Playing with fiber and fibre. Renting equipment. A Story.

Welcome Back to the Blog 

Hello, hello, if you've made it here. Welcome! This blog hasn't seen action for a while, let's fix that, shall we? Let's catch up on what I've been up to this summer. I'm calling it the Great Summer of Blending.

The Project

In the words of Stephen King's Gunslinger, the World has moved on, and my interests with it. I still work with wire and recycled materials. Now I'm making for fun, because I have a full-time job.

 Lately, I've been spinning fibre of all kinds and doing fun things with it. I've been playing with wool (from sheep), mohair (from Angora goats), silk, and a variety of more exotic materials all summer. I've pulled it out of my stash, a mix of class supplies, Guild swaps, and purchases I made at shows and events. I eyeballed 13 different blends ranging from all-white (texture play) to riots of every colour (color) of the rainbow.

Image: Blend 6, The Flower Garden, sorting by fibre type. Silk, Mohair, wool, a little bit of dyed cotton.   

What Am I Making?

I'm making thick art yarn using a technique called core spinning. I plan to use the yarn to make household items for my loved ones for Christmas. Table runners, placemats, like that. To my loved ones who read this and usually get presents from me, congratulations! You get to pick your colours and your project, if you like -- eee! 

Image: Corespun yarn getting woven into a table runner. This is a past gift to my mother-in-law. 

The Equipment

I rented a blending board from my local Guild, the Ottawa Valley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild (OVWSG). A blending board looks sort of like a HUGE pet comb, mounted on a wood cutting board, and intended to be used at an angle to your work surface (that's a pretty close description). You pull fibre through the steel pins that make up the comb, top to bottom.  

Image: A blending board standing on my sewing machine cabinet, with the fiber being removed from it. 

I also rented a drum carder. (Similar to the blending board, but in the round, a machine. 

Turn a crank (or push a button, electric ones are a thing) and the fibre gets transformed from going every which way to smooth and fluffy, in (mostly) orderly rows. 

Break the circle of fibre in a straight-ish line, and then peel it off the machine into a rough rectangle called a batt. SO SATISFYING. 

Image: The drum carder, empty, in my studio, and my pending blends waiting in the background. 

I have the equipment for two months. And I've made great use of them both!  

The drum carder sees the most action, with my hand carders a close second (think of hand carders as smaller blending boards, with handles. They come in a set and are intended to be used together. That's a whole other post in itself.) 

The blending board I'm using less, only because of the sheer volume of material I'm processing. Crank it through the drum carder!

Image: Blend 4, Day at the Beach. My hand carders are in the bottom right. 

How It's Going

So far, five 200-gram blends have made their way through the carders, a running total of 1000 grams (2.2 pounds) of fibre processed so far. 

Each blend is broken into four 50-gram (1.7-ounce) sub-blend versions. I make adjustments from version to version. It's similar to a series of paintings, I suppose. But squooshy.

I'm calling the last two batts "Goth Barbie". I didn't get the blend itself quite right until the third version. I needed the streaks. The first two blends just looked like "A Nice Pair of Socks".

Image: Blend 5-2 on the Drum Carder. 

See? A Nice Pair of Socks, right?

Hey, Didn't You Say There Was A Story?

Why is this my first post in forever? 

Because my brain has been getting extra creative, and gave me this little snippet of story to accompany my latest blend. It's too long to include on Instagram, so I'm including it here. 

I don't know, we had a couple of days of cooler weather just before the September Labour Day weekend, and my mind went to autumn and Halloween. I'm letting it wander. And writing down the journey.  

Image: "Goth Barbie" fibre mix for spinning: Blend 5-3, the perfect Halloween story blend 

Blend 5-3 and 5-4 Back Story

Scene: Outside the movie theatre (theater), a Buffy/Wednesday/Tiffany Aching cross (P) is meeting her friends for the "Barbie" premiere. She shows up late and disheveled, with big holes in both knees of her jeans. 

She saunters up to the group of teenagers chatting outside the theatre. Waiting for her. The group has dressed for the event; it's like a bubblegum factory exploded during a glitter storm. They turn as one at her casual greeting. 

One of the group (B, a worker bee of this hive mind) gasps at the sight of her, then blurts: 

B:    P! What are you wearing?

