Weekly Slow Stitch Projects with k3n - halfway!

Back in December 2023, I decided to subscribe to k3n clothtales on youtube. She is a prolific, generous and inspiring artist, specializing is slow stitch. She announced that she would be posting every Monday a smallish hand-stitched project. She suggested that we create a stitch journal with 52 pages - one for each week.

For my stitch journal, I pulled out some old jeans I had thrifted and created a book cover. I bound the 52 pages to it. I chose to machine stitch the cover after remembering that it is not fun to hand-stitch jeans denim. In my supplies, I had an eco-dyed piece of wool already cut in the primitive shape of a bird. I hand-stitched that to the cover. The cording was created using k3n's method of twisting strips of fabric.

On Monday Jan 1, k3n posted the first little project. Each week has a theme. Since we are now halfway through 2024, I thought I might go ahead and post each of my tiny pieces with the theme for that week. My pieces tend to be about 5" x 5.5" in order to fit into my book. One of my first lessons was how fun it is to stitch a finished piece to a piece of paper in my stitch journal!

week 1 - community

week 2 - light and dark

week 3 - diversity

week 4 - choices

week 5 - hidden stories

week 6 - listen to the cloth

week 7 - held together by threads of love

week 8 - both sides now

week 9 - palindrone poems

week 10 - the thing with feathers

week 11 - respecting traditions

week 12 - if you love something...

see also week 25

week 13 - friendship

week 14 - layers

week 15 - solar eclipse

week 16 - home

week 17 - back story - secret instructions to stitch and piece and sew it in backwards.

week 18 - pockets

week 19 - kintsugi inspired

week 20 - limits

week 21 - boro inspired

week 22 - comfort cloth

week 23 & 24: still crazy

k3n spread this over 2 weeks due to the complexity

week 25 - the *big* reveal after burying the companion piece from week 12

Mine did not show much deterioration so I re-buried it. 

We are in a drought so I need to leave it a while. 

It is not as protected as my first round.

week 26 - why nature loves a hexagon

k3n also posts other videos on Wednesdays and Fridays. I do not know how she does it. I cannot keep up with the other little projects, so I'm just going with the Monday projects for my growing stitch journal.

More Eco-Printing

 I am addicted.

I could not resist trying these eucalyptus leaves, leftovers from arrangements at church on Sunday.

I've learned that dogwood leaves from my yard are predictably good prints.

Here is the first layer of leaves, a combination placed on a length of cotton canvas that I've used previously.

Next is the layer of blank watercolor paper.

Here's my second layer of leaves. There will be a different set of prints on both sides of the paper. It is sturdy enough to resist bleed through from the leaves. I had trouble identifying the *right* and *wrong* sides of the eucalyptus, so I just ignored that aspect of the process. Note that this new layer of leaves means that the paper is in contact on both sides of the paper.

After one more layer of cloth (cotton muslin that has been used in previous prints), it is rolled tightly around a dowel and secured with cotton twill tape.

Then it's squeezed into the pot for some time simmering. 

It cannot be submerged completely in this pot so I'm on the look-out for a larger pot from the thrift shop.

The next day, I enjoyed the big reveal - some pretty prints on the cotton canvas.

After the paper has dried completely, it is fun to see the difference in the dogwood leaves and the eucalyptus leaves.

And here is the other side of those watercolor papers. I am enchanted - bookbinding is next!

Shakerag 2023 - Soft Books with Lotta Helleberg

Fabric-covered book with added hand-stitch

This is the 3rd year I've been able to attend a week-long workshop (Shakerag Workshops) in Suwanee TN. Oh, my goodness. I love this place. Surrounded by all those creatives, some who return year after year, so I get to catch up with them. This year was no exception. I had a blast.

This time I took a class taught by fiber artist, Lotta Helleberg. I had not met her before but had been following her for several years. Her work focuses on botanical prints for wall art, as well as art books. We learned to bind *soft* books with our botanical prints on paper and fabric.

Though I've had some limited success with botanical contact prints in the past, I was so looking forward to learning her approach. And I had basically no experience with book binding.

It felt a bit fast and furious while I was in class, but I came away with so much to practice at home. I love that.

We learned 4 different soft bookbinding techniques. I kept getting confused. But now that I'm home, that is all good. I have been practicing. I *may* have it in my head (now).

At the beginning of the workshop, we students walked around the St Andrews campus with Lotta. We collected leaves to try printing. I love Lotta's experiential approach to this. She inspired some fearlessness. Today I did the same thing in my own yard. My results are cooling as I type. Maybe I'll have something to show before I post this. Fingers crossed. 

The above example is called Dos-a-dos, based on the two bindings, I suppose. It is really two books with one common back. It contains blank paper - writing paper for one side, and watercolor paper for the other half. It's all set to take on vacation.

The one above is a Japanese stab-stitch binding and contains a mix of printed paper and printed fabrics. The fabric on the right is silk. The paper on the left is printed via a dip in logwood ink.

I wish I could remember the names of the plants we used to print leaves. Maybe I should work harder to remember them. Perhaps I should start in my own yard!

This one almost glowed. Maybe it was smokebush?

Cover for the Dos-a-dos book.

I was able to print on my old piano sheet music from the 60's. I've tried using it in other paper crafts and it crumbled. So I'm pretty pleased to see this. Interestingly, the black ink from the music, printed in bright blue on adjacent pieces.

Silk prints beautifully.

I was pretty excited when I finished this *tiny* book at home. It has a woven binding and contains water color pages. So it will be modified over time.

Some classes are fun at the time but I never know how/if they influenced my creative practice. I feel sure this one will continue to entertain me, as it combines paper, fabric, and even watercolor.