Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question to our readers and hope you’ll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
Hello everyone,
This week I got to take a fabulous workshop with Kaffe Fassett. It was a quilt workshop all about color. My first quilt book I ever bought was Gloious Patchwork by Kaffee Fassett. He lives in London and is a very busy artist so to get to take a workshop, in my hometown none the less, was very exciting.
So if you’re thinking by now, “Jennifer this blog is suppossed to be about beads…” well here you go. The first thing out of Kaffe’s mpouth at the workshop was this. He is a painter, a needleworker, a knitter, a designer, and a quilter. They are all ways of getting his passion out. It’s color. Thta’s what most artists are about is the color. We all choose one or two or more mediums to convery those colors we have in our head. That hit home for me, because that’s exactly how I feel too. So even though I was laying out quilt blocks on Thursday, it could have just as easily been a piece of jewelry or a painting.
I work in many types of mediums but all of my work has the same colorful, folk arty, handmade feel. I am going to share with you today some of my other work as well as some of my jewelry.
A painting of my dog, Otis
Mixed media painting of flowers
Holiday Ornament
So my question for the week is what other mediums, besides beads do you work in?
Leave me an answer in the comments and you will be entered to win one of my Jangles Pendants.
Have a great day,
Jennifer
*jean*
October 31, 2009 at 12:59 pmooo so true! i search for my color fix through collage, painting, photography, jewelry and sewing…mixing it all up too!!! as many different mediums as i can fit!! i have been completely consumed with the desire to replicate in various mediums, the layered effect of photoshop…
your work is so refreshing and whimsical! i especially love your holiday ornament!! thank you for the chance to win!!
Alice
October 31, 2009 at 1:03 pmJennifer, you are such a talented artist in many areas!
In addition to making jewelry, I love to do calligraphy, pencil sketching, and decorating and gardening. I know those last two don't seem like art-but they both require an eye for color and arrangement.
mairedodd
October 31, 2009 at 1:15 pmyour work is so rich and vibrant! i work in wire, sheet metal, fiber and am edging into fabric – i feel it calling! i love your studio…
quiltingjewel39
October 31, 2009 at 1:47 pmOh wow – to take a workshop with Kaffe Fasset – how lucky!! I am a quilter as well as make jewelry and I have a couple of his books and have seen a video with him. He is so about the color = you can spot his work or his fabric a mile away. Maybe that is why I like your work so= you too are about the color. Your things make me smile.
rosebud101
October 31, 2009 at 1:54 pmI love working with wire, metals, and fibers! Mixed media here I come!
Kathy
October 31, 2009 at 2:46 pmToo fun. I too took a class from Kaffe and Liza this month and thought the same thing – but my class was Glorious Diamonds. Now I know why they told us the other class (quilt pattern) would have a tougher time taking the quilt home!
Did you find it interesting that he neither cuts nor sews his quilts? I assumed he also does not quilt them. So he plans them and then lays out the fabric ONLY.
Anyway – I quilt and did long before jewelry work. And I focused on fabric dying to start with – thus I think color does not phase me. I got into jewelry making thru crazy quilting – which how I also got back into embroidery, learned SRE and french wire work, etc. CQ work leads to many interests, sigh, and not enough time!
EmandaJ
October 31, 2009 at 2:56 pmHi Jennifer,
Like you, I'm also a quilter — an art quilter. People automatically think "bed quilts" when I say I am an art quilter, so I go on to tell them I paint with fabric and my finished pieces are wallhangings.
I have an amazing stash — a huge Ikea wall unit with 20 cubiholes stuffed with fabrics by color –which gives me a giant color wheel of fabrics in my studio.
I'd love to win one of your pendants.
EmandaJ
http://www.ArtemisiaStudio.blogspot.com
Dot--Winchell Clayworks
October 31, 2009 at 3:58 pmMy other art is decorative painting (love the painting of Otis, btw!). I haven't done much of it since I discovered ceramic beads, but I've been painting in acrylic since '97. I've also worked with soft pastels and watercolors for over 20 years–those are mediums that I don't use often but they are always close at hand and heart.