P:    (looks down, shrugs) Jeans and a tee. New tank top, check it! Like the pattern?

B gestures in bewilderment, waving her hands from item to problematic item of  P's outfit, top to bottom. Streaky tops, a riot of pink, purple, and red. Jeans, ripped and dirty. Big black boots. B is Speechless for a moment. Only a moment, though. Bees recover quickly. 

B:    What HAPPENED? Your knees, your -- is that BLOOD? 

P looks down at herself and notices the spots she missed. 

P: Pfft, no. (Shows her boots, pulling up one pantleg slightly, working carefully around the tear.)  Vegan leather! They can print anything on that stuff. (Models her boots, blood 'n' all.) The colour is called Midnight. I got a splatter overlay. Notice, not black. I listen.  

B blinks slowly, once, lips pressed together. Then she dismisses the whole unpleasantness, already moving to more important matters. She starts the waving again, this time concentrating on P's tee and tank. 

B: And what a strange pink, so streaky!

P looks down; considers. When she left the house, the tee was white.

P: I was trying a new crafty thing. Let me find a washroom, maybe I can even it out. (Hurries off before any more conversation happens. Calls over her shoulder.) Get me some popcorn!

Whew, okay! That's out of my head now. Back to blending! Fibres and a story, I've been woolgathering times two.

And Then? 

Next time, maybe I'll talk about how this happened. 

Image: Fiber and silk cocoons crowded in a crockpot of dye, and -- wait, it's two colours? In one pot? 

Bye for now. 

Aluminum Can collection for Unity Market and Cafe in Downtown Barrie

Tucked into a wonderfully wonky-windowed building on Toronto Street, close to the waterfront, is Unity Market and Cafe & Studios, a class A recording facility, local organic cafe/art gallery and youth and community outreach centre extraordinaire!

Shane L.S. Dennis, part owner and manager of Unity, has been providing a loving home to three of my sculptures and some of my stained glass in this space. We were chatting during one of my recent visits and it came up that Unity needs aluminum cans to make - oh, how fantastic! - Solar Panels. 

So I have agreed to help with this effort by putting the word out to my collector friends and fans. Can you collect your pop cans, juice cans, energy drink cans for this cause? Our eco-hearts will expand in thanks!

Please contact me if you would like to help out. 

Here is a picture of my sculpture The Fisher, who lives happily at Unity.

A seven-sculpture commission

In the last month and a half I have been working on a major sculpture commission. I just delivered the final sculptures to the client on Monday. Now I need to rest my hands as my carpal tunnel is numbing them quite frequently now!

The commission was a sub-contract for a larger project being prepared by House of Kevin for an Environment Canada interpretation centre in Halifax. House of Kevin found me on the internet. It pays to keep a website!

I made three fish, two salmon and one trout:

A seagull:

A bear:

And two different kinds of grasses. Estuary cordgrass (the wavy stuff) and your garden variety grass, if your garden variety grass was five and a half feet long and four feet high.

The fish, bear and the garden variety grasses are all relief sculptures, relatively thin and intended to be mounted to a wall. The seagull and the estuary cordgrass are the three-dimensional sculptures I am more accustomed to making. 

I must admit, the garden variety grass sculpture has me dreaming of a wheat field installation of copper grasses in a big room, with paths running between the sculptures so you can stand in a field of copper wheat. First, rest my hands. Then on to the big dreams!

It's Summertime, and the living is - Busy!

Lisa at Recycl'Art 2010 with "Entwined" wire sculpture

Summer, in an artistic life, is often one of the busier times of the year, with shows, exhibitions and other events to keep you hopping. And I've been hopping around a lot!

My Solo show at Espace Pierre-Debain in Aylmer

The first solo show I've had in my career was in the spring, not the summer, but I judge it to be worth a mention, as it was beautifully designed and lighted. Espace Pierre-Debain is a municipal gallery in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau specializing in artisan work. I strongly suggest preparing a proposal when a call goes out, as the remuneration package is excellent!

I exhibited stained glass, jewellery and sculpture. The admistration mentioned that my show was the best-selling show they have ever hosted in the space.

