Studio time...

Studio time...
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl

Finally... and it feels so nice.

from my Spark People Reflections for the day...

"A man who wants something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse."

- Stephen Dolley Jr.

Do you see possibilities or problems?

It's been said that some of the smartest people around would make lousy entrepreneurs. How can that be? The fact is, some people are so smart they can easily see all of the problems, roadblocks, and snafus that they'll need to overcome to succeed. They can think of all kinds of reasons why their idea won't work. This knowledge can overwhelm any thoughts of possibilities or dreams. When you think of your goals, do you focus on the positives of making it happen, or the negatives of potential barriers? To reach your goals, you gotta really want them. More importantly, you gotta really believe that you can do it. Think more about why you CAN make it happen instead of why you can't. No more excuses.

Get On

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." ~ George Bernard Shaw, playwright

morsbags sociable guerilla bagging

morsbags sociable guerilla bagging
"let’s do something positive to reduce the hideous number of plastic bags being used - 1 million are consumed per minute globally - of which hundreds of thousands end up in the oceans.

the idea is to get together with people in your local community, drink wine and make reusable cloth bags (from old duvet covers, curtains from charity shops etc) and hand them out to the unsuspecting public for free on specified dates outside different supermarkets.

meet new people, do something marvelous for the planet and beat other pods (groups) of baggers with your morsbag tally."

Combing

New Louet Dutch Combs
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I'll be offering these wonderful soft and lofty rovings at the SLV Folk Arts and Fiber Festival.

I'm loving the combs. Combing, Spinning, and Weaving are my three favorite fiber arts...

I'll have to buy a fleece just to make a project from start to finish...but then I'll never sell it... it would have too much of me in it.

Combing How to:
How to Prepare Fiber With Dutch Combs
There's detailed information as well as videos!

36 hr days

"Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness." ~Jean de la Bruyere, 17th century French essayist

Focus. Do things you love. Do things you'll care enough to remember. Don't wait for something else to happen. Live now.

Fiber Fest Fun

Fiber Fest Fun
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Getting Ready

"We're always getting ready to live, but never living." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's been a while...

it was a fun project
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

since I restructured any old clothing. This was a gypsy like skirt. The waistband was at the top of the burgundy area. I cut a portion of the skirt from the back and used the largest black piece to make the top of the dress as well the little straps. I took the hanger rings from the inside of the skirt to make the ties at the top of the straps. We tied her hair back with a piece of left over fabric. I was really happy with how this little dress turned out...and she loved it enough that we had to wash it so that she could wear it again the next day.

International Freeform Artist: Laura Murphy

International Freeform Artist: Laura Murphy Go check out her newest freeform work displayed with the 2007 International Freeform Show EARTH AIR FIRE WATER!!

Poppy Fields

Poppy Fields
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

The newest yarn... I am in love... it's hanging by the wood stove to dry, and I can't pass it without touching it.

It so satisfying to my spring fever to see these colors together. I'm off to spoil myself today. Getting a massage at the local community college. They do a great job...

Virtue

"Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell."~G. K. Chesterton, "Tremendous Trifles"

Daffodils

Daffodils
Originally uploaded by SimmyB.

This is an irrisistible image... I love natural dyes, though the flowers would be hard for me to use if only because I'd want to enjoy them on the stem for that much longer.

Dyeing with daffodils "How To"
Echoes of a Dream: Daffodillies..............

Current Items for sale on Etsy

This is my fix.

100_0378
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

This is a super soft blend of merino, corriedale, and shiny handpainted tussah silk.

I loved making these coils.

I'd been on about a week and a half of no spinning.

My fiber addiction: fed.

Divided

Before plying
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Today I feel like I'm being torn into so many pieces...down so many paths...

Every few minutes I have to close my eyes and just breathe.

Time is filled with a way to make enough money to live and provide...but I don't want to be so full and busy. I don't want to rush around and wonder where my days went. I want to be still and quiet. I want to sit with my feet treadling a spinning wheel...for making yarn or throwing pots.

I want calm though on fire... so different than busy.

It's good though, I'm on the verge of a weekend that will probably have some rain and some sunshine literally and figuratively.

Tomorrow I'll do a spinning demonstration. As per my usual unpredictable moods...all of the sudden, I don't want to show anybody what I'm doing. I want to hide in the corner and covet the little coily strands.

