Chaos

Color play: Golds, Bt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue & Dioxazine Violet

For the past year I have been doing a daily online course through DailyOM - A Year to Clear.  It's a lovely slow drip that helps people learn to tackle the mess. Soon you see that the real treasure it offers is this:  It guides you, in equal parts, to put in order your outer life and your inner life.

It's been enlightening.

I'm on day #337/365.  I realized this morning that even though I started this course to find a way to deal with the chaos of a huge, several-years-long house remodel and the never-ending mess, that in addition, what I needed to learn was to *allow* chaos into certain parts of my life. 

I need to let my studio stay messy - so that I can see the things that inspire me and so that it's easy to maintain a creative practice. Because I could not impose order on the house, I had imposed too much order on the studio. I have found a better balance now: There is one area of neatness and visual peace, with another area behind me that is a working space where I can leave the supplies and inspirations out and create on the fly. This has helped my creative practice enormously.

But there's more.

As I explored more deeply, I found that 'chaotic' was a part of myself I have kept punched way down and locked away. This class was another attempt to eradicate it from myself completely, when really what it needed was to come out and play.

So I've been thinking about classes...

Jean Haines has written a terrific book called 'Paint Yourself Calm'.   I've been doing a lot of the activities and I can't say enough good things about it.

Her focus is on using watercolor painting as a type of meditation, if you will, to lift your spirits, center you in the moment, help you exercise mindfulness, etc.


As I was thinking of all I have learned from the book, I really started to want to share it in a way that is collaborative, so that the members of a group can support each other in shifting the focus of an art activity from 'I must make something gorgeous or I'm a failure.' to 'Oh!  Look at what the paint did there!'

So I'm planning a class called 'Watercolor for Relaxation'.   Here's a description.  Please let me know if you'd be interested in a class like this:

Class:  Watercolor for Relaxation

So often we sit down to creative work with the heavy expectation of creating a masterpiece...or at least something that will bring compliments from viewers.  The purpose of this class is to let go of the expectation of creating something perfect and finished and replace it with the calm of simply observing what the paint and water do together.   No expectations, just fun.  

We will play with color, learn how different pigments react with water, experiment with salt and plastic wrap effects, play with abstract compositions and a few other surprises.  

This class is appropriate for all levels of skill, including people who have never touched watercolor before.  [It will probably be hardest for people who are used to trying to paint 'something' instead of just playing].  

Cost:  $60.   Materials included [though you may bring your own things if that is more comfortable.]

Dates:  TBA

Time:  1:30-4:30pm [May go longer if you're having fun]

Location:  Robin's Studio.  6877 E Bland Rd. Solsberry, Indiana

Studio Transformation

As you know, my other business is dyeing yarn, and for years I had a job weaving saddle pads on a giant loom.  Seriously, the loom was the size of my car.  In my studio.  ACK.

In addition to the giant loom, I had tall shelving along all the walls to hold Etsy inventory and supplies.

This summer, I ended my job weaving which meant the loom would be gone and I decided I needed to convert some of that wall space to gallery space for my artwork.  I love having people out to the studio and I want to schedule some open studio evenings next year for people to come see the artwork.  Eric and I thought long and hard about how to make the transition.

We took out the tall built-ins and book shelves and put in heavy duty rolling shelf units that are much shorter.   Then my brilliant husband took the wood from the old built-in shelves and turned it into table tops for the new units.   We love salvaged wood! You can just see some of them on the carts to the left of the tall lights.  They still show some pencil marks from their original purpose.

Eric also built and installed a narrow shelf to hold artwork on the back and west walls.  This way I can display a lot of my art at one time instead of keeping it wrapped up and hidden.

The cart shelves can be wheeled away from the walls whenever we need and I will be adding simple fabric curtains to hide the boxes when we have more formal studio events in this space.


All of the dyed yarn is in the carts, which means I can reach every skein without a ladder.  Yay!

