Embrace Quality. Be Inspired.

Linda Doucette, of Millville is a fiber artist who’s work centers around green living.  On her website, she talks about her process. 

Green living, existing in harmony with nature, is the essence of my business Shades of Nature. Welcome to Shady Grove Farm and studios, where flowers are used to make dyes, mushrooms become sheets of paper, fiber is turned into cloth, and the beauty of the landscape is preserved in distinctive paintings.

My eight alpaca, five angora rabbits and locally grown sheep and llama, provide luxurious fiber in a variety of colours for dyeing and spinning. I combine the natural fleece colours with shades from my dye pots to make unique variegated and semi-solid yarns.

Much of the dyestuff I use grows in my gardens or wild on my property. I shop for the natural dyes such as cochineal and indigo that I cannot produce myself. Plant based dyes are complex mixes of colour, affected by growing, harvesting and storing conditions, as well as extraction techniques. The sometimes unpredictable variations add to the rare beauty of the natural colours.  Before dyeing I treat the natural fibers with an alum based mordant solution to make the colours as light and wash fast as possible. The mordant helps bind the dye molecules to the fiber. Protecting natural dyed fabrics from bright sunlight will help preserve them. These organic colours can all be hand washed in lukewarm water.

After I extract the dye most of the cooked plant material heads to the compost pile, eventually returning to the garden. Several, such as onion skins and certain mushrooms and lichens, are processed further and live on as handmade paper used in my artwork! The entire process, from raising fiber animals and dye plants to dyeing and weaving, is tactile and satisfying. It keeps me connected to our planet earth, and to our ancestors who first discovered the amazing secret colours hidden in plants.

To learn more about her process, you can follow her blog where she talks about spinning, plant dyeing. weaving, painting and gardening.  OR check out her work at our ‘In the Kitchen’ exhibit in the store.  252 N Prince St.  Lancaster.

teapots and canister set by Jennifer Bernard Hatfield

It’s First Friday tonight as well as the opening of our ‘In the Kitchen’ exhibit!  We have some absolutely stunning work so be sure to stop in and check it out.  252 N. Prince St. Lancaster.

salt and pepper shakers by Jake Johnson and Pam Cummings, woven sculpture by Sylvia Lehman, wine cozy by Gloria Singer and Pam Cummings, spoons by Pam Cummings

canister set by Royce Yoder, leaf dish by Bev Zimmerman, cutting board by Mark Hamm

In the Kitchen opens this Friday! We  have beautiful work by so many talented artists including:  Doug Starry, Royce Yoder, Ed Youtz, Pam Cummings, Jennifer Hatfield and many  more!

Because we have several beautiful cutting boards in the show, Doug Starry gave us a tip on how to properly maintain them. 

To keep your cutting board looking like new for years to come you need to follow a few simple guidelines. don’t immerse in water or put in a dishwasher. Simply wipe clean with soapy water, rinse and towel dry. Store in an upright position.
 
When your board starts to look dry in appearance, apply a coat of mineral oil over the entire surface and let stand for 4 to 6 hours. Then wipe off the excess.
 
Always cut on the same side and keep the other side for display. These tips ensure years of use and beauty.

Be sure to stop by our store this Friday!

This week, we are highlighting juried member and woodworker Ted Rasmussen. 

Ted’s work is inspired by the natural beauty found in each unique piece of wood. 

In his artist’s statement, Ted writes:

Grain, color and natural imperfections such as checks and cracks are important characteristics that can enhance the beauty of the wood in it’s most honest state.

Ted’s fantastic pieces are available for sale at In the Kitchen!  Opening Friday, September 3.

This week, I am excited to bring you the studio of enamelist Jean Van Brederode. 

Here is what Jean had to say about her studio:

Since my studio was nothing more than a big chunk of empty basement, I knew it was destined to become a space I would love!  Finding your perfect art form is hard enough, but creating the ultimate workplace can be even more challenging!  After much measuring, drawings of floor plans, chalk marks on the floor, selection of just the right carpenter, and a long wait, Charmed I’m Sure Studio was finally complete just over a year ago.

What I enjoy the most about my creative space are the work and classroom areas, the colors and openness of the room, and the natural light and view of the woods.  

 My favorite tools are a Paragon enameling kiln, Bonnie Doon hydraulic press, and a myriad of metalworking tools.   I like to surround myself with an eclectic mix of music – Bluegrass, Rock, Classical – and also books, magazines & art from friends and fellow guild members.  Those things, plus the raw materials of my enameling, call me happily back in to my creative space.

This is an image of the lovely work Jean creates in her studio:

A big thanks to Jean for sharing her awesome studio! 

If you have a studio,  send your images to Jenny:  jenny@pacrafts.org.

We have some fantastic workshops coming in the next few months. 

The weekend of September 25 & 26 will be chock full of creative endeavors.  Ed Youtz will be teaching a two day woodturning workshop at Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading.  The class runs from from 9am-5pm on Saturday, Sept. 25 AND 9am-4pm on Sunday, Sept. 26. On Saturday, students will learn to use a spindle-roughing gauge, parting tool, skew, and spindle gauge. After practice he/she will design and fashion a dry flower arrangement holder, and an end-grain cup. Sunday students will use a bowl gauge to design and make a plate and a bowl. Each student will have the use of a lathe, tools, and face shield.

