Storage Units

An antique store closed, in Valley Junction after 50 years, the owner retired. Anyway I managed to get these two pieces for around $55.00, the big unit, which will be painted Medicci White and the grain sorter, it's the dark green piece on the green wall, the green piece being about 4 x 9 feet by about 8 inches deep. I plan to dry brush some blue paint, a mistint, over the green unit so that some of the original green paint peeks through.

The New Space

Here's what I've been up to, this ceiling took a lot of work to get the color from dark royal blue to Medicci White, it's lovely and now the space is much brighter now. I managed to get a couple of storage pieces for less than sixty dollars, this will make the studio move a lot easier now.

Update

Been busy will post pictures later, if I can find my digital camera that is.

Spring Break & Natural Dyes Update

Well John has taken the week off, we've been working like crazy to get moved into the new space, I have more inventory than I thought I ever had, it's amazing how things can get shoved back into a corner and be hidden for long periods of time.

I'm still at a loss as to how to set up my studio space, I think once everything is in it'll be easier for me to organize everything.

I finally found a couple of sources for the natural dyes, so I'm hoping to have them in house and ready to go by the end of April. The best part is I now have the space for empoyees who can help me get orders out in a timely manner.

And if you didn't think

it couldn't get any worse you'd be wrong! Dead wrong.

The sewer exploded into our basement. The city says, call the plumber, the plumber says, call the city it's their problem. Hey maybe I just want to be able to flush my toilet, wash some dishes, take a shower and not have to worry about the sewage of the world backing up into my studio!!!!

Barley

Yes I pushed Barely further down the blog, if you wish to read about him. My blog is my homepage and it was just too painful to see his picture there everytime I pulled up the internet.

Tags and Sequin Stuff

Sequin Tape, now what to do with this glorious stuff! Brenda has some copper stuff that she's going to share with me, seems I remember seeing some purple stuff - oh yeah it was sent to me for my pieces I'm making on my mother... what a good place to use this glorious material. I think Beaney and Littlejohn laid it down and stitched threads through the holes, I could be wrong though.

Some tags I'm working on, they are very large and I'm putting them in a book that I'm making about Barley.

In Progress

Ok I meant to make a book in rememberance of Barley, I ended up making a clock instead!!! I'm calling my piece "Keeping Spring Time"! Barley loved having the windows opened in the spring, he'd run from window to window howling like a goon. Here's a picture of it in progress, I love the bright orange feet, it just gives the whole piece spunk.

Check out my best friend, Brenda K. Backman's, blog :

http://www.brendabackman.blogspot.com she has posted a new encaustic piece, now if she'll only post more pictures of her gorgeous, if not a bit dark and thought provoking, art work for the world to see! Leave a post when you get there maybe she'll post more pics if you do!

She lent me this really cool book called Crafting Personal Shrines by Carol Owen.

Barley Update and Well...

My friend Brenda's mom thinks Barley had a heart attack. Which actually is making some sense since he did make a weird grunting noise as he jumped up onto the chair, before slumping to the floor, where he proceeded to make even more moans. I tried CPR, but I have to tell you it's really hard on a cat. The fact that pretty much all of the vets in this town are closed on Wednesdays didn't help matters any either.

And if life weren't currently bad enough... The sewer has started backing up into the house, so I have to clear out my wet studio to higher ground - it lives in the basement. I'm figuring it's because the pipes are freezing at the end of the driveway. J- says that the storm drains are full and frozen so this could be a contributing factor, I don't know what I do know is I have a long night ahead of me.

Forward

I spent the better part of the afternoon in my wet studio creating. I can't wait to get into the new space, so that everything is on the same floor. Right now I'm waiting for the glue (E6000) to dry on my piece I"m making, you'll have to wait for more details. I'm hoping to have it mostly done tonight though. Whence I get this piece done I have plans to make a second one and video tape the process.

