kimberly ollis
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Little Batik Box

8/31/2012

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     I like my coffee black with one pack of Truvia sweetner.  Ever since I started buying the boxes of Truvia, I have loved their shape.  One day, I thought, "I could take this box apart and make a pattern, and wouldn't it be neat to try to make a fabric box like this sometime?"  Well, that day was today!  I finally had time to return to my studio to do some work that I enjoy today, and it just seemed the perfect time to try it.  I started with the piece of fabric that I batiked a couple of weeks ago using my loaner tjaps, remember this fabric?
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Fabric was yellow, then I stamped the melted soy wax into it with the tjap, then dyed it in low immersion dye bath of turquoise blue dye. I really kind of thought it would be more green, but that yellow is a pretty powerful color. Nevertheless, I love this color combination.
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Here is the finished box front. I ironed heavy weight Pellon to the wrong side of the fabric for strength and structure, then sandwiched some wonder under to secure the lining fabric of yellow.
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Then I used a satin stitch all around the edges for a little definition and to finish the edges nicely. Then, you know me, I'm not going to miss an opportunity to thread stitch, and what is my favorite subject to thread stitch?---TREES. So I stitched trees on three sides for a little more personality, and notice the front tree is fully stitched on the inside of the front flap and outside, so that you have a full tree whether the box is open or closed.
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Then, to attach the sides, I started by hot gluing them together, pinning them, and then went back and added tacking to all of the corners with my machine, because I care about the longevity of my pieces.
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And look at all that it will hold! My calculator fits perfectly! Obviously, you can't put tons of things in here, but I was quite surprised at home much it would hold. This will go to the art center to add to my inventory, and hopefully on to someone else's home one day who loves trees and batik fabric as much as I do...
This was a fun project, and I suspect there will be more to follow.  I have a smaller size to try, as well as a tissue box pattern to try...endless possibilities!  Give this a try, it's pretty easy and the results are adorable.
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Valdese Heritage Arts Center's New Website

8/28/2012

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     Well, the website is complete. Take a look HERE:  I hope the other artists are pleased with it and like what I've done.  This has been a labor of love, and I've been honored to be asked to do it.  I'm sure we'll spend the next month or so adding and editing and making changes according to personal tastes; we artists like to make visual changes all the time anyway, that's just who we are: tweak this, tweak that..."what if" this, and "what if" that.  That's no problem, we can change it all we want to.
     My goal in the site was to showcase the talented artists and crafts-persons at the art center, and to create a website that would show the level of professionalism that our center has and is known for.  In other words, my utmost goal was to honor the art center, the artists represented there and Mr. Jim Jacumin, who provides the ample space for us to showcase our work for consumers and community members.
     If you've never visited us, come on down to Main Street in Valdese, just a few doors down from Myra's!  We have something for everyone on your shopping list!  A great place to shop for gifts for friends and family members, while helping support the local arts and the community overall!
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Hand Dyeing Fabric Workshop

8/21/2012

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We had a wonderful time together learning about Fiber Reactive Dyes and how to use them safely to create our own hand dyed fabrics at the Valdese Heritage Arts Center this past Saturday!  Each participant left with a yard of hand dyed fabric, and another yard+ of fabric they had done surface design on with our dyes thickened into paint consistency.  We had a lovely group, and tons of fun!!  Can't wait for the Batik Workshop coming up next month @ the arts center again on September 15th.  If you'd like to sign up, there are only a few slots left, so call 874-1849 to register.  Here are pictures of some of our fun, to see the entire slideshow, head over to the Workshop's Page.
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Playing with Tjaps

8/14/2012

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     I have a Batik class coming up in a few weeks, and a dear friend of mine, Beth Bailey, offered to loan me her three gorgeous wooden tjaps for making Batik fabric, and of course I said, "I'd love it! Thank you!"  Here's what they look like:
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     So, today I had some time to work in the studio and try these out for the first time.  My experiences there was wonderful!  Also, I should mention that Beth donated a bunch of dyed fabric that had been previously donated to her and her students that had not been used.  So, I used the donated fabric with the offered for loan tjaps in the studio to play and see what I could come up with .
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This piece was made using one of tjaps above. You can see that I started with a yellow piece of fabric and the more solid impressions from the tjap on the left side were straight from the melted wax with no buffer, then on the right you can see a more distinctive imprint which came from using a sponge down in the heated skillet that was saturated in wax.
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Remember this fabric? I sunprinted it using ferns from the woods, and was wondering if it would overdye or not, since the sunprinting technique uses paint, instead of dye; so I pulled it out to experiment with the tjaps as well, look how it turned out.
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This is probably my favorite piece out of the bunch. This picture on my screen does not do it justice.
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Here's the second piece, if you look closely, you can still see the fern impressions under the top layer. These two are my favorites of the bunch. There was one more with the other tjap, but I really didn't like it, so into another dye bath it went, I'll post it another time.
Then, since I did not dye the fabric that was given to me, I wanted to see if I could use discharge paste with it, to pull out color, which is a technique that I love to use.  So, I pulled out my paste and the tjaps and went to town on experimenting with it.  Here's what happened:
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dark brown discharged to creme
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dark taupe discharged to nearly white
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dark brown discharged to nearly yellow
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Speaking engagement