Lisa Brunetta - Solo show at Espace Pierre-Debain in Aylmer QC

The New Art Festival, Central Park, Ottawa

If you are an artist and are scoping out a good summer outdoor show in Ottawa, this one should be at the top of your list. A high-quality show in the heart of the Glebe. This year the show took place on June 5th and 6th.

The show is always well-attended - even this year, despite the rainy weekend. Many a customer braved the less-than ideal weather conditions to stroll the aisles, meeting the talented artists both from the local area and from farther afield.

I had a great good fortune to have wonderful neighbours, including David Taylor, who won the show's photography award for his amazing work, and Paul Sharp, a painter/collage artist who gave me wonderful marketing advice on my copper flocks.

Apartment613, a local art and culture blog, took some shots of the event, including my art, and combined them into a slideshow. You can view it at New Art Festival: Photos from Central Park

Dragons and other Flags at the Gatineau Dragon Boat Festival

The weekend of June 26 found me, my family and my Dragon sculpture volunteering at the Gatineau Dragon Boat festival, making flags from recycled materials with the children there. I came up with a fun Dragon design. The races raise funds for Centre C.A.R.M.E.N., a complimentary treatment centre offering free services to chronically ill patients and their families.

Dragon Flags made from recycled materials

Recycl'art Opening Day in Montpellier QC

The photo at the top of this post is my submission this year for Recycl'Art, one of the most interesting sculpture exhibitions I participate in. All sculptures must be made from at least 80% recycled materials to qualify for this juried show.

The show runs from July 10 to October 3, 2010. Take the drive to Montpellier - you won't regret it!

The artists from Recycl'Art 2010

An Artist's Residency in the Pontiac

From July 12 to 16 I participated in the Pontiac Artists Association's first ever Artist's Residency week. Artists from the region opened their homes and hosted artists like me for the week. Each day we visited tourist attractions in the Pontiac region, and then returned to the magnificent home base of Geraldine Classen (my gracious host!) to work together and share our expertise. It was an excellent experience, and one I hope the Association decides to continue.

Geraldine Classen's excellent barn studio

Kempenfest in Barrie, Ontario

This weekend I'm heading to Barrie, Ontario - my home town - to participate in my second year of the Huronia Festival of Arts and Crafts, part of the larger Kempenfest. Here's a little nugget of information to close out this giant post - I'm moving to Barrie for September of this year! Maybe I'll see you this weekend.

Lisa Brunetta on Regional Contact - Showcasing my recycled art

My feature on Regional Contact aired on Saturday, February 5, 2010. The Olympics have since started so I have the bonus of being top of the list for at least a couple of weeks on Regional Contact`s Internet Page.

If you didn`t catch the show when it aired, go check it out online!

Regional Contact filming in my studio

I got a call last week from Kathie Donovan from Regional Contact, a show on our local television station, CTV Ottawa. The show interviews local people with interesting stories - artists, musicians, craftspeople, winter camping enthusiasts - you get the idea. It's a half hour show with two segments per show and has been running in the area for thirty years. It's very popular and people love it.

I was delighted to participate, so she came down last week to Arthéna, the shop/gallery where I work, to interview me and shoot some pictures of my work. She returned today, to my home studio, to take some footage of me making things and to get pictures of the larger sculptures. I had a blast!

My studio was completely taken over with lights, tripods, and wires snaking everywhere.

And I asked nicely and Kathie and her cameraman, Peter, were kind enough to pose for a picture with me. Here we are.

Kathie will be back in touch when the program airs. And it will be on their website for a little while - I'll post a link when I find out more.

My sculpture decorates the CRCO website pages!

Look what I found when I was browsing today! The Conseil régional de la culture de l'Outaouais (think Council for the Arts in Ottawa, but on the Quebec side) has just launched their new and improved website. They have a series of images that cycle through as you browse through their pages. My Dragon is one such image - with the added bonus of having a clearly legible name tag! Most excellent. This has made my day.

Art on my head!

I keep forgetting that there are loads of people who haven't yet seen my new hairdo. I find it helps me embody artsyness!

I brought in a handful of autumn leaves to the colorist and the DVD of the movie "Amélie" to the hairstylist the get the colour and cut I was looking for and I'm thrilled that both of them were so delighted to do it for me, instead of trying to talk me out of it.

