Slow Printing?

I've been thinking about the rust stains on the window sill. The ones from where I stood the metal stand for the glass flower vases and later discovered the four little squarish rust stains from the stand's feet.

What if one made a 'printing block' of metal objects, prerusted to get the process going, and stood it on wet paper? How long would it take for enough rust to accumulate to make an image? Would a single wetting of the paper be enough or would the paper need to be redampened? How consistent would the image be from print to print?

Now, to find a source of small rusty metal object to make into an image, and then, to design a meaningful image from them . . .

Update: I found 16 guage steel wire and a 8" x 8" white scrubbing pad and finer wire to wire the thicker wire on. Now to design something . . . maybe a tree? . . . and wire it on and give this idea a go!

Three Trillium - Nine

This print is the result of an argument with a customer. I had a felted trillium in the gallery for over a year, and a man came in and told me he had seen it last time he was in town and wanted to purchase the picture with the three trillium in it. I showed him the felted picture of the single trillium, the only felted trillium I had ever done, and he argued, saying it had three flowers in the picture. Well, how do you respond to something like that? I am sure he left thinking I had sold 'his' picture and was trying unload this one on him. Fortunately to my ego, another customer called a week later and had me mail it to him as a surprise for his wife's birthday. But that set me on a mission to find a nice composition of three trillium on my walks, and photograph the bejeebers out of it, so that I would have photos to work with so that I COULD felt a picture with three trillium. Okay, I never did get that felt done, but here is a linoleum block print of them. I call it Nine.

Oak Tree Block Print

The branching pattern of the wide spreading burr oak is very different depending on where it grows. In a moist prairie, the tree grows taller and can be more open at the bottom, and in a drier prairie, the tree can be wider and shorter and have branches almost to the ground. The tree is often struck by lightening and then just keeps on growing, filling back in around the damage. The leaves can vary from tree to tree and the amount of 'burr' covering the acorn can vary as well. Here are the first few off the block hanging to dry.

Etsy shop

You can email me to inquire about purchasing any art you see, mine or that by other artists. And I have a few specific items listed on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/prairieoak

Silk Chiffon Scarves

My new scarves are sheer silk chiffon. Lighter and airier than the haboti silk I have used before. Sort of a retro look about some of them. Fun to be painting on silk again!

Some Fun Customers

Reasons I liked them: When I opened my front door to put out my Open sign and my flags, they were waiting. Nothing like waiting customers to make the shopkeep feel valued! They drove a Jeep Wrangler, just like me, though mine is much older and red. Their license plate indicated they were fans of sunflowers and I have a series of sunflower photographs. They are landscapers and I am a landscape designer. They were power shopping for things for their own yard before they took off for the rest of Father's Day doing some relaxing sightseeing. And they bought a birdbath and two kinds of birdhouses and few other things. And they said nice things about many of my artists. And that, the last, may have been what endeared them to me the most, because the thing I love most about Prairie Oak Artisans is the group of talented artists that I get to know and with whose work I surround myself every day at the gallery.

Karma's Leather Flower Pins

Karma's leather flower pins are hand made one at a time from real leather. Some of the leather is scraps from upholstery industry, some is leftover from Karma's bookbinding projects that require that rectangular pieces be cut out of irregularly shaped hides, and others is purchased specifically for the flowers to certain colors or textures. Wear these pins on a lapel of a coat or jacket, the collar of a blouse, on the strap or body of a purse, handbag, or briefcase, on a headband, or on an elastic band ponytail holder. Can you think of anywhere else to wear these beautiful leather flowers?

Wood Strip Canoes by Randy Pfeifer

These canoes are custom made of cedar wood strips bent around a form. The artist glues each strip on individually, using no staples or ties, resulting in a perfect flawless exterior. The wood is covered inside and out with fiberglass and epoxy to render it water-tight and lake- and river-worthy. Gunwale design, seat design, deck design and other details can be individualized, and a number of shapes and sizes are available. Custom inlay work can decorate the sides of the boats, and dark and light strips allow design elements to grace the hull of the canoe. These boats will turn heads, whether on the car roof-top carrier, in the water, or hanging from the ceiling of your home. They are beautiful.

Felted Flower Pins - Karma Grotelueschen

The parts of these pins are hand felted from wool fleede using traditional wet felting. Then the parts are assembled using contemporary needle felting. This is the process used by the artist to construct her felted landscape and floral paintings.

Tied In Knots Earring - Karma Grotelueschen

Waxed linen cords ties these beads into swingy earrings.

Karma Grotelueschen's Yellow Flower Paintings

Painted with water-soluable oils, these paintings are 12" square and designed to be hung vertically as a set.

Notecards from Carrie Auwerter Watercolors

Carrie Auwerter's Watercolor Paintings

Carrie paints nature scenes from her garden and beyond, with meticulous realistic detail in clear rich colors, and lets the white of the paper glow through for rich contrasts.

Colors of Scarves

Scarves are available in Yellows and oranges, oranges and reds, pinks and purples, purples and blues, blues and greens, greens and yellows. Tones can be bright and vibrant or more muted and dusky.
Each scarf is painted with several tones in the range of colors and has a white resist line that features a leave or flower along it.

Karma Grotelueschen's Dance Veil Scarves

These new larger scarves come in two lengths, 84" and 108", and can be worn wrapped around the neck, over the shoulders, or just loose in front, or they can be used in dance to float and flow with the music. 100% silk scarves are painted with a resist process that leaves a white line in a leaf or lily design to separate colors.

Karma Grotelueschen's Felt Calla Lily Pins

Pins for lapel, hatband, handbag, shawl, or knit cap are made of wool felt and Eco-fi felt that is made of recycled beverage bottles.

Jane Brown's Flower Pins

Jane Brown has 12 designs published in Crochet! magazine, over 6 different months. The designs are published 2 per month and titled "Flower Of The Month Pins". Jane runs her own yarn shop and teaches knitting and crochet and designs her own patterns for many other products including shawls, purses, and hats. Her shop is called Never Enough Knitting and is located in Wheaton, Illinois. Prairie Oak Artisans is delighted to be carrying her crocheted flower pins! They are lovely on a coat lapel, a hat, a purse, or a shawl.