Wyncia

Shards of Japanese pottery from Kauai: wire wrapped pendants

Here's the collection completed this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With aventurine and handmade fiber beads. About 2" square. Sold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 With copper wire and hanging brass bird charm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 With seed beads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 With hanging silver spiral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Made in Japan with glass bead tail. (Sold)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are available at the Muse Gallery in Longmont, CO. Please email me at wynclute@gmail.com for more info.

Braggadocio, I can't help myself!

Hurray! Bwyneth Fiber Arts new product is Love Notes. these are palm sized hearts of felted wool sweaters, each with an embellished slot for love notes of little gifts. Thank you Beth for a lovable design! They made it on the website of Baby Doe's shop.  Take a look!

Tiger Emerging

Born in the Year of the Rabbit, and what emerges from my paper but the predator...

there is the forever tension: the yin and the yang, the dinner and the diner.

How shall I, Rabbit, love thee, my ferosious devouring one? I am in awe of your grandeur, beauty, and huge compelling jaws.Prehaps the paint will carry my praise.

 

Living on What You Love To Do

This is so encouraging! "I'm Making A Living From My Hobbies" by Frank Hyman in the Sunday NYTimes. Frank lists arts, writing,gardening, and politics as the avocations that have sustained him for the last 18 years. And he says you have to try lots of different things to know what you like! Yes! And have an adequate budget for classes and books every year! Yes! And travel widely! Great! And have a wide tolerance for mistakes. I can do that.

So all I have to do is figure out the "making a living" bit! These days I am continuing with assorted fiber arts: knit, sew, layer fiber and paper; playing at encaustic wax multi-media pieces; learning to draw; starting a business with a friend using lots of recycled fibers to make wraps, mittens, oven mitts and pillows (Bwyneth Fiber Arts); and co-owning a co-operative shop and healing arts shop (Uniquely Natural in Lafayette, Colorado.) Wow!

So I am making a great life of avocations I love, even if it doesn't quite add up to a living!

  

   Bwyneth Mittens                                            Wyncia's Finger Free Gloves

Friday night out!!!

Well, I am continuing to work on UN, at UN, and for UN...including a new newsletter which you can see here. 

Top sellers of mine this season has been knitted fingerfree gloves. I  leave the palm completely open, so I can pull my thumb out and wash my hands!

My beloved Art Bags, made with layered fabric and papers, have not sold as quickly as I hoped. I have priced these higher than my average about $35 - 40 given that the fabric is created by hand.

 

 Each of these bags has a story poem with it. The one on the right is "Colors of the lake at dusk unlock the secret of sacred being." The blue pinks of the fabric are the shades reflected in a lake as the sun sets. On the front hangs a key and a scarab, sacred being. Too much for a simple bag?

A couple of other art bags...

I have gotten a few more of the mixed media art bags into the co-op (Uniquely Natural in Lafayette, CO), but I have not been getting images before deploying them to the retail front. I tried a couple of photos last week for Sue Lion's home show where these bags will appear, no longer a UN exclusive! Take a look:

 
This one is made from hand dyed old lace, AAA map, upholstery fabric, lined with gold accented teal and burgundy chrysanthemum print cotton, and embellished with a vintage lace rose and cut glass topaz beads.

On this one the map show more clearly. It is dyed and treated with tinted medium. Silk fibers act as an overlay. The lining and tassels are striped Southwestern fabric. 

The tags are Japanese paper, hand written, and waxed! I like the layered made fabic. Every one is a uniquel creation.

I went to art classes and all I got was an artistic TEMPERment

Oh boy! Last night my healing arts and retail co-op is meeting, peace, love, and granola all around. I am sitting in the circle, stuffing my face with nuts and cookies from my lunch box, periodically dropping my agenda, my pen, and my paper plate which I brought home to re-use, of course!

The meeting drifts slightly off topic, and I lose it. "Can we stick to the agenda. I sent it out yesterday for additions and this topic was not added. I hate to be an a**hole," I actually jumped out of my seat,"but...blah, blah, blah" Oops!