I used to be quite schizophrenic when it came to crafts, but then space and money considerations came into play and I forced myself to rein it in. Mixed media is calling to me, though….
Pearl and Pebble
October 31, 2009 at 5:25 pmOh Jennifer I LOVE OTIS! Thank you for sharing your color experiences with Kaffe Fasset! I too have his books and some of his fabrics-they are so amazing. I am so glad that I am not the only one out there who is into everything. My formal training is painting, but I love all things fabric, fibers, BEADS, clay, paper, paint….Drives my hubby crazy:) It's hard to stay focused at times because the project at hand becomes a spark for something else! Keep up the beautiful work, it makes me so happy when I look at it!!:)
Gail W.
October 31, 2009 at 6:12 pmJennifer,your Christmas ornament is lovely!Last year I made a few of your decorations,but budget is tight this year.That's why I need to win this week!
I work with stain glass,mosaics,and cloth.I keep any fabric that I think I might use,well,I keep almost everything I think I might use,you just never know when you can use 4 brass eagles,or the leather from an old sofa.
And I just love how organized your studio is.Wonderful.
Elizabeth
October 31, 2009 at 10:34 pmBesides making beads and jewelry I love to paint and write. Painting has been a passion forever. I'll draw and paint anywhere on anything that does not get me in trouble, LOL.
I like to write when I have time. Writing is the hardest of my pasttimes to keep up with in a steady way, because I need time to think. Right now my life does not allow much non-work related thinking time.
Well, happy creating everyone….
Judith
October 31, 2009 at 11:32 pmWhat medium don't I work with. As you said, it's all about color and for me, texture. I do fibers, fabric, knitting, crochet (& with beads) felting, quilting, painting, paper, mixed media, beads, wire & solder, and last, but not least, houses. I'm doing a complete renovation on a 1970's ranch house & having fun with the colors.
Jennifer
November 1, 2009 at 3:56 amOther mediums besides beads…I have worked with fabric and wood, but I am currently in love with polymer clay and wire.
sharon
November 1, 2009 at 4:22 amThe color in your work makes it soooo full of life! A few months ago I started working in collage and mixed media, and now spend equal amounts of time creating jewelry and art, and I love it! Now each medium feeds off the other!
Kiwiken
November 1, 2009 at 10:48 amI've always loved to paint, mostly digital nowadays, but sometimes watercolour or pencil. Jewelry is my first try at crafting, though. I've never been good with fabric and needle, and I admire those that have the patience to do that kind of art.
Susan Z
November 1, 2009 at 11:27 amColor–I can spend hours trying to find the right colors to match for a project I'm working on. I love to make anything that uses paper-scrapbooks, ATC's altered books, really altered anything–my favorit is altered eyeglass cases. I love to make little scenes in them–somethings for the season or holiday, sometimes just a place. (and of course I make jewelry).
Mary K. McGraw
November 1, 2009 at 2:37 pmMost anything with color and texture. I dye and screen print fabric that sometimes turn into small art quilts or just whole cloth pieces to hang and enjoy. Other interests include making handmade journals, knitting, felting, photography and mixed media.
Mikki
November 1, 2009 at 4:00 pmI was a Kaffe Fasset fan back in the days when he was doing knitting books and own "Glorious Knits". I walked into a cute store in N. Ca one time wearing one of his designs I'd adapted and done in my own colors using raw silk….turns out it was his sister's store, she sold his kits and immediately came over to talk to me. She liked the colorway I did, thankfully. I left knitting and took up quilting…then so did he….now I'm beading, I wonder if there's going to be a "Glorious Beads" in the future? Not that he's following me or anything…lol! I'm just hoping.
