Baltimore Sonnets

Hand Painting Textiles One of the best surprises I had while working on my textiles books was the opportunity to hand paint fabrics. For me, the best fabrics to paint are cottons and linens.  I really like handwoven linens the best, however, they are expensive and hard to find.   The ones I used are from a trip to a small town in Germany (near Kassel). The above photo is my work station after a good day painting.

Poetry: The Soul Poetry is a huge part of my artist's books.  When you remove the binding, the illustrations, the sewing, the colors, the textiles, the layers of texture, there is the soul -- the poems.  Here is the poem that appears in the book Goats: Green wetland, hot tempered and feisty Your rugged terrain we roam Forty moonless nights Sparks of hope guide us Befor the serpents, you were paradise Dragonflies rejoiced in your beauty Monkeys basked in your luxury Lions learned from your courage A thousand shades of green was your kingdom Wet wasteland, with your burning air We inhale suffering, our bellies bloat Billy goats don't eat roots Our children's last tears make your morning dew           - Suzanne Coley

Beading and Printmaking on Textiles I finished working on the Asymmetrical textile book and posted the final images on Instagram.  I didn't use the patchwork designs that I showed on the last post.  Instead I went in a different direction. I've always loved hand beading and these smaller books offered an opportunity to experiment with different beading styles and forms.  So, I decided to go with a beaded book with pages made from hand paint linen fabric and embellishments. This is an image of the inside of the book.

Turning textiles into books This week I am using traditional book boards to make an Asymmetrical book. I want the book to unfold in a non-traditional way.   I am still working out the details and want to share the process with readers.  (I am not sure how it will finally come out.) While I was experimenting with design ideas, I created this patchwork art using mixed media.  I liked it so much that I will incorporate it with one of the textile pages.  Stay tuned for more details . . .

 Tanzania Textile: Kanga Cloth It has been very difficult for me to cut this brightly colored rectangular cotton cloth from Tanzania.   Printed sometime in the 1990's this Kanga cloth is the youngest piece of textile I am using for a handmade textile book. It is also the only textile from East Africa.  There is so much history embedded into this textile. Like most Kanga cloth, this one is composed of 3 parts. 1.  The  pindo  (the border) 2. The miji (the central design) 3. Ujumbe or jina (the message or proverb written in Swahili) The proverb on this cloth is Raha Ya Dunia Ni Watoto (The happiness of the world is children) I tried several different ways to design (or re-design) the cloth so that it would become a book page.   I really wanted to play with the patterns along the borders and the within the miji .  Knowing that I only had a limited amount of fabric, with no way of getting more, I decided to use one of my ...