LaTouchables

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaTouchables

I design mostly body adornment for the modern woman of any age. Much of my work is inspired by nature, history, and culture. I want to create things that are affordable, and become a natural part of the daily wardrobe. Color, texture, wearability...this all plays a role in how it goes in the studio, and of course intuition plays a huge role. That's why most everything is OOAK. (One of a kind)

I like to use vintage and antique cloths in my pieces along with buttons, and beads from around the world. I was lucky to get some Bedouin embroidery dating back from the mid-20th-century, and earlier. My work is always in a process of growth. There are techniques to improve on, designs that architectually need brain-storming, from idea to finished piece, while still keeping the integrity of the original impulse.

I get emotional about hand-stitching, stains, signs of the human touch, beautiful worn textures, and quality. This means I love materials like silk, cotton, linen, bakelite, horn, mudcloth... and I am continually searching, experimenting, and opening up to the new. I see it as a long-term love-affair with developing a soft-sculpture body adornment that crosses genres. My hope is to take the raw materials and make something worthy of showing off their beauty, whether they are a hundred years old or straight off the bolt.

In the long run, I'd like to have a broader audience, and a group of fellow fiber-addicts to get that community dynamic. Of course I'd like to sell more and know that something I make will be worn by someone somewhere. This gives me the impetus to create more, and thus refine my skills.

I'm glad to have found TAFA with the chance to make new friends and contacts.

Location: Germany, Europe
Online shop: LaTouchables
Blog: latouchablesbagsandthings
Languages spoken: English, German

Adornment for the woman of the modern age by LaTouchables.

Tags: body adornment, necklace, africa, levantine, vintage, antique, tribal, cuff, cloth, bead

OmMadeThreads

Nurtured from childhood to create with my hands,  I continue the journey of playing piano, working with watercolors/collage art, taking photos, creating good-tasting cuisine, and yes, playing with fabric.

Beginning with my first crewel embroidery project at the age of eight (and eventually sewing shortly thereafter), working with fibers has been a great love for me.  I discovered the joy of quilting in 1996 and have never looked back.

I began as a traditional quilter and in the past couple years have ventured into the area of art quilts.  I still return to the my ""roots"" as a quilter, but the freedom of art quilting is definitely feeding my soul.

I am currently a local yoga and health education instructor for local community colleges.  I also have a small holistic health practice here in Southern California.

I enjoy a diverse and interesting life, full of people I love and work I enjoy.

I sell my work through my Etsy site and at local holiday craft and art shows.

I do a combination of machine and hand work on my fiber art pieces.  My quilt art tends to involve raw-edge applique work with rich vibrant batiks.  I also perform my own free motion quilting  from stippling and scroll work to the scripting of words into many of my quilts.

I also do commissions, having recent opportunities to create Tree of Life quilts for many loved ones and Etsy customers.  I offer a basic price scale and work closely with the buyer to create the image they desire.  I have also done custom orders on other quilts as well.  It is a pleasure to "co-create" with the buyer.  I have learned much from the ideas and inspiration of those I create pieces for.

Artist's statement: 

My work is typically a reflection of my life...

A new granddaughter? Baby quilts...
A yoga profession?  Yoga bags...
A sewing hobby?  Pin cushions...
A look at beautiful lilies on the side of the road?  A Calla Lily quilt....

Ultimately, my mission is to create pieces that bring joy to the recipient.  

Location:  Vista, California, USA

Online shop:  OmMadeThreads
Memberships:  Women for Women International 

Languages spoken:  English

Tree of Life Wedding Chuppah by OmMadeThreads

Tags: Quilts, Fiber Art, Embroidery, Free Motion Quilting, Raw Edge Applique, Collage, Nature, Batiks

ITSA Studio

www.itsastudio.com

ITSA Studio is not only my working studio, (Barbetta Lockart Contemporary Art), but it also houses all the wonderful treasures found on my itsastudio.com site.  I carry surface design supplies, jewelry supplies, beads, and wonderful world market items.  Always a bead lover, always a lover and appreciator of all the world’s cultures, and always a creative sort, I put all those interests together and opened a bead shop many years ago.   Closing the shop to get back into my own studio did not change any of that, hence ITSA Studio was created.  Although it is online, I welcome visitors to the studio so they can browse through all the treasures and be dazzled.