My studio couch is no longer surrounded by boxes and stacks of stuff.  It's a comfortable place to sit and visit, rest, sketch, or browse through some books for inspiration.  I love that couch.  It folds out into a futon as well, which makes the studio a guest house as well.

One of the things I'd been tripping all over was the set of lights I use when photographing the art for the web.   They fold way down, but I didn't want to have to rebuild them every time I needed to take a quick photo.

I arranged things so that the lights can fit back against this section of carts, which is always set up for photographing.  There's a wide walk around so the feet aren't in the way.  Much easier and no tripping.

This is my painting corner.  Not much changed here, except that the rest of the room is much more open with the loom gone and that really affects how I feel when I paint.

The light is a chicken lamp, with a fluorescent bulb.  Very bright and a great feature until we get some track lighting up there.

Another change was to the dye and classroom area of the space.  It will never look like a magazine studio, but there's more table space now for classes and the sink and stove are right there, keeping the mess confined to that area.

The door on the left is to a small bathroom - essential for us since the current house only has one bathroom.   [A second is in the works.]

I keep reminding myself that this is a working studio - a hard working studio - and it's okay that it's always in flux.  We've got multiple projects going all the time.  [That's an antique table in pieces on the table there.   All stripped and sanded, ready for a final gluing and shellacking.]

All in all, I am thrilled with the new look out here.  It feels great and is conducive to peaceful, creative work.  If you're interested in coming to the studio to see my artwork, please let me know. We'll set up a time for you to come.   In addition, I'll be offering many classes here again next year and will be posting the schedule soon.   Stay tuned.

2017 Classes and Calendar

I've scheduled several new classes this year to be taught here at my studio and I'm really excited that they're on the calendar. 

This is a huge benefit to participants because the classes will be small [max 4] with an emphasis on individual questions, projects and consultations.

Here's the link to my whole calendar so you can see all my classes including the ones taught elsewhere.

This is what I'll be teaching this year:

• Color theory
• Intermediate spinning on a spinning wheel:  Plying
• Dyeing cotton yarns
• Dyeing cotton fabrics [for you quilters!]
• Dyeing silk scarves
• Natural dyes

Follow the links on the calendar to the registration pages for each class.   You can register and pay online.

There is a significant discount if you register early for one of the classes held here at my studio .  

As always, I'm super happy to answer your questions.   Email me. 

The Fiber Event at Greencastle, Indiana

I left the pic big because this yarn is really pretty.

Stella Silk.   ~1350 yds.  8oz.  Hand-dyed, raw silk.   Laceweight.

Dyeing season has started and I've been gearing up for our next big fabulous show in just a few weeks!

The Fiber Event at Greencastle, Indiana, 2014 

www.thefiberevent.com

Friday, April 18:  10:30 am - 7 pm

Saturday, April 19: 9 am - 4 pm

Free admission.  Free parking

Putnam County Fairgrounds, just north of Greencastle, Indiana

I hope to see you there!   Please stop in our booth in the Community Building and say hello.   We'll have loads of dyed yarns, dyed silks, soap and soapsets and samples galore!

If you want us to bring something for you to pick up at the show, please let me know via email [robin at morenna dot com] and we'll have it ready for you when you come.

In the Studio

I've spent some time this winter in the studio, dyeing up some ribbon.   Since it has to be steamed, it heats the studio a bit and helps keep things humidified.  

Plus, when I'm done, I have all this gorgeous yarn to sell.  If you haven't seen my Etsy yarn shop, then here's the link:  www.robinjedmundson.etsy.com.


Photo:  Party ribbon.  Deep Woods.  395 yds, $35.   Available here on Etsy.

I'll also be at our regular fiber festivals this year.  Here's a list of where you can find us.   Please stop by and say hello.   I love meeting you!


Photo:  Frost ribbon.  Forest Fire.  200 yds, $12.  Available here on Etsy.

Renaissance

I love warm weather.   The dye loves warm weather.   Colors are always a bit better in the summer.

This is what came out of the dyepot last week. 

Colorway:   Renaissance.  