Here I am with my new Autumn leaves 'do. I love it! Thanks to Crystal and Kevin at the Fluid Colour Concept Salon in Ottawa for helping me realize my hair vision.

And a shot of me at work at Arthéna - a good view of the hairdo from the side - check out the bright orange stripe that frames my face:

Glass Beadmaking at the Haliburton School of the Arts

Every year since 1997 I've been driving to Haliburton, Ontario (a little village about an hour north of Peterborough and just on the southernmost border of Algonquin Park) for my week-long getaway at the Haliburton School of the Arts. Yes, going to Art school for six and a half hours a day, five days in a row is my idea of a vacation. I love it!

This year I was originally registered for a Business for Artists course. I was really looking forward to it as it was going to discuss tricks and tips for grant writing (my next thing to attack!). However, it got cancelled due to low registration. So I signed up for glass beadmaking instead and had a ball.

Glass beadmaking involves melting rods of differently coloured glass in the flame of a torch, winding the molten glass rods around a stainless steel stick and using the flame to make various shapes. Here's a shot of my work surface with the torch, some glass rods, shaping tools, stainless steel buckets of water for scrap and those stainless steel winding rods (the things that look like unlit sparklers – the gray stuff is called bead release and allows you to slip the bead off the winding rod once it has cooled down. Without bead release, you can't get the bead off and you end up with a nice plant stick – hee hee!


Here are my beads from the first day – looks like a bouquet, doesn't it? The red tips are so I can tell my beads from the beads of others. All the beads, once completed, go into a kiln (a really hot oven) to cool down slowly to room temperature to avoid thermal shock and cracking. Confusion and inadvertent bead theft can occur without the marking.


There are two main kinds of glass in bead making, commonly referred to as “soft glass” and “hard glass”. Melting temperature is lower for soft glass, and the colour you see in glass rod form is what you will get once you're done forming the bead in the torch. However, soft glass is more sensitive to changes in temperature (and more prone to cracking if you're not careful to keep it evenly warm while you're working).

The hard glass is called borosilicate glass and is the same stuff Pyrex bakeware and scientific test tubes are made with. It has a higher melt temperature and is much less prone to cracking because of uneven warming, so you can make more complicated things. My instructor, Brad Sherwood, makes these really cool glass marionettes out of this glass, with jointed jaws and limbs. The other cool thing about borosilicate glass is the colour variations you can get out of the glass by varying the heat applied to your bead.

Here is a beautiful pendant and matching tiny beads I made on my last day of class. Those tiny beads have fantastic swirls of colours and hints of metallic tinting. They didn't go into the kiln at all – their small size allowed me to prop them up on my tabletop to air cool with no ill effects. And I got all fancy when I was winding them on the stainless steel rods – instead of only one bead per rod, I wound four or five to each rod, creating quantities of beads in a very short time.


As you can see, I had great fun, as usual. I highly recommend this art school. Haliburton is able to attract excellent instuctors, and their course catalogue is large and varied. So go create!

Lisa's Wire Sculptures at Kempenfest 2009 - Barrie, Ontario

My first year at Kempenfest in Barrie, Ontario was enjoyable. Have you heard of this festival before? It's HUGE! Music, food, arts and crafts – you name it, they've got it. The arts and crafts booth numbered about 375 this year.

My general impressions – as usual, more crafts than art, so my sculptures were competing with things like goat soap and dog neckerchiefs (is that even a word? You know what I mean, yes?). I don't think it's an ideal venue for my work, but as a promotional show it's great – there's a constant stream of people coming through and I exhaused my business card reserves. I handed out over 400 business cards, by my estimate.

Reactions to my art – I placed my Dragon at one end of my display and my new turtle sculpture at the other end of the display. I was at a place where two paths converged into one, so I had great exposure, and lots of room for folks to admire the art.And admire they did! From my left, where the Dragon was, came my “WOW!” collection. It was all I heard as people caught sight of the Dragon. On the turtle side they used a few more words – usually “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS TURTLE?”- as they yelled down the aisle to their friends. My little Buzz Bugs got a laugh every time I told their story, my latest hedgehog caused many a change of direction as people on their way somewhere made a beeline to my table for a closer look. Many people mentioned my stuff was the most original and creative things they had seen.

