Thursday, December 17, 2015

Sharing From The Welcome Mat

This is our Thursday Welcome Mat column; Thinking About. 

Thinking About: Class Confusion and Mistakes
Have you ever been in rug school and there is someone who speaks whispers with authority on what should be done or what we are accomplishing as a class? Not the teacher mind you but a fellow student.
Before you know it we all think we should be doing what they suggested and we are off on a tangent instead of the straight path the teacher set down.
The person next to you can help you a great deal in rug school. They can also impede you  or completely distract you. When you need to know what to do ask your teacher.
I like to be interrupted during students "turns" if your progress is being impeded. If I think you are taking advantage I'll tell you you'll have to wait or if the question will take more than 30 seconds to answer you will have to wait for the window when I move onto the next person.
Mostly our fear of doing something wrong causes us to question ourselves or feel we didn't hear correctly, makes us feel unsure.
Take a look at our weekly main page section, I'll place it in here for posterity:
Thing I'm telling you this week
First a bit about Jack London:
And now his attitude:
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
Jack London
++++++++++++++++++
What I like LOVE today
Light and dark, calms and excites colours
Can you see it?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What I read and heard:
This is so important to remember!


There is something else I want you to remember please.
Your divinity is pure and true.
You have it in you to be what you glimmer from time to time all of the time.
Let it go, let loose.
Is there way you think you could listen more carefully to your own whispers in class and in life?


And now a bit about my online class confusion if you don't mind.
It has come to my attention 3 times this week people think my classes run like other online classes. 
My classes don't disappear nor are not attended by me after a certain date.

It's like I run magical school where every time you open up a classroom door there I am!
I'm just waiting for you to join me instead of you all being there waiting for me to come as with other online teaching.

I want to reiterate that any and all classes I hold for a fee online are always available. You can join them any time.
They are not subject to a start date. 

I'll join you when you comment or hand in your homework to encourage you and uplift, to refine and reinforce.
It's that simple.

Here is my complete online class list with a brief description, cost included, they have various extremely generous times to complete them.
On The Welcome Mat: you must be a member to participate, cost for this is $36.
join by going here
Colour Counselor  pay $10 for colour help in your rug when things are not going right
Painterly Poppies Class -$75  learn how to use colour in  new way to create dimension and vivacity, includes dyeing lessons and two patterns.
This is Wandering -  $30 - learn how to go beyond with expanded wandering dyeing methods
The Colour Lab - $180 -  learning useful tools about colour and rug hooking to help you be a colour master. Does not contain pedantic colour theory.
The Dyeing Colour Lab - $150 - learn how to dye like a master, free of formula books, see a colour - dye that colour.
Landscape Lab - $100 - create landscapes with depth and colour vivacity, pattern included
If you don't like paying to learn our free online classroom on The Mat has many classes with pattern included for you to take.

On The WandaWay Studio: this membership is free, join by going here.
Individual Consultation - $100 - I work with you on a project for one month to help you over trouble spots.
Eco Dye - $50 - learn how to create dye effects with things from nature and your home, it is fun and lends a unique quality to your wool which will only enhance your rug works uniqueness.
Dyeing With Ice and Snow - $25 - use that nasty winter stuff for great dyeing effects!
Thanks!

Friday, December 11, 2015

Welcome Mat Daily Bread - Dyeing Effects

We are in a sharing mood. This is our topic of the day today on The Welcome Mat.
We are continuing this conversation from yesterday about how to create these effects in wool. Due to some questions I've continued with more info on how to do this.


Please enjoy.

Here is what I wrote yesterday:
Today Juliana asked me:
"How would you hook/ dye this under painted look?"
Bunny Secrets - Rita Kirkman
I'm thinking she meant the background, but I see the rabbits have the same quality to their coats.  Note: Juliana meant the rabbits it turns out
I can frequently get these effects through using my wandering dye technique.You can read about how to do it here along with doing the Point and some formulas for that. Or take a master class in Wandering here for $30. It lets me have warm and cool colours in the same piece of wool. Marbelized wool will also do the same thing.
BUT the finer you cut these wools the less they can perform for you in this way.
We diminish the dyed effect with smaller cuts.
How would you hook or dye this effect? Note: we had several great suggestions
And Julianna if I've got hold of the wrong straw or am hareing off in the wrong direction please redirect me and this conversation to rights. I'll be away until tomorrow night and I look forward to your brilliant ideas!

And now today:
I thought I would try to explain an interesting event between wool we dye and how it looks hooked.
You've probably had the most perfect looking wool for what you wanted to hook, bricks, trees, grass, eyes, you name it!
Then when you hooked it up it lost the effect you wanted.
In the case of our rabbits from yesterday, here they are again:
Bunny Secrets                            
Rita Kirkman is the painter and here is her site.

I would need to prepare a least three, maybe 4 pieces of wool in the wandering pot or with marbelizing to get 4 values.
Each value would contain variants of the colours present, the yellow in the lightest value, the dull orange, bright blue, dull green and in some as they darken value - violet.
Once this dyeing is done it would be simple to just hook this up.
I agree a challenge would be a good idea.
But I want to tell you it needs to include hooking because that is the real way to prove the wool is viable.
Often wool for these effects is quite ugly on it's own.
In this rug:
I used marbelized wool for my flesh with a few other pieces of colours thrown in.
I had made partners of (sage green, tan, violet) ( orange , tan, sage green) to dye. This gave me 6 pieces of two sided wool that had one or the other colours more present.  I used the warmest colours in the lighter areas and let the greenish ones be the middle areas and let violet shade.
It allowed me some big leeway for shading.
This was just stuff I had on the shelf.  But I do have a very wide range of goods to hook with because I need a wide range of values, temperatures, saturations in each colour.
To do an image search just go to Google images and click on search.
Plug into what you see, take a good long look.
Don't try to make or buy one piece of wool that "does the job", it rarely functions well.
Make smooth transitions in your colour work, let one colour bridge all sections, it might darken or lighten, brighten or dull but it will hold all what you see together.
Can you find that colour in the rabbits?
One of the fun things we can do to get this "pastel effect" is let core show in our wool, you do this by having you water super hot with dye and wool present with an acidy dye bath, it will give a great effect on already colour wool of light to medium values. You can add two or more colours by waiting for the water to clear each time.


Note: This is the stuff that you can learn on the Mat on a daily basis, it is all archived and RICH with what you want to know to hook and grow as an artist. You can also ask me most anything and I'll do the best I can to aid you. $36 a year? How could you pass this up?
We would love to have you with us!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Well, well,well.

Well, well, well, well, well.
This should be said with some tsking and slanted head wagging, negatively, to and fro, voice raising and lowering as needed.

Two good things on my hook something every day promise, I'm doing it, the hooking I mean.
And I'm being quite dutiful about it too.

But as you might notice I'm not posting about it.
Not once.
Until today.
You might wonder why.
Well, wonder away.
Wonder till your heart's content. Your guess is as good as mine.

All I can say is I'm walking about 5 miles a day and at the end of the day I just can't roll downstairs to the studio so easily to photo my project nor can I sit long at the computer, there is danger I'll seize up.
Here is the photos I've nabbed, some days I just pull a few loops others I hook quite a bit.



The leaf



the outline

The ground


Come on by to the WandaWorks Open House to check on my progress on Saturday December 12, 10 til 2
write me for the street address inquiry@wandaworks.ca
It's a free session all are welcome.