8/13/2012

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     I was honored to be contacted this week about a speaking engagement in September.  Jay Bevis, of the Morganton Rotary Club asked if I would be interested in coming to their once a month breakfast/meeting to present my artwork and talk about my processes in making my artwork on September 20th of this year.  Of course, I said, "Yes!"  I am looking forward to speaking to this group of community minded individuals, and talking about my passion and my process.  I hope they will enjoy the information that I have to share.
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Silk and Stone Piece

8/9/2012

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     What a wonderful day I spent with my precious friend and fellow fiber artist, Beth Bailey!  I cannot say enough great things about her, her work or her hospitality!     Beth has been working on a new series called, "Silk and Stones" which are all based on the cruciform, and have the most unbelievable symbolism woven into each and every piece!  These one of a kind earthy creations are made using hand dyed and raw silks, and are adorned with hammered metal, sea stones, raku beads and other natural elements.  As soon as I saw these new creations, I knew I had to have one!    So a while back I asked Beth if she would make one for me, as a commissioned piece, and she graciously agreed.

     Along with the cruciform shape, I love that these pieces incorporate elements of nature and batik fabrics, and perhaps the most important part for me is the fact that they are interactive.  Most of these pieces have a pocket built in that serves as a "pocket" in which to place a prayer for safe keeping.  I hurried home, and placed several deeply  meaningful and personal prayers in my piece, which is hanging sweetly in my upstairs studio/office, where it can be admired daily.

     Beth, I love it!  My words are not big enough right now, but I can tell you understand how much this means to me.  Thank you again, I will cherish it always!
If you would like to see more of Beth work,  visit bethbailey@artspan.com
or Kala Gallery in Morganton, NC.
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This piece just sings in my studio on the muted purple walls. Love it!!!
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Detail showing my symbolic raku bead, my hammered copper wire and bead, the beautiful batik and loose weave, and silk fabric, and my all important prayer pocket.
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Healing

8/5/2012

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     Finished "Healing" in time for the Open Art Competition at the Old Rock School Gallery!  Wish me luck!!
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From this batik beginning...to the art quilt below, what a wonderful experience to make! Usually I draw my trees out on paper, this time, I just used my tjanting tool and went at it. Notice the central trunk, it represents the Trinity, which is central to all healing! This is part of the symbolism I talk more about below...
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To this finished art quilt. "Healing" 22 x 27, NFS. Batik tree, thickened dyes in my three favorite colors, purple, green and brown, thermofax screening with two different screens, discharged, handmade seed pod stamp, metallic paint touches, paint stix rubbings, thread painted trees in background, stamped letters spell "healing" and scriptures all about healing on silk organza and attached with stitches, quilted background.
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"Healing" detail
  One of the thermofax screens that I used contains the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, check it out here.  I love to use symbolism in my work like this.  Many times it goes totally unnoticed, but I know it's there.  In a piece like this, which will hang in my studio once it's back from the gallery, that symbolism is very strong and meaningful to me.  In my opinion, this is one of the biggest blessings about making art work, it is an opportunity to get as personal as you would like in your creative expression.

     I entered two pieces into the competition, Healing, and you may remember, "Your Days of Sorrow Will End."
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"Your Days of Sorrow Will End" uses three small squares of commercial fabric, and three other techniques not used in "Healing." One is that the piece was Shibori dyed with the flag fold method, also a flour paste resist was applied all over, which produced the crackle appearance all over, and the dark orange scrollwork is painted fusible attached with heat to the quilt. Each art quilt that I make is unique and evolves with a mind of its own. I love the process of watching it unfold.
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Many Irons in the Fire

8/1/2012

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     I have many irons in the fire right now, which unfortunately doesn't leave a lot of time for art making; however, I am working on a new art quilt for myself and hope to be able to work on stitching it today.  I am planning to enter it into the Old Rock School Open Art Competition this week.
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    kimberly ollis

    Forty something artistic soul finding her way through life discovering new insights almost every day through the gift of "making."

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