Alamosa Art Walk

Alamosa Art Walk

A full day of fun. I'll be doing a demo at 1pm on Creative Plying Techniques...

Paper Clay

Paper Clay excellent blog...

Intrigued...

Folk Arts and Fibers

Folk Arts and Fibers: "SLV Folk Art and Fiber Festival

The first annual SLV Folk Art and Fiber Festival will be held July 13-15th in Monte Vista, CO in Marsh Park.

We are actively recruiting artists in the following media to set up booths, provide demos and workshops: Wood,clay,metal and fibers-to include fabric, plant, animal fibers, paper, bead work, and glass. Participants are not limited to neither the San Luis Valley nor Colorado--all are welcome!
"

Cupid's Arrow Coils

Cupid's Arrow Coils
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

eBay: Cupid's Arrow Handspun Chunky Coil Yarn 5 cent shipping (item 170088165674 end time Mar-15-07 12:15:54 PDT)

Wildethyme Art : CafePress.com

Wildethyme Art : CafePress.com

Excellent gifts for the Yarn/Fiber Addict in your life!!

Love

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” - Marcus Aurelius

Simply Spinful

The new Unnamed Little Gem II
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I'm thrilled to get my new Majacraft Little Gem II this week. I've been spinning almost non-stop since she arrived on Friday. I'll have to list more on Etsy this week... maybe tonight...

Valley of the Morning Sun - Handpainted Tussah Silk

Valley of the Morning Sun - Handpainted Tussah Silk
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

One of several Silk rovings I've listed on Etsy this week...

85/15 wool mohair... handpainted, and gently fluffed/drafted slightly

85/15 wool mohair... handpainted, and gently fluffed/drafted slightly
Originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

New rovings to be listed on my Etsy shop tonight...

Polyartgirl Designs Shop at Etsy

Gift Certificates from The Woolery

Gift Certificates from The Woolery

This is a great gift for ANY spinner in your life... (especially me.)

I'm ordering stuff from here today. I could easily spend my paycheck here. I better get to dying rovings...

Autum Spinning

Autum,
originally uploaded by jordanswoodnymph.

This is my niece Autum working on her third bobbin of yarn. She's loving using my "little spinning wheel." At this point she was still just treadling commercial yarn (with a little added angelina) through the orifice, but soon after this she used her first roving to make a couple yards of beautiful thick yarn.

January 7th: St. Distaff's Day

January 7th: "ST. DISTAFF'S DAY

As the first free day after the twelve by which Christmas was formerly celebrated, the 7th of January was a notable one among our ancestors. They jocularly called it St. Distaff's Dag, or Rock Dag, because by women the rock or distaff was then resumed, or proposed to be so. The duty seems to have been considered a dubious one, and when it was complied with, the ploughmen, who on their part scarcely felt called upon on this day to resume work, made it their sport to set the flax a-burning; in requital of which prank, the maids soused the men from the water-pails. Herrick gives its the popular ritual of the day in some of his cheerful stanzas:

St. Distaff's Day; Or, the Morrow after Twelfth-day

Partly work and partly play
You must on St. Distaffs Day:
From the plough soon free your team;
Then cane home and fother them:
If the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give St. Distaff' all the right:
Then bid Christmas sport good night,
And next morrow every one
To his own vocation.'"

spun from Potluck Rovings from Sunflower in Taos

spun from Potluck Rovings from Sunflower in Taos,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

This yarn came out quite lovely... I didn't want to change the colorway at all so I spun it up with just a little sparkle and plied it back onto itself.

Toward the end of our little hike

Toward the end of our little hike,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Happy New Year!!

The Anything Goes Show at The Yarn Museum

I'm now showing in the Anything Goes show at the new online Yarn Museum: Gallery/The Anything Goes Show at The Yarn Museum/Honoring the artistry and beauty of handspun yarn!

Yay!

Website update

I've been working on my personal site again. I finally got the images to connect and work. Check it out and let me know what you think: Polyartgirl Designs

SLV Church of Craft

slvchurchofcraft : SLV Church of Craft


Flickr: SLV Church of Craft



We've finally started our local chapter of the Church of Craft. More gatherings to make stuff... I love that.

After second carding... Wool/Soysilk blend

After second carding... Wool/Soysilk blend,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Love the way this batt came off the carder... softly blended with strong distinct colors... soysilk soft accents...

