And the winner is...

My friend Toni scooped up my Steam Punk inspired hand made leather journal as soon as she saw it. I know she'll enjoy it for a long time, it's built to last! There are other journals on the way so start saving up : )

New Dye Technique

I'm having a ball this semester in my textile classes! We learned about using MX dyes a couple of weeks ago and last week we did some acid dying. This technique is used for dying wool and silk. Here's my professor Christine Zoller showing a design she created by first twisting off sections of a silk scarf with a marble and a rubber band.

Soldering demo

It seems like everyone at ECU has a wealth of knowledge about all
kinds of things. Friday I got a great soldering demo from my
studiomate Linda. She has a blowtorch.... Cool!

Back to School

Well, the summer is over and I'm already in my second week at ECU. Whew, does life ever slow down?? Anyway, I have an extremely busy schedule this semester because I also have a graduate teaching assistantship. I'm helping out in a distant education art class. Very unique indeed. One of the highlights of this year will be working with renowned artist Bob Ebendorf . I'm taking his mixed media class called Material Culture. For this class we will be using alternative materials to make wearable pieces, assemblages, or wall pieces. I decided to use my leather scraps to make a brooch for the first project (and I'll probably continue to work with leather because I love it).
This piece is still in the first stages, but as you can see from the photos, I am using a wet form process and hand sculpting lots of tiny components that will eventually get sewn to another leather base. Stay tuned!