Blog

It’s an Addiction!

Jan 21, 2014

Drawing on the backing with a Sharpie marker

Despite the fact that I am trying very hard to use every spare minute to work on my rya rug-making book, I decided that I had to try the acrylic/linen backing I recently acquired when I “bought back” my grandparents’ rya rug business.  It’s lighter in weight than wool, but well-woven.  I just had to try it before I could promote its use to my rya clients who trust me.   So two days ago I played with a design on paper which I then drew onto the woven backing with a straight edge and compass.  It would be and easy design to recreate for someone wanting to play with mixing colors.

This is what the entire backing and rug looks like at this point

I made a photocopy of my sketch and painted with paints to see how I might approach the coloring of the rug… Then I picked out some vivid colors to work with–since it is winter–and color is therapeutic.

Close-up of the Knot Work and Color Blending

Last night I come in from the studio with a marked backing, a half dozen needles, and a small bag of yarn.  I sat next to the fireplace and made my first knots.  Within minutes, I was totally back in the groove.  “Would these colors work together?”  I had to keep knotting to see how the next color would blend with the previous one.  “How will they look next to the area coming in a couple of rows?”

My husband folded his book and headed for bed.  “Just one more row!”  Between 7 and 11 PM I had knotted about 8 rows (about 6″).  This morning as the snow was just starting to fall, I just had to complete a circle in the design, just to see its shape.

My color card, my painted sketch, and the rya to be

Wow, so this is addiction.  Just walk away.  I did.  Then in minutes I had to go back for more.

So I took these pictures, I’m making this blog post, THEN I will write a chapter in the book before I make another row.  (Well, maybe I’ll fill in that center area first; won’t take but a few minutes.)

Dressing for Creativity

Jan 6, 2014

You don’t need to wear inspiring clothing to be creative, but it can’t hurt.  A glance in the mirror reminds you. “Oh, yah, I’m going to paint something fun today.”  …or cook something wonderful … or write a new poem…

I carved this woodcut design in a piece of plywood I found in the kindling box, and it has become one of my favorite (and simplest) blockprints.  In fact this was my #1 custom order design for handprinted shirts this past holiday season.  One lady ordered three of them–one for each of her sisters!

The Carroll County Arts Council, is opening a new exhibit in the Tevis Gallery this week featuring creative quilt-making called Patches and Patterns. About thirty of my hand-printed shirts will be for sale during this exhibition to be held January 9 – February 22.

The opening reception for this show (and another show in the Community Gallery upstairs) is Thursday, Jan. 9 from 5:30 – 7:30.  Read details at this link:  http://www.carrollcountyartscouncil.org/aa_galleryexhibits.asp

I usually keep an inventory of about 15-18 handprinted shirts for each of my 25 designs.  This month, I have on display at the Art Center about 30 “Today I Will Create!” shirts in an effort to have multiple sizes, colors and styles for all.  I even have them in Youth sizes.

The short-sleeved shirts are $25.  The long-sleeves are $30.  All styles come in S, M, L, and X-L while they last.

See photos below.

Ladies 100% Cotton T-shirts by Comfort Colors and American Apparel  in Hemp, Lagoon, Eggplant, Crimson, Poppy, and Watermelon.  (The Eggplant and Poppy are form-fitting fine weave American Apparel shirts.)

Ladies Long-sleeve 100% Cotton shirts by Comfort Colors in Lavender, Raspberry, and Denim,

Unisex 100% Cotton T-shirts by Comfort Colors in Khaki, Flo Blue,Blue Spruce, and Hemp

The best selection will be early in the month.  Hopefully they will all be sold by Feb. 22.

So come to the Carroll Arts Center to see gorgeous quilts, and maybe you’ll go home with inspiration to create one of your own!

The Arts Council earns 25% of the price of the shirt for each sale, so come on out and support the local art community as well as taking home a very inspirational shirt to wear when you are feeling the urge to create.

Melinda

Lundgren Rya Comes Home

Dec 1, 2013

On October 26, 2013, a bit of my heritage came back into my life.  I bought back the Scandinavian rya rug supply business which my grandparents, Angie and Bill Lundgren, started the year I was born.  I made my first rug–actually a pillow–when I was in sixth grade.  When my grandparents needed help in designing, marketing, and running the daily business, I came home from Colorado to help them for several years.  They taught me well.  It is a handcraft rich in heritage.  For some reason, everything I learned and applied, I still retain today.