Mission:  As artists we all need wonderful items for inspiration, great supplies to work with, and interesting ‘stuff’, as well as the occasional treat for ourselves.  We also sometimes need information from someone familiar with the products/items.  ITSA Studio offers all that and more, including cups of tea, good music…and classes.

Location:  Sacramento, California, USA

Online shops:  itsastudio, barbettalockart

Brick and Mortar:  ITSA Studio is located at 4330 24th Street, #2, Sacramento, California, 95822 USA.  Visitors are very welcome at the studio, whether they want to shop art supplies, beads, or world treasures, discuss techniques, or just have a leisurely visit discussing art and fiber. A cup of tea is always ready for you, but I ask that you contact me through my website(s) to make an appointment since I don’t have regular ‘retail’ hours.

Membership:  Surface Design Association   

Social Media:  LinkedIn

Languages spoken:  English, Spanish (somewhat), Fiber-ese…it is its own language, isn’t it? 

Find surface design supplies, textile stamps, ethnographic items and work by Barbetta Lockart at ITSA Studio.

Tags:  Foiling, “Kuba Cloth”, “Uygur Silks”, jewelry, “dyed silk”, “African Trade Beads”, “seed beads”, “Hot Sticky Stuff ™”, “Clear Textile Adhesive” textiles

Anni Hunt

"Copper Pot", Detail, by Anni Hunt

www.annihunt.com

Stitching and fabric have been an important part of Anni’s life since childhood. As so many people do she started making clothes, then  moved on to quilting and now is making stitched, dyed and painted 3d pieces and wall hangings.  All art making gives its creator certain freedoms and creating work in 3D has given her a new view of what she wants to and can do.

Having had a career in “grayscale” imaging she has necessarily become acutely aware of subtle changes in shade.  In many ways this has pushed her towards a love of, and perhaps a need for, the rich and colourful, but at the same time kept her very aware of changes in hue and tone.  As an artist she has found this very helpful. 

The sleek and elegant lines of Japanese design concepts has also been a strong influence on Anni.  She finds its strength and simplicity inspiring and in a way comforting.

With her containers she wants to create the contradictory feeling of containment and freedom, a contradiction which is something that everyone finds in their lives.

Artist's statment:  I have always had a very good ""eye"" for subtle changes in colour . I think my thirty years in ""grayscale"" imaging in medicine has definitely honed those skills to a finer degree than most. So it is wonderful to be able to apply that in stitch with the use of fibre and threads to create a rich and colourful texture reflecting nature in my work.

I tend to use my surroundings from the west coast and nature to influence and inspire me.
My design sense has definitely been influenced by sleek, elegant Japanese lines and the Art Deco clothing styles of Erte` to which I apply to my wearable art creations.

My work is available at Crafthouse, a gallery run by the Craft Council of British Columbia.

"Family Connections" by Anni Hunt

Location:  West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Memberships:  

   SDA, Surface Design Assoc.
   SAQA, Studio Art Quilts Assoc.
   Gail Harker Creative Studies

   Workshop on the Web

Languages spoken:  English, Norwegian

"Dream Twigs" by Anni Hunt

 

Tags:  Mixed Media, Textiles, Machine Embroidery, Collage, Encaustics, Abstracts in Nature.

Barbetta Lockart Contemporary Art

“Silent Witness…No More”

recycled mannequin, misc. recycled fabrics, twine, wire, acrylic paint, gel medium

26"H x 15"W x 12"D

©2010 Barbetta Lockart

“We can no longer sit by silently as we witness atrocities, genocide, abuse, man’s inhumanity to man, destruction, starvation and corruption. We must speak out ...we must demand change, and we must become part of that change.”

www.barbettalockart.com

I am a contemporary artist with a fondness for fiber in all its many and varied forms.  I create 2D and 3D mixed media fine art pieces, and fiber in some configuration or the other can usually be found in my work.   Fiber speaks to me because it is so basic and because it seems to have the ability to do things artistically that other materials cannot:  I appreciate its ability to be flexible both in application and appearance, implying or creating movement in one piece, yet being strong and robust in another piece.  I find its chameleon-like qualities to be well suited for my work and vision.

I maintain a working studio in Sacramento, California, USA, where I create, display my work, teach classes and mentor other artists (realizing, of course, that I learn every bit as much from them as they might from me---artistic and professional growth is wonderful, as are the personal connections made).

My work is available to individual art lovers, collectors and corporations, as well as to galleries that share my fascination with and appreciation of, fiber in contemporary art.

