Another Book by Junko Oki

I had a recent email from the lovely Mary Jane Dodd. She's been weaving and stitching wondrous airy creations...most notably her mysterious leaves and her peace flags.

It seems that she's also been curious about the fiber artist, Junko Oki. She googled Junko and to her surprise ended up seeing my post about Junko's book, Poesy.  Mary Jane wanted more info about Junko so I headed off to her site...just as much to satisfy my own curiosity about what Junko was up to as it was to provide a link for Mary Jane.

What I found out is that Junko Oki has published a new book called, culte a la carte! Of course, I had to order a copy.

Although it is a small paperback, unlike the hardcover Poesy, it still has her incredibly rich stitchery.

Really like this piece as it reminded me of an eye!

Each page spread is a front and back (or back and front...they are both works of art!) of each small piece.

I think this book and Poesy will be perfect to share with students in my spring workshop on Healing Cloth at The Art League School.

Happy Hearts, Healing Thoughts

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I'd share this piece of fabric which I created for the January issue of Julie B Booth Surface Design News. 

I used my X-acto knife to cut designs out of freezer paper which I ironed onto painted fabric and then painted using a foam dauber.

I really enjoyed cutting the designs within the freezer paper heart shapes. I cut freely without drawing designs with pencil. It was very spontaneous and liberating!

This has given me the urge to try some paper cutting. A blog suggestion by Ersi led me to  the site of papercutter, Beatrice Coron.

On her site you can see many wonderful images. She is a story teller and many of her stories are fantastical! This has me thinking about my  A Story in the Making class coming up next month. I'm looking forward to getting into the studio to make up my own stories.

You can see a TED presentation of Beatrice's work here.

I've just found out that Mary Jane Dodd is recovering from septicemia. Mary Jane is a peace-filled soul. She started the Flags for Peace Project which gave me the chance to honor a friend. I am constantly inspired by her beautiful works of jewelry and poetic words. I hope you will send healing thoughts her way.

Stitching, Chopping, Baking.

Today was a day to finish up a project and an attempt to make something new.

I finished hand hemming the set of Peace flags and back stitched my initials and date.

This set of flags is for Mary Jane Dodd who initiated the Flags for Peace Project this past September. We are doing an artists' trade, something I'm very excited about.

The attempt at something new came in the form of gingersnaps! To be more specific, Miette gingersnaps. You see, these cookies are a favorite of mine. They are made by a small company out in San Francisco. My husband and I first happened upon them in October of 2009. It was love at first bite (and second and third). When we visited San Francisco again this past October, the first stop was the Miette shop at The Ferry Building.

I received a wonderful series of Hanukkah gifts from my husband this year. All the ingredients to make Miette gingersnaps along with the Miette cookbook. So today, we made our first attempt with a half batch.

My husband was a very good grater and chopper.

I did the measuring and mixing. We rolled out the cooled dough between sheets of wax paper and made a couple of attempts to cut the cookies. In the end, we had to let the rolled out dough sit for several hours in the refrigerator.

Finally we managed to get enough decent looking cookies into the oven. Even so, they were not too pretty!

Here is what the actual Miette cookies look like.

Ah well...it is a first attempt. The cookies did have that gingersnap bite...but I think I might add a hair more sugar next time.