Here we are having meditated on the glories of healing in the community and I am screaming at my co co-op members. I want to sink right through the floor and disappear, except the co-op is in a building that used to be a car wash, so there is only concrete to sink into and the old drains are all blocked, so I stayed right there in the formerly peaceful circle.

I think I am doomed, the circle is breached, and my true colors winning me the ticket to the street.

Instead, my marvelous healing spirited friends, Qigong, Reiki and the like, applaud my release of chi. Who knew? Like a volcano, my lava dome got unplugged and my energy flowed with explosive force. And it is good!?!

Still I can't help but think like a tacky t-shirt text writer, "I went to art classes, and all I got was an artistic TEMPERment."

 

Encaustic Painting a Delight that will take Practice

It has been a long time since I have written here.  Between the newsletter for the healing, art, and locally made gift co-op that I co-own, Uniquely Natural, and the preparation for our move to a new space opening April 1st...Well, I have hardly had time to breath!

Yesterday, I took off and went to a wonderful class on encaustic painting.  This is an ancient technique of using wax and resin to carry pigment that is melted on to your surface.  I am as amateur as can be, but it was so much fun making these practice boards that I am going to share the images.  Keep going till you see artist Susan Crouse-Kemp's lovely work.

My class boards:

The texture is great, but is hard to see in the snap shot.

The milkiness is from too much un-pigmented wax, I think.  The reflection is the snap shot. The wax can be polished to a nice sheen now that it is hardened.

 

More trouble with cloudiness but I am getting some layers and image transfers.

Ta Da!

Here is what Susan Crouse-Kemp can do with the technique.  I love it!

Here's what I can do with latex paint(at the new Uniquely Natural at 409 South public Road in Lafayette, Colorado):

 

Hope to be back soon!  Namaste, Wyncia

Silk Hanging Honoring the Elements

Earth, Air, Fire, Water...the primary elements of living and being as we know it. 

The Earth - rock, soil, that which is under our feet - grounding.

The Air - breathe, wind, mystical ether of spirit - soaring.

The Fire - flame, heat, passion, destruction - cleansing.

The Water - life-giving, flow, ocean, lake - quenching.

Earth and water - mud and Golem.  Fire and air - consuming sensual passion and stardust. Fire and air - steam and force. Earth, air, fire, and water - Home.

Here is a banner with the Kanji symbols for water (blue), earth (sienna), air (purple, and fire (orange).  The backing material is handmade silk paper.  The symbols are waxed silk fabric. The hanger is beetle chewed pine. 

Earth
 

Air

 

Fire

Water

Namaste, fellow Earthings.

Studio Views: I spy something...

I started the new year by cleaning my studio.  I lugged out tons of paper to recycle, assorted clutter, even some fabric destined not to be used by me.  Now I have taken a few pictures of the room, to discover it is cluttered still.  What I see is all sorts of beloved inspirations and reminders of where my heart lies!

 

I spy a 60 year old Adirondack pack basket from my grandparent's Little Moose Lake summer home.  And beloved Larry as a boy. And plastic St. Francis for the love of critters and plastic St. Andrew for help in locating lost things.  An bowl from a Native American artist. A casting of a frieze of an ancient Celtic snake goddess (thanks Ann).  I spy Mexican folk art cross. a picture of my father as an infant, some art by Maggie, a fancy fly tied by Gardner, and a colorful goblet from Rachel owner of Arkay Workshop in San Fransisco. 

I spy an antique bag from the sleeve of a Greek dancer's outfit.  A picture of an old man in a curio shop that was a wedding gift to my mother and father. A jolly farmer doll head. A framed card of gratitude from Jenn. I can find Cardboard Man from doll pattern making class and a miniature bendy manikin dressed in a holiday ornament sweater with wool roving hair.

Here's Maggie in at a Maui waterfall on Mother's Day, appliqued and quilted. There is a picture of her under a red umbrella at the Adirondack summer home of her great grandparents along with postcards from her when she was in Bali.  Remember the little fox I knitted?  Maggie and I used to read the book Little Fox Goes to the End of the World.  And she did!