Handspun Cormo

Handspun Cormo Detail,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I bought this lovely fiber from at the Pagosa Fiber Festival this year. The same dealer was at the Taos Wool fest, but they didn't have any spinning fiber this time.

The Cormo seemed to make me spin finer yarn. It wanted to spin fine and somewhat tight. The plying softened the spin and made a softly balanced yarn... I'll block it tomorrow and maybe do a nice dye on it...

Mohair and flicker... lovely colors

Mohair and flicker... lovely colors,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

The Taos Wool Fest was fantastic. I only spent a few hours Sturday morning, but that didn't stop me from finding lots of fun spinables and gifts.

This mohair cloud called my name until I want back to buy it. I found some shetland in white and grey as well as lots of corriedale. It'll be fun to see what these become...

Crocheted fingerless gloves

Pablo's got new gloves,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

A simple pattern that used almost exactly the amount of yarn that I had... 3 ounces of red and grey plied handspun.

Hironao Hamada - The Last Papermaker

Hironao Hamada,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

The workshop was wonderfully informative. They were fun to watch and learn from. I hope to see them again in the future and find out that there is more interest in, and more people working in the Tengucho-style.

the company of prophets

"There is no virtue in being uncritical; nor is it a habit to which the young are given. But criticism is only the burying beetle that gets rid of what is dead, and, since the world lives by creative and constructive forces, and not by negation and destruction, it is better to grow up in the company of prophets than of critics."
-Richard Livingstone

Weekend Handspun

Weekend Handspun,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Spinning weekend in Tin Cup... Three large skeins. The stripped one is wool plied with soysilk. The other two are koolaid dyed handspun and plied wool. I'm in love with them...

Purple blend roving and green...

purple blend roving and green...,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Beautiful together...

Beaded and plied

HPIM4479,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Bamboo, dyed wool, glass beads and cotton thread...

about 50/50 Bamboo and Wool... the tiny purple sparkels is Angelina

about 50/50 Bamboo and Wool... the tiny purple sparkels is Angelina,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

My second batt. I'll spin this up on Saturday or Sunday... up in Crestone. It's beautiful. The batt is aproximately 3 oz

1/2 oz pencil roving, Wool Batt

1/2 oz pencil roving, Wool Batt,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I've been working hard to clean my little carder. It's wonderful. I pulled my first batt off it last night. I drafted it into pencil roving. I'm thinking that this is the perfect roving to try kool-aid dying because it has dirty wool from the carder on it.

I'll post pictures as it progresses...

50% Dyed Wool, 50% Bamboo

50% Dyed Wool, 50% Bamboo,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Another single that I spun up on Saturday. Very soft and the bamboo sparkles in the sunlight. I'm feeling more secure and happy spinning. It's addictive.

PageBoost

PageBoost

It's Summer

and I've stepped away for a moment from the blogging and the internetting. I don't seem to miss the computer or the endless hours staring at a screen. I've been making knitting needles this weekend, I'll post pictures soon. It's a quiet beautiful day in our valley. I'm listening to dreams and shaking my head. A series of photos is dancing behind my eyes, maybe by the end of summer we'll be ready to take them. A new painting is forthcoming, if we could just make the paper to painting it on... and then it's not just paint on paper... it's a scluptural multi-media representation of me in my head...wonder how it'll come out.

More soon...

Knitted dishcloth

Knitted dishcloth,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

There's nothing like taking things to the extreme. I love using these giant knitting needles. They're so soft and create such a beautiful loose pattern....

Knitted scarf Detail

Knitted scarf Detail,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Knitting on giant needles with a fuzzy yarn.

Tunisian Dishcloth

Tunisian Dishcloth,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Simple tunisian square with a ruffled edge. I love these colors together.

Handwoven Shawl

Handwoven Shawl,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Here's the shawl that I was working on for so long. I'll have more images soon.

Alchemy Yarns of Transformation

Gorgeous Yarn!

Alchemy Yarns of Transformation

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Crochetville Forum - powered by vBulletin

Crochetville Forum - powered by vBulletin

Beginner's Scarf

HPIM3723,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

This is the pattern I wrote for my beginning Crochet Class.

This scarf uses: Chain Stitch, Single Crochet, Double Crochet, changes in yarn color, crocheting from the front or back of a stitch, and Fringe treatments. In the class, I teach basic pattern reading as well.

Classes in Crochet

I'm starting to teach classes in Crochet. My first class is this Saturday at 1pm.

