Nicole Norman, Corner Brook, Newfoundland

Corset - My Nature

We are grateful to Nicole's boyfriend who prompted her to send us some photos of her work. She is proud that the corset is embellished with real butterflies, but is quick to point out they were found after dying of natural causes.

Nicole says:

"I started out with this idea while attending the Anna Templeton Centre for Craft, Art and Design in St. Johns, NL. This school is one of the most amazing places in Newfoundland you can ever find to stimulate your creativity and be encouraged to create the most amazing pieces. They highly promote the use of natural products and introduced me to Treenway Silks after one of our first assignments with silk fusion. Needless to say, I fell in love."

"I made my first butterfly corset in 2006 and it has become a staple of my collection of designs. There have been more to follow, and each one is unique and beautiful in its own way. Explaining the process of how it is made, peaks everyone's interest. The lining is dyed woven silk, with a riveted back and seashell accents on the back."

 

 

 

Suzanne Willimas, Clintonville, West Virginia

Silk Fusion Wall Art & Cards

Suzanne takes her work to her local farmers market and enjoys educating interested people about silk, its sustainability and the fact that it employs a lot of people. She has always had a passion for fibers, the feel and colors of them, the flexibility of their application.

Suzanne explains:

"Over the past several years I've discovered both wet and Nuno felting and most recently silk fusion. All of these techniques allow me to explore an incredible number of applications using some or all of these fibers along with others to create both cards and framed art."

"Some of my cards are made entirely of silk fusion. In these cases, more card stock is included in the envelopes, allowing the recipient to tie in a fresh sheet and mail the card to someone else. Many of my customers buy these cards for framing. My cards incorporate fabric scraps, Angelina fibers, Merino wool and other fibers."

"My framed art is made entirely of fibers in any number of combinations, silk always predominating. Living in rural West Virginia, the guiding force of this art is the natural world. I call these pieces "silk-scapes". I am moving into usage of silk ribbon embroidery, silk cocoons, silk rods and other elements that allow for a more three dimensional approach."

 

"My preference is selling all my work through a local Farmers Market. This gives me a personal contact with my customers, many of whom want to know the process for how I make the cards and framed art and how silk is made by the silkworm. This season I am going to be using the wonderful poster from Treenway that gives the history of silk and its busy little producer. I have found people and sources to expand my horizons. As for time, I'll go out kicking and screaming saying, "Lord, I have another project I want to work on!"

Contact Suzanne at fabrics-threads@hotmail.com.

Lorraine Cockle, Calgary, Alberta

Sandra Niedermier

Wormworks: An Introduction to Silk
'Altered States' Playshop by Lorraine Cockle and Sandra Niedermier

Playshops is the name of a small paper arts company, an informal partnership between two long-time friends and teaching colleagues who apparently were able to leave the classroom behind at retirement time but couldn't quite give up the teaching bug. We began by offering a couple of greeting card workshops a year but the multi-talents and adventurous spirit of many of our regulars soon allowed us to evolve a second type of workshop which we refer to as "Altered States." These sessions are geared more to experimenting with new materials and processes rather than to the making of specific end products. Over the years we have added copper and mica, polymer and self-hardening clays, metallic foils, shrink plastics, stuffed fabrics and sun prints to our repertoire of the more usual paper-making and decorating techniques. And in 2002, we "discovered" silk fusion in a Somerset Studio article by Karen Selk.

Our first adventure with tussah silk roving was pretty basic. We followed Karen's instructions and made several sheets of variegated fusions. The result was the workshop "Wormworks: an Introduction to Silk" in which we incorporated tussah silk rovings by Treetops Colour Harmonies, natural tussah silk roving, bombyx throwsters silk and cocoons, as well as some recycled silk blouses and pieces of silk charmeuse."

The day was planned so that people could see a few demos and examine sample projects before making their own fusions in the morning. In the afternoon, they could choose to make cards or a neck pouch from fusions that we prepared ahead of time for them. Before getting down to work, we engaged in a little idea-generating by sharing some of the following experimental pieces and discussing how they were made.

