Book Cover Made with Silk Remnants

Last week, I showed the sari silk fabric strips that I gleaned from rag rugs and made into needle holders. Today, I want to show you a little five inch square book that I made with this fabric.  The  signatures are made with Stonehenge printing paper.  The inside cover is made of gold-toned fabric and the tie is Dupioni silk.  I really like the colors, textures and patterns of these fabric strips.

Fun with Fabirc Strip Stash

I'm having great fun with my new sari silk fabric strip stash.  The first thing that I made is this needle holder.  The photo doesn't describe how soft the fabric strips feel.

Here are some of the fabric strips and the variety of colors and patterns from my stash.

Tory Brokenshire inspired me to go to Fred Meyers and purchase four cotton rugs made in India.  Check out her blog post about her rag rug project  HERE.  I took the rugs apart, washed the strips in hot water, separated them by color.

Here's a closer look at the label.  They are not 100% cotton but do contain some cotton.  Look closely for bits of metallic threads for a rug that contains sari silk remnants.  Some strips may be junk cotton fabric.  It's the luck of the draw to find lots of sari silk fabric.

Here's a selection of the fabric strips that I used to make a second needle holder.

The finished project.

This is a fun, inexpensive way to collect a great stash of fabric strips.  Stay tuned for the next project that I made with them.  Thank you, Tory, for the inspiration.

Portland Audubon's Wild Art Project This Weekend

A couple months ago, I received a call to artists from the Audubon Society of Portland for their Wild Arts Project.  Check out my 2011 bird here.  I picked up my 6x6 inch canvas from Dick Blick downtown and created "Upon a Perch" with collaged paste and dictionary page papers, ink and acrylic paint.  The card below shows some of last years artwork.  Other Portland Art Collective Members participated and see their birds here.

The Wild Arts Festival starts Saturday, November 17th, at 10am at Montgomery Park.  The 6x6 birds cost $40 and  go on sale at 10:30am.  All proceeds go to the Audubon Society of Portland.

Check out their website for more information and a slide show of last years bird art HERE.

More Pages from Los Angeles Travel Journal

Here it's November and I'm finishing my LA travel journal.  I collaged the cover with a variety of decorative papers, photos and stenciled the letters.  The day after the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, we visited the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.  Getty built a replica of a 79AD Pompeii villa overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  His collection of Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities are housed here.

The symmetry and gracefulness of the gardens, water features, statues and mural paintings make the villa a stunning place to visit.

I also enjoyed walking under the grape arbor in the herb garden.

On Friday, we visited a friend in La Habra.  She took us on a tour of the old towns of Fullerton and Whittier.  With 100°F heat, the dunk in the swimming pool felt really good.  I could get used to this California lifestyle.

Saturday, we visited the Getty Center in the hills north of Santa Monica.  The highlight was a Gustav Klimt exhibit featuring his drawings, "The Magic of Line".

The children's store featured large posters highlighting the ABC's of art.  I took photos of the letter posters and then added a few letters of my own in my journal pages.

On Sunday, we spent the day in Long Beach and ate lunch at Parkers' Lighthouse in the Shoreline Village.

The back cover sums up LA and getting around the city-  Freeways.