Category: Studio
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Hexagon quilt, part 2
For fun, I made a short stop motion animation of a quilt block coming together. I will need to be a bit more careful about the composition and overall staging of the image the next time I take process photos for something like this. Hexagon quilt block count: 51Collaborators: 2
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Hexagon quilt, part 1
It’s spring, and if I start now I may have a new quilt by the time cool weather returns to the Northern Hemisphere. Quilt project goals: Unresolved design challenges: Inspiration: I have in the past made coasters and potholders in a hexagonal log cabin design like this one by Caroline Fairbanks. Her process of sewing…
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Tea directory (part 3)
I made a tea directory (project goals and bookbinding described here) and some stamps with which to track my delicious investigation of those teas, but I was still not done. It had been a while since I bound a book destined to hold such an absurd number of inclusions, and I underestimated how much extra…
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Mending mittens
Since she knows I both knit and repair socks, a relative asked me if I could do something about a beloved mitten whose thumb was ripped off by her dog. The task seemed easier when I was looking at photos of the damaged mitten. When I saw the actual mittens, I found that there were…
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Bookmaking: Tea directory 2025 ed.
It is the end of January 2025, and the closest I came to decluttering was to sort my tea. I made a book about it (as one does). Tea directory book goals: What I learned (while making the book): Process notes and results: I found out about the K-118 binding approach through demonstrations by the…
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A lot (of good stuff) has happened artistically
It’s a bit silly that so little of what I’ve done in the last few years made it to my actual portfolio website. Artistic things that happened since my last research blog post (each of which likely deserves its own post):
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Cloth Masks
[Quick note: If you want links to patterns, scroll to the end of this post.] I have access to a sewing machine, and therefore I’ve used my studio space to make nothing but cloth masks since mid-March 2020. (Many thanks to my mom, whose expertise makes this easier and whose company makes it enjoyable.) The…
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DIY bookbinding tools
I’ve found a few modifications to my tools that help me work more effectively. For one thing, dulling the needles has helped me avoid a problem that irked me while making my Test papers series of books. My needles were very sharp, and that meant I could easily tear through the paper at the wrong…
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Gilding failure
I’m still trying to get the hang of hidden fore-edge painting. The painting is going well enough… My difficulty remains in the gilding. I truly believe the reflective quality of metal leaf is superior to that of every paint I’ve ever tried (and I had the chance to try quite a few over the years). …
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See artist books in Chico, California
Nineteen handmade artist books from my Test papers series are on display during June 2016. You can see them in person if you head to 122 Broadway in downtown Chico, California. There’s an added zest to seeing them at this art supply store, because the contents of each book are doodles by store patrons. For…
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Portraiture
This summer I challenged myself to do a self-portrait every day. I even set up a means by which to randomize the ways I go about these portraits. The portrait quota is definite, but I have reserved the right to abandon these spinner wheels if they prove too restrictive. We’ll see, won’t we?
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Banderole mural
This is a rough picture (to be replaced*), but it shows a project I completed this week. The banderole’s white sections are chalkboard paint. The mural is located within a Sunday School, so the option of children’s continuous involvement was a key design component for me. For such a simple design, I was amazed by…
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Millennial Founding Fathers
My quest during this first year after grad school has been to remember how to do art without the epic plan. (Perhaps that is a poor plan. Discuss amongst yourselves.) As a result, I’m attempting a few illustrations for a friend whose historical preoccupation is North America during the late eighteenth century. She generated an…
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Morning glory print
My art process sometimes feels like a children’s book. Specifically, it feels like a recreation of If you give a mouse a cookie. If I want to make a decorative relief print of morning glories, I must carve the wood matrix. If I want the right blue, I must mix some colors. These colors are…
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Fore-edge painting
This is the sketchbook in which I try to draw world maps (without looking at references). The results are pretty humbling, so I looked at a map for the painting. I almost have this process figured out. The painting is enjoyable, but gilding the edges is still giving me grief. Fore-edge decoration (by other people…
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An illuminated souvenir
Last year I had the chance to visit Barcelona, which of course translated into a pilgrimage to as many of Antonio Gaudi’s projects as possible. I expected to admire his Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, but I underestimated just how moved I would be by the experience. As is typical, I have no mementos of…
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Toying with History: Conclusion and Works Cited
[This is the final part of a thesis paper about the series Toying with History. Here is the master post.] Conclusion I began this artistic inquiry by asking whether or not the present is dependent on the past. After assessing sexism in contemporary politics and creative fields, I conclude that changing our traditions will only…
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Toying with History: Means of Representation
[This is part five of a thesis paper about the series Toying with History. Here is the master post.] Knowing history might free us from repeating it unconsciously, but it does not free us from it entirely. Certain events and cultural artifacts will linger. What we can do is change what they signify to us.…
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Toying with History: Quality of Representation
[This is part four of a thesis paper about the series Toying with History. Here is the master post.] Omission inflicts all the evils of censorship: it stifles first action, then words, and finally thought itself. Censorship is even harder to detect when masked with a simulation of representation. Examining the state of gender parity…
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Toying with History: Quantity of Representation
[This is part three of a thesis paper about the series Toying with History. Here is the master post.] Before familiarizing ourselves with the quality of women’s role models, let us examine the quantity of women’s representation. It is well and good to know the history of feminism and resolve not to backslide, but we…
Colleen Wampole 