Thanks to everyone at Treenway for their respective contributions to a fun-filled day. Special thanks to Sue who patiently fielded many questions over the phone and had to make several additions to our original order.

1. Single Layered Silk Fusion - Lorraine Cockle
   Variegated fusions often seem to invite a structural approach as in this simple card. A single layer of "claret ash" silk fusion was backed with Heat and Bond Light and then adhered first to a copper paper mat and then to dark maroon card stock. An inexpensive charm was embellished with a copper leafing pen, backed with matching card stock and copper paper and mounted on top of the fusion. Narrow bugle beads and a mounted sequin help to balance the composition. When silk is featured, "simple" works just fine! Also shown in the photo is a rubbing made by wrapping a piece of recycled silk blouse around a Christine Adolph stamp and then rubbing the surface with iridescent and metallic Shiva Paintstiks. The image was embellished with beads and a few lines of stitchery.

2. Throwsters Silk - Lorraine Cockle
   Artists who like to begin with a vision in mind and want their art mediums to do as they're told in order to articulate that vision may find throwsters silk a somewhat frustrating material. Since the fibres are naturally curly and unpredictable rather than long and glossy as in a roving, it is much more difficult to control and can be very challenging to remove from a screen since its natural tendency is to direct its kinky little fibres into the screen openings and hold on for dear life. We alternated rows of throwsters with the rows of Silverback silk roving on the screens used for the basic fusion process. In laying down the silk, we started with the silk roving as usual but rather than overlapping the long edges we left spaces that were later filled with the throwsters. Not only did the kinky fibres do a great job of fusing the strands together but they also produced some stunning effects where the white strands spilled out onto the darker areas of the variegated silk. In the finished card shown here, blocks of less interesting color were simply broken up with the addition of a coordinating, decorative yarn before adding the little piece of encaustic embossing to this Wildcard design. The unfinished samples show some of the more exciting textures that frequently happened.
3. Natural Tussah Silk Roving - Lorraine Cockle
   Originally we ordered natural tussah rovings for making undyed centre layers for reversible fusions. However, the rich, honey-coloured surface proved to be a great background for embellishing in its own right. Yarns, threads, pressed leaves and other fairly flat objects could be added while the fusion was in the formative stages. Finished fusions could be stamped, wrapped with silk ribbons or decorative yarns, or have openings cut to allow a decorative backing to show through.
4. Crushed Silk Fusions - Lorraine Cockle
   Crushed silk forms can be used for making soft jewelry, matted/framed art for small spaces, book-cover embellishments or cards. Silk tops were arranged in the usual way for making single sheets of silk fusion. After wetting out the silk and adding the adhesive, the top screen was removed and the fusion was gently manipulated into crushed, irregular shapes. After checking to see that the negative shapes around the silk were varied and interesting, the pieces were left to dry without the top screen being replaced.

5. Cocoons
   White bombyx cocoons proved to be a novel addition to the playshop. Participants had the option of coloring them with pearlized acrylics, adding filigree gold stickers and sealing them with acrylic medium before piercing them to string on cords, ribbons or tassles. Two halves of a sliced cocoon have been painted inside and out with acrylics. The openings have then been covered with inexpensive charms to create a cage effect for a pair of earrings.
6. Silk Purses "Petite Purses with Pizzaz" - Sandra Niedermier
   In the afternoon, participants could use their prepared fusions either to make several cards or one of these small neck purses that Sandra designed, the larger one made in two parts and the smaller one made in a single, folded piece. People needed to think about adding any embellishments such as stamped textures, beads, or couched fibres before sewing the front and back sections together as it is difficult to do these things once the purse is assembled.
7. Silk Fusion Purse and Felted Scarf - Fran Sayles
   This scarf was a whole lot of work! I added the floral and geometric shapes by cutting them out of the fusion paper and set them aside. Next I laid out a long piece of the large-sized bubble wrap and arranged three layers of wool fibres on it in the same way as for making silk fusion. The cut- out silk shapes were then arranged on top of the wool and everything was thoroughly wetted with warm, soapy water. Beginning at one end, the sandwich of wool/silk and bubble wrap was rolled up and then rolled back and forth on the table top using full arm extensions for hours. Often the piece was unrolled, rewetted, edges tucked into line again and re-rolled from the opposite end. This process was repeated for several hours. Finally I had had enough so I unrolled the piece, rinsed the soap all out of it and left it to dry. When I returned to look at the scarf with "fresh" eyes after a week or so, it did not seem to have shrunk and condensed as much as it should have so, as a last resort, I threw it in a washing machine filled with hot soapy water. Presto! Instant felting. However, when you resort to this speedier route, you lose control over the shaping of the edges. Anyway, it's warm and great to wear on chilly days.

