Yesterday afternoon I was at the Studio getting ready for the Seeing Art San Antonio tour (which was great fun) when my friend Pat Schulz dropped by to show me her beautiful prayer flags and a most remarkable boa. Here’s a photo of Pat modelling her creation – take a look and see if you can guess what she used to construct this amazing piece of fiber art:

Give up? Pat constructed this from used Olay facial washcloths that had been dyed by Laura Pitts. She stacked, cut and stitched hundreds and hundreds of layers over many hours. The texture is remarkable and the colors are subtle and rich. And it is loooooooong – I love this kind of ingenuity! She calls the piece “Olé” because she couldn’t get permission from the Olay people to use their trade name.  I think “Olé” is a fine name because the piece looks like a fiber Fiesta. Viva Pat!

This is apparently Event Week at the Studio – there’s the Seeing Art San Antonio Tour on Wednesday night, the exciting (yep, poetry is exciting) Word of Mouth Poetry Reading on Thursday, and the magical Spirit Doll Exhibit on Friday nigh – it’ll be a gathering of all of the spirits.

But if I need energy to keep me going, I look at yesterday’s Spirit Doll workshop video – the energy in the Studio just hummed with joy and fun. It was a very cool afternoon – thanks, everyone! See you at the opening on Friday!

*Dear* Shards Subscribers,

I was so involved at the Studio today, working on wrist malas and prayer flags for Sunday’s workshop, that I almost forgot the Friday Freebie. So as a natural extension of that, the freebie will be a wrist mala for meditation that I will make for you. It won’t be fancy, but it will be made with love ♥. And if you’d rather make it for yourself, I’ll give you the beads and cord and instructions.

Because I’m so late with this, I’ll wait until Sunday after the workshop to draw the name from all the awesome Shards subscribers. And (ahem) we still have two spaces left in the workshop, so if you sign up, you can join us at the Studio and watch me make your mala! Send me an email if you want to come – it should be fun. Happy weekend!

Look! It’s a Little Lotus Book! This is an example of one of the books we made in the Books and More workshop we did at the Studio on February 3rd. It was everyone’s favorite because it’s easy to make and very unusual because it opens like a lotus flower, sort of like unfolding one of those crazy maps. Anyone subscribed to my Shards blog by midnight tonight (how dramatic) will be in the drawing to win this book and the directions on how to make more. TGIF, fellow artisans!

I’m doing a presentation to the Trinity University Women’s Club on Valentine’s Day about establishing places of creative belonging, and I came across this poem describing one woman’s feelings about her own special place. Read it if you like, then at the end I’ll tell you about the poet:

At Home in the Summer Mountains

I’ve come to the house of the Immortals:
In every corner, wildflowers bloom.
In the front garden, trees
Offer their branches for drying clothes;
Where I eat, a wine glass can float
In the springwater’s chill.
From the portico, a hidden path
Leads to the bamboo’s darkened groves.
Cool in a summer dress, I choose
From among heaped piles of books.
Reciting poems in the moonlight, riding a painted boat . ..
Every place the wind carries me is home.

This was written by Yu Xianji, a Chinese poet who lived in the 9th century during the Late Tang Dynasty.. It’s amazing how women have always expressed a need for a special – even sacred – place of belonging. To read more about Yu Xianji’s remarkable life, click here.

I have been busy, busy getting ready for tomorrow’s Open Studio and Sale at the new Lyn Belisle Studio– it’s going to be fantastic. Alison stopped by yesterday and dropped off some of her beautiful jackets and scarves and fiberarts – and wait till you see her Feng Shui valentine-kits-to-go! She’s so funny and creative – I get first pick!

Speaking of Valentines, Friday’s freebie is a set of three vintage Valentine clip art pages to use however you want – wrap a little box, make a collage, print them on mauve or ivory paper – or just file them away until the must beckons. I found them online, public domain, so have fun. Here’s a sample, and you can get all three pages right here.

PS You know how to make a heart symbol when you type on a windows computer, right? Just make sure your Num Lock key is on, hold down the Alt Key and type the number 3? On a Mac, use the Character Palette. ♥♥♥