You can see all of my colors, up close and personal next weekend at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds on June 1st and 2nd.  Stop in and say, 'Hi.'

We're on TV tonight!

Remember when the crew from The Weekly Special came to the studio to interview me?  Well, tonight they're re-running the show.   In just a few short hours, you can see me in my studio doing what I do best - getting color all over everything.

Here's the link to the Weekly Special's episode on the fiber arts.   The program airs again tonight, Thursday, Sept 29, 2011 at 8 pm Eastern Daylight time.   PBS, Bloomington, Indiana - Channel 5 or 30 depending on your hookup.

If you missed it, the Youtube clip of my part of the program is on the right side of the blog.   You can at least watch my part of it. 

Studio tour

While the studio was clean last week for the Weekly Special taping, I thought it might be nice to record the cleanliness for posterity.    It's not likely to be that clean again for a long time. 

And while I was at it, I thought you might like to see the sanitized version of where I do my creating.


This is the studio.  Yes, those red doors are where the logo came from.   The center ones are taller.  They weren't supposed to be.  It's a long story.

Once you get inside, this is what you'll see.    Turn to your left.   No, the other left.

This is the southwest corner.    The big green cabinet was rescued by my dad from an office that was moving.   It used to be dark brown.   It's much happier green.   The stack of boxes next to it are full of yarn ready to sell.


This is the north east corner.

There's more of those boxes.   You can see my 8H Baby Wolf Loom - with a tencel warp on it.   More about it later.   Against the wall are shelves full of books, parts, and scrapbooking stuff.    The couch was an incredibly lucky Salvation Army find - $15, in great shape and no stink.


This is the view you get when you walk in the front - straight onto the north wall.

The table was a garage sale find.  It used to be a hideous baby poop yellow.   It's happier naked.  Notice that it is cleaned off.   You'll never see it that way again.    The white basket underneath the table is full of natural dye samples that we need to put on cards.  Behind the couch is all the stuff that wouldn't fit in a cabinet or on a shelf.  

Moving clockwise to the right [as opposed to clockwise to the left.   No, your other left] you see the White Yarn Corner.     It has so much yarn in it that it creates it's own gravity.

That's the bathroom door back there.    I love having a bathroom in the studio.   Especially since we only have one in the house. 

Moving on, we have the east wall - dye area.

 Notice the last batch of natural dye samples still hanging over the washer.   Those are the apple twig ones.

 I have two 6 ft tables set up all the time.   It's barely enough surface to hold everything I want to have out.    The black plastic bags are contractor size trash bags that I use to cover the tables when I dye.   I love them.   We use them for trash, too.   When we need a trash bag, we get one from the studio stack.  

This is the dye sink.   Recycled from one of those dudes who sells fixed bikes and lawn mowers out of his garage.   I love guys like that.    The little wood cabinet that fits so nicely under it is a salvage, too.   It came just last year. 

 This is the dye cabinet area.    

The hanging cabinets came from First Saturday salvage place.   The stove came from the side of the road for free.   The brown cabinet came from someone's garage. 

This is the dye cart. 

It sits next to the stove and holds the small glass dye jars, the big stack of dye rags, assorted dye pots and the very important stack of aprons. 

This is the view from the back of the studio, facing the front doors.    I love this view.

The bay tree to the right of the door is one we've had for years.   We got it when it was about 8 inches high.   It's usually decorated when it's inside for the winter.   The bush behind it is a rosemary that I've managed to keep alive for about 5 years now.   A friend gave me a Meyer lemon this year and hopefully it will bear next year.  

I love my studio. 

My favorite view

When I sit on the couch in my studio and wind skeins - which I have to do often - this is the view I see. 

Lights, camera....action!

Yesterday, we turned my dye studio into a tv studio.

A crew from WTIU [Bloomington, Indiana] came to my studio to film a segment on my dyeing for The Weekly Special.    Very exciting!    It's set to air on May 5th.  

It took me days, days!, to get the studio ready for TV.   It will stay clean for another 10 minutes, so if you want to see it, you'd better hurry.  