8. Crushed Silk Fusion Jewelry - Roxanne Morley-Anderson
   At the Playshop, we followed the basic steps to felt the beautiful silk threads. While the silk was wet on the screen I scrunched it with my fingers, and manipulated the silk into a half circle shape. I added a few squiggles of metallic fabric paint along the curves and left it to dry for a few days. The colours and shape reminded me of some alabaster seashells so I was inspired to follow a sea theme. I took some mauve pearls and threaded then on silk cord with a clasp. The ends of the silks were pulled through silver cones and attached with a few stitches into the silk. Then I sewed small beads and pearls into the ridges. The necklace is a little stiff when you first put it on but soon warms to your skin and softens. I feel as pretty as a mermaid when I wear it!

Ida Marie Threadkell, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

Silk Fusion Necklas

We were all very impressed by the creativity of Ida Marie's necklace. She gives us some information of her journey.

Ida Marie shares:

"I created this necklace for a wedding that didn't happen. But, I will wear it to a class reunion in the hope that people will look at it instead of at my rather strange new hair do. The idea came from seeing a similar piece in leather – the necklace not the do."

"First I cut out different sized paper squares and moved them around until they please me. Then I drew a diagram and a layout, numbered every piece accordingly and added a seam allowance. The silk was from Treenway's Salt Spring Island Series, which was laid out in a single layer to minimize bulk. Trying to plan each little square to be interesting and unique was quite the challenge as was cutting out the mat board backing. Fortunately my friend let me use her cutter. My precision folding, trimming and gluing skills improved greatly as each of the 18 squares had silk sewing threads attached to them and then a silk fusion backing which was added after the squares had been sewn to the hand braided kumihimo chain. Purchased silver findings and .25 carats of pink, something that I'd purchases about 20 years ago, were used to finish the piece."

"It was an incredibly time consuming project, but one that was so satisfying that I tried another variation of it in a darker colour scheme. Unfortunately, this was not successful, so I will try it again in another light colour scheme."

Lorrie Irwin, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

Silk Fusion Purse

We have been fortunate enough to see this most interesting application of silk fusion in person.

Lorrie tells us,

"Silk fusion was created using Treenway's dyed tussah silk and textile medium, and molded over a form. As soon as the fusion dried, it was apparent that it would not be strong enough on its own to be the front panel of my planned purse. I wet-molded a piece of leather over the same mold and glued the fusion to the leather, creating a durable "front side" to my purse with silk fusion on the public side and leather on the inside. Then, I fashioned a leather backing which included a piece that would come up and over to form a front flap. I carefully chose my backing from a piece of oil-tan leather that would allow the edges of the front flap to retain a "raggedy" appearance – the very effect I was looking for!"

"The front and back were then punched to allow for hand-lacing which joins the two pieces together. A strap was cut, edged and had a buckle added and attached to the purse so that, when worn, it would sit at hip level. The closure was made from the left over dyed tussah silk. I handspun a cabled yarn and attached it to the front of my bag, finishing off the ends with beads, finally, a handmade leather button was attached to the front so the cabled yarn could form a portfolio-style closure."