I'm also making a book piece in memory of Barley, it's the best way to work past all of this, I have found that creating is the best way to work through pain and loss. I have some bright yellow cast paper I made years ago that he was insistant on walking on while it dried. As a result his paw prints are embedded in the paper. First I have to find that piece of paper, then I can do something with it.

I'm hoping that the clay mold the vet makes of his foot is clear so I can make a reverse cast/stamp of it, I'll know more about that in a couple of weeks.

Pepper

Angel

Silky

Silky, along with the others, is a bona fide couch potato, so please don't email me for abusing my dog!!! She was attached to the clothesline pole while I weeding the garden, enjoying a bit of fresh air and sun. If she had her way she'd do nothing but chase rabbits, birds, and squirrels. She's a blue weimeraner.

So Life Goes On???

I was able to find a vet that did pet cremations, in town no less. So Barley will be returning home in about two weeks in a little tin (or velvet bag) I've been told. The vet will make a clay cast of his foot, I wasn't able to get a clear print using a stamp pad and paper.

Silky has figured out what's going on and is moping, Pepper is scared out of his gourd as he doesn't know where his buddy has disappeared too, and Angel is absolutely clueless, though she got the closest too him when I showed him to them, though Silky did try to lick/bite (?) his ear. I"m not really sure what Silky was trying to do.

We figure Silky is next as she's not doing well at all, and she's going on 10 which is old for a large dog, especially for one that's been fighting cancer for the past six years. This is of course if Angel doesn't do herself in by doing twirls on the staircase, I haven't figure out how to break her of this, she's quite the whirliing durbish when excited and stopping her is next to impossible.

John and I discussed Barley's accident last night, he's been falling a lot lately, I'm not sure why, except that he was just old. He also had intermittent eyesight, which the vet was unable to explain but he might have had a neurlogical problem it's hard telling. You try to do your best and yet they still end up dying, yes life sucks.

Good Bye Barley

The Old Man of the Woods

1994-2007

Barley

R.I.P. Sweet Heart

Barley aka The Old Man of the Woods 1994-2007. He fell off of the chair trying to get to my bowl of cereal the only thing I can think of is he must have fallen on his tail and broken his back when he fell. It was quick that's all I could ever ask for.

SetaSilk Woes

Does anyone know why it's foxing? It would appear that the pigment and the binder are seperating. I've shaken the bottle, and shake it periodically while using but it's still doing creating this fox or ghost like image that I don't want. The fabric is silk charmuse and is stretched on a frame. The part that really bites is this is on my final fabric piece, the paint didn't do this on any of the test fabrics.

New Work and Life Goes On

I will have to take some pictures later of my newer pieces. After much deliberation I have decided to take the webstore down for a space of time, probably until early summer. In the meantime I'm concentrating more on my career as an artist and am working on a commercial studio space. Printing fabric is my passion, printing with natural dyes now that I'm even more passionate about.

In the past year it has become exceedingly impossible to work with a shopping cart that would function only part of the time, seems that no matter how much money I spend on modules and IT work it still did not function correctly. Couple that with a thousand plus other retailers that are selling the same products as I was, their retail prices very often were what I was paying for the same products wholesale and it doesn't take long to do the math.

So now I'm at a point where I am evaluating things, getting a grip on where to go next.

The online classes will resume later this spring. I am currently photographing, video taping, and am rewriting all of the documentation (workbooks) for the classes. I have found that a 40 page workbook format is working well for me. I have learned a lot in the past year and will learn even more this coming year.

Stay tuned and meanwhile back at the prairie...
-Kimberly

Video Clip - Finally

Scouring Overview

I'm not sure why I am unable to load the video here at this point. Here's the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GAhHjOFLzM

YouTube.com

Now if I can just figure out how to make the box smaller and put it in the right hand side bar I'll be a happy camper! Until then I will be uploading more shorts, and working on the compression quality.

