dye and wood

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the shop.  Much time was spent moving into a new studio location just blocks from the house at CoRK, where a flurry of cleaning, dry-walling, replacing glass, moving, and building has taken place.  While it took me away from my projects for a bit-it's wonderful to have more space to move about and not get stabbed in the side by some piece of wood or metal every time I turn around.  I am also looking forward to the opportunity to be in company with the many great artists in this community, and of course getting out of my own house is a big plus! 

I've finished up on my first lamp, the Textile Lamp.  

Each part of this piece has particular details which I appreciated and my goal was to bring them together as a functional whole, but in a simple way so as not to detract from the individuality of each part.  Incorporating elements of wood, metal, and fiber in raw form... the days of the booming U.S. textile factories. 

Drilling a hole for the lamp cord.

Time to wire everything up!

The lampshade is re-purposed from an old lamp.  Long strips of cloth from my collection were torn and wrapped around the frame.  I then dyed the shade in a turquoise ombré.

The light coming through the shade highlights the ombré effect.

A few of the great details I love about the components of this piece.

A brass water hose nozzle makes an unexpected finial.

I've also been wrapping up on these mirrors.  Made out of lath from the walls of Jacksonville's Riverside/Avondale homes-I contrasted the rough, unevenness of the lath with glossy, modern white frames.

I cut some pieces of birch for the back of the frames (where the mirror will go) and papered them.  Just because it's the back doesn't mean it shouldn't look pretty!

A little peek at my new studio space, I thought the old sampler was quite apropos to the pieces that I create.