and even though it was hard work, I really enjoyed the process (excluding that one day it poured rain on us). Dennis and I learned so much and the end result was very satisfying. There are a few more things we need to do next spring before we put the yurt back up but all in all, it was a great experience. Thanks again to everyone who helped with the yurt, we really appreciated your assistance.

In regards to my other goals for the year, I did complete the last session of my level 2 stitch class which included making a beaded book, various applique samples, a machine stitched book and machine cut back applique. My class held an exhibition in September which was well received. I was sad when the class was over because I really enjoyed learning more stitching techniques, art and design and interacting with my fellow students.

The Daily Dose of Fiber Challenge was the first quarter challenge here for 2013. I wanted to encourage everyone to be creative every day even if it was just for 5 minutes. I did blog about my daily dose of fiber over on my personal blog on a daily basis. I had hoped I would get in the habit of blogging more regularly but that hasn’t seemed to last very long into the year. Instead, I am back to blogging once a week on my personal blog. I guess if I didn’t have a full-time job, five blogs, Facebook, the forum blah, blah, blah, then I would have more time. 🙂 But I do still try to have a daily dose of fiber each day and enjoy my creative time.

In June, I took another course at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, Level 1 Color Studies. Mainly using acrylic paints, we studied various color wheels and color combinations. It was really interesting to me to see all the colors that can be achieved and how one color looks different depending on what other colors surround it. I think you could spend a lifetime studying color.

Throughout the rest of the year I dyed fiber, carded batts, worked in my studio journal, made a bunch of note cards, free motion stitched a variety of projects and made a few notebook covers. In my local group, I learned some new techniques including free form crochet, carving linoleum print blocks, ice dyeing, natural eco print dyeing, paper fabric lamination and encaustics.

I then experimented with the paper fabric lamination with nuno felting and it worked like a charm. I really like this technique and I think I’ll be trying more of this.

I also tried some stitched shibori for the first time and overdyed two scarves with that method. Even though the stitching and tie method is a bit fiddly, I like the result and will most likely be doing a few more of these as well.

One of my other goals was to continue to build a fiber arts organization that I started called Tangled. The group had its first exhibition with the theme of Shelter in October at The Purple Pomegranate. For that exhibition, I made my umbrella tree pictured above. This was made by felting over an umbrella and recreating the top of the umbrella with nuno felt. I am thinking that I will enter this piece into a few more exhibitions in the coming year. The group is also planning an annual exhibition and perhaps some outdoor fiber art installations.

The only goal that I didn’t manage to meet was making video tutorials. I did make some videos of the yurt and my beaded book but I haven’t managed to make any tutorials. Perhaps next year? I did make plans for further teaching opportunities but sadly those classes did not fill up and had to be cancelled.

As I was looking back over the year here, it amazes me how much Ann, Zed, Karen and I have accomplished. Well done ladies! I am also thinking on what the focus will be in 2014. Are you planning any big projects or changes in direction? We’d love to hear about your plans for the new year. Best wishes in the New Year!