Funky Feel and Felt!

Nuno Felt Brooch Combo,
originally uploaded by scarfitup.

Mmmmmmmmm! I LOVE fiber! I guess that's why I'm a fiber artist and not some other kind!

Nuno felt is a wonderful thing! It's soft, pliable, delicate-looking but not delicate, and it allows the artist to create diverse pieces of wearable art.
This piece was made from two separate small pieces of nuno samples, folded and wired together, pin attached, and VOILA! it's a brooch!

But not so simple, really! The process is awesome and awe-inspiring, requiring a full day of felting and fulling in a process that is far too long to explain right now. If interested, there is much to learn and lots of examples to see. Go to Etsy and do a search for "nuno felt." You'll be awed too!



And do you love the FEEL of fiber? Do you love funky? OK! so here is Smokey Cachecol, the latest from my collection of scarflettes or cachecols - for that lightweight warmth for your neck. This one pulls together all sorts of greys (grays) with black, cream, and silver accents. It's finished with funky knots and a large swirly vintage button (thanks, Karen!)

Work of the Week!

Scarf It Up! Work of the Week!

The Year-Long Rag Bag!

It's been several days since posting - too many doctors' appointments, commitments, tennis, etc.  It's not that I haven't been producing; it's just that I haven't found time for the blogging. 

So....here are some photos of the latest work, all being held here at home for the November 13 show at Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts.  Sara Westermark and I are the hosts of this show, called "Holiday Show of Wearable Art."  It's to be held at the gallery in the Cotton Exchange in Wilmington NC from 2 - 8 PM on November 13.  

Sunset Haze Scarf

Sac Sauvage Rouge

Holiday Loop Bag

Lavender Blue Cachecol, available on Etsy right NOW!!

GONE CRAZY in CHARLESTON!

We went to Charleston, SC for a few days to show it off to family visiting from France. It was a glorious few days of eating, touring, eating, shopping, and more eating! This is DD day! (drastic dieting!)

But the best part was the discovery of the best yarn store ever! I mean it! I was impressed on first glance around what turned out to be only the first of many rooms. The storefronts in Charleston are very narrow, but the buildings extend forever towards the rear! Several more rooms awaited us AND THERE WAS A HUGE SALE GOING ON! It seemed like half the store and half the yarn were 50% off! They are making way for their new Fall lines. I stooped, stretched, and scooped up ALL the (14) yarns and (8) buttons in the photo for a very reasonable sum. I could have spent all day and all my money there - just in the sale sections!

So if you ever get to Charleston, I urge you to visit KNIT on Wentworth St. The folks there are knowledgeable, helpful, and fun! In the meantime, visit Knitk! for an online preview.

Sassyglass and Scarfitup Together!

Another bit of collaboration!

Sassyglass' Andrea Cumming and Scarf It Up have collaborated once again to produce some delightful designs in neckwear. These three distinctly different necklaces - fiber with dichroic glass pendants - will be available at our gallery, Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts in Wilmington NC, very shortly. They sell for $39 each.

Comment below or email scarfitup [at] ec.rr.com if interested or if you want additional information. More photos available here.

Knitting / Knotting with Batik

Back in the Fall, while visiting our daughter and family in Winston-Salem, NC, I stopped by an awesome yarn store and stumbled upon a new idea: a bag knitted with strips of fabric cut from gorgeous batik. Wanting to try something new, I bought a yard of batik (at great expense!) and thought I'd create my own version. Little did I know how laborious this task was going to be!

• First.....cut the batik on the bias into 3/4" (or so) strips.
• Then.....knot the hundreds of different sized strips together.
• Finally.....start knitting!

The idea is to leave the little knot tails showing. They are part of the design (even though they get a little shaggy and frayed!) THIS KNITTING IS NOT EASY!!! It is tight on the needles, hurts your hands, and requires frequent breaks. I ultimately decided NOT to knot all the pieces at once, thereby giving that needed break.

Well...as you can see, it's taken me many months and LOTS of very long breaks to complete this project. I am not the type to leave projects unfinished for long. This is probably the first abandoned project I've had in recent years, and I am rather pleased to say I finished it last night!

STASHING THE STASH!!!

Yesterday I finally decided it was time to reorganize the stash. If you're reading this and have no clue what stash is, you are definitely NOT a fiber fanatic!

Several months ago, I bought a clear, lucite cubby from a retail store that was going out of business. I imagined using it to display my own finished items and my husband's pottery pieces. In fact, I used it for our December in-home trunk show and thought it worked very attractively and effectively. I offered it to the PCPFC gallery, but they declined. So.....I decided to use it in my laundry/stash room to TRY to reorganize my stash!

First of all, the hanging of the cubby.....it required LARGE holes in the wall - not my husband's favorite thing to do to our non-plaster walls. My plan? To color-coordinate the "balls" of yarn wound on those small cardboard tubes. My rationale? They take up space because they are not crushable and squishable. As was suggested in a Knitters Review forum, stash is a collection of art! That was my own belief as well! (http://knittersreview.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76640)

Well....I must not have the knack for color because the result is an ugly, chaotic, messy-looking wall of horror. It did free up some space in my cupboards, as I shifted spaces, but what I had hoped for was beauty in the laundry room, and I definitely failed at that.

Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts Grand Opening!!!

The Grand Opening Celebration at Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts will take place on Friday, April 27 from 6 - 9 PM during the downtown Wilmington Fourth Friday Gallery Walk. We are located in the Cotton Exchange at 307 North Front Street, across from the Hilton Hotel.

The collective's artists will be on hand to meet and greet friends - old and new, to talk about our art, our vision for the gallery, and to welcome you. Please join us if you can.

Fiber Meets Clay

Determined to combine our craft, my husband has produced these unique napkin rings in porcelain, and I decided to add a touch of - or in some cases, to encase the whole of it - in fiber. I think the finished pieces are quite unusual, and certainly colorful. You be the judge.

Artist's Statement

As part of the opening of Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts, the artists were asked to write an "Artist Statement." Since I have had difficulty considering myself an artist (although many others DO!), I struggled with this. First I researched to learn what such a statement IS. Then I struggled even more with developing one for myself.

The charge: write one that is 80 - 100 words! I'd have been fine if the charge were 1000 words or less, but do you realize how FEW words 100 are??? So I whipped out Word and started writing. The first version was 168 words (using Word Count). I whittled and whittled until I got down to 128. THEN I LOST THE WHOLE THING!!!!

But in the end................I worked some more and this is the result:

ARTIST STATEMENT - Louise Giordano & Scarf It Up!

Fiber is the fabric of life; knitting feeds and is the key to my soul! Through my fingers and fiber flows a vision to create functional, wearable fabric. The interplay of needles and fiber is therapeutic, tactile, and sensual. The process is all-absorbing; the results are uniquely satisfying.

For me, handknitting represents passionate flirtation and experimentation with traditional techniques, tools, and stitches with new and vintage materials to produce non-traditional work. Whether worn on the body or decorating a home, my pieces are an extension of my being, a source of creative expression for me, and a process that brings joy to the beholder.