My studio, ITSA Studio, is at 4330 24th Street, #2, Sacramento, California, 95822 USA.  Visitors are very welcome at the studio, whether they want to look at or purchase art, shop art supplies or the other treasures offered on my ITSA Studio site, or just have a leisurely visit discussing art and fiber. A cup of tea is always ready for you, but I ask that you contact me through my website(s) to make an appointment so I will be available when you wish to visit.

Artist's statement:  My work is my visual response to the world around me, whether it is the political, social, natural or ethereal world. Whether I am troubled, happy, perplexed or enchanted by something I see, hear or experience, my feelings and reactions to that event will eventually find their way into my art.  To me, art is communication at its most pure, whether it is in the form of dance, music, the written word, the visual arts, or some other artistic format, it is a way to be authentic, honest and real, and above all, to be heard.  

Location:  Sacramento, California, USA
Online shops:  barbettalockart, itsastudio
Social Media:  LinkedIn
Memberships:  Surface Design Association 
Languages spoken:  English, Spanish (somewhat)
   Fiber-ese…it is its own language, isn’t it?

"Para los Desaparecidos"

floor fan 'cage', misc. fabrics, mirror, yarn, thread

20"Diameter x 4.5"D

©2006 Barbetta Lockart

“Para los desaparecidos del mundo. Nunca olvidaremos

sus corazones, sus almas, sus caras. Uno podrías serlo

tu... uno podría serlo yo.

 For the 'disappeared' of the world. We will not forget

their hearts, their souls, their faces. They could be you...they could be me.

Tags:  Fiber mosaic, FiberScapes, collage, recycled, textile, threads, felting, mannequins, stones

Green Mountain Spinning Wheels

www.greenmountainspinningwheels.com

We are a family owned and operated business handcrafting Saxony spinning wheels from local Vermont materials.  We also handcraft a variety of spinning accessories from Vermont materials such as niddy noddies, lazy kates, drying racks, and orifice hooks.  To go with our wheels, we sell a variety of alpaca and alpaca/wool rovings from our own alpacas, and local sheep. 

We show our wheels in several Vermont stores, and at fiber events and farmers' markets.  We welcome visits (by appointment) to meet our animals and see our products.

-Paul and Kris

Mission:  As a family, we strive to create and share beautiful, durable, affordable spinning wheels and accessories.

Location:  Leicester, Vermont, United States

Online shop:  green mountainspinning wheels

Languages spoken:  English, Spanish

Alpaca rovings available through Green Mountain Spinning Wheels

Handcrafted spinning wheels by Green Mountain Spinning Wheels

Tags:  Saxony spinning wheels, Niddy Noddies, Lazy Kates, Drying Racks, Alpaca fiber, Wool Rovings, Niddy Noddies, Lazy Kates, Drying Racks, Alpaca fiber, Wool, Rovings

Linda Running Bentley

lindarunningbentley.com

My weaving practice is inspired by traditions, materials, and colors of the American Southwest.  I  weave with on two-treddle/two-harness Rio Grande-style walking looms. I've been nurtured by New Mexican master weavers.  I spin from wool from local Navajo-Churro sheep, and I dye wool with plants grown and harvested where I live in Colorado.

Artist's Statement:  I learned tapestry-weaving techniques at Ghost Ranch at Abiquiu, New Mexico and at the Tierra Wools Cooperative, in Los Ojos, New Mexico.  Master weavers Eppie Archuleta and Norma Medina have generously shared their family's weaving tradition while mentoring and encouraging me.

I weave with on two-treddle/two-harness Rio Grande-style walking looms designed and hand-made for me by a New Mexico craftsman using re-worked gears and used lumber. My rugs use two types of wool. Black, white, and grey wool I hand-spin from Navajo-Churro sheep raised by a family in the "Goat Hill" neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.  The colored wool I use are woolen mill ends dyed with plants harvested in the Southwest, primarily Colorado.

The natural wool is hand-dyed with plant materials gathered and harvested in the spring and fall.  The plants, flowers, and nuts are dried, then soaked and boiled in large pots.  Clean wool is added to the dyebath, boiled, soaked, and dried in the sun. The beauty of the process is watching the plants grow, scavenging for and harvesting plants, then watching the natural wool transform into colors that are often unexpected. Bright red hibiscus flowers dye green; walnuts hulls dye dark brown to black; dahlia flowers dye bright orange; rabbit brush from the Platte River bank dye an intense gold. Combining this very down-and-dirty plant processing with the soft fiber of the clean wool is my work, my process and my expression.

