Here's a piece called Parti-Wells, part of the Sere series, more practice with flipped circles. Some are deconstructed screen printed. It'll wake you up if you're feeling dozy!

New Course!! Adventures in Contemporary Embroidery

Coming September to the website (DeborahWeir.net) is a complete description of all the various techniques and materials which you can learn to embroider, applique, bead and otherwise employ to go beyond the flat surface of your quilts and other textiles. Above are some examples: Golden Splat!, Blue Box (lid) and DK#5. Yup, all stitched. Email me for more info Fiberfly@cox.net.

New Course!! Using the Embellisher (dry felting) Machine

Here are examples of multiple techniques which this inexpensive and EASY to use machine can do. The course descriptions will be on the website from September 1 (DeborahWeir.net). They are Rotorua Redux, Rosebud and Fetid Wells.

I've been trying out some ideas for the Science Meets Art SAQA challenge and have so far run into a wall as all my ideas have proven too hard to render in fabric. Now if this were an embroidery challenge . . . So here are some silly examples of my efforts to make wood cells - neither the colors nor scale are realistic, just experimenting.

Here's a bit of a teaser: a small close up of a piece I finished this week called Archeology/Language. Click on it to see the details.

Here are some photos of pieces I've sent off to national shows recently. Remember to click on them to see a bigger version. They are Window 3, That's Amore, Rosebud, Knee-His, Joolama 3 and Coalescence 2. Which is your favorite?

DONE!!

At last, SERE: Summer Heat is complete. After beading, I went in with more paint, some with metal bits, which is why there are so many reflective dots. And then I finished it with a little silk thread running stitch to visually emphasize the horizontal heat lines and connect the spiral more intimately to the rest of the surface. There is batting in this piece so it could be finished as a quilt, but it will be much more impactful stretched and framed, so I will drop it off at my brilliant framer's, Colleen at Kathy's Framer in Torrance, CA, for the final step. Check back to see what frame we have chosen.

This is the beading and final shaping stage of the piece nearing completion. I thought I'd post its progress to date with some close ups so you can see the intricacy of the detail and understand why it is taking such a long time to complete this phase. Keep in mind that those white headed pins are TEMPORARY! Once I'm happy with the bead details there is just one more step before I take it to my FABULOUS framer.

BIG honor . . . I was invited by the Palos Verdes Art Center to be a docent trainer for their upcoming All Media show. I get to turn more people on to the artistic pleasures and richness of textile art. Thrilled to be able to expand their horizons! This is my piece in the show.

SERE: Summer Heat (stage four)

This posting shows the overview and a couple of detail shots of the completed embroidery on Summer Heat. The spiral is now clearly evident; it is comprised of a multitude of applied materials stitched in place. It has a variety of textures and widths, but reads as a flowing, harmonious unit which guides the eye across the piece. It is interesting to see at this point how the background is beginning to look burnt, pealing and aged. Two more stages to go!

Remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it so you can see more detail.

SERE: Summer Heat (stage three)

Here you can see that I've begun the stitching and application of surface elements, including metal, to start adding dimension and interest to the surface and further delineating the swirling pattern.

In addition to working with fabric, I also weave. Today my studio assistant, Jessica, and I spent hours dyeing yarn for a rug we've been working on. She did a very artistic job of arranging the yarn on the lawn to dry in our sweltering Southern California sun!

I have added the painted, shrunk Tyvek to begin to delineate an overall pattern for the piece. It is interesting to observe the light markings from the underlying Rossi fabric breaking through the surface; they seem to have been created with a slightly dimensional dye which leaves a tactile, noncotton surface which cannot be covered with acrylic paint. Stay tuned!

Taking a risk, I've decided to post my progress on a new piece for my SERE series. This one is called Summer Heat, for obvious reasons, as we swelter here in Southern California. We are experiencing a drought which is annoying but not deadly as such an event is elsewhere on the planet. I have no idea where this piece will go, but I thought it might be exciting to watch as it guides me along. So far I've painted Wonder Under, applied it to a ground fabric from Lonni Rossi's collection and added a bit more paint. I'll post another photo when there is significant change.

Double click on any photo to ENLARGE.

These are three views of Well Bottom which show what is left when the well runs dry. The background fabric is painted over a farina (yup, cereal) resist which was slowly flaked off as more paint was added and dried in multiple steps. I have then stitched and appliqued a range of threads and other decorative elements into the ground cloth. The piece is framed.

I wanted to post some images of pieces which highlight my stitchery which I refer to as Contemporary Embroidery. I use, in addition to a wide range of threads and beads, metals which can be stitched into. Some of the backgrounds are painted, printed and/or otherwise heavily manipulated. These pieces are all either framed or stitched to stretched canvas and therefore are not "quilts." The first set is from the DK, or What the Cat Dragged In series all of which have bits of metal brought to me on our cats' magnetic collars.

This piece, Cyclosporosis, is comprised of images taken of slides under a microscope of various cells from this water-borne disease. It infects people all over the globe who are forced to use fetid water.

See my piece Knee His in this exhibition if you are in the Minneapolis area this summer. It's made of recycled stockings and silk blouses from the days before my liberation to full time artist-hood!

SERE: Study 8

This is a more resolved piece - in that it will be touring in the Mancuso shows for the next year and is a bit bigger at 18" X 18" - but it is a study in that it was practice with making those circles. Not such an easy shape to inset.

Sere: Study 6

This is more of a collage than a quilt. Lots of fabrics I screen printed.

SERE: Study 5- detail

SERE: Study 4

SERE series continued: