Tag Archive for quilts embellished with buttons and beads

Updates on the Beaded Art Quilt – “Columns of Purple and Orange”

Purple Ribbon with beads on motifNancy Smeltzer, MFA

I tend to work on several quilts at once, as I often get tired of the same colors. This particular one I had cut out to take on an upcoming trip, but my carry-on is so filled with meds for my chronic Lyme disease, that there won’t be any room for art work this trip. It’s probably just as well, because I end up carrying all of these supplies and then have only a few hours time to work on my art while I’m away.

This piece is progressing however, even though in this detail shot, you can some of the surfaces not beaded yet. One part that is finished is the purple velveteen ribbon with dark purple beads that outline the petals. I wanted to leave the rest of the ribbon to be uncovered as it’s so pretty.

Orange and yellow flower with gold beadsIn the center of this photo is one of the orange fabric flowers outlined in yellow. I chose to use large yellow seed beads,size 3, for the center, with smaller size 10 beads to outline the petals. I used red quilting thread to secure them, which added a subtle contrast and tied the beads into the composition. I also liked using some olive green buttons and disks as they make for a nice pop to the colors. At the very top of this photo is a glass sunflower button. It has dichroic foil behind it, and the shape also adds to the flower concept in this section of the quilt’s composition. In the bottom left is another large glass button, whose purple sheen plays off the purple buttons to the left of it and above.

White faux pearl oval bead medallionIn the bottom right of this pic is a lavender and white medallion. The fabric motif had the white ovals printed on it, and all I had to do was to sew white faux pearl oval beads onto the appropriate areas of the circle to make the pattern. These beads are sometimes known as rice beads because of their semblance to grains of rice. They are usually white, especially the plastic ones, but you can find them in different sizes and colors. The lavender area that is not covered with beads plays off the beaded oval shape above the medallion which is beaded. While I cover up large areas of these art quilts with beads, I do like to leave a little fabric uncovered for future curators to investigate.

I have definitely entered the Time of the Long Sew on this piece. Just as when you’re building a new house and you reach a point where it doesn’t look like much is being done, this quilt is in that stage where forward progress isn’t as obvious as when I first begin. However, there is the peace that comes from the Zen-like quality of repetitive motion that keeps me going at this stage.

How do you keep yourself moving forwards towards completion of a piece when it feels as if you’re not making much obvious progress? What’s your version of the Long Sew, or does your medium move quickly?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write because encouragement helps the words flow!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my spiritual healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

The Visionary Art Quilt,”Medicine Area”, Part Three

Detail of the Visionary Art Quilt - "Medicine Area"Nancy Smeltzer, MFA

The photos on this page were taken on the third day of embellishing this small art quilt with buttons and beads. Since the piece is only 16″ x 20″, (41.5 cm x 51 cm), the area quickly fills up and I have to restrain myself not to cover up every square piece of surface area. Some of the mirrored squares that I wrote about in previous postings are at the tips of the red arrows I added just for this photo to point out the mirrors. In the vision where I was shown this image, this cave of healing has the walls of it lined with shining crystals, so these mirrors are meant to suggest that reflective quality. The brass metal feather that I mentioned in the last posting as being used to represent one of my spirit guides can be seen much better in this photo in the middle of this picture. As the feather only had an attachment circle at each end of its length, it flopped around too much when I picked up whole quilt. I rarely use glue to secure anything on to my art quilts, as I feel that it could leach out over the years. However, since this metal feather is so heavy, besides sewing it down at the top and the bottom, I used E-6000 glue on the back of the feather. I hate the smell of it, but usually by the time a piece has dried over night, the smell has dissipated.

Detail of visionary art quilt - "Medicine Area"I was worried about how to handle all if that mustard colored background fabric around the square portal, seen here in the upper right, so I sewed on lots of small, yellow buttons with purple embroidery floss. I love the luxury of having lots of the same embellishment material, so the halo of yellow buttons trails off into other parts of the composition. I wanted to suggest the “pow” of energy radiating outwards that would be released as someone enters the square portal and comes into this cave “garden”. (The commands or mantras to help you to access the energy of the piece are found on the Meditation Gardens page – scroll down past the pictures to find them and the directions on how to use them.)

At this point, showing more pictures of this art quilt before it’s finished, would be like showing the building of a new house after the inside has been framed and the walls are up. There’s not so much to see until the piece is totally completed, as the work now will be slow and subtle. I call it the “Time of the Long Sew”, because at this point, there will be hours and hours of stitching and not so much obvious work to show for it. I’ll post the blog with the finished piece when it’s all done, so check back to see how this cave “garden” looks when it’s completed.

