Dog Kisses and Sweet Words

 

Dog Kisses © Christie Minchew 2014

fiber rush, bamboo skewers, cardboard, paper, tuille and joomchi (mulberry paper)

I had a get together with my college roommate and her daughter a couple of weeks ago and made these prototypes for them.

Dog Kisses © Christie Minchew 2014

I wanted to experiment with a couple of things: odd shapes, variations of height on the sides and adding a bit of a surprise when you looked into the basket.

Sweet Words © Christie Minchew 2014

fiber rush, bamboo skewers, cardboard, paper, and joomchi (mulberry paper)

I learned a lot from these little experiments.

Sweet Words © Christie Minchew 2014

And Kim and Suzy were willing guinea pigs :).

Penland School of Crafts - How I spent...

My first attempt at coiling - oh the possibilities! © Christie Minchew 2014

How I spent my summer vacation?

At least 2 weeks of it was at the Penland School of Crafts and it was fabulous!  I took Sculptural Weaving with Nathalie Miebach and my head is still spinning with all the new techniques and materials I now have to draw from.

© Christie Minchew 2014

I spent countless hours with my fellow classmates in the Lily Loom House (above)

burning the midnight oil (ok, I only lasted until 10pm on a good night!)

My Final Project: My Penland Experience (unfnished) with a curvy, roller coastery road leading to a random-weave world of Penland © Christie Minchew 2014

and making very odd objects that both frustrated and exhilarated me.

Nathalie Miebach was a wonderful teacher of the unconventional (using conventional basket weaving techniques), and my classmates were the greatest group of artists to learn from as well.

Top that off with a filled-to-capacity campus of like-minded artists to chat with, yummy (and plentiful) food and 3 wonderful roommates and I hated to say goodbye.  But alas...