Looking out the inside window, I spy the Gypsy chandelier and the paper mobile. On the window frame I spy Maggie and me, a tongue of fire from a Kilauea postcard, a bit of free quilting sampler.  I spy vintage sewing needle cases, a dragon doll from an exchange last year.  I spy miniature prayer flags, a mess of colored threads, and hear a million whispered blessings.

I spy a scrap of an ink blot image (definitively a butterfly). I spy a print of critters of the Northwest in pairs and a couple wrapped in a marriage blanket which I bought in Seattle and which rode east across the US taped to the ceiling of the car in 1977.  I spy a card with a love note from Larry.  I spy half a postcard of the lake in the Adirondacks where my grandparents had their summer house and where I lived year round from '77 for about six years.  I see memories and paths that divided;  unimagined ways traveled into memories.

I spy a shelf of fabrics, so many creations to be born. I see a an Indigo wrap and quilted bags.  I see green cats and butterfly bears.  I see a melon colored dog bed, a window quilt from my sky light, and a summer dress for baby Mya...all imagination, all tints of dreams, a wealth of possibilities.

I feel gratitude.

Namaste.

Little Black Foxes: Knitted

These little foxes are knitted  

to resemble the black colored red foxes who wander through our bit of woods every so often!  Here is the real one.

The resemblance is a bit sketchy, use your imagination and be kind.  The pattern and execution needs a little work!

Here is a picture from a wonderful old book of wild life in America showing the various coloration of the red foxes.

 

In the wild environs of my studio, Little Fox and Momma play.

Love is presence.

Namaste and happy days.

  

ETSY 2010

No promises, but ETSY shop is open again and I hope to keep it that way!

I put the Lend a Hand bags on.  These benefit the Boulder County Emergency Family Assistance and are free shipping!

Here's striped silk

 

Here's contemporary Japanese designer cotton print

 

Fun, practical, and good for the community!  What could be better?

Namaste, Wyncia

Winter Mice: Knitted

These little guys are so much fun to knit, stuff, and to give.  They fit right in the palm of your hand!  In the background iyou can see the skirt of an ancestor doll, a bee's wax candle, an Earth marble, and the blue foot of a fairy!

 

To give a friend a wee mouse, I hold it gently in my closed hand and pass it to their open one.  And unlike Charlie's mouse, these can be petted as much as one likes.

Namaste,  Wyncia

Paper Cranes Carry Soltice Wishes

One of my family's favorite Winter Solstice traditions is to write our wishes, prayers, and truest intentions on bits of paper that we then hang from a fir tree outside.  The wishes are what we want the returning sun to bring into our lives.  Hanging the wishes outside in a tree allows the wind to carry the wishes into the world.  We find that the wishes come to pass, though it may take several turnings of the year, and a bit of attention to the outcome on all our parts.

The origami paper crane is a traditional symbol for good luck and peace.  This year at our Solstice gathering we had folded cranes to carry our blessings and wishes into the world.

Red crane flies...

 

Placing  a crane high among a flock of wishes

Flying off into the blue skies

Watching wishes fly

 

Deep in the tree that holds our blessings

 

Giving voice to hopes in the winter woods

The butterfly carries blessings and wishes for those who were present in our hearts, if not in out company, this Winter Solstice.

Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again, dear beloveds.

Namaste, Wyncia

Solstice Celebration: No Time for Fiber Arts

Fa la la la!  We are quick approaching my big winter gathering - Winter Solstice Family Feast.  At our house we are celebrating on Saturday.  Sure it is a few days early; the actual solstice falls midday Monday.  But what the hey.  It sure is cold and dark enough already!

This is the darkest time of the year in the north.  Short days, cooling temps, leafless trees tend to make us feel a little weary.

But don't worry about me and family.  We will be feasting and bulking up to get through the frigid winter nights.  How about these really crispy bacon maple chocolate chip cookies! (Thanks to Heather at Uniquely Natural for telling about them)  I confess I fell for the bacon maple thing, and I am glad I did! 

These are totally yummy...but I really WILL NOT EAT MORE before the party! (Well except maybe some crumbs from the plate of broken ones...)