Video Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQsYVdJ5tIE

This is a video clip from my Mark Making with Nature DVD, I'm not sure but Youtube.com may ask you to register to view the video. I'm hoping to have the bugs worked out later today. The video can be purchased from my Etsy.com store at:

http://www.kbaxterpackwood.etsy.com

The New Blogger

I really hate the new blogger, I have less control over my own blog now. I don't know whoever thought this up but... We'll start with the two sets of login user names and login passwords and end with my being able to publish my blog when I want to, not when someone else thinks it's good for me.

So in a few weeks, when the dust settles down over here I will be moving my blogs to the land of oh yeah Hey I get to control the content and style!

Where Am I???

Yep the websites are down, as is the email. if you need to contact me you can do so at:

prairiefibers@hotmail.com

Yellow Bird

It's not done yet, but here is my WIP. I've spent this week with hardware issues again, my neighbor lent me his laptop tonight so I could burn DVD's and CDROMS, I"m hoping my new DVD burner will be here come Friday Morning.

More Samples

I've been painting more fabric with pigments, here's a detail of a piece I was working on tonight. I'm building a body of "primitive images" for lack of a better word, they are spontaneous and a lot of fun to do. I"m not sure what smells like burning vanilla in the house John noticed it earlier, it's even stronger now. I've looked a bout the place and didn't find anything, and since I don't burn candles, let alone scented ones, I'm starting to think it's coming from the neighbors place.

WIP2

I haven't decided if I just want to bind this piece off and leave it as is or not.

What I'm Up To

Or where is my order??? Hopefully I will have the email bugs worked out tomorrow, for some odd reason I can receive email, but am unable to send, and apparently this has been going on for two weeks. Oddly enough I thought my mail was getting sent, but then out of the blue I clicked on a folder and what do you know all of the mail I've sent out has ended up in this folder. At least I know who hasn't received an email, but it's still frustrating none the less.

I'm spending the month of January and February doing taxes, inventory, catching up up on back orders, and getting ready for classes. Getting ready for classes entails shooting new video, I've discovered that all of the video I took with my webcam cannot be edited with video editing programs - or at least the ones I own anyway (Pinnacle, and Adobe Premier)

This means everything has to be reshot, which means prepping all over again. The upside to this is I am creating new samples, which means I have more to choose from, and I'm taking some of the older ones and am creating a finished piece - which allows me to create projects for my classes - one of the biggest requests I've had.

I'm also hoping to have a few vidcasts and podcasts up soon, it's hard getting everything done when it's only you that's doing the work. My husband is willing to keep me in equipment though.

I've finished updating the Rust and Clay Dyeing book, putting the video clips in another location as this proved to be too confusing. This book is on CDROM.

Rusted Sheer

I discuss how to make this fabric, and the WIP below this post in my newly updated Rust and Clay Dyeing book - available on CDROM.

WIP

Indigo dyed, Rust and Tannin dyed cotton fabric.

Found

I found these while cleaning today, I'll be posting them on my etsy.com site later, there are 20 one yard pieces in each bundle. Each bundle is a combination of silk and rayon ribbons and yarns varying from silks to cotton and or wool that have been dyed with natural dyes, they are $28.00 each. I have some more I need to wash that are incredibly beautiful reds and burgandies, just in time for V-Day.

Rust Sample

I've been working on an update for my Rust and Clay Dyeing book, and have been making more samples. It'll be shipping the end of next week, if all goes well, yes it's still on CD-ROM but I"ve moved the video clips so that they are seperate now, making them easier to find and use.

I took this image three hours after I started the fabric. The fabric was dyed in indigo first, then washed, probably three dips, three very blotchy dips. I used some tannin based natural dyes to create the pinkish areas.

Wet Studio Lights

Before and After the new lights, there doesn't appear to be much difference in these photos but trust me when you are in my studio there is a HUGE difference! It'd be nice to have some lights on the design wall, where the fabric is hanging. Btw my design wall is really a canvas tarp that we put grommets into and hung from a galvinized pole using curtain rings.

Snow

We have SNOW!!!

