Sources of Inspiration

I find myself being drawn to fibers and textiles as sources of inspiration.  I don't know why I should be surprised ... fabric was my first love.  I did a little crude weaving in my early 20's from a handheld cardboard loom I made myself.  See, I told you it was crude!

As an interior design student early on in my life as a "professional student," my teacher would look at my work and say, "That looks like a textile design."  Of course, I was too insecure at that time to ever take things to the next step.  But I find it funny somehow that later on, after I gained some self-confidence, that I never took that route ... considering all of the mediums I've explored.  I think textiles and fiber creations are wonderful inspirations for paintings, jewelry, you name it.  And, it needn't be handmade works of art, like the ones that follow.  Textile designers are highly sophisticated colorists!

There's a great magazine called "Surface Design."  It's put out by, guess what, the Surface Design Association.  Here are some images from their website that spoke to me.  I thought some of you might like these bright, fun colors ... which are perfect for enamels, too!

Spirulina Whorl by Cheryl Deibel

Cultivate Roses in Full Sun by Cheryl Deibel

Archaen Remains by Candace Edgerley

On Saturday, Vicki Bennett, a fiber artist and instructor at the Morean Arts Center, was a student in my enameling workshop.  I have a feeling she'll be having me as a student in her class in the not too distant future.  It was fun seeing her thought bubbles come to the surface with ideas of things to do with the enameling.  

In the workshop, we enamel things I call "Flower Bells," for lack of better words.  They are the 20 mm Moroccan Lantern beads broken in half at the seam.  You can get really fancy with enameling them because you can create all kinds of special effects ... drips and flows ... at the lower edge without mucking up the removal process from the mandrel.  Vicki was saying that she could see these Flower Bells cupping each end of a felted bead.  Doesn't that sound glorious! I can't wait to see what she does with them!  I hope she'll let me share her creations here.