Merry Christmas Grandpa!

A little over a year ago my Grandpa (on Dad's side of the family) saw a picture I made of a brown trout and he wanted it, but it already sold. So back in August Grandma Mary and I started plotting for a Christmas Eve surprise. Grandma Mary commissioned and I cut leaves. Grandpa was happily surprised.
This picture is made of: lily, tomato peel, aucuba, money plant, skeletonized magnolia leaf, onion peel, periwinkle, fall leaves, azalea and heuchera.

Glory To God In The Highest!

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:9-14

Merry Christmas!

On Mom's Back

This mama bear is very patient and nice, kind of like my mom. My mom has five cubs and we all get on her back from time to time, but she’s very patient and not quick to growl. She knows that we get older every day and that someday she may miss having us on her back- maybe.

This picture is made of: banana peel, pampas grass, mushrooms, cornflower, maple, bark, mulberry, eggplant leaves, oak, garlic peel and mica.

The Culprit

This picture is made of: corn husk, cotton, cattail, smoke tree, maiden grass, pampas grass, aucuba, poppy seed, lettuce, mica, dogwood, mica and fall leaves.

Double "In Daddy's Arms"

At my last show I was commissioned to make two of the same picture for two different people. It shows that even though both pictures are made out of almost the exact same plant material, individual leaves naturally look different.

Christmas Time is Here

It's the Christmas season! My family has been decorating for the last two days. Above is a slide show of a Nativity I made out of corn husks.

A Great Art Show!

Saturday's art show was great! It was a good day of talking to people and showing and selling my artwork. I know Mr. Kollock had a nice day too. Many of our friends came including my grandparents who came up from Canton. It was great weather for the show. Now I have several commissions to fulfill but today my family is leaving for a Thanksgiving family visit and we won't be back until Monday.

Art Show Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is the art show I've been preparing for. It's a harvest festival to be held at the home of John and Nancy Kollock's from 10:00-5:00. Mr. Kollock will have his watercolor originals, prints and his latest book. My brother, Nathaniel, will be playing his mountain dulcimer but he'll have to leave around 3:00. I'll have my pressed-flower pictures, corn husk dolls and will bring out my T-shirts and totes for the first time. Come if you can!

Successful Transfers

Some months ago I posted that we got a heat press in order to get some of my pictures on totes and T-shirts. Well, after a long time of trial and error, we are finally getting it right! We've had valuable suggestions from friends and have made a lot of mistakes. But we now have the formula for good transfers. One thing that really helped was putting a piece of matt board inside whatever we were pressing in order to get a very flat surface. (We learned matt board works better than cardboard unless you want a corrugated image). Another thing is that often the images come out darker than the original picture so before I print the transfers I usually brighten them up with a photo editing program on the computer.

Pileated Woodpecker

This picture is made of: hydrangea flowers, hydrangea bark, aucuba, cotton, mica and a fall leaf.

A Nice Open House

Yesterday was the Christmas Open House at Homestead House and I think it went very well. I sold some corn husk dolls, talked to a lot of people, drank some apple cider and just had a good day. My dad and brother played dulcimers on the cabin porch. The weather was very nice- always something to be thankful for with an outdoor show. There was a steady flow of people- also something to be thankful for. I hope the other vendors did well too.

Christmas Open House At Homestead House

Here's an add for where I'll be this Sunday. I'll just have my corn husk dolls out there. My dad and brother are going to be playing their mountain dulcimers and we'll all be dressed in 1860's styled clothing. We may get there up to half an hour late (Dad and Nathaniel are playing at church beforehand) but anyone is welcome to come. Click here for directions.

Little Lady

This picture is made of: daisy, dogwood, corn husk, a skeletonized leaf, aucuba, Queen Anne's lace, corn silk, bark, cantaloupe peel, maple and something I don't know the name of for the border.

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair

A couple of friends of mine where going to the 16th annual Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. They had an extra seat in their car and invited me to come along. There was yarn everywhere I looked, as well as spinning stuff, felting demonstrations, pattern books and much more. I saw light-up knitting needles (I guess so you can knit in the dark), and larger-that-life knitting needles like in the picture. It was nice walking around the show with Miss Cecile and Miss Carol because they could tell me what I was looking at. I bought some wooden knitting needles, gray yarn and some roving in hopes of learning how to spin. Oh, and we saw rabbits and alpacas. Below is a movie of the alpacas and the funny sounds they make.