Winter Composting Continued

Winter Composting

Here's a bundle that has been living under the hackberry tree for the past 6 months or so. I think it may be about 3-5 yards in lenght, I've forgotten by now. I was thinking of pulling it out today and seeing what it looked like, this here is a picture of the top of the bundle. The stuff to the left is a pile of soybeans, organic ones that fermented a little bit too long. I threw them on top of the bundle, orignally but the racoons seem to have eaten most of them.

Storage

Storage and More Storage, it's so nice to be able to find things now. Have more organizing to do but it will have to wait until after the lights go in.

Yesterday was a bad day, I managed to kill a computer, well I didn't actually do it myself. When one circiut was being tested for power something fried, and the electricity literally leaped across the circuit breakers in the breaker box, traveling somehow or another to my computer, which was on an entirely seperate GFI circuit breaker and frying it. Lovely, just bloody lovely. The only positive side of this whole matter is this was my personal computer, not my work computer.

Fun Fun Fun

I think my recycling endeavors just reached an all time high over here. Brenda and I got togehter today and exchanged our xmas presents (I was too sick over the holiday, flu, to do so then) She got me two new books:

Plush-O-Rama Curious Creatures for Immature Adults by Linda Kopp and Stupid Sock Creatures: Making Quirky, Lovable Figures from Cast-off Socks by John Murphy

This absolutely feeds that need to make plushies and ugly art dolls. I have quite the collection of plushies I've made already, and a few really ugly art dolls as well (they are so ugly they are adorable) Anyway, don't google the word plushie! A plushie is a stuffed animal but it's not quite animal and it's not quite a doll, kinda like adorable little alien creatures.

The Stupid Sock Book - I have a sheltie that chews holes in socks so now I have all these odd ball socks, perfect for making dolls out of! I'm one of those people who loved the sock monkey, remember those? My grandmother made one for each of us one year (five total) back in the early 70's and somehow or another I ended up with most of them.

Lights Camera

Well the lights are being installed anyway. You can never have enough lighting in the studio. John is working on putting in recessed, but adjustable, 50 watt halogen lamps for me. They will be residing directly over my screenprinting, class demo, table. I need a better pair of speakers for my computer radio - the pair I have have no bass.

More goodies

Here's a pile of wool fabrics I dyed with natural dyes about two years ago. The green piece is about a half yard in length, I can't wait to put it to good use. It makes me think "my what pretty green eyes you have". Whence I get the wet studio cleaned I have plans to clean the closet in my design studio - translation organize all of the fabics on their respective shelves. Most of it will be cut up and used to art dolls, atc's and postcards as I'm really not into the commercial fabrics anymore. I may overdye, paint or rust them but since most of them are dark colors I'm not sure if this is an option without removing the color first. Could be interesting.

Bits of Ribbon

Whilest cleaning I found this lovely silk ribbon I dyed with cochineal sometime ago. I'm finding all sorts of stuff I want to overdye and rust!

Wet Studio

Old photo but not much has changed. This is the island in my wet studio, where I was making some stuff for halloween or something like that, I forget now. The space is just as crowded, only with rusty objects for creating cloth.

Taking Time Off

Note if you placed an order before January 3rd it's getting shipped this week, now that I'm recovered from the flu and feel like standing in public again. If you are waiting for a backordered item it will be shipped as soon as it arrives here.

If you placed an order after January 3rd it'll get filled, eventually, I'm taking the month of January off, so it may come at the end of the month, it may come sooner.

Now on with life...

I've decided to take some time off, the month of January to be precise. And if I don't get everything done then I'll take February off as well. I'm using this time to get caught up on things, like book work, inventory, taxes, and back orders. I'm also refilming - and editing - all of my online classes. And if that wasn't enough I decided to clean my surface design studio this afternoon. That'll take the rest of the week as I want to put things where I can actually get to them so that they are easy to get to, clear as mud??? In a nutshell I'm tired of wading through piles and stacks to get to something.