When career positions in environmental education (my other passion in life) presented themselves, I left the business to my grandmother and very capable mother to continue while I got married and moved to Maryland.  My mother had many other interests in life and soon realized that the rya business was not a good fit.  She offered it to me, but at that time I was happily running a Nature Center and in the process of building a second one.  Taking over a fiberarts business was not in the plan at that time.  So Lundgren Rya was sold, and although I still made occasional purchases from the new owner, I felt that rya was becoming a distant past in my life.  The yarn was no longer produced and the backings were very rare to nonexistent.

In 2011, the Carroll County Times did a feature story with an accompanying video on The Lost Art of Rya Rug Making as I designed and knotted what I thought would be my last rya rug.  There.  It was done.  Not so fast. The video (on YouTube) has been seen by nearly 100,000 viewers around the world.  A Finnish artist contacted me telling me of other resources, a Finnish traditional arts company contacted me, as well as hundreds of others (in a multitude of languages) who now want to make ryas!  It seemed that half my day was spent answering emails sadly telling how difficult supplies were to come by.

Then the light bulb went off in my head.  Buy back all of the remaining supplies my grandparents had.  I knew them so well and now I could supplement supplies from Finland.  So in about two months through email negotiations (and haggling) the business is mine.  John and I drove in our truck to Ipswich, Massachusetts where we rented a Penske truck, filled both, and drove home.  My studio is packed to the gills with boxes and bins, but it is GOOD.  I feel great about it.  I was thrilled to be reunited with many dozens of my own designs to which I had signed off the “rights.”  Now I can use them along with my grandparents’ and hundreds of Swedish designs.

So what next?

• Preparing Kits
  

  Lab assistant, Gypsy, wonders what mama is going to do with all this new stuff in the studio.

• Starting Classes
• Getting the Word out there that rya is making a comeback — And it is!

This winter will be full of these activities as well as completing the book I started writing this fall on “Designing and Making Your Own Off-Loom Rya.”

Oh, and did I mention that I will still be doing most my regular art projects in the studio as well?  That is part of the deal I made with myself.  Stay tuned….

PS  If you would like to be added to the Rya Rugs editions of my newsletters, tell me in a comment below.  Your email address will not be visible to others.

Semi-Private Rya Rug-making Class slated for Spring 2013

Mar 10, 2013

Rya rug as used in traditional Scandinavian wedding

Rya rug making comes from Scandinavia dating back to the days of the Vikings.  The art of off-loom rya rug-making had a universal heyday in the 1950-70’s.  Then due to a trend away from authentic handcrafting, the art was nearly lost and materials rarely produced.  I learned the skills from my grandparents, the Lundgrens.  One of my goals in life is to help pass on the heritage before it is lost.

If you have always wanted to make your own rya  rug, but didn’t have the time to commit to learning, listen up.  Responding to a request from a future rya rug maker, I will be teaching 2 – 3 students (only) in my studio in an intensive “2-day class where you will learn all the basics of rya rug making.

Student making color blending choices

On Day 1, you will learn about history, unique materials, designing techniques, and calculating yarn quantities required. You will learn semi-advanced techniques of using varied pile length, loop sculpture, color blending, graphing, or drawing the image onto the woven backing.  After a 4-hour session, you go home and get to work using what you learned.  Yes, this is a homework class where you will instantly apply what you learn.

On Day 2, we’ll meet for 4-5 hours fine tuning our designs and working on color combinations.  By the end of Day 2, you will be knotting  your rug.  As an option, Day 3, you can come back for a brief critique of your technique and question-and answer session before you are set loose to enjoying your rug-making.

Students from recent class enjoy a classmate’s completed rug.

For people traveling from afar, this works out well for a two-night hotel stay.  Local knotters can be assured that I welcome studio visits anytime you need help on your project through completion.

Lunch will be provided on Day 2.

Materials:  $300 and up for authentic rya 100% virgin wool yarn in about 75 colors and rya backing woven of rayon weft and Irish linen warp and weft.