What do you find to be the most time consuming parts in the construction of your own art work? Do you feel that those times are worth it, or merely time draining?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write because encouragement helps the words flow!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

The Visionary Art Quilt,”Medicine Area”, Part Two

"Medicine Area" Meditation Art Quilt after first day of embellishing with buttons and beadsNancy Smeltzer, MFA

This photo shows the “Medicine Area” visionary art quilt after the first day of embellishing with buttons and some beads. When compared to the previous posting about this quilt, as you can see, I sew pretty fast when I’m inspired. I solved the problem of how to deal with the large area of gold fabric at the top and in other areas of the quilt by using a transparent, gold ribbon sewn in horizontal lengths. Unfortunately, in the photo, because of the angle of the photographic lights, the ribbon appears to have a red cast, when in reality, it’s really quite gold. Not to worry, because in later photographs, you’ll see that much of the ribbon gets covered over anyway by seed beads.

As you look around the middle and lower pools, you’ll alsoDetail of "Medicine Area" visionary art quilt see a lot more buttons than were in the first blog about this piece. To the lower right of the portal square, are some small square buttons. These are actually square mirrors. I’m already using this piece for my own meditations, and as my new spirit guide, Brian Baker, continues to show me more and more of this healing cave, I can see that the walls are covered with shining crystals. That’s what the square mirrors are supposed to simulate. You can also see a half circle of gold chain maille rings stiched down with purple embroidery floss around the purple outcropping on the upper left. These outlines of circles suggest the round shape of the more traditional buttons that are always included in my art quilts. I like to use repeating patterns in different sizes, colors, and whether it’s a solid or outline shape.

Detail of a visionary art quilt, "Medicine Area"The square mirror buttons are much easier to see in this last detail shot. Square buttons can be hard to place, as they have to be sewn on just so and tightly, as it’s obvious when they’re crooked. Just off to the right of center, just below the middle pool, is a large bronze, curved metal feather. Another of my spirit guides uses a golden eagle as his totem animal, so that feather is to honor him. The golden steps, edged in black that lead down from each pool to the other are more visible in this photo. Obelisk like fabric motifs, surrounded by circles. were cut from a fabric from Africa, and were used to suggest the sacred quality that I feel about this piece.

This small art quilt, which is the same size as my other Meditation Art series measures 16″ x 20″ (40.5cm x 50.5cm), but is filled with many reverent sensations for me as I stitch on it night after night. When I hold it up at the end of the night at a distance to see how the work is going, I feel honored that I’m being shown the image for this piece by my spirit guides. This piece, I’m told, is for me to keep, and I certainly am glad that it’s chosen to stay with me, too.

 Have you ever had pieces of art work that you just knew that you were meant to keep? How do you decide which to keep and which to sell? For me, the ones that I sell were never mine to keep from the first second that I started them. How do you make your decisions?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write because encouragement helps the words flow!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

A Medicine Area Art Quilt and Visionary Art

"Medicine Area" art quilt in the Meditation Garden series - full shot - first day of embellishmentNancy Smeltzer, MFA

In the previous posting about the “Image From Beyond“, I wrote about how I had been given the picture from which to make a small art quilt by a fellow healer who has crossed over, Brian Baker. This much larger piece of visionary art also came from his sharings, and will be part of my Meditation Gardens series. However, instead of being a more traditional garden, with plants, as the previous pieces have been, this image is more along the lines of the Medicine Area that I was taught during my shamanic training with Wes Geitz. In recent postings on my healing blog, Transition Portals, especially the postings about my visit in December to Joshua Tree, California, I’ve talked a lot about Wes’s teachings. In the Lakota Sioux and Mohawk traditions in which we were taught, the Medicine Area, the theme for this piece, was a place that we “built” in our consciousnesses where our healing work would take place. Before Brian became one of my Spirit Guides, my own Medicine Area was rather bare. They always seem to be in caves and mine originally consisted of a stone table on which to work with and a fire off to the side. Now, Brian has shown me a much richer, more vibrant area to do my healing work.

Detail of a Meditation Gardens art quilt - "A Medicine Area"In this detail shot, you can some of the buttons and beads that had been included by the end of the first day of adding embellishments to this piece. In this cave “garden”, there are three pools of water that cascade down one side of the cave’s walls. Stone steps also lead down to the bottom of the cave. The portal for entering the cave, as in all of the “Meditation Gardens” series, is in the upper right and uses the same commands to enter it as is described on the page in the immediately given link for the series. The colors in this cave are so much more vibrant in this “new, updated” version, and I can see things more clearly then in past visits to my Medicine Area before Brian showed me this image.