Ah, if only all that translated into sales! Alas, my sister was my biggest customer (and only because she absolutely insisted on giving me her money, despite my protests). Apparently I wasn't alone in that respect – the custom cast iron gate maker in front of me had poor sales as well, and the cement garden sculpture maker commented it seemed to be a different crowd – his first day sales were nowhere near what they had been in previous years.

I will do Kempenfest again – it's a great bang of promotion for the buck, and you can only effectively guage shows when you do them more than once. People will be looking for me next year, I'm sure!

Exposition Renaissance

July 14, 2009

Sculpture installion for Exposition Renaissance at Centre Culturel Jacques Auger, Hull QC

Okay, so I have been chastened. I was supposed to deliver Interaction on Monday, July 13. Oops. I got a gruff call from Jeah-H. Guilmette, the president of the CSQ and the organizer of the show, asking where my sculpture was, the show is almost completely mounted and there's not much space left. Yipes! So I loaded it into the car (thankfully, another sculpture that fits in the Subaru) and made haste.

Jean-H. let me in and watched me unpack the monster fan I've been using to blow a wind that makes my lady look like a superhero. He looked critically at it as told me blunted it was ugly, it didn't compliment my sculpture, and should be replaced. So I tucked my tail between my legs and went to track down a new fan. I found a nifty new one at Giant Tiger (how convenient!) and went back home to get some wire and tools. I mounted it under the bike wheel and it looks great. The folks mounting the show even helped me with the ingenious power cord wrapping so it could be plugged in but the cord wouldn't be seen.


See the little fan just under the wheel between her feet? Much nicer. Jean-H. was right. Thank you! The new fan blows a gentler breeze. It looks subtle and ethereal. I like it.

Here's some photos of the room.


Here's a view from the far side of the room, facing my sculpture. See it – the tiny wire lady in the middle background? Behind the man with the balloon and the wooden “X”?

And here's a view of the room from where my sculpture is.



Opening night tomorrow from 5 to 7 pm. Will I see you there?

Recycl'Art 2009 in Montpellier QC

July 11, 2009

Opening day at Recycl'Art 2009 in Montpellier, QC

We were able to take the Subaru to this setup because the Window fits in the back. We were aiming to be there in time for me to attend the Conseil's annual general meeting at 11:30, but the rainy weather and last-minute packing delayed our arrival to 12:30, too late!

That's Jean-H., the president of the Conseil de la sculpture de Quebec.

We had lots of time for setup, though! So we pounded green T-stakes into the ground, using the cemetery as a backdrop and angling the piece so it would be visible on approach from the front of the gallery and the indoor displays. Here I am with the mounted Window. That's my comments box in my hands – I'll have to come back every now and again to check it's still dry and stocked with Sharpies.




After installation we had the afternoon to eat, visit with patrons and other artists and view the other sculptures on display. What an array of talent in the group of sculptors! This show gets better every year. There's more shots of the day here, but here's a little preview for you.



It's utterly amazing, I assure you. Come see.

Installing stained glass at Arthéna

July 9, 2009

Installing stained glass at Arthéna in Old Chelsea, QC

With my stained glass already packaged from its return from art09 in Toronto, I loaded it all in the car and was off the Arthéna on Thursday afternoon to hang it in the gallery.

I discovered the shop had acquired a new glass mosaic artist since my last visit, and two panels were already in the windows (including in the front window space I had plans to hang my panels in that you see as you first come in the door – too bad!). There were many other windows to hang my pieces in, however, and it looks great!

Here's the panels mounted in the other front window, deeper in the gallery. I like having the displays in front.

I hung two mirror-mounted pieces on the wall beside another large window, and the small and medium-sized squares on either side of the mosaic in the bow window facing the parking lot. Then I used the remaining window (conveniently on eye level with the entrance to Olivier, the soap shop behind the gallery) to display the framed and unframed vignettes. The Vignettes in the white frames hang down straight, with the frames hanging at a 45 degree angle. It's a nice visual when viewed from below.
I returned to pick up the large blue panel for repair (the solder had broken and a piece had slipped out of place) yesterday, and Capucine, the manager, told me she has received many positive comments about my stained glass. I think the larger pieces will encourage custom orders and bump the sales of the smaller, more affordable Vignettes and squares.