Margaret Wheeler, Levenworth, Washington

Silk Fusion Wall Art

From Margaret:

"I continue to love using Silk Fusion as my form of expression. The three pieces featured are inspired by photographs I took in Hawaii not too long ago. I was a weaver for many years. Due to allergies to wools and any related yarns I don't weave much anymore but have found a way to include some weaving in my silk fusion pieces. I like to make several sheets of silk fusion and then cut two or more sheets into strips in different patterns to weave together. Then the real works begins. I have always liked doing embroidery and beading so that is always present in my work. I printed the photographs onto a couple of sheets of silk organza and I then cut one or both so that only certain areas are doubled. It gives it a feeling of dimension and depth. Then I have machine stitched and beaded until it feels complete to me. All of them take many days/weeks (not hours) to complete. You can see a few more pieces on my web site www.margaretcwheeler.com."

"I want to thank Karen Selk for introducing me to the techniques of Silk Fusion at one of her two hour seminars at a regional conference in Tacoma, WA, about four or five years ago. I have read other peoples directions and seen other works and none compare to the way Karen teaches it. Because her methods are meticulous and exact I have been able to create something that pleases me and control what will happen. I plan to do a vest this summer for a fashion show in December. This will be a bigger project for me but one I am very excited to start working on. Last fall I was featured on a blog Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles with one of my silk fusion pieces. I have been asked to participate in a possible book on Creative Inspiration using my Silk Fusion as my medium of work."

 

 

 

 

Roxan Kinas, Barbados, West Indies

Sculpted Silk Fusion

Roxan lives in Barbados, yet she retains her American roots. A visit to Africa started Roxan on her creative journey. She tells us,

"The handmade paper there peaked my curiosity. My environment provides a rich source for making ones own pulps from banana plants, bagasse (sugar cane trash) and other local plants. While researching on the internet to find solutions to some of my pulp making problems, I came across 'silk paper'."

"I needed to learn more so read every website I could find and every book printed on the subject. I have always said I am not an artist, but, living in a third world country for many years makes one extremely creative and resourceful. I took up the challenge of silk fusion and started making bowls and vases, but soon turned my attention to mold work. Armed with numerous sea shells and starfish, I began the process of learning to 'sculpt' silk over an object to get the most detail from whatever I had blanketed with silk. Despite the huge learning curve and many difficulties, I eventually developed a process for producing shells, starfish and other sea life. I use primarily methylcellulose as the silk adhesive. It gives me control over the silk and allows me to manipulate it easily. Depending on the project, I may apply a layer of acrylic gloss or even spray starch to finish a piece."

"When I discovered silk oblongs or laps, I worked them to get a spider web or lace effect for shaping over bowls, vases or whatever other object I had around the house. My most painful lesson in working with silk fusion occurred when shaping laps/oblongs around my prized Steuben bowl. The piece was nearly dry when I noticed a small area that was not flush with the bowl. I shifted the bowl so I could address the spot and the bowl suddenly and quite violently leaped from my hands and threw itself down onto the concrete in an explosive crash. I found another Steuben bowl and I made another 'Study in Steuben' in my evolved style of working. All of this experimentation evolved into the votive shades, which I am now focusing on as a possible retail item."

"When I complained to one of my mentors that living in a vacuum (Barbados) made it very difficult to learn and grow, the friend replied I should stay in that vacuum because I had managed to go off in my own direction."

Email Roxan at Roxan@caribnet.net

Marilyn Rand, Canning, Nova Scotia

Silk Fusion - Fundy Shore, and other works.

Marilyn is a farmer, artist and teacher living in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. She teaches spinning, dyeing, felting and knitting on a regular basis, sharing her enthusiasm for the versatility of her medium.

