StItched and beaded pages in progress

Showed some stitcher friends a couple of artists' books at a meeting last night, and while I was doing that, I realized that the beaded, dyed silk things I've been working on at stitch ins were actually pages-to-be for another artist book I've had in mind, with fabric pages and covers.

I plan to incorporate various stitchings, dyed silk, dyed cotton, and interesting items like that into it.  So, pausing only to order and await a new iron since my 25 year old one up and died this week, today I've been ironing that stiffening stuff, name escapes me, onto a couple of silk pieces.

Here you see a few of the items I've been assembling.  If you see a bit on the left of the top one, of a stitched fish, I can not claim that as my work, it's by dogonart, my sister Irene, and has been used in various incarnations for years.  Now on the side of a bag, now on the back of a jacket, and possibly has a future in a book!  I have several of her small artworks, the Canadian doll, a little pursy thing, other dolls, artist trading cards, all carefully out where I can see them.

The black stitching is of a line drawing I made in ink on mulberry, of a tiny weed I saw at the labyrinth.  The drawing is small, but is still several times lifesize.  Then I stitched it, using the drawing just as a guide, but still freehand.  Stitching, after all, is drawing with a needle.

The larger piece is a monotype, in silver ink, of a half cabbage (!),  and printed on a dyed cotton square then stitched.  The interior of a cabbage looks very much like the branching form of a tree, which is what it became in the stitching.

And on the back of the black and white stitched piece, the trail of white glue, making an accidental art piece in itself. 

But now it's brayered down onto the backing, a piece of stamped and dyed cotton.  This is likely to be a book cover.   If I can find the original line drawing, I'll include it in the book.  Note to self: rent backhoe to excavate moraine of old drawings.

One of my stitcher friends asked where I get all these ideas, and I vaguely said, oh they're in here somewhere.  But really that's not a good answer.  Every artwork you make opens the door to the next, and if you keep on opening doors, the supply of ideas is just about infinite.  But you have to open the doors!  I can show you where they are, as I do a lot in this blog, but still, you're the Opener in Chief for your own art. I've been opening doors for well over 70 years, so ideas are available all over the place.