My studio is located in Woodbine, Maryland.  Directions will follow upon registration.  Contact me at byrdcallstudio@gmail.com for more information or registration.  Please forward this to anyone you know who would be interested in this seldom-offered class.

Choose the dates that work best for you:  Tuesday-Wednesday, April 23-24 or Tuesday-Wednesday, May 7-9.

Tuesday’s class runs from 1-5:00 PM; Wednesday’s class runs from 10-3:00 (with lunch break); Wednesday critique runs from 9-10 AM.

If you have not seen the video of how I design and make a rya, click the link below.

Handcrafted Traditions: The Nearly-Lost Art of Rya Rug Making

A recently completed rya rug

Color selection can be challenging

I’m a Shirt-Printing Fool!

Dec 7, 2012

My print drying rack is full of drying shirts.

I really enjoy hand-printing shirts.  When November and December roll around, I become the shirt-printing fool.  Throughout the year, I am mostly doing custom work for individuals or businesses–paintings, murals, portraits… then comes the fall shows like Mistletoe Mart and Bazaart.  All I bring to those shows are my hand-printed shirts, some silkscreened shirts, and my print racks.   What I bring home from these shows are piles of custom orders.  “I want this design on a long-sleeve (or short-sleeve) ladies (or men’s) cut shirt in that color.”  Happy to comply. So here are my piles of shirts in various stages of preparation.  Maybe you’ll see the shirt you ordered!  Of the 50+ shirts ordered, 80% are mailed off to their new owners.

Great Blue Heron shirts after the first printing phase.

The Great Blue Heron design is my only two-color print.  This is what a variety of colors of shirts look like after the background color has been printed.  They will look so much better tomorrow, after I print the black outline block, I guarantee.

Next Day: Here’s what they look like the very next day. Isn’t it amazing how different they look on various colors? Half of these are orders; half are available.

I have plenty of silkscreened shirts I could pop in an envelope for you at a moment’s notice .  Available designs in just about all sizes:  Thoreau, Hops, Listening, Three Fireflies, Brookie in Color, Brookie (green), Dragonfly, Great Blue Heron, and others.  They are $20 each except Brookie in Color is $25. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Byrdcall?section_id=5569634

I love looking at the different designs on different colors.  I usually offer muted color tones, but some “brighter” folks have ordered interesting “special orders” this fall.  Like check out the Tree Frog on Cardinal red.

Hot!

And Three Fireflies on electric purple.  That’s what makes custom printing so much fun.

I’m looking forward to putting the last one in the mail so I can kick back and relax a bit…  Come to think of it I have about 10 custom painted wine and pint glass to paint.  Maybe I’ll show that process next week.

Once dry, the shirts in the rack will go in these envelopes tomorrow morning and off the the Post Office.  Have fun with your holiday preparations.

Cheers!

Melinda

How to Enjoy an Artists’ Studio Tour

Nov 28, 2012

This Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1-2, many Carroll County, Maryland artists are opening their home studio doors for fans, friends, collectors, and the curious.

How can you best enjoy a studio tour?  Do a little homework in advance.  Most studio tours will have a web site.  Ours is ccartists.com/.   Studios are open 10 AM – 5 PM.

Check out the map of open studios and plan your route.  You can’t get to them all in one day so make a list of the art you want to see the most.  Our web site has a slide show of each artist’s work which will help you focus on what interests you most.

If there are changes on the tour since the brochure was printed, you will find the change updates on the web site.  Our tour had a few cancellations in order to keep all studios wheelchair accessible.  Some artists moved to more accessible locations.  So make note of such changes so you are not disappointed to arrive at a “closed studio.”

When you arrive at a studio, park safely off the street, try not to block in other vehicles, and respect handicap parking space designation.  Artists love to show off their work in-studio, so feel free to talk and ask questions.

Our studios are workshops basically, even though we tidy them up for you, but most will not be arranged like a gallery or store.  It’s more fun to see work on easels and arranged for your discovery!   If you want to stay in touch with an artist, ask to get on their email list for information on upcoming shows, classes, and new lines of work.