Not too messy in the kitchen, either.

Ready for the winter feasting table!  Luckily here in the Colorado hills it is cool and dry, so the crisp should stay through Saturday!

  May the returning sun bring all your dreams home to you.  Namaste, Wyncia

Holiday Fairy Story Ornaments

Truth is fairies like to be a bit illusive.  Oft times I have nearly walked right by Hollia Flower Hands because she-he was hidden in the snowy holly.

 

Hollie Berry shows up where the doves coo. As Rene Marie sang, "When you're feelin' like a cooing dove, ain't nothin' but love."

 

Lady Red Skirt may be hiding in the winter poinsettias. boosting their rouge with her own.

 

Her sister, Prius Fairie, plays at being a hybrid, waving white blossoms around her red skirts. A shade shifter, she may change her colors on a white snowy night.

Autumn leaves provided good hiding spots for Fairy Berry Face.  But he burrows in with Momma Bear when the snow falls.  When she gets up from a winter's nap for a stretch, Berry Face protects her wee cubs who, about as big as he is, are blind and  toothless! 

Flower Face is all ablush with embarrassment when spotted by one of us wingless big folk, but what can he expect being so mixed up: spring flower face, summer leafy cloak, autumn colored wings, and winter berries.  He blends into no season at all.

 

Spruce Berry is an angel.  Really!  If you are very quiet you can hear their singing chorus. Hark!

 

This wee chubby Snow Elf waves from the cross sticks.

 

All the way, way to the south, Madame Sunnia Floress enjoys a summery holiday among the palms and the bananas!

 

Look real close, out doors and in.  Listen with your heart, and I promise you will see a fairy this holiday season!  Namaste, Wyncia

Uniquely Natural Holiday Make-over

It seems like forever since I shared my creations with you. While some folks are busy dreaming up scheme for reality tv - think Balloon Boy and White House Party Crashers - I have been busy with reality!

Really...I was at Sue Lion's Home Show Last weekend and spent much of the week helping with the makeover at Uniquely Natural, the cute and spirited little shop of healing arts and gifts in Lafayette Colorado.

Here's the shop:

 

That's me with the holiday decorations.  I dressed to match the shutters (accidentally) that are left over from when the location was a fly fishing store!

Here are some of the displays.  A new branch (tee hee) is open.  It provides a place for hanging ornaments, medicine bags and such.

Step back and you can see Lelija's tiny canvases to wear or display.  Anyone who loves miniature displays or doll houses would love authentic landscapes to scale!  And Kerry's Bee Works skin care and candles are on the shelves along the walls.

Here is Shaman Soapworks new display.  They are making a nice bar shampoo to help make plastic bottles a thing of the past.  Fill-it-yourself gift baskets are on top and reuseable gift bags at bottom.  To the top right are colorful Pulse Warmers.

 

From crow to wearable art cards to yoga bags, Larry the photographer featured my display.

 

Hand to Hand bags for cell, IPod, keys and means are to the left here.  To the right are Teresa Dunwell's remarkable spirit paintings with prints available below.

 

All in all I would say the shop is looking good and I am finding some time to write again!  Namaste in all seasons and to all beings, Wyncia

Rock Art: Cairnes

Cairns of Hanakapai Beach on Kauai are wafting through my memory as we prepare for a winter storm at my home studio.  I did miss the first big snow storm on the Front Range because I was hiking to this beach.  But that does not mean I am ready for snow! 

Here is the welcome at the trail head. I spotted the sign on my return!

 

Maybe the cairns are thanks to the gods that the builders made it this far.  Though really, the gratitude is for the amazing beauty of the spot.

 

And some cairns...

 

 

 

And the raw materials

Thanks for joining me in reverence. Namaste.
 

Fiber and Color in Kauai

Hey there.  Just a few shots of finished medicine bags and beautiful colors and patterns around the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

Purples

Reds

Green

White

Orange

Blue

Enjo sacred sight and please send healing energy to Rhonda as she begins a journey of recovery. Namaste.  Wyncia

Aloha Fiber Work and Beaches

I did a bit of sea inspired fiber work.  This medicine bag awaits a sea glass button and a few tiny ocean charms

 

And then we went to a swimable beach.