24 Corn Husk Dolls

Here's what I did while watching some movies. They're corn husk dolls, between 3 and 4 inches tall. They go pretty well at shows because there are a lot of little girls who like them and I sell them cheap. We don't have our TV hooked up to anything, because we don't want our heads filled with junk, and it's often a waste of time. But we do like to watch a good movie, and I like to make dolls.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

OK, I get my seasons a little mixed up, but that's what happens when you have a Christmas show Nov. 1 and a harvest festival Nov. 21. My Dad and brother, who both play the mountain dulcimer, are also getting ready for shows, and so lately I've been listening to live Christmas music.

By the way, the picture above took around 8 hours to make and it is made out of: redbud, bark, aucuba, baby's breath, delphinium, unknown evergreen, cornflower, poinsettia, Japanese maple, tendrils, forget-me-not, Queen Anne's lace, maple and other fall leaves.

Gowns for Corn Cobs

Many of my friends inspire me to reach new heights and try new things. This is how I found myself sewing dresses for corn cobs. Miss Charle' helped me gather dried corn, I popped all the dry kernels off, sewed some tiny dresses and here they are, corn cob dolls.

Cardinal in the Snow

This picture took around 8 hours to complete and it is made of: nandina, oak leaf hydrangea, garlic peel, maple, Japanese maple, cardinal flower, banana peel, bark and aucuba.

Sunset

This picture took about 11 hours and it is made of dogwood, banana peel, orange peel and corn silk.

Cat Picture

This picture took approximately 7 hours and 20 minutes and it is made of: cotton, cattail, maiden grass, Japanese maple, pampas grass, aucuba, fall leaves, mica and some sort of purple flower I don't know the name of.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Picture?

A frequently asked questions at art shows is, "How long does it take for you to make a picture?" I hardly have any idea. People have encouraged me to time my pictures. But it seemed so hard to time when I sit down and work for a half hour, leave, come back for five minutes, leave, come back and work on it for the rest of the day. How do I remember to always look at the clock when I sit down and get up and then record it?

Here's my solution: I almost always listen to a CD while I work. I listen to books on CDs, which are produced by Focus on the Family Radio Theater and are done with sound effects and different voices. They have everything from biographies, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Squanto and Corrie Ten Boom to fiction such as Anne of Green Gables, A Christmas Carol, Billy Budd, Sailor and much more. So what I do is every time I sit down to work push play and every time I get up push pause. Then I make a list of everything I've listened to during a picture, look at the approximate running times on the back and add them up. So If I've listened to Les Miserables, Silas Marner and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I just add all of there times together. And that gives me a good estimate as to how long a picture took. If I don't want to listen to anything but still want to be timed I can just turn the volume all the way down.

Banana Black Bear

Though I semi lost track of the time, my best guess is that this picture took approximately 14 hours and 15 minutes. This picture is made of: oak, banana peel, bark, cornflower, mushroom, pampas grass, dogwood and mica. I am planning to donate this picture to an organization my Dad has been a part of for nearly 20 years - the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA) - for their fundraising auction.

Loofah Snowmen

Last weekend some of our grandparents came for a visit. Grandma Mary and I made these snowmen out of loofah sponges. Many people think that loofah sponges come from the sea but actually they grow on vines.

Toccoa Falls

It took me six and a half hours to glue down, hydrangeas, banana peel, mushrooms, cotton, onion membranes, bark, ferns, orange peel and various herbs for this picture. Of course that time includes pressing, figuring the picture size and finding a reference picture. That time does not include framing.

Untitled Picture

This picture is made of: bark, cotton, corn husk, skeletonized magnolia leaf, corn silk, delphinium, azalea, Lady Banks' rose and alyssum.

Aunt Laura's Cat

Here's what became of the pieces I posted last time.
This picture is made of: daisies, aucuba, pampas grass, maiden grass, cattail, delphinium, cornflower and mica.

A Work in Progress

This picture is a work in progress. I'll post the finished piece after I've finished it but I thought you might like to see what a picture in the making looks like.

Dulcimer Picture

This picture is made of: forget-me-not, tendrils, brown hydrangea leaf, money plant and heuchera.