Here's a link to The Brochure (explaining the class content

And a link to the Calender showing dates and times! (Subject to change since I'm posting April through August...

Let me know if you have a conflict or if you'd like to see something added, and we'll see what I can manage!

Tapestry in the making

Tapestry in the making,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I'm using the yarns I dyed to create my first tapestry. I love the simplicity of tapestry weaving... making the loom from easy to find materials and dying the yarns.

Word Cloud

tshirt2,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

using words from my website to create a t-shirt at: SnapShirts

Welcome!

I'm finally integrating my blog and art journal with my Website. You can reach all of the same links as before by clicking on "Polyartgirl's Website" on the right. I'm still tweeking the images, but I'll get there.

Closest green with copper beads: Verdiglow

Closest green with copper beads,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Finally a finished version of the green handspun yarn. It's lovely. It's plyed with glazed cotton thread and copper colored glass beads.

Color decisions

HPIM3661,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

My first batch of fiber reactive dies...

Wool...

All but the two browns are overdyed. The browish red on the right was overdyed with a little navy added. Originally it'd been neon orange.

I'm thrilled with the results.

Progress...

Progress...,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

It's coming along... The line of red is about 3 and a half inches from being half way done with the entire weaving.

I keep telling myself that the second half will go a lot faster. With about 14 hours into it so far, it better...

Where I've Been

*working on my weaving project:

on the loom:


up close:


I've unwoven more than I've woven... I have at least 9 hours in this shawl so far... and I'm only 22" into the 90" long piece... but I finally love it :) It'll be a lattice with grapevines winding up... and... the images show the back of the pattern... somehow I'm weaving it upsidedown.

*and spinning yarn:



*Preparing to teach crochet classes at our little local coffee/yarn/art shop. I think it'll be so much fun. I'm also going to teach coptic bookbinding at Laura's shop...we just have to set it up.

Fiber Passions... Crochet hat

This is the first hat I've ever made. It's from a pattern I found online...(the pattern can be found at: Braided Knot ) Mine came out a little different in that I didn't measure and make the braid quite long enough. I rarely use patterns of any kind, so this was an experiment.

I'm loving crochet more than ever.

Spinning for kicks

HPIM3506,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I'm finally getting the hang of it... I taught myself by feel and by books. My fibers instructor offered to show me, but I'm too impatient. I want to know now... I want to experience it now. So, I feel it... and now I'm coming up with something that feels like yarn. I'll take more photos soon...

All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the morning to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they dream their dreams with open eyes, and make them come true. T.E. Lawrence

scrumble

newest painting...

Though I'm not updating, I am working. Yesterday made books and helped Laura with her bookmaking/bookbinding class as well. I'll upload pictures tonight.

I've stepped away from this blog and away from my artwork. As crazy as it makes me, it's also helping. I'm feeling inspired. I'm having visions of paintings/collage work. I'm reaching my limit of not working. I thought I'd be in ceramics again by now, thought I'd be throwing, playing in the mud, making stuff.

This summer was too much for me...just the fact that new things kept popping up. No room for creativity...

sketching now...playing a bit in the mud...and in my mind

Bookmaking

HPIM1839,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

Our bookmaking class this past Saturday was a complete success!

I really love the books that we made...I'm hooked!

Mine is the front blue/green one, and the open star book right behind it...now to buy more supplies!!

Springtime came fast

HPIM1817,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I just love the way the blossoms looked this year. They're bright and full. The trees buzz with bees...

Images from our show

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called THE ART THING. Make you own badge here.

"Rise" by Crystal Mascarenas (me)

"Rise" by Crystal Mascarenas (me),
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

This is the mask I finished for the ART THING's most recent show at Muddpuppie's. I dreaded seeing it painted, but I'm really pretty happy with how it turned out.

Time again for soap!

My favorite soap,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

I've started making soap again. Between these last three days I've made: Pachouli Clove, Lavender mint, Orange chocolate chunk, Chocolate Mint, Milk and Honey, Lime and salt (in the bath bar), and a few sore muscles massage bars...what's next?!

sweet old salve

sweet old salve,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

This is something I've been meaning to make since xmas. Lavender salve! It's beautiful and smells divine...

Sweet little two ounce bottles of good sleep and soft skin!!

This is a grouping of all the work we pulled out

This is a grouping of all the work we pulled out,
originally uploaded by polyartgirl.

A picture perfect salt firing...

glazed pottery and lots of other pictures here