Frank Warner will be teaching an introduction to lapidary class.  This two day course, held on Sept. 25 and 26 will educate students about how to use a diamond trim saw as well as diamond grinding, sanding and polishing equipment.  Beginning students in recent workshops have completed four or five cabs in the two day session.  This workshop will be held at the L. Howard Freeman Skill Center of the Tuscarora Lapidary Society (TLS) in Media, PA. 

Just in time for the holiday season, Brian Cunfer will be teaching a workshop about ornament woodturning.  In this two day workshop, held on October 9 & 10 from 9 am to 5 pm, Brian will teach intermediate students to turn three different styles of ornaments: bird house, bell and icicle.  Proper sharpening techniques for tools will also be discussed.

Sandra Coldren of Lititz is a theorem painter. 

I found a great article about her by the Lancaster County Heritage Program. 

 

Sandra painted her first theorem over thirty years ago as a gift to her grandmother.  While this first painting sparked a life-long interest in the craft, it would be another fifteen years before Sandra would commercially sell her work.  Today Sandra demonstrates theorem painting at craft shows throughout the Mid-Atlantic and passes her knowledge on through classes at Landis Valley Museum.    

 After designing each theorem, Sandra begins by cutting the stencils from either plastic (standard pieces) or heavy paper (demonstration pieces).  She blends her paints by hand and applies them by rubbing or brushing through the stencil onto cotton velveteen.  Sandra previously antiqued her work, but upon discovering one of her theorems in an antique shop, she now tries to replicate how the original colors would have appeared.  In addition to painting traditional still life designs, Sandra also explores Pennsylvania German motifs such as hearts or distelfinks.  Once completed each piece is mounted in a hand-crafted frame and painted by Sandra using a traditional German recipe.

 

Sandra will be selling her work as well as demonstrating her theorem painting at our upcoming show on October 16 and 17 in Blue Bell. 

The Pennsylvania Guild needs 1 or 2 enthusiastic part-time folks to work in our seasonal stores at 252 N. Prince St in Lancaster, In the Kitchen and Handmade Home. Hours are limited but include some weekdays and some weekends and some First Fridays, September through December. Retail experience helpful but not required. Pleasant, cheerful, responsible individual with some knowledge of craft who can enthusiastically and genuinely promote the Pennsylvania Guild  to our visiting patrons. Hours are exclusively in our Lancaster store. Pay is $8 to $10/hour. To apply, please send inquiries to: info@pacrafts.org, attention Jenny Germann. Please be sure to include a brief work history and why you want to work with the Guild!

At our recent show, Nick took this awesome video of Marie-Helene Grabman practicing scherenschnitte.  She is so sure of each stroke, its amazing!

Be sure to check it out in person at the October Fall Art Festival in Blue Bell.  Marie-Helene is our featured artist!

Denise Wilz of Green Lane,  PA creates heritage craft incorporating traditional techniques into her work. 

On her website, she discusses her inspiration, her technique and her creative background.  Here is an excerpt:

My designs are inspired by Pennsylvania German folk art of all kinds, including pottery, fraktur and painted furniture.  I use traditional techniques and tools to create my work – rolling pins , a disc cutter, slip cups, a coggle wheel to decorate the edges of the plates, molds for shaping the plates, and handcrafted tin cookie cutters.  My work is fired in an electric kiln rather than the traditional wood-fired kiln, and I do not use the heavily leaded glazes of yesteryear.

Some of my favorite sgraffito designs are attributed to potter Conrad Mumbouer (1761-1845), of Haycock Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and I have had the opportunity to touch two of his pieces.  I was delighted to see that my sgraffito tool marks are similar to his (as if we used the same tool) and he too liked to leave his scratch marks visible, and did not smooth them out either.  Mr.  Mumbouer used copper oxide, a gorgeous jewel-like green colorant, and manganese, a brown-black color, on his sgraffito plates to add to their beauty.  I am still learning to be free with the daubs of copper oxide on my plates, the green color adds so much more life to each piece.

I create slipware pieces using slip cups made of contemporary materials; the slip designs are squiggles, straight lines and dots!   Every now and again I try using my slip cup made from a clay cup with turkey quills as straws, but haven’t been a successful as I would like with the tool.  Any suggestions would be appreciated, so that I can emulate the slip designs that are wholly contained on the surface, not just drawn from side to side, as all mine are now.

My first love is sgraffito.  I like it because I find it detail-oriented, as was programming, and it can be challenging.  Part of the challenge is designing new work and making it compositionally pleasing.  I also like each piece to have a nice smooth touchable surface and find I can accomplish that if I sgraffito the piece when it is in a leather-hard state – not too wet and not too dry.  

I hand-model whistles in the shape of birds too.  Early pieces have thin wings and long tails with no decoration, and my current whistles are decorated with slip to delineate the wings and the tails are much shorter. 

To see more of her work, check out her website, www.wilzpottery.com or see her at our upcoming show in Blue Bell!