When they came, they brought all their TV camera equipment in handy cases.    When I saw the cases, I wasn't too worried....

and then I realized that tripods took up a lot more space set up than they did in the boxes.  It's a good thing I cleaned so much.   

They brought a camera and two lights.  

Confession #1:  Cameras are not my friend.    I do not appreciate looking like an orca on screen - even if I do look like one in person.    The producer assured me that they would use the Skinny Filter on the camera which would make me look 20 pounds thinner on TV.    I'm so relieved.

The crew was fabulous!   This is Eric, the producer.

and Ilsa, the grip.

and Jacob, the cameraman.   He's in charge of the Skinny Filter, so I was extra nice to him.

Jacob had to stand in front of the Big Hot And Extremely Bright Light.     It was big, hot and extremely bright.   Really - during the whole interview I felt like I was looking at Eric through a heavy mist.    They told me Do Not Look Into The Big Hot And Extremely Bright Light.   So I didn't.   I enjoy what little eyesight I have left. 

I thought the mini-monitor was pretty cool.    That's me in the monitor.   Too bad they couldn't just use that still and voice over the dialog.

This is me getting the mic on. 

It had a long cord connected to the little box thingie and everything.   I didn't want the mic on, but apparently making the audience lip read is bad form.   So I wore it.   I was  relieved that I didn't strangle myself with it or trip the cameraman.   That would have been bad. 

Taping was in two parts:  The Interview and The Dyeing Process.   I got a little break between, which was good because my knuckles were kinda white after the interview.

Jacob and Eric were very relaxed.

I wasn't. 

See that skein of handspun on my lap - it kept me sane.   I just pretended I could hide behind it.  I also kept my hands on it so I wouldn't wave them around.    The whole keeping-my-hands-from-moving-around thing didn't really work, as you can see.  

This is me trying to look like I know what I'm talking about during The Interview.

Confession #2:   I totally suck at impromptu interviews.   I get all tongue-tied, my vocabulary deserts me, I lose my train of thought,  I give too many details,  I move my hands too much.    Every time Eric asked a question, 40 things popped into my brain at the same time - the loudest one being 'I have no idea how to answer that question!'.  Too bad they couldn't tape all the noise in my head - THAT would have made for some gripping reality TV.  

Eric took it all in stride and never even once rolled his eyes out loud, so I was extra nice to him.    

It's kind of a minor miracle that we managed to turn the studio into a....studio.   We even had a studio audience!  At the bottom of this photo you can see part of the studio audience.   The other part of the studio audience took the photo.

After The Interview,  they taped The Dyeing Process, which meant that Jacob had to follow me around with the camera on his shoulder.    This is me getting the yarn out of the soda solution. 

And this is me rinsing the already dyed yarn.

Confession #3:    It takes 3 days to dye stuff from start to finish.    They didn't want to come over three days in a row, so I had things ready at four stages:  White and dry, in skeins; wetted-out and ready to dye; already dyed and ready to rinse; already rinsed and hanging on the drying rack.  That way they could film the whole process without actually being here for the whole process.  

When it was all over, they packed everything up...

and then we went down to the chicken coop to talk chickens.  Eric is getting chickens this month and he wanted to see ours.  

Confession #4:   It was really exciting but I'm relieved that it's over.  Mostly, I'm just glad I didn't fart on camera.   

Really.  

Getting ready..

for the Fiber Event at Greencastle!    April 15, 16, 2011 at the Putnam County Fairgrounds in Greencastle, Indiana. 

I love the Fiber Event.  It is the first fiber festival I ever went to.   We bought our first sheep there.  We started selling dyed stuff there.   It's a wonderful festival full of great vendors and fabulous products.   It's always a struggle to not buy more than I sell.  

We've been getting ready for a while now.  The studio is getting a bit full.  Everywhere you look there are boxes..

and more boxes....

Lots of new yarns and colors this year.   I hope you can come to the show.  Stop by my booth and say hi!