Although I create textiles in the tradition of Southwest Rio-Grand-style weavers, my designs are influenced by Bauhaus textile artists, Anni Albers and Gunta Stolzl; also by contemporary and traditional Danish design and Scandinavian rug weavers. While admiring the colors and patterns created in Medieval European manuscripts and vellum musical notation,  I limit my materials, colors, and processes available to me in my urban Denver, Colorado community.

Location:  Denver, Colorado, USA

Online shops:

   lindarunningbentley.com

   artworknetwork.com

Memberships:

   Scanweave
   ChuroChat
   Tierrawools.com

Languages spoken:  English

Detail of a weaving by Linda Running Bentley

Tags:  weaving, rugs, rag, churro, wool, hand-dyed, southwest, natural dyes, vegetal, weaver, handweaver

Danny Mansmith

"My Shrine for Me" by Danny Mansmith

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SCRAPdannymansmith

Hello.

I'm an artist who, for the most part, is self taught.  Making art and working with my hands fuels me to be in this world.

So much of today's society doesn't appeal to me so I have turned to creating my own world in my art.

I really wish to share my art with others and try to inspire others to express themselves to follow their own paths.

Artist's statement:  Working with my hands has saved my life.

Instead of being the fastest or the smartest I found my strength, sanctuary and cushion from the world in making art.

My grandma gave me my first art lessons when I was very young. She sewed my clothes growing up and this influenced me to later teach myself how to use the sewing machine - allowing imperfections, emotions, and child like energies to fuel and inspire me to create.

Danny Mansmith's studio.

I want to push myself to make art with the things around me, to be resourceful and to follow my heart’s inspiration.

Making something wearable, drawing with sharpies or the sewing machine, sculpting, to creating installations that incorporate all of these elements has become my spirituality - my survival.

Location:  Chicago, Illinois, USA

Online shop:  SCRAPdannymansmith
Social media:  
   LinkedIn
   Facebook   (personal page)
Languages spoken:  English 

"Fabric Leaf Cut Out Necklace" by Danny Mansmith

Tags:   unique, individual, authentic, inventive, spiritual, installation art, sewing machine, self taught, resourceful, evolving, outsider art

pedestrian

 

http://www.pedestrian.etsy.com

The Nomad Cowl by Pedestrian
The Nomad Collection is based on the idea of how clothing would be made after the apocalypse.  This cowl is knitted together from random bits of torn cloth and fiber remnants, complete with fallen tree branch buttons.

Hi there!  My name is Christine and I am the hands behind Pedestrian Designs!  I specialize in whimsical designs for children and grown-ups who like to dress up as part of their everyday attire.

I have been designing crochet/knitwear for nearly 15 years.  After making numerous hats, scarves, sweaters, and blankets for myself, I dove into consigning my line at B+M stores and craft shows.  This gave me the experience to open my own Etsy shop.  Now I have 'quit my day job', focused on Pedestrian via Etsy and have my designs in boutiques throughout the United States.  I still participate in fall craft shows and, most recently, am prominently featured at an indie shop in my local mall.

My work is available at Roadies in the Platte River Mall of North Platte, Nebraska, Wholly Craft in Columbus, Ohio, and Lemonade Couture in Austin, Texas.

In 2010, Pedestrian's Dragon Hats were included in the Parenting.com costume guide for Halloween.

This has been such an excited time for me!  With over 500 hats sold in the last year, I can't wait for the weather to get cold every year!  My customers are amazingly sweet with a zest for life that is contagious.  I really do have the BEST job on Earth!!!! 

Artist's statement:  I am inspired by the classic fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm, and Louis Carroll as well as apocalyptic science fiction novels. 

What would Little Red Riding Hood wear if she walked her dog down my street?  What would Rapunzel wear if she had to shovel snow in a Nebraska winter?  What if Dragons worked at the post office?  How would a Nomad make a scarf after all modern technology broke down?  These are the questions I answer with Pedestrian Designs.

Location:  North Platte, Nebraska, USA

Online shop:  pedestrian

Blog:  pedestrianchristine

Other social media:

   Twitter

   Facebook (personal page) 

Memberships:

   Etsy FAST Fiber Artists Street Team

Languages spoken:  English, Latin, and Pirate

Dragon Hat by Pedestrian Designs
 Dragon Hats ferociously keep the chill off children and grown-ups.  Rawr!