What will be a challenge will be how to handle the great expanse of background fabric and break it up. It’s actually a mottled gold fabric with very fine, black lines that makes the surface look like a small-celled honey comb. Do I go with gold, black, amber or some other color seed beads? I find that I have to see seed beads in person to see how they will work on an art quilt, as bead colors on a computer monitor just aren’t accurate enough for me. I shake a few beads out of the vial and skewer them on to a straight pin to hold against the fabric to see show they will actually appear when sewn down. That way, since color is such an important design element for me, I can get the effects that I want.

As with all my art quilts, the images are important to me, as since I’m not having children, they’re the part of me that I’ll be leaving behind. This image is especially important to me to “get it right”, as it combines two of my passions, art and healing. Keep coming back, as I have photos to write about regarding the next two days’ additions of embellishments. I’m really having a good time with this quilt!

How do you choose the colors in your medium? Do you lay them beside each other, or do you “see” them in you head? What do you do when you can’t get the “right” color for what you need? Art is all about creative problem solving, so we’d love to hear how you get around “there aren’t enough colors in my crayon box”!

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write because encouragement helps the words flow!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Some More From my NeMaS Wearable Art Collection – Magenta Jacket

Commercial jacket embellished with appliques,buttons, beads, and ribbonThe final piece from my NeMaS wearable art wardrobe is this commercial silk jacket that I embellished with appliques, buttons, beads, and ribbons. I used to wear this out to dressy dinners and got quite a lot of compliments on it. As with some of my other wearable art, this quilt on my body did not have much on the back. I quickly discovered that sitting against a chair back with bulky buttons poking into me was not very comfortable, so the back of this is bare as far as embellishments go. As with some of the other pieces of clothing, there was a limit as to how far up a sleeve I could decorate, and how far down into a pocket I could sew buttons and other additions to the wearable “canvas” I was creating on this commercially made jacket.

Detail of button, bead, and ribbon embellishment at top of magenta jacketIn this detail shot of the top of the jacket, you can see the pleated gold ribbon that I put down the front. It was way too stiff to put around the neck, so I left the part of the soft, silk collar that was against my neck plain as I hate scratchy things. I did couch down some flat burgundy and gold braid on the seam where the collar meets the body of the jacket. I machine embroidered on some fabric motifs that I had left over from a quilt that I had just completed. One of my favorite motifs at the time, a black rose on a purple background, is shown just to the bottom left middle of the detail photo above. This was 1985, and Woody Allen had just come out with the movie, “The Purple Rose of Cairo“. The title of the name intrigued me, as I love clever word phrases. Also, being an avid rose gardener, there were no purple roses on the market at the time. Yes, I know that this is a black rose (none of them for sale either), but this fabric was as close as I could get to something that was vaguely like the title. Of course, there were buttons to add to the front; I can always find a place for some buttons!

Bottom edge of front of jacket embellished with appliques, buttons, beads and ribbonsHere is the bottom edge of the front of the jacket that has a natural curve upwards where the two sides meet. More gold ribbons, more black lace, and buttons, buttons, buttons. If you look at the flat gold and burgundy braid to the left of the pleated gold ribbon, you’ll see that the way the gold piping on the edge moves in and out makes tiny burgundy circles. (Sort of little mini button-like motifs.) Then I added a different flat gold ribbon to repeat the color of the pleated one. Next came vertical rows of gold buttons of two types to play off of the rows of ribbons. I like to repeat similar sizes, colors and shapes, but on different scales to enhance the composition. It’s kind of fun to look down and see lots of details when you’re wearing something like this.

I’m often asked how do you clean something like this and the answer is that you don’t. No dry cleaner would take a piece like this without you removing all of the embellishments. If I wore in a restaurant back when people smoked at dinner, I would hang the jacket outside for a day to air out. I did spot clean small areas on my wearable art clothing when needed, and there was a wine disaster on one piece that needed some additional appliques to be sewn on to cover up the stain. I wish that I had stored this jacket in a cloth clothes bag, because when I brought it out to photograph it, even though it had been in a closet for years, the shoulders had faded some. Using a silk jacket to embellish was a risk because of the silk’s fragile nature, but I did enjoy wearing this piece out to dinner.

Have you made any wearable art and what did you learn about embellishments, and care of the piece. Did you find that your work was commercially viable or did you care?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.hearthealing.net and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.