Tufted landscapes (and the struggle behind them)

It's been well over 6 months since I picked up my tufting guns, but I'm so glad I did this summer. While this particular fiber art medium is still very new to me, I'm starting to get the hang of it and slowly developing my own style. 3 sets of tufted diptychs are ready to ship & hang in your home, and here's a time-lapse video showing a peek at the process. 

While learning to work in any new medium or figure out the nuances of using a new tool can take time (and lot of trial and error), it’s what keeps me going. I need to learn new things, always. Tufting seemed like the next logical step for me once I started expanding on my needle felting work and doing mixed media fiber art a few years back, but tufting has been a rocky road so far. I love that I can work larger and faster, but I am having a hard time accepting that the detail level that I’m able to achieve with punch needle, needle felting, and rug hooking, is just not going to be possible with a tufting gun (or at least not at my current skill level). I had to rethink my ideas and adjust accordingly.

Some of my other struggles when it comes to tufting are purely comfort-related. It’s a very physical art form - you are on your feet for hours and hours, the tufting guns are heavy and they take a toll on hands and wrists in a way hand-work doesn’t seem to effect me. Plus, it’s loud and messy, and I like to keep my studio neat, even though the whole point of a studio is to have a workspace where it’s totally acceptable to have a mess. It seems silly that these drawbacks are part of what’s kept me from tufting for half a year, but I’m just being honest.

I was considering selling my tufting guns and frame, I hadn’t used them in months, they were new and in good condition (and too expensive to just sit here and not be used). I wasn’t looking forward to setting up the frame and having whatever project take over my studio for days on end. Although I may eventually eliminate tufting from my studio I needed to give it another chance, a REAL chance, a chance to be it’s own thing and lead the way to a new style, a chance to change my expectations. It can’t do what I want it to do but it can do a lot of other very cool things. I need to embrace those things.

All 3 of these diptychs have a completely different style, though the subject matter is very similar. One is focused on two-tone gradients, one it’s very abstract and blocky, and the last has a bit of a stained glass or paint-by-number feel. I like all of them for different reasons, and it’s enough to push me to keep trying and keep tufting. I hope to add more tufted pieces to the website later this summer, but for now shop the small collection online.

The Emerald Isle Collection

Last year, on a whim, I created a small series of needle felted landscapes inspired by Ireland. Pleasantly surprised when they all sold within 48 hours, I decided to revisit this idea the following year. I’ve been looking forward to it for months, researching landmarks and scenes that would inspired the Emerald Isle Collection’s second iteration.

This year, 7 wool landscapes, all fairly small scale and under $200, will be available starting March 1, 2022. Some rolling green hills, cottages and livestock make an appearance, plus some favorite landmarks such as the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, and Dunguaire Castle are featured as well.

It’s been almost 30 years since I’ve set foot in Ireland, but I still remember being inspired by the beautiful scenery, especially the green countryside and majestic ruins. I hope to get back there someday and find new inspiration!

Enjoy this special preview of my newest series and shop the collection at www.onceagainsam.com

Tufting My Heart Out

Back in July, when things were slowing down for the summer, I finally invested in something I’ve been wanting to try for years: tufting. My current body of fiber art keeps getting bigger in size & more and more textured. Plus, my background in commercial interior design has given me a major soft spot for textiles and carpet, so all of that seemed like the perfect combination of reasons to try out this new technique. However, by the time my tufting guns, frame, and materials arrived in early August, I was neck deep in commissions and fall season craft show prep. The box sat unopened in my studio until the week of Christmas, when I finally came up for air.

If you’re not familiar with tufting, it’s kind of like a sewing machine gun for making rugs (or art, or home decor, or whatever you can imagine). Yarn is threaded through the gun, and it pushes the yarn through the foundation fabric. A loop gun gets you tight loops, like you might see in commercial carpet. A “cut” gun gets you cut pile, which is what you probably have in your home (plush yarn fibers sticking straight up from the floor).

Learning something new is very exciting for me, and it’s so tricky to make time for these things, but it’s always worth it. I just recently got to try out my new glorious tools and it was worth the 6 month delay! I took an online training course last week and got started experimenting with the different guns and yarn options right away. Definitely a major learning curve coming from doing every little stitch by hand to a piece of machinery like this, but after a few practice pieces I finally got the hang of things. The gun is almost too fast, compared to what I’m used to, but one of the big reasons I wanted to try it was to be able to speed things up a little with my work. I’m not rushing things, I just dream BIG!