Tags:   costume, halloween, cosplay, dress-up, pretend, fairy tale, imagination, children, colorful, nebraska

Billie Bags Etc.

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/floorartetc

Hello!  I'm Billie Anderson from Bigfork, Montana USA.  Bigfork is a small Village snuggled in on a Bay on Flathead Lake in Northwest Montana that is very arts oriented with many artists and galleries as well as a world class Repertory Theatre. The Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for musical theater, stage productions, dance, music, and educational programming in Northwest Montana. In the lobby of the Theatre is a 9' church pew that I painted a few years ago and sold.  The buyers donated it to the Theatre.  Needless to say I was so excited to see it there and to know that thousands of people will see and sit on it for years to come.

I'm a third generation Montanan and grew up in Bigfork and have lived there most of my life for over 50 years. My three wonderful adult children were born and raised in Bigfork with two of them living here and my oldest daughter living in Colorado with her husband and my  adorable grandson.

I am a Digital Artist designing digital collages, also known as photomontages, using Photoshop CS4.  I then have my designs professionally printed onto designer fabrics where I then give new life to military surplus laptop sized messenger bags by sewing the fabric onto the flaps.  I also make beautiful pillows and pillow covers with the fabrics.  My designs are also printed in a square format at a Professional Photo Lab online and I sell them in five sizes.

I am inspired by the fabulous Artists and Designers of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Eras.  I have a collection of roaring 20’s Era Vogue books and magazine covers and also books on Erte’ a designer of the same era that I have always loved. I have focused all my time on designing and sewing for now. My plan for the future is to have silk scarves and wall hangings made using my designs.  The possibilities are endless.

I'm also an Acrylic Artist specializing in painting large wall Tapestries, Canvas Rugs, Fabric and recycled Furniture.  You can see my past painted work in this Portfolio.    

I’ve been an Artist and Crafter for over 40 years.  I was a Basket Weaver for many years, owning my own shop for 10 years with my sister-in-law where we sold our handmade baskets as well as other local artists and crafters work. I’m also a  Photographer and Chandler.  I learned to sew when I was about 13 years old and made clothes and costumes for myself and for my children for years as well as making many quilts. I love creating something with my own hands and ideas and I'm always thinking of something else to create.

My challenges are to keep focused on what I'm doing at the time and my goals are always to produce the best product possible. I have always loved and bought hand made Art and Craft items for myself and for gifts.

I am always available to answer any questions you have.

Location:  Bigfork, Montana, USA

Online shop:  floorartetc 

Languages spoken:  English

"I'm No Angel...But I've Spread My Wings A Bit"

Pillow Cover by Billie Anderson

Tags:  laptop, messenger, bag, pillow, cushion, roaring 20's, theatre, erte, collage, print

Sally Manke Fiber Artist

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SallyManke

Despite my high energy level, there is never enough time to create all the ideas bouncing around in my head!

Fiber and creativity have been a part of my life since a very young age. I created a pattern from newspaper then sewed my first garment on a Singer Featherweight at around the age of eight. An undergraduate degree in home economics and a master in art lead to a twenty-five year career teaching art and life skills (current idiom for home economics).

Although, I enjoy crafting traditional quilts, dolls and holiday items, my passion is fiber art. A perfect day is one spent in my home studio with fabric spread far and wide creating confetti art. Confetti quilts bring together color and texture with the skill and methods of stitching layers of fabric. Each confetti quilt has thousands and thousands of tiny bits of batik fabric “painted” on quilt batting and backing. Inspiration comes another pastime; hiking trails and beaches here in Michigan or on far flung family vacations.

My confetti quilts have been in several juried local quilt shows here in northwest Michigan and Wisconsin. Additionally, my quilts have been selected for display at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, Long Beach and Houston. I teach at quilt shops and quilt guilds.

Artist's statement:  My mission it to delight others with textile art that allow for my joyful, creative expression with color and texture.

Location:  Arcadia, Michigan, USA

Online shop:  SallyManke

Memberships:

   International Quilt Association
   American Quilter’s Society
   Quiltsy Team on Etsy

Languages spoken:  English 

"Autumn Trees", Art Quilt by Sally Manke

Tags:  fiber art, art quilt. textile art, confetti quilt technique, machine quilting, wearable art, landscape artist, fine art, color, texture