Back from Seattle!

Yesterday was a traveling day for most ArtFiberFest attendees- including me. I arrived home with lots of art to photograph and share. These include my work and other artist work, too.

The experience was exciting, exhilarating, and exhausting-all at the same time!! My favorite part is meeting and connecting to people I’ve met there. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Alma Stoller, an artist whose blog is on my “must-read” list. She has a lovely spirit about her, a gentle and kind soul. Her vendor booth sold out in a matter of minutes, but I was wise enough to head there first and buy some items.

I also met an Oklahoma gentleman named “Bird” that was lots of fun to hang out with. Turned out that Bird and I had lots of friends in common from the old rubbestamp/eraser carving days in the 1990’s, but our paths never crossed. He and I were in an eraser carving swap started in the mid 1990’s and is apparently still going strong- called Raplica. (Bird also gave me lots of info about metal art to get me going in this area. I plan to take a class on metal art jewelry next semester at a local college.)

Jana Newton, a FL educator and artist, was a breath of fresh air. We connected over buttons in the Art Asylum room one night. The Art Asylum room is a place where everybody cleans out their studios and pack up boxes of interesting stuff. We send it to Teesha (AFF organizer) who places it in the Art Asylum room. Then, if you need any art supplies, you head to this room and find what you need.

Of course, I must mention Lori and Teri, my travel mates. We stayed at an old Victorian Hotel in Port Townsend called The Bishop. We shared a 2 bedroom suite, and recommend this hotel for its cleanliness, service, proximity to restaurants, shopping and the shore. Be sure to check out Lori and Teri’s fabulous blog to see thier art.

I also met about 2-3 dozen more wonderful artists who I loved to hang out with and talk with… I think I will need to showcase some of their work and interview them for my blog so you can see what they do as well.

More later as I unpack, and finish my class projects and trades so I might share them with you. I also made a few “other” items to share including a very funny sock creature.

Hugs, Carla

Fiber Food Round Robin exchange

One night, at the 2006 ArtFiberFest workshop retreat, a group of fiber artists were sitting around late at night, just talking and working. One person suggested we do a fiber food exchange amongst ourselves, we all thought that would be fun, and next thing you know, we are creating our food and having fun!

Basically, each person created a plate or tray and a theme. You send this to the next person, who then added food according to the theme of the piece. The results were fantastic. We were featured in a fiber art Portals “zine” (thanks to Suzanne, who sent me he (zine copy so I could view it), and each plate will be on display in the AFF gallery.

**Please note that the following food items were made out of fiber.

My choice for this project was a retro TV dinner tray. I made the tray and received back the filled tray:

Here are some other pictures I took while each plate was in my possession:

Elegant appetizers (I made lemongrass caviar)

Breakfast Plate:

The egg was my addition:

Next is the Salad Bar plate:

My addition to this plate was:

For the Dessert Tray, I made a cross between a ding-dong and a cupcake… chocolate, of course!:

Last, but not least, is the Bento Box:

I was inspired, so I added: and

I added the potstickers, sushi, and some rice:

It will be a treat to see each finished plate on display. I will have to take photos to share. I also want to share about each artist in this project and their respective plate. We are talking about another exchange, but this one will be hard to top.

Take care! Hugs, Carla