and so life resumes…


I feel like I need to write an essay on what I did over summer break, except this one would turn into a very long essay. I feel bad (but kinda not really) that I’ve neglected my blog for so long, because I have been really busy I just haven’t written about it, most of my creative activity has been documented on Instagram instead. I’ll probably start writing a bit more in the coming weeks.

Now, after close to a year and a half, we are finally recovering from the pandemic. This is our first mask free week in California and boy it feels good, but I’m worried that we may be wearing masks again soon to deal with smoke if predictions come true about our fire risk this summer. Last July was the most depressed I think I’ve ever been (and my 2010 was not a good year!). While not only being in lockdown, we were also trapped inside our houses because of smoke for 6 weeks, then to top it off we had a daily barrage of stress inducing rants from the tangerine blow hard, it was all just too much. 

Today is a good day!

Like most people, I’ve thought a lot about life, and priorities, as our lives slowed down to a calmer pace. I’ve also been apprehensive about life returning to “normal”. Am I ready for that?!?! I’ve gotten very used to this slower pace of not jumping on planes or driving for hours to do workshops each month. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to explore making, designing and creating things that I haven’t had the ability to focus on with my usual busy schedule. There are many things I’ll miss about our time in lockdown, aside from trying not to die it was really pretty nice, but now life is picking up and my calendar is starting to fill up again with postponed teaching commitments.

Here’s what’s now on my schedule:

This edition of Craft Napa Harvest at Home is like a flight of wine: smaller tastes of processes and techniques in shorter, 3-hour online zoom classes. Registration will open on June 30th at 9:00 AM Pacific.

September 10  DIY Fiber-Friendly Acrylic Inks

This one I’m really excited about. While in lockdown, I did some more experimenting and have a new recipe for making acrylic inks from SCRATCH using ingredients all from Prochem! These acrylic inks leave your fabric much softer and pliable than commercial inks. The dried fabric has a hand similar to using textile paints, while giving you the full range of benefits for techniques that the thinner viscosity and saturated color provide from acrylic inks. (And bonus, it’s a lot cheaper to make your own!!!)

September 11 Artfully Unique Fabrics Using Acrylic Inks

This class is like the first 3 hours of my Paint and Printapalooza or 10+ Techniques with acrylic inks workshops. It’s a fun intro to learning all the ways you can create beautifully textural painted fabrics using different types of brushstrokes, sponges, altering ink and water ratios, mono-printing, adding salt, as well as scrunching, pleating, and clamping fabric. It will open a world of possibilities for creating colorful fabrics without using dyes.

September 12 Slow-stitch Meditation Scarf

I have fallen in love with slow-stitching linen with embroidery floss, I am now working on my 3rd scarf since January 2020. This process made a perfect travel project, and became my stress buster through the pandemic. In this workshop you’ll learn how to make a linen scarf that looks equally beautiful on both sides using simple running stitches in an improvisation manner. I’ll show you how to find inspiration in simple designs and color choices, stop and start threads without making knots, keep fabric from distorting while working without a hoop, and use a chalk pencil to create your design as you go.

FYI January’s Craft Napa sold out in an hour, and this event is smaller so set an alert on your calendar if there are classes you want to book. Registration opens June 30th at 9:00 AM Pacific. https://craftingalifellc.com

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Pacific International Quilt Festival An in person event!!!

October 15  Friday Lecture: TBD

October 16  Tea & Ephemera: an intro to mixed-media techniques on fabric

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October 23 Saskatoon Quilters Guild, Online-zoom workshop, Blessings in the Wind: Prayer Flags

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2022

July 11-15 Prochemical and Dye, Fall River, MA
Ink, Print & Repeat: a 5-day surface design intensive exploration in textile painting, printing and pattern making using acrylic inks.

Sept – Australia crossing fingers overseas travel will be back to normal

October 16-22 Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY
Ink, Print & Repeat: a 5-day surface design intensive exploration in textile painting, printing and pattern making using acrylic inks.

