Cherishing Summer

by Nada Clyne

Summer!  Soft breezes, the warm air caressing, fragrant flowers, birds singing, wet grass underfoot.  Oh how I adore this gentle nourishing time of year!  I say thank you every morning.

I created this image to express the feeling of summer's embrace. May I always remember to be grateful, remember to cherish each moment, and remember to appreciate the exuberant beauty!  And remember to stop saying, "I wish it was always like this." 

Saying goodbye to a friend....

Today my family and I had to say goodbye to our dog, Niko. He had been in a steady decline for the past year, but in the past 3 months he had been on pain killers and was doing very poorly. So, my step-daughter, Lori,  called Niko's vet and found out he is part of an animal hospice. Niko has so much anxiety about going to the vet's office, so the vet and his assistant came to our house to euthanize him. I was glad Lori was able to say goodbye to her beloved dog. We'll miss him.....

Riverfest Poster

by Hank

Recently  I was working on a Poster for the Narrowsburg Art  Fair “Riverfest,” sponsored by The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. The poster will be sold at auction on July 28, which is a fund raiser for the DVAA.

The idea of joining several slats of wood together forming a visual pattern is not new to me; I have been doing this with my vases for a long time. Of course the vases are cylindrical and the poster is flat.

Joining the wood was no problem; neither was sanding and sealing the wood. That’s where the “NO PROBLEMS” ended. The first coat of polyurethane went on OK, but the second coat went down spotty and dusty. That’s when I should have walked away from the project for a day or two, or at least a few hours. I sanded the second coat out and put on a third, then a fourth, and a fifth, each coat worse than the previous one.  I finally tried spraying on the top coat but this only made things worse. What a mess. 

I don’t usually have these problems finishing a piece, so I decided to strip off all the poly and start over again. A wise person once said “to do the same thing over and expect different results is madness.” 

The next day I super-cleaned a different brush, thinned and strained the polyurethane and started over. The poly went on the wood like a stamp on an envelope. When the second coat went on and dried the poster was finished.

I try to follow the philosophy, “I never make a mistake, because when I DO it, it is the right thing to do.”  It’s only  afterwards that I know it was a mistake. 

      

Marbling Silk Scarves

by Buff

In the fall, I made some new marbled scarves, some of which are shown on my page.  They are a lot of fun to make, partly because you're never quite sure how they will turn out.  Here's how I make them:

First I mix up a thin gel of carageenen, which is a seaweed product, and used in foods.  I pour it (a lot of it!) into my frame of two by two lumber lined with two layers of heavy plastic.  It sits overnight to settle, and then the fun begins!



Preparing the paints

I use a thin textile paint that acts like a dye, and put in an additive to make sure the scarf can be cleaned without losing its color.  The paint has to be thin enough to float on the surface of the gel, but not so thin that it expands over the whole surface.  I drop paint with an eyedropper or fling it on with a whisk made of broom straws.




Dropping the paints onto the gel

There are many classic patterns that are achieved by combing the paints in various directions with an assortment of "combs" made from pieces of wood with glued-on toothpicks or bamboo skewers.  On such a large surface as I use (about 2 feet by 6 feet) it's very difficult to create such controlled patterns, but I try. 

The silk is charmeuse, which is essentially silk satin (silk is the fiber, satin is the weave) and, to me, the most luxurious fabric in the world.  I soak it in an alum solution, let it dry and iron it.

The hardest part I don't have a picture of, as Hank was not only taking pictures, but helping me lay down the fabric.  You have to lay down a six-foot long piece of fabric, starting in the middle and quickly and smoothly letting it slide down to the ends.  We each grip an end, stand at opposite ends of the frame, hold our breath, and lower it down.  If it's not smooth, you'll wind up with breaks in the pattern, or blank spots, and it's all over for that piece of fabric. This is the scariest part.



Looking at the results

 The most fun part is seeing what you've got.  I pick up the silk and carry it outside, dripping gel and color, and pin it top and bottom to parallel clotheslines.  I give it a gentle rinse with a hose and let it dry.  As the color sticks only to one side, the scarf has to be folded and sewed, then turned.  It's a lot of work, but it's also fun.




The finished scarf