Marilyn says:

"Fundy Shore was done with silk that I dyed myself. We have a camp on the Bay of Fundy that we walk into about two miles. The remote location is a soul restorer to my psyche. This is the view looking out toward the mouth of the Bay. The cliffs are gorgeous at all times but especially when reflecting the light of the setting sun. I have tried to capture this, and silk seems to be the best medium."

"Being an artist means being able to translate the vision in your mind through the creative process to your product. I am often inspired by the natural beauty and particular texture of a fibre to choose the way I will use it in my art. Inspired by nature, revisiting childhood through the eyes of my eight grandchildren and struggling with the realities of two a.m. lamb births, all contribute to my life and art. I wouldn't trade places with anyone else on planet earth."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy McElroy, Calgary, Alberta

M'Lady's Corset

"A few years ago a dear Australian friend sent me a piece of silk paper. It was large enough to make two projects. I thought that a corset would be an attractive addition to my studio so I embellished it with laces, trims, a hand-dyed and beaded floral appliqué, hand-dyed flowers and a tiny petit point brooch that is fastened at the top centre. It may be the first piece of silk paper that I have worked with but it definitely isn't the last! I have since introduced my grandson to the pleasures of making silk fusion and he is as smitten with it as I."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journal Cover

"An unusually shaped piece left over from the corset became this journal. I fused a piece of floral fabric to the back for more stability. There was enough of the floral fabric left that I could cut a flower and appliqué it to the front. I added beads to the flower and spine. I chose paper that coordinated with the fabric to become the signatures. It was satisfying to create and use both of these pieces."

Haydee McFarland, Brampton, Ontario

Faerie Lights

Haydee is submitting this piece for the juried show World of Thread Festival in Oakville, ON.

Haydee tell us:

"Faerie Light is a soft sculptural piece in silk fusion and cobweb felt. Each tier in the base is constructed from four perpendicular layers of silk fibre. I used Bombyx silk for the first tier, tussah silk for the second tier and a combination of Bombyx and tussah for the bottom tier. To dry and shape the base, I draped the three layers over a wire wastepaper basket, with separators between each layer – all three layers are joined at the base. I applied one final coat of Jo Sonja's Gloss Varnish to harden just the bottom of the piece."

"The felt vessel was made using the resist technique. I wanted to achieve a fine ethereal look and decided that cobweb felt would work best for the look but, because cobweb felt is so fine, the vessel would not have held its shape. When I saw how well Jo Sonja's textile medium works for silk fusion, I experimented and found that it worked just as well on felt, without altering the look and feel of the felt. "

"I first felted the vessel around a resist and then continued to felt it into its three-dimensional form around a balloon. Once the vessel had formed to my satisfaction, I applied Jo Sonja's textile medium and allowed the vessel to dry on the balloon so it would hold its shape. I used a combination of fine merino and Masham fibres with various yarns interspersed between the layers and embellished the whole piece with trilobal fibre for a delicate sheen."

"I'm still experimenting with silk fusion, especially different ways of incorporating it into my felting and ove all the creative possibilities it offers."

Debbie Caseburg Tyson, Edmonton, Alberta

sleepwalking

Silk Fusion chapbook jackets for sleepwalking, a long poem by Sharon Caseburg published by JackPine Press.

"This project was a collaboration with my sister, poet Sharon Caseburg. JackPine Press of Saskatchewan promotes multidisciplinary projects that open dialogues between written and artistic work, engaging in tactile experiences for the reader. In responding to her elegy, designing and producing these chapbooks presented me with an opportunity to explore silk fusion techniques in a combination with stitch and embellishment. These silk fusion covers were produced using textile medium, then hand and machine stitched and embellished. The interior book block, produced in two signatures, was then sewn in with wax-coated linen thread. Deckle edges top and bottom were purposefully left to reflect the ethereal quality of the poetry inside"

"sleepwalking will be available in a limited edition of 75 copies through JackPine Press. The book will launched in Saskatoon on May 28, 2009 as one of four limited-edition chapbooks in JackPine Press's 2009 publishing year."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seahorses

"I really enjoy playing with the silk fibre in this way. I love exploring new techniques and am fascinated by the endless ways fibre can be manipulated. My current work focuses on creating and manipulating silk fusion both as a substrate for stitching as well as a mouldable medium for creating texture, three dimensional objects and vessels. I incorporate traditional and contemporary stitch, beading, quilting and painting to add colour and texture to my work."

