A little something different today- a birdcage/card holder for a friends' wedding. My buddy Gail supplied the cage, and I added moss, excelsior, flowers, a nest, birds, and ribbon. The guests will slip cards into the wide slot above the birds.
It was fun to play with pretty things that are out of my ordinary media. But I have written down all the things I do,  that I could think of in a few minutes, and there are 40 different things. And I did not add anything about the stuff in this project. What should I call this? Flower arranging?

Tweet
This is an encaustic painting. I made it in Rob Kinseys' class at TwoTwelveArts. It is beeswax and resin, mixed with oil paint. The substrate is a piece of 2"x10".
I added embroidery on cotton fabric, to reference my fiber art. I also added my hand dyed cheesecloth fabric, buttons, wood circles, and wire shapes. I made a wire G-clef for the bird's song, and a curl for his melody. The bird is cut from a bit of fabric, and sits on a swing. The word says Tweet, the name of the piece.
If you look at the previous post, you'll see my first try at encaustic.

About 6 years ago, I made this encaustic painting. It is done with crayons instead of beeswax. I saw an article in an art magazine, and adapted it to do it my way. I used a heat gun made for rubber stampers, and a small quilters' iron. After some experimentation, I made 2 paintings and I was quite happy with the results. Finally I thought to frame this one, and hang it in my house. It looks like a bed of flowers to me, maybe Impatiens. Too bad I forgot to take a picture before the glass was put on. Sorry for the reflection.
I recommend playing with your toys in unintended ways.

 This is some of the fabric I dyed yesterday. I did 15 pieces. the results are fantastic. I'm sorry you can't see these in person, they are luscious. This brings the count to 169 items.

This is the fabric I am dyeing, in the batching stage. I'll show you after it's washed and dried tomorrow. A bunch of colors are done in each container, the results will be a surprise. I hope a good one.
With the windchimes I made, the count is up to 154. I know I missed a bunch of stuff, but that will do.
Today I am taking an encaustic class. I made a couple small embroideries to put in it, but they are not counted. Hope to have something to show from this later.
In the meantime, it is 94* here. If not for the wind, we'd be cooked. I worked outside in the shade for more than an hour, then I got hot.

 I also grouted these rock mosaics. These are fun to make. They are big enough to be doorstops. In fact the turtle rock is too heavy to be practical. It must weigh 15 lbs. The others are more reasonable, about 3 or 4 lbs.

I made this mosaic a while back, grouted it today.

Today I'll catch you up a bit on my artworks. This is a diaper cake I made for a baby shower.

I am doing my part to support the post office today. I am mailing 5 birthday cards, and 2 graduation cards. I am lucky to have loving family and friends, celebrating happy occasions.

We had a Campau family reunion on Sunday, and 50 family members and friends spent the day together. It was so lovely, happy smiling faces all around. The picture shows 5 of 6 siblings and some of their adult kids. The newest family members are 4+1/2 months old  and 2+1/2 years old. Although they won't remember it, I am glad they shared the day with the rest of us. We celebrated my upcoming 60th birthday, Father's Day, and family reunion together. We had people from Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Maybe next time the ones from Illinois, Texas, Colorado, and California will join us too.

This is the one I told you about. It has a lot of stitching that you can't see unless you look closely. The thread colors are subtle, not a term I usually apply to my stuff. I didn't want to upstage the art cloth I used for the background.

I have been stitching a lot, but have not really liked the results. I'll try to post a picture after I write. The theme I was exploring is Above and Below, for an upcoming show. My piece does not meet the shows requirements, and I won't enter it, but I was thinking about the theme so I'd get an idea. I have buttons trapped below sheer fabric. One is below a web of stitches. There are circles done with oil paint crayons, above silk screened circles. There is a fringe of beads below, and a row of buttons above. I wrote a poem too," Up above, looking down, do we twinkle on the ground? Does our chaos make a pattern? Is it visible from Saturn?"
This was a fun exercise, but not exactly eye catching.

This is the whole quilt I made for entry into IQF. It didn't make the cut, and I blame it on the photo. It's hard to take pictures of shiny fabrics, and dark ones. There is hand beading on the flowers, and lots of fancy quilting. But I will enter it in another show.

I was at a fabulous baby shower yesterday. Well, truth to tell, I was one of the hostesses. But my part was small. The huge success of the party is due to my friend, Maureen, who provided her elegant home. Every little corner in her home is more beautiful than most museum collections. She puts a lot of effort into her home, and it is well worth it. That she has traveled the world is apparent. Her ability to attain such beauty is only enhanced by her finely tuned sense of the value of objects. She has a sharp eye for a bargain, and can see possibilities I would never imagine.
And Maureen is so generous to her friends. We all felt delighted to be treated to a meal prepared and served by a French Chef. Even the goodie bags she sent us all home with were delightful.  Now she will be soon be a Gramma. That is one lucky baby.