Normally I'm quite organized but when I'm pushing a deadline I start piling and stacking. So it's time to clean. The upside is I'm finding all sorts of beautiful fabrics, and papers, that I have composted, rusted, or otherwise surfaced.

Anyway, I would have had a headstart on all of this cleaning but I ended up helping hubby organize his studio on Monday. Tis ok I now have more space to put my stuff
;-) He just doesn't know that yet. We cut down the wood for making more encaustic boxes, I just have to find a wall in this house to hang them on now.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. Many Blessings and Good Health to All. May your dye pots overflow with beautiful colors, may your cloth be the envy of kings!!!

It's snowing here so I'm really excited tonight!!!

Kimberly

Newfoundland

Someone left me a comment, but I can't find it now, asking if I was from Newfoundland??? Actually my mother was from Cape St. George, Newfoundland Canada. She still has siblings that live there.

I lived there for a very brief time in the late 70's when my mother got a wild hair to leave my dad and moved back home. That didn't last long though, she went back because she missed my brother, who had chosen to stay in the states, and quite fiercely.

What I remember of it was the land was really rugged and lots of fog. My greatest experience was watching the whales with my aunt, and that the water was too cold to swim in, hey what did a little kid from Illinios know???

Would love to go back there someday. The closest thing that resembles NFLD here in this part of the country is the western shore of Lake Superior up nearest the Canadian border, lots of cliffs, rocks, water that is too cold to swim in and fog! Oh and did I mention pine trees?

Cookie Face

Well his name is actually Pepper but we also call him cookie face.

Sugar and Spice

And Tabby Cats with Mice.

Barley, aka the old man of the woods, woke me up at 5:11 this morning, actually Angel was the one that woke me up with her incessant barking. At first I thought someone was in the house but it turns out that Barley had a mouse cornered, and Angel - being the sheltie she is - was giving the warning sound that danger was eminent, for the mouse that is. Needless to say Barley ate the mouse as I was unable to get it away from him, he ate it head first of course so he was walking around with a mouse tail sticking out of his mouth, like it was a toothpick - that's my redneck cat. It's amazing how fast he can move for a 14 year old cat, I was pretty amazed, and considering he has no front claws he caught that mouse with no problems.

The Inspiration

Ok I did have the fabric first, it had been rust and compost dyed, but didn't know it's potential until Rick gave me this beautiful slab of green quartzite. Front and Back shots.

In Progress

Here's a half way in progress view.

Update

Green Quartzite front detail

Update

Green Quartzite piece in progress.

Backing Fabric

I found the perfect piece of fabric for my Green Quartzite piece, it's indigo dyed and looks as if there is a face on the fabric so I will probably be quilting it from the back side ;-) This will be a first for me, but hey there's a first time for everything.

In the spirit of keeping my sanity, I've given myself permission to quilt and stitch like a madd woman. I've come to the conclusion that working 16 hour days is not getting me anywhere in life, except older and with more regrets - so I am returning to my studio, even if it is only for a week.

More yummy fabric

Two pieces of silk fabric that were natural dye painted and rusted together in tandem. They are next on my list for finishing.

Red Stone Falls

This piece has been in progress for over a year now. I've been working on it mainly when I'm on the road traveling.

Green Quartzite - In progress

This piece is based on a piece of green quartzite rock that was given to me this fall. I had the fabric first, then came along the rock and WOW they could be twins. Anyway... Compost dyed, rust dyed cotton fabric. Now to find a piece of quilt batting and maybe I'll have her done by the morning. the piece is approximately 31 x 36 inches.

One sick kitty

Hopefully the vet will be available tomorrow morning. Aside from cleaning his ears I have yet to figure out what it is that's making Pepper so sick. He was fine yesterday, after I cleaned his ears. One of the perks of his being ill is he is very affectionate right now, but I have to admit I miss his spit fire spunkiness.

This is one siamese that came dressed as a tabby cat. As a general rule I don't like siamese cats, have had way too many bad experiences with them, so I tell everyone that God pulled one over on me when He gave me Pepper because he's a siamese dressed as a tabby! His mother was full siamese, and if you look at him in the correct light you can see his seal points. When he was a kitten I kept trying to wash the dirt off of his face, he was a farm cat rescue, turns out chocoalte seal points don't wash off but they have faded, and considerably so, over the past five years now.

He's definately a daddy's boy ;-) Here he is about half asleep, and purring very loudly, in John's arms.

Mark Making with Nature

Mark Making with Nature

Now $49.00 Reduced from $75.00
Now through December 31st, 2006

Over 2 hours of video workshop material on 4 discs.

Included is an additional CDROM with a 53-page book describing the techniques used in the video. This book is jam packed with color images demonstrated in the video.

Create unique marks on cloth using nature as your tool and inspiration.

Learn how to use Natural Dyes for:
Screenprinting
Monoprinting
Compost Dyeing
Dye Painting
Bound Resists and much, much more.

Rust and Clay Dyeing Book

Rust and Clay Dyeing Book with Video

Now $24.95 Reduced from $39.00
Now through December 31st!!!

PDF Book on CD-ROM with 4 embedded video clips demonstrating technqiues taught in the book.

Welcome to Hell

I have one half dead cat - and all of the local vets are closed until Monday, one completely dead computer (this is my main business computer I'm referring to with all of the order information on it) 37 orders that are Missing in Action via the USPS and tomorrow is Turkey Day.

Happy Holidays everyone!!! Here's hoping yours will be much better than mine. If I get my bathroom cleaned I'm going to take a long hot soak in the tub.

And this is why

I have to keep my studio cleaned and organized! I've spent the better part of four hours looking for a pile of a fat quarters to execute my new ideas with and cannot find them - anywhere!!!

I know sigh, take a deep breath and keep looking. Who knows where I put them at this point, I've looked everywhere for this pile of fabric - it's compost dyed fabric and the colors/patterns are to dye for, and I really wanted to use them in a project this afternoon. They must be hiding intentionally hoping for a better project in the future.

Xmas Exchange

This is what I recieved from Von Biggs for the Surfacing List Xmas Exchange. My camera just doesn't do his fabric justice~! There are two absolutely to die for silk scarves, a hank of yarn/fibers and two seperate pieces of fabric equalling a fat quarters worth of fabric, and a vial of glass beads.

I'm not used to this intense of a color palette, though it does remind me a lot of the sunsets here. Thank you so much Von!

I'm off to corral a tabby cat now.

Of Squirrels and Men

Ok this is more excitement than what I need in one day, let alone a week. I went to the attic with hubby to help install the newly created attic window - we have found that after a hundred years they start to fall out of the house.

Anyway... I hear some rustling behind me, I turn around, and there in one of the hanging wardrobes, envision plastic vinyle closet and you are there, and there is a squirrel looking at me. Well actually it was leaping towards me. It's amazing how fast a person with bad knees can move when a rodent is flying at you! I moved it hit the newly installed window and proceeded to bounce everywhere in the attic. I screamed and fled the attic. Feed me fish head stew anyday but squirrel wrangling and I'm outta here.

So as I speak the neighbor is up in the attic helping hubby to chase said squirrel out of our attic. And what a ruckus they are making.

In Progress

Compost Dyed Cloth that I monoprinted over the top, it's long and tedious but well worth the effort. Fabric is Silk Charmuse, approximately 54" wide by 72" long. Yet another topic covered in the Mark Making with Nature DVD.

Ghost Ship

I created this piece specifically for the DVD Mark Making with Nature: Surface Design with Natural Dyes

More Storage

My beloved hubby is putting more shelves up for me, I'm so excited~! This is my design studio, I'm finally going to have a place to put the rest of my books, aside from my studio floor. I'd take a pic but don't have my camera handy and I don't know how to retrieve images off of my cell phone so I will have to post pics later.