"When I use silk fibre and acrylic mediums to create three dimensional moulds, I then like to integrate those three dimensional shapes into the rest of the work with stitch . My favourite moulds are children's plastic sandbox toys as they release well. I highlighted the seahorse with Shiva Paintsticks and stitched it onto a background of Easy-Felt layered with silk fusion and hand painted throwsters silk. Stitching ties everything together and the mirrors draw you into the piece."

Maria SeaBrook, Maple Ridge, British Columbia

The World is Changed

We were happy to see the silk cocoons used in such an innovative way!

Maria says:

"I used Procion dye to dye the cocoons. After my first dyeing attempt, there was a consistent 'bloom', which I kept trimming. I tried painting them with white glue water and let them dry and then re-dyed again by soaking in cold dye and wrapping in plastic wrap overnight."

 

 

 

Silk Fusion Bowl

After watching the Silk Fusion video, Marie created this fantastic vessel using dyed silk hankies.

Diana Caleb, Saanichton, British Columbia

A Pacific Coast Sea Scene

We anticipate Diana's new work with excitement. She is always up to something innovative.

"I have such a great time experimenting with all sorts of materials. This piece showcases shrinky plastic. I cut out a specialized plastic sheet into fish shapes and coloured them with pencil crayons. I used a heat gun to shrink the plastic. This intensifies the colours and they do look somewhat realistic."

"The background has been covered with puffy paint. I swirled the medium to imitate motion through the water. I let this dry and then used my trusty heat gun to puff up the swirls. I then painted the background in metallic paints to give a bit of shimmer to the piece."

"I added lots of beads...the tentacles of the jelly fish, star fish along the bottom of the ocean and bubbles coming up from the various sea creatures at the bottom of the ocean."

"I swirled silk ribbon near the surface of the ocean to emulate kelp fronds. On the bottom of the ocean, I added more silk ribbon in and around the starfish and other bottom creatures."

Ida Marie Threadkell, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

The World Is Changed

Ida Marie is always up to something exciting in her studio.

She says, "The basket turned out very differently than what I had in mind...'the best laid plans'. I used one of the Treetops colourways, Spinifex. The basket was supposed to have a very specific colour gradation using five spokes and five weavers, not four. However, the dimension of the strips and, therefore, the pattern, got away on me even though I used a ruler to corral them into place. Because they each had different top and underside colours the corralling gave them a contrasting edges. Serendipity! The unused strips became the lip and the really unused ones became book marks. A few doodads from my stash and voila! This was very much a case of life is what happens when you were planning something else."

Susan Shaw, Millet, Alberta

Silk Bowls

Here is what Susan told us about herself and her art. "I love the challenge of learning new techniques and material for building my artistic skills. I was learning how to felt wool and looking for resources on the web when I came across Karen's instructions for silk fusion on the Treenway website. The shimmer of the silk roving and the incredible range and vibrancy of colors available caught my imagination. I immediately ordered a kit some roving and hankies to experiment and learn how to make this incredibly unique product. After lots of experimentation, I perfected the technique for making these bowls. They are sturdy enough to withstand washing, yet look fragile and ephemeral. The silk accepts color very well, which makes it possible to suggest images like frames of a fire, or the blue ice of a glacier."

" am currently a hobby artist, but would like to explore the possibility of find a market for my work in the near future. I love to experiment with new mediums and learn new techniques. I enjoy working with fibres (silk and wool felting, and dyeing) as well as painting, photography and sculpture – a little bit of everything. I have a website where I share my current and finished projects: www.wolfwoods.com."