Seen through a mother tree

From whence hung our hammock

Where rested my tired cliff climbing legs!

Here a plumeria blossom fades away in a lovely pattern

Grandmother Island says some patterns need to be broken, some simply fade away, most hold beauty that is with just for the moment.  Namaste, Wyncia

Aloha from Kauai

Mahalo, dear daughter, for a wonderful day.

Opening into the Grandmother Island.

 

Waters within

Trail to the beach. Oh my.

Beauty all around

Only play in the tidal pools

  

 

I am ahappy camper, slow on the up hills, and breathless at times, but maybe a bit mad.

Eating guava from the trees

I made it back to the trailhead!

Check out the damages

  

And the rewards

  Best fish tacos on the planet!

Namaste abd good night.  Love to all, Wyncia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Twisted (cord)

I am engaged in a never ending search for the perfect cording for my smaller bags.  Colorful parachute cord works well for the straight forward, informal bags.  I want something else for others: more fun for whimsical bags; fancier for dressy bags; and just different for truly boring bags.  This morning I twirled up some yarns and thread to make my own twisted cords.  I started with these

Tied the threads to a chair

 

And began the twisting

Here are some results

 

We all need something different now and then, like the rock and roll song says:

You know you’re a twisty little girl,
You know you twist so fine.

So, shake it up, baby, now,
Twist and shout.
Cmon, cmon, cmon, cmon, baby, now,
Come on and work it on out. 

Recorded by Topnotes, Beatles, Mamas and Papas, and others.

Elephant are Beautiful

Elephants are known for there memory, enduring emotional attachments (we humans call that love), and nurturing motherhood.  These huge creatures are so like us.  They are at times gentle, caring, angry, rampaging, playful, and sad.  Sounds like the average day to me!

The elephant in art is beautiful.  When I dyed and embellished fabrics at Gail Denton's natural dying studio, I chose the elephant stamp for a final flourish on one piece.

Here is a recent secret pocket bag from the fabric. (Sorry, I have already passed ownership to another.)

See how to open the bag.

 

More details

 

And it has a place for your ear phone to exit, if you are packing an ipod!

 

Not too bad, eh?

 

The materials used: hand dyed and printed rayon, cotton print, metallic scarf, handmade fabric beads, bone beads, gold paint and pigment, gold filigree ornament, cotton braid, and waxed fiber cording.

Thanks for stopping by!  See you soon!

 

Stone Button Bag Completed

Here is the final result.  What do you think?

And from same fabric in a lavender color way with fabric barrel beads...

Thanks for stopping by!  Namaste, Wyncia

Hand Made Stone Buttons

Crossing through the Great Lakes region last summer, we stopped along Lake Erie for a night's rest.  Larry skipped stones into the water, while I collected rounded smooth stones for buttons. 

This week these stones became buttons to embellish a fabric bag.  First I made the button shanks or hasps from common fencing wire. 

Then I attached these to the stones with epoxy putty.  I think it helped that there was putty in which to bury the base of the hasp. 

The buttons are a bit thicker than I want, because of the extra putty, but they will work.

I also used an irregular shaped flat stone from the main closure of the bag.  I found my chosen piece to be a bit fragile.  I reinforced it with a net woven of copper wire.

I added some interesting paper to the back to cover the messy confluence of wires.  (I really do need to take a quick class in wire work!)

Here's the layout on the bag, waiting to be sewn.

 

Notice the handmade fabric beads, too.  Finished bag will soon be revealed so stay tuned!  Namaste, Wyncia

Snowy Day with Library Books

Happy Equinox!  September 21st and the night is equal in length to the day.  Autumn is official; we are headed into winter. Our days are going to get shorter and shorter for a while.  As we get ready to bundle up in our winter adobes, we were urged on by the first snow fall of the season!

Thankfully, I stopped by the library yesterday and came home with a marvelous load of fiber and bag books.  Little did I know today would be perfect for curling up by the fire to be inspired!  (Larry was especially wise to bring in wood last night, but neither of us has been chilly enough to start a fire yet.  Oh. well!)