My First Appliance

The other day one of our good family friends asked if we knew anyone who could use a microwave. It turned out we did know someone who could use a microwave...me. I often press big batches of plant material in a microwave press. But I can't press in one long session because I know from experience that if I press in too long of a session and let the plate get too hot the microwave catches on fire and then you have to buy I new one (oops). I don't want to do that again so I press a few mushrooms and then come back later and then press a few more when I'd often rather be able to do more in a session. I thought about how nice it would be to have two microwaves so that when one got hot I could let it cool while I press with the other and just go back and forth. Well now I have access to the family microwave and one of my very own! God provides!

Little Blue Lady

This picture is made of: delphinium, corn husk, bark, onion roots, Queen Anne's lace, aucuba, corn silk, cantaloupe, alyssum and spiraea.

Learning How to Make Shirts

We're starting to figure out how to use the heat press. Above are some of the shirts and the tote bag we've made. We're still working on centering the transfers and we've put pictures on upside down, crooked, had them come out dark and had them not completely adhere but it's a learning process.

I'll tell you one funny thing we did just after getting the press. We printed the image we wanted to transfer at 200 DPI like we'd been told, placed it on the shirt with the little protective sheet over it and pressed it with the heat. We counted to 20 and nothing happened. The transfer was not sticking at all. After a few attempts we realized that instead of printing the image on to the transfer paper we had printed it onto the protective cardboard packaging. It works better when the image is printed on the transfer paper.

Card Making

One thing two of my younger siblings greatly enjoy is making things. Recently we made accordion cards. It was a nice project to do with them and a great way to use up scrap flowers.

I made this one for my neighbor.

Mushroom Creek

This afternoon I finished my version of a class I took online with the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. This picture is made of: mushrooms, onion membranes, pine needles, sweet potato, ferns, bougainvillea, iris leaves and some sort mossy stuff from China.

Now What?

OK, look at what we got! Now we just have to figure out what to do with it. This is a heat press for transferring images onto T-shirts, totes, sweatshirts, etc. So now as soon as the transfers arrive I can start putting some of my pressed-flower pictures onto shirts. It was nice to see it shipped in so much bubble wrap because now I can use it to wrap pictures.

The Wiese Home in the Wiese's Home

Last Saturday my family was invited to a renewing of vows ceremony where my brother played his mountain dulcimer. A reception was held afterward at the couple's home. They where the same people who commissioned The Wiese Home, the picture I made of the red house. So it was really neat to see my picture displayed like a real piece of artwork in their home.

Healthy Pictures

Last night I asked my Dad to pick up one sweet potato, a couple of onions and some mushrooms from the grocery store. What am I planing to make? A pressed-flower picture! I'm taking a computer class with the World Wide Pressed-Flower Guild about how to use onion membranes to create a stream and how to turn mushrooms into rocks. The sweet potato peel is for the banks of the stream. I plan to post the picture once it's complete.

World Wide Pressed Flower Guild

This year the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild had a reunion in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and I got to attend! There where about 20 people who represented quite a few states. There was one lady who came from England and one who came from the Bahamas. We all gathered for two full days of classes, where instructors taught how to make ornaments and cards, how to make French mats, frame pictures and press onion membranes. I taught a 45-minute class on an assortment of things I've learned during my four years as a pressed-flower artist. Above is a slide show of some of the pictures I took.

The Making of the Wiese Home

Little Lady

This picture is made of: larkspur, aucuba, corn husk, Georgia blue, birch bark, corn silk, alyssum.

Sunset Class

(This picture is the result of a class I took online from a Russian lady with the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild, www.wwpfg.org).

This picture is made of: dogwood leaves, banana peel, orange peel.

Surrounded by Flowers

This picture is made of: hosta, fern, hellebore, passionflower, dogwood, bark, forget-me-not, poppy seed, pampas grass, delphinium, bougainvillea, cornflower, tendrils, aucuba, money plant, orchid and alyssum.

Winter Forest Landscape Class

(This picture is one I made in another World Wide Pressed Flower Guild online workshop. It was taught by the same Russion teacher as the picture below.)

This picture is made of: banana peel, corn husk, onion peel, seaweed, dusty Miller, sweet potato peel, beech tree leaves, eucalyptus, heuchera, maple, oak, corn silk, gray popolar.

Autumn Forest Landscape Class

(I made this picture in an online World Wide Pressed Flower Guild class taught by a Russian teacher)
This picture is made of: corn husks, iron plant, corn leaves, aucuba, birch bark, banana peel, eucalyptus, maple, Queen Anne's lace, nutmeg, savory, cloves, orange peel, cinnamon.