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As we return to some semblance of normalcy, most of my teaching will happen in the Sacramento City College Makerspace during the academic year, aside from my previously scheduled workshops, with summer months open for teaching on the road. I’m excited about this shift in teaching and look forward to what the post pandemic future holds.

Keep creating,

Judy


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ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.


9 responses to “and so life resumes…”

  1. great blog, nice to see all the classes being offered. We in Canada are not so sanguine as you in the States, we are still social distancing and wearing masks . We feel here that the pandemic is not over until at least 80 to 85 % of people are vaccinated. We are releasing restrictions very slowly here and who wants to go back to so called normal, it was an awful life. I believe the pandemic came to teach us all something about how to truly live.

    • Thanks Marilyn, nice to hear from you. The situation contrasts enormously across the US. 80% vaxxed would be fantastic, but it’s just not gonna happen here. The last admin poisoned peoples minds, and now sadly many of them may die because of it, and we may never be able to make COVID go away completely. As far as post pandemic life,I have been telling people for years Americans don’t live right. I see people in other countries living much better lives than we do here in the “greatest” country in the world. With the current economic imbalance we have become more like the old world our founders left.

  2. I find the acrylic ink process to be very intriguing. I hsve been using SoSoft fabric paints (don’t need a medium; one teacher called them dyes), but they are drying out, and I am reluctant to replace them all. I also like dyeing fabrics, but find it to be rather labor-intensive, plus SO MUCH water (I also live in CA)! Would the acrylic inks be kind of a crossover of the two?

    • yes! Rebecca, the benefit of acrylic inks is that you can mimic some of the techniques that you use dyes for like shibori, but you don’t have to deal with all the processing of dyes and then have that huge wash out to get rid of exhausted dye. I feel way too guilty to dye fabric in CA anymore. Acrylic inks aren’t a total replacement for dye though, I wouldn’t recommend using them for yardage for clothing or anything, but for art quilts, surface design techniques, etc. they are a great alternative. The thinner viscosity lends itself to so many techniques that if you tried to use textile paints for they’d end up too faded looking.

      Almost all the quilts I’ve made in the last 11 years have been done with acrylic inks. Here’s some examples of the range of ways I’ve used them: https://www.judycoatesperez.com/making-the-8-of-cups/
      https://www.judycoatesperez.com/i-speak-the-language-of-color/
      https://www.judycoatesperez.com/im-so-impressed/
      For most of those years I’ve added mediums to the acrylic inks to help make them softer. That has worked for the most part, but the issues I’ve run up against are: needing them to be permanent when dry (not all brands of acrylic inks are), and occasional stiffness caused by heavy pigment load, which my newer Bernina doesn’t like. Also the best brand acrylic inks on the market made by Golden are very expensive to use on fabric because it soaks up so much liquid. Now I’ve resolved all those issues by making my own, and it’s not hard or expensive, and you can make as much as you need when you need it, and alter the intensity of color too. I’ll be incorporating how to do this in all my future acrylic ink workshops.

  3. So good to see a new post! I am so looking forward to the fall Craft Napa. I had so much fun and learned so very much in January. I think we all finally relaxed now that the worst of the pandemic is over and the orange blow hard is off in his own little world and not ours. While I live in an area that is only 35% vaccinated and we are still masking up but aren’t living in fear. Here’s to a fabulous summer!

    • oh my gosh Jeannie only 35%?! How frustrating, with those numbers I’d still mask up too! In CA we are still required in government buildings, modes of public transportation and depots, and most museums and that type of business, so we’re not completely mask free but a bit more relaxed. I look forward to spending time with you again in September. In the mean time, see you on IG and FB. 😁

  4. Hi Judy, I’m so interested in your acrylic ink recipe and techniques, but unable to do the September class. I hope you will offer this again, or possibly online for a group??

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