Studios are fun to explore

The artists really appreciate your visit.  Feel free to enjoy refreshments, music, the company of other art lovers.  Bring cash, checks, or credit cards and know that you are supporting a hard-working artist trying to make a living creating works that bring joy into our lives.  But browsers are more than welcome, too.  Showing you what we do is a way of spreading the word, because we know you’ll be telling your friends and neighbors what you saw and word of mouth is the best form of advertisement.

Checking out rya yarn colors

If you are going to make a day of it, plan to eat lunch out to support other local venues.  Note:  Most home studios do not have public bathrooms, so take advantage of facilities at your favorite sandwich shop, library, or gas station as you travel about.

Also to add to your enjoyment, take note of the beautiful Carroll County landscapes as you drive.  Pet the friendly dogs that may greet you upon arrival.  Relax, enjoy all the day has to offer.  See you in the studio!

Melinda

Not as Fast as I Think I Am

Oct 4, 2012

One of the hardest things about working as an artist is estimating the amount of time it will take to do a project for a customer.   This spring three large projects all were requested of me at once.  I thought, “Great!  My entire summer is now booked except for the little two-hour projects that I might accept here and there.  No hunting for work for me!”

The first big project of the summer was the equestrian table with shelf with horse portraits.  (See June 28 and July 23 blog postings.)  That was happily completed ahead of schedule.

The next big project was construction of a rya rug for a LA artist who was designing the rug herself, for me to knot.  That project is a few days away from being completed.  It should be done this weekend and will be shipped to an Austin, TX Gallery for an exhibition to run from Nov. 3rd – Dec. 29.  I will not reveal the completed design until it is offically unveiled at the Gallery, so stay tuned for a time-lapsed video showing the progress in my November newsletter.

Camlin Mural in Progress

The third big project is a 12-peice mural commissioned by Dean Robert Camlin Architect and Associates in Westminster, Maryland.  This painting is well on its way, but will move very quickly once I ship the rug to Austin.  I expect to show it here (completed and hanging)  by next month.  http://www.drcamlin.com/

Needing to get out of the studio, I jumped at the chance to do a tree painting job that I could begin and end in one afternoon.  For the Ava Wanas Montessori School in Sykesville, MD, http://www.avawanasmontessori.com/ I was asked to paint a big bare tree in both classrooms so the children can “dress the tree” to the season.

Montessori Tree

Part way through the painting, several children and their leaders gathered chairs around me as I worked and offered helpful tips as I painted.  [By the way, if you want a brown tree painted in your home or wherever, I’ve got the better part of a quart of top quality semigloss paint just waiting to paint another tree…call me.]

So as summer unwinds to fall, all summer projects are soon wrapping up.  For a usually speedy artist, now I can look forward to catching up on things left undone all summer….Now I am thinking about fall art shows, linocuts, glass painting, pastels, getting ready for the Dec. 1-2 Studio Tour.Ready….Set….Go!

My First Hand-Carved Sign for Camp Sewataro, Sudbury, Mass.

Aug 29, 2012

Sewataro’s Hand-Carved sign

34 Years ago, right after graduating from college, I signed up for an adult education class in Sign Carving at my old high school in Concord, Massachusetts.  The instructor, Steve Baldwin, was Concord’s #1 sign carver in the traditional craft so common in New England.  I was learning from a master.  For my very first sign, I designed a sign for my home-away-from-home, Camp Sewataro.  I had worked there for many summers, and the Taylor family who ran the camp, had become my second family.

So over a period of about 6 weeks, meeting once a week, I design and carved, with chisels and mallet, the camp sign which would hold a highly visible vantage point by the camp entrance for the next 34 years.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited my good friends at Camp Sewataro.  There was the old sign still looking pretty darn good after braving the elements for so long.  (In the interest of full disclosure, they had protected her with plexiglass, and done periodic maintenance on her, but she still looked very good.)  As the camp comes to a close this season, the old sign will be retired to the Camp Office to hang indoors on the wall for the rest of her life.  That sign was the first of many, and the one I am most proud of.

Here is a picture of a brown-haired Melinda carving a sign in fir for the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents of Baltimore back in early 1980’s

I’m not carving as often as I used to, but it’s nice to know the signs are holding up through the years.