Artist Profile: Orange Iron Fabrications

Lately I have been asked to document some artists' work. What a pleasure for me! So for the next few posts, I'd like to introduce you to some of these very special, creative people.

You may remember my friend Kate, from Orange Iron Fabrications, who I have blogged about here. Kate has also sculpted in metal, but her current work is felt-based forms, some of which are wearable. The ones you see here are currently being shown in Small Point, Maine.

So these wall pieces are all wet-felted first, then machine stitched as you can see in the detail from the first picture. The stitching sort of boosts up the forms, and to enhance that further, Kate stuffs them a bit, resulting in these lovely luscious bumpy parts that make you want to run your hands on them. Kate has mounted them on custom-cut wood-backings, then tacked down at the edges.

This piece here is a top view of Small Point itself---brilliant! Check out the Google map, here, and zoom out so you can see what she has based it on.

So swirly and ocean-y.

This one was one of my favorites. I love how the reds and oranges progress in saturation like bubbles; the overall form is very pleasing to me. The fleece Kate uses comes from lots of places and one of them is the groovy, wind-powered, Hope Spinnery, which specializes in natural dyes.

And how about this sweet little scene with the Small Point One sailboat design, a boat specifically made to race the Small Point waters! Colorful and so quintessentially Maine. I like that little purple-sailed boat hustling to catch up with the fleet.

Thanks for letting me spend time with these colorful pieces, Kate. They are gorgeous!

~owl love~

Owls. Love them up. I made these ones out of felt, from an idea I saw here. I think I'll hang them somehow. No doubt you have seen this video where I learned that lovely owls can smile.
On their backsides they needed something else. To hide the knots and such and send a message of love. A little Stitch Witchery Fusible Web on some linen, some hand-cut stamps, and these little owls are ready to spread their love in the world. Valentine's Crafts can't be beat.
Yummy, dense bread, and easy too. Full of all things wonderful and lots of different kinds of flours, currants, pumpkin seeds, molasses, and nutritional yeast. Best. Toast. Ever.

Here is what it looks like this morning.
Like winter!
Finally.