I have really enjoyed playing around with different yarn so far. Of course I started out only using the yarn that the instructor advised, but then once you learn the rules, you’re free to break them, right? Some yarn, like thick rug yarn i use for punch needle projects, works fine but only as a single ply. Thinner yarn, like the nylon I received as a donation from Milliken Floors earlier this year, works well as a 2 or 3 ply.

I LOVE all the possible textures you can achieve with different yarn types, plus changing between the loop and the cut pile guns. I haven’t worked up the nerve to adjust the loop and pile heights yet, but believe me, it’s on my list of things to try once I get comfy with the basics. Until then, I’m here tufting my heart out and enjoying learning something new. Where has this been all my life!?

Artist in Residence: Devil's Fork State Park

I just spent a week staring at the most beautiful green lake. I hiked, I paddled, and I made lots of art! This was my third artist residency through South Carolina State Parks and this year I was assigned to Devil’s Fork State Park in the northwest part of the state, where I’m starting to think there are more waterfalls than people. The landscape was gorgeous and there was so much to explore. Although I had a very full week, I feel like I could have spent a year there!

Every day I got up before sunrise and headed out for a hike in a new place. I averaged 4-7 miles each day, usually on a trail that lead to a waterfall or two, and soaked up as much inspiration as I could. In the afternoons, I enjoyed the panoramic view of Lake Jocassee from my cabin porch, making needle felted landscapes and painted pendants inspired by my surroundings. It was so easy to find inspiration. Not only does Devil’s Fork boast a lake so clear and green it looks like pool water, but there’s the majestic Blueridge mountains at the horizon, and of course acres and acres of magical woodlands full of creatures and flowers. This place has it all.

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to get to know another State Park in this intimate way and it’s even more special this time because this residency is the one and only thing on the calendar for 2020 that didn’t get canceled. It was the one thing I got to keep, I got to look forward to almost a full year, and the experience did not disappoint in any way.

I hope you enjoy this short video recap of my time at the park! All needle felted wool paintings are available here, the one mixed media fiber art piece at the beginning of this post is available here, the painted landscape pendants can be purchased here, and the laser engraved pendants are here. Use coupon code JOCASSEE now through 10/15 to get 20% off your order of $50 or more at www.onceagainsam.com

Once Again Sam’s Nature Report:

• 6 Bald Eagles

• Countless monarch butterflies (on their way to Mexico)

• 1 Otter

• 4 Great blue herons

• Many fishies-a-swimmin’

• 5 Belted king fishers

• 1 Bear (possibly)

• 2 Deer

• Several chipmunks

• All the squirrels

• 17 Waterfalls

• 0 Snakes (hooray!)

Flat Out Under Pressure Competition

Every year in June the Metropolitan Arts Council hosts the Flat Out Under Pressure competition for local artists. It’s a fun thing the community looks forward to every year. We bring our surfaces to get stamped the morning of the competition, then have 24 hours to complete the work. This year, due to the COVID19 pandemic, the whole thing is virtual. Instead of getting our surfaces officially stamped at the MAC office, we signed and dated the blank piece before starting.

The last 2 years I have summited a needle felted wool landscape, but this year I changed things up just a bit. Since MAC is the whole reason I learned rug hooking last year (thanks to a continuing education grant) I thought it would be cool to show them what I have been doing with my new skills!

This year’s piece includes needle felting, rug hooking, and punch needle techniques. I used over 40 materials and colors, and 8 different tools for the 3 fiber art mediums. It’s SO much fun to combine materials like this! Here’s a look at my progress from yesterday - I took photos every few hours to show how the piece was coming along. It was really slow going at first. I only covered a few inches of my surface in the first few hours, but I kept at it and 12 hours later, I was happy with my finished piece. I did take a few breaks during the day so I think all in all I spent about 10 hours on the 16x16 piece.

The Flat Out Under Pressure exhibition will be virtual this year, and will begin on July 1. The winner of the competition will be announced Monday by noon, and of course all the runner’s up as well (which is also a pretty big deal!). There are quite a few other “winners” and they’ll get a cash prize plus the honor of having their work prominently displayed on one of Greenville’s recycling bins downtown.

My finished piece, plus 2 other test pieces I did prior to try out ideas and see how large I could go for the 24 hour competition, will all be available for purchase soon. I’m so glad I found out I couldn’t finish a 20x20 in the amount of time aloted BEFORE it was the actual competition. That would have been a pretty frustrating thing to learn when it mattered most.

My wrists are sore, but I’m so happy I was able to participate in FOUP2020 this year, even though there will be no big party to announce the winners as before. Even still, this has been a bright spot in my week!