What do you think?

Inspiration on vacation, Gatineau Dragon Boat Festival, Aylmer Garden Tour 2009

July 2, 2009 - On Vacation

We're on a family vacation week, visiting with my husband's relatives in northern Ontario. I'm on the porch of a rented cottage at Panorama Camp in Lavigne, Ontario, typing merrily away on my Mac. The water in front of me is calm and gorgeous.

My husband is out on the boat. My daughter has disappeared into the trailer section of the park, having a great time with her new friends. Time for a blog update!

Saturday, June 27, 2009 - Gatineau Dragon Boat Festival

After five days of vacation, we packed the Dragon sculpture in the truck and took it to the Gatineau Dragon Boat Festival at Lac Leamy. The event is the major fundraiser for Centre C.A.R.M.E.N., a therapy and support centre that provides services to chronically and critically ill patients and their families.

Art therapy is a large part of their services. My Dragon was at their media evening last year. When the Centre's director called me again this year I was pleased to help promote the event.

You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Sunshine, warm, but not hot. Perfect! We set up the sculpture in the middle of the team encampments, along the path everyone used to get to the races. I removed the barrier from the front of the area and encouraged folks to pose with and investigate the Dragon (which this little guy did quite thoroughly!).

I put out a can for voluntary donations and managed to collect a small amount for their fundraising activities. Here's Master Shi-Fu, philosophising about the event:

Have you ever been to a Dragon Boat race? Four teams race at a time, and the same four boats are used for all the races. The rowers come in all shapes and sizes. There are XX rowers per boat, and a at the front to set the pace of the paddling. The trick for maximum speed is to get all the rowers synchronized. It's a great physical activity.

July 5, 2009 - Aylmer Garden and Art Tour

On my 12th wedding anniversary (!!), my artsy friend Christine Armstrong and I spent the afternoon at this wonderful show.

Christine and I were hosted at Sylvie and Louis' house. Sylvie has recently opened a flower and garden decoration shop beside the KFC in Aylmer and her garden is gorgeous! And especially attractive for me, especially since I discovered I live right around the corner. The show was within walking distance from my house - I couldn't have asked for more.

There was enough space in the garden for the three of us (Christine, Sylvie and me) to be stationed at different points along the visit. I was at the entrance to welcome visitors, Christine was in the middle of the yard and Sylvie was down by the ponds, Bontanix Guide in hand, answering questions about the wonderful plantings. We hung stained glass and Christine's impressive dragonfly sculpture/painting in the trees and tucked sculptures around the pond.

My large Dragon sculpture was placed in front of the pool fence and commanded attention. I hung stained glass fish across her bridge to keep the giant koi in her pond company. It all looked great!

We welcomed a steady stream of visitors all day, right until the end. There were two talented young violin players who did a tour of the six gardens, playing music at each one - it was beautiful. I would be a good idea to have more music next year.

I do think the event could leverage the artist's own invitation lists to incite more ticket sales next year (yes, I would be interested in attending again next year - I enjoyed it, despite my new strappy suntan.). I wasn't sure how much I should promote, as I got the impression the organizers may have been trying to keep the event low key for the first time out. Having tickets available at all locations would allow passers-by to purchase tickets.

If the show opens earlier in the day, I would need more time to set up. I was still setting out jewellery when the first visitors arrived. I have a lot of small things and hanging things and things that need pedestals and such. I didn't get a chance to change! Here's a photo of me in my shelter. I sold two of the little stained glass vignettes on the table. One gentleman seemed pleased and slightly surprised he was buying art. Go figure.

July 8, 2009 - new big and little sculptures!

I'm starting a new sculpture in response to the Kempenfest request for bigger sculptures. It's an American Alligator Snapping Turtle! Here's the beginnings of his body and the upper shell. I'm already incorporating all the recycled wire I can find (and got off those little things they're wound on - and out of that flaky glue!). I'm looking forward to fleshing it out.

And I made a new sad-looking hedgehog from telephone wire, with transistors for eyes.

Oh, and some Butterfly kisses to say goodbye.

Cheers,

Lisa