New Jersey Housing Needed

I hope people from the Princeton, New Jersey area read my blog and can help.

My daughter is about to graduate from college in IL and has an intern position at EFT in Princeton, NJ. It's a wonderful opportunity that she couldn't pass up. The problem is, she can't find a place to live for the 2 months (July and August) she'll be there.

It sounds like the area includes very nice homes and Princeton student housing. It appears that not much else is available. The usual craigslist hunts aren't working.

If you have a room for rent or know of an apartment in that area, please contact me privately.

O-So Many Layers

The Fibervision challenge is finally complete. Each panel features a piece of fabric that I made using a variety of surface design techniques (screen printing, sunprinting, dyeing, stamping).

The fabric was wrapped around a square of Timtex and stitched together. Each square is then stitched onto the painted canvas to form the letter "O". Each individual square also contains the letter "O" somewhere on its surface, in some cases, all over its surface.

A plastic bracelet was repurposed by wrapping it in translucent ribbon and stitching it to the Timtex. Screen printing, stamping and embroidery are the main techniques used in the square above.

The base of this piece was sunprinted with green and yellow setacolor and the blue was printed on top using a thermofax screen. The tiddlywinks were used to sunprint and then were stitched onto the surface.

Do you know where the inspiration for your art comes from? Generally, I'm not influenced by other artists work, however, this time, I remember seeing two wonderful pieces of art that influenced the layout of my piece. Perhaps I'm kidding myself, maybe I just don't realize how easily influenced I am. Hmmm . . . something to think about.

Take a look at Michelle's colorful piece. It has 9 mixed media squares on a fabric background. She combines recycled items, text and color in a very fun way.

The other inspirational piece was hanging in a local gallery and was made by Michelle y Williams. I instantly fell in love with it but my husband didn't. Unfortunately, the price tag required that both of us had to be in love with it. It is made from metal squares that have layers of paint and texture applied. Twenty five squares were nailed to a solid base to form a grid.

Are there any truly original ideas left? Probably not many.

Eat the Muffins and Repurpose the Packaging

A group of friends were carpooling to the Southern CA SAQA meeting. I bought some mini blueberry muffins for the ride. While passing out the muffins, I noticed the great flower shape of the packaging. Hmmm . . . this could make a great print. After we returned home, I returned to the store to check out the larger muffins. Oooh, these are a different shape and look even more promising. I didn't need the muffins, but the packaging was irresistible.

I slathered the paint on and made some sample prints on paper. I think they have a lot of potential and have added them to my collection.

This just goes to show that great shapes are everywhere. Some of the favorite printing plates come from very simple packaging items. Have you ever looked at the packing tray that holds those tiny liquor filled chocolate bottles? They make great circles, one of my personal favorite shapes!

Keep your eyes open and let me know if you find something good!