Islandgirl
November 1, 2009 at 11:42 pmI started as a knitter as a kid .. moved into weaving early university days… back to knitting and spinning then onto flat glasss… then fusing then forging metal ( as in iron) then into silver smithing then beads (flameworking '94) then beads and jewellery and now back to knitting but I'm felting most of what I knit now… I've also done some folk art needle felted pieces… and yes I've done a couple of the Kaffe Fasset block sweaters I also did a quilt in that pattern… I love those 3-d blocks!
My main focus these years is beads into finished jewellery….
Jennifer Jangles
November 2, 2009 at 1:06 pmKathy,
I did know that Kaffe doesn't sew his quilts. He was kind of talked into the textile designing by Liza. She would sew up quilt blocks taken from his sweater designs. Finally she talked him into designing.
Did you get to sew your quilt in class? Mine is still wrapped up in the design board. I need to start sewing.
I love dyeing fabric too! Just did some the other day, velveteens oh they turned out so pretty.
Thanks for commenting,
Jennifer
Jennifer Jangles
November 2, 2009 at 1:07 pmJudith,
Sounds like fun. Is it your house or someone else's house?
Jennifer
Jennifer Jangles
November 2, 2009 at 1:08 pmSharon,
I agree the beads and mixed media do feed off of each other. I find myself doing a lot of both too.
Jennifer
Jennifer Jangles
November 2, 2009 at 1:10 pmWow! There are a lot of crafty people out there. I love, love, loved hearing about all your interests. I would like to have a big crafty play date with all of you. How much fun would that be?
Jennifer
TesoriTrovati
November 2, 2009 at 3:03 pmI seem to be excelling at school projects of late! We made bricks out of clay and straw.. now I am concocting a Native American diorama with daughter and making Indian-inspired jewelry (for extra credit of course). I am hoping to take an oil painting class this month, and I am so inspired by your use of color and the mixed media and folk art paintings you and Kerry Bogert do. I might like to try my hand at that. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy the day! Erin
DeAnna Brandt
November 2, 2009 at 3:52 pmAmazing, spacious studio you have!
In addition to making and teaching fiber and artclay beads I make:
art furniture and mosaics. I create with stones, do felting, art quilting, leather tooling, wood burning, wood carving, knitting, crocheting, fabric dying, spinning…pretty much any medium except painting or pottery. I'm also a published author of 2 kids nature books and am a foodie.
None of the above beats being a mommy!
Connie
November 3, 2009 at 4:29 pmWonderful work! But I particularly love Otis!
Connie
Bead-Mused
November 3, 2009 at 9:21 pmI knit, I stitch, I paint, I love mixed media — it just depends on my mood and the amount of time I have. But my first love will always be seed beads!
Valerie C.
November 4, 2009 at 3:08 amBesides makeing jewelry I love to sew and do needle point and also I love to do tatting. I am trying at this time to incorperate my tatting into my jewelry. I am writing a book and I will be haveing an example of tatting in a peice of jewelry. It looks great.
Sarah
November 4, 2009 at 11:07 amLet's see, in the past week I've made polymer clay sculptures, hand sewn a few scrunchies, worked on a seed bead cuff, done some bottlecap magnets, started some Christmas cards, decoupaged spoons, did some creative writing, and probably other things I forgot. So I guess in my case, we have paper crafts, jewelry, polymer clay, sewing, writing, and that's probably not everything.
I really need to learn to pick one or two and go with them! 🙂
Amanda
November 6, 2009 at 12:04 amAside from jewelry, I sketch, paint (I love watercolors, though my technical mastery of them is virtually nonexistent, despite being taught about them in class), take and edit photographs, sew small crafts (usually stuffed creatures), crochet (with very little proficiency), and make small wire sculptures which I usually give to family as decorative gifts.
loralai
December 27, 2009 at 7:22 pmI use jewelry in my mixed media collage paintings. Makes nice jeweled leaves or flower decos. I can work in charms very easily. Also recycled items: aluminum foil and old clothes, buttons and magazine pages.