Here is my picture post for the first snow:

 

Not a good day for breakfast al fresco

Pooh and I rescued the geraniums before they froze

The trellis is lonely in the snow

The books of inspiration await me

This is the one I find most fascinating!

I hope this first day of autumn find you enjoying the balancing of the seasons! This is the time when Mother Earth's fruits have ripened and she anticipates the quiet, introspective time ahead.  Look west toward the setting sun.  Let wisdom deepen.  And good reading!

Namaste, Wyncia

Alma Mater Boarding School Beads: Pure Kitsch

Here is what you have been waiting for, maybe.  These are individually hand-rolled paper beads made from the fall Choate Rosemary Hall alum bulletin. They are about 1/4 inch in radius (remember your geometry!) and up to 1 1/4 inch long!

You can see pictures of people from the schools' history and text on the beads.  They are really sort of fun.

   

Colors of the rainbow

 

The fund raising drive

Vintage sports...rah, rah team!

 

If we could save time in a bottle....and we can

You can even buy the beads at my etsy store  And make your own earrings, bracelets and necklaces.  Wow!

Now that this obsession is over, I can see if I remember how to make bags!  Namaste.

etsy Reopening and Interview

This is fun!  See my interview at the etsy Fiber Arts Street Team  (etsyFAST link) blog!  Wyncia's etsy store re-opening today! 

Bubbles, Bangles and Fabric Beads

Recently I have been fascinated with turning bits and scraps of fabric into beads.  Here are some of the supplies.  I used the top to a fruit box to create a workspace, but the work sprawled all over the table anyway.

  

My first attempts have involved rolling pieces of fabric and fiber scraps around a waxed string.  Like this: 

 

After the rolls are dry I have finished them with several coats either oil based (messy) or acrylic based polyurethane.

Then I pulled out the core, leaving a hole, and cut the rolls into beads.  These are then finished by treating the bead ends with varnish, paint, or lacquer.

 

The results are interesting, but not quite what I want yet.  I am looking for a slightly larger hole.  The beads do not drill out well because fibers twist onto the drill.  I also want a harder substrate and finish that is more like typical beads.

What I like is the primitive look of the beads.  Slight differences an the size and shape of the beads is natural.  I think they will combine nicely with glass, wood, and metal beads for a gypsy-esque look.

 

 

Doll Repair at my Dining Table, Mountain Style

At the Boulder Farmer's Market last month a customer bought a Gemini doll based on a stump doll pattern from Frowning Francis. The doll is made of  Japanese style quilting cotton treated with transparent gesso, then highlighted in acrylic.  Her arms are hand dyed and stamped.  At her heart center window hangs origami peace crane.

Later the customer called to say that she discovered a crack in the hollow wooden base of the figure which may or may not have been there when she purchased it.  This crack was at eye-level for the purchaser when she places the doll on her shelf.

Hard to see the crack, but it needed to be repaired.  She also said that she wanted the figure to "lean forward a bit more" to look better on the chosen shelf. So I gathered the necessary supplies for evening doll base repair. The lovely dark beer is Pearl Street Porter created by Twisted Pine Brewing Company for the 150th birthday of Boulder Colorado, the town down the hill from my studio. 

Wood putty was colored with a jar of mixed paint that had been used on the base.  (Tofutti sour cream is great stuff, but it will not fix a crack in wood.) It was  not the exact same, because I paint by mixing acrylics on palette (usually a pie pan or something like that).  I squirt out colors, dab a bit of each, and go at it for many layers.  But this jar of left over paint was close.  Mixed unevenly with the putty it made a gooey, spreadable mix.

I urged the stuff into the crack and painted it over the rest of the stand.

In the back I urged some of the goo between the base and the stump bottom.

Then I leaned the doll forward, balanced on a couple of paint tubes in hopes she will lean more forward as the customer requested.

She looks okay on my shelf, an old piano that doesn't get played much anymore. 

 

I hope the customer is pleased with the results.