Calamity Kim

Want A Challenge? Deadline is March 3rd! C'mon, play with me!

Yesterday I wrote about making what I want, but in the back of my mind this challenge by Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine has been bouncing around and causing  quite a lot of "what if's". Here are the Rules:

Show us your True Colors in a Mixed-media Paper Quilt.

 

1. Make a mixed-media paper quilt that incorporates a color or colors that reveal      the true you.
2. The entire quilt, including binding, must measure 12" x 12".
3. You are encouraged, but not required, to use a sewing machine for quilting your paper quilt.
4. Any embellishments must not protrude more than 1" from the quilt.
5. The entire quilt must weigh no more than 2 lbs.
6. The quilt must be backed with fabric and the edges must be stitched closed, or      you may use a fabric binding.
7. The quilt must have a 3" rod pocket attached to the back.
8. To be considered for the Make it University! display, send 2 jpegs of your paper quilt, one of the entire piece and one detail, to [email protected] no later than March 3, 2008. You will be notified if your quilt has been accepted by March 7, 2008.
9. If accepted, your quilt must be in our offices no later than March 26, 2008.

You may make the quilt out of any kind of paper, but if you are going to stitch it, you may want to strengthen the paper using the method described by Beryl Taylor in the Premiere Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and in Mixed-media Explorations.

Making fabric paper:

1. Take a piece of open-weave muslin and paint it all over with diluted PVA or white glue.
         
2. Embed wrapping, images, text, etc., into the glue layer, leaving spaces in between.
         
3. Apply another coat of diluted PVA or white glue over the top. Embed craft tissue into the glue layer.
         
4. While the glue is still wet, paint on dyes using a sponge applicator.
         
5. Let fabric paper dry completely before cutting and stitching.

If you have questions about the True Colors Challenge, please contact Barbara Delaney of our editorial staff at [email protected].

I copied it from their site-please use the links to check out  the site if you are unfamiliar with either Quilting Arts or Cloth, Paper, Scissors. I always find something new to learn in each publication and anxiously await my new copies so that I can enjoy the event of reading them. I make a cup of tea, settle down in my favorite chair and dive in. The cool refreshing pages carry me down stream and invigorated and replenish my parched creativity.

So, at Dollar Tree I found some tissue paper with roses and a package of Mulberry Paper made in Thailand in 3 colors.
I also bought a flour cloth dishtowel that will mimic the open weave muslin.
I couldn't find glue but bought some puzzle adhesive, which when diluted with water will work fine.

I have read the rules many times. Each time I get a different picture in my mind.

12x12 is the size of a record.

I usually have the image in my head and then work backward from that...how I get to the finished project is the process. When I am given parameters to stick to then I have to work backwards.

I am not even sure if you are allowed to blog the process...I suppose I should ask Barbara. edit: I did ask and I shouldn't blog it in the hopeful hope that if it is accepted it will be fresh if included in some future publication. oh,sorry girls! I have to play all by myself...I still encourage you to make something to enter. If I don't get included then I will show you the piece then-ok?

I hope I  can quietly tea-dye  the flour cloth and dry it without drawing undue attention to myself. Maybe I can get Charlie to create a distraction..teehee...

Calamity Art Ninja... donning my black skin-tight turtleneck and stretch pants (please picture a glamorous Audrey Hepburn here or Emma Peel, cause the image of me in a cat suit is pretty hysterical!)

  Tip-toeing to the kitchen to boil water, silently unwrapping the tea bags....

So, what are my true colors anyway?

I love aqua and red. But I am feeling mossy brown taupe faded in the sun nothing brighter than gray at the moment.

If I have to back it with fabric then do I add batting too?edit- whatever I want

The 1" depth rule keeps making me think of 3-dimensional origami...it was probably in reference to some hanging stuff maybe...? Another question for poor Barbara. edit: she answered so quickly! anything I want to do! ahh, freedom!

It makes me think and grow and stretch.

Never mind the gut wrenching wait to find out if my work will be accepted.

I can't even touch on that.
I don't worry about that as much as I do about finding a way to throw myself completely and totally into a project that will take my mind someplace else.

Floating down the peaceful waters of tranquil creativity.

A picnic basket filled with paper, cloth, scissors...

Can You Keep a Secret?

Have you ever had a secret you were dying to tell?
You knew it would be ruined if you told someone, but couldn't hold your tongue? There is something so delicious about secrets, isn't there?
If some one tells you their secret then it makes you feel special. They trust you.
But if you tell then there is most assuredly consequences.
Maybe you'll lose their friendship.
Maybe it will just be bruised.
You've seen or heard about Frank Warrens Post Secret Site, right? PostSecret is an ongoing community art project in which people mail their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
I am like a boomerang with that site.
I find it interesting and then I am repulsed.
I return to try to see Art in the images but I sense that I am supposed to be shocked and I am almost afraid that after a lifetime of Movies, Books and TV nothing can possibly shock me anymore. From Post Secret there has sprung the inevitable copycat sites. There are even several books published about Post Secret Postcards.

I have a secret that I am dying to SHOW you.
I got my advance copy in the mail today and I am jumping up and down!
I am Proud.
I called my Brother and invited him over for some BLT's and he saw it and said " How's your self esteem now, kid?"
I laughed and said "Great!"
He chuckled and said: "Wait till Mom calls."
It would be funny if it weren't so true.
I was published once before in a Basketweave Magazine. 1990.
I haven't ever really pursued it because I was terrified of the rejection.
Now, I am old enough to figure it would be their loss if they didn't publish me.
No, That's not true.
That's the puffed up and proud little Kimmie.
The girl with the shiny new patent leather mary janes and Easter bonnet and yellow dress with crinoline.
That's the little Kimmie by the Christmas tree with her Dad knowing that Santa has just deemed her Good for another year.
The grown-up, middle aged Kim that has become a Calamity is content, honored, and knows that maybe with some hard work and blessed creativity she can get published again.

I always ask myself what am I afraid of in these situations.
Afraid to be judged? Afraid to be laughed at or ridiculed?
Afraid someone will think my art is crap?
Possibly all of these things.
The older I get the easier it really is to let go of the fear.
To be bold and just make what I want.
My brother laughs at me all the time and I get my fair share of "what -the-hell-is-that?"
So, the secret?
I have been keeping it for so long now that I am not sure that I can share it.
Maybe I am supposed to wait until it hits the newsstand on Sept 5.
Maybe I can urge you to pick up the newest copy of CLOTH, PAPER, SCISSORS and look on page 85. If you enjoy the magazine I also ask that you go to the Reader Survey section and put in a good word for me or the article.

If they have enough requests they might ask to see more Calamity in The Craft room! I would love to do a feature article on Art Aprons or Doll Quilts (they also publish Quilting Arts Magazine).

I might have to put together a proposal and submit that. Maybe I can beg. Send flowers & chocolate....