The Fiber Nation Introduction

Welcome to The Fiber Nation! Some of you may know me from my personal blog Journey of a Fiber Artist which follows my personal quilt journey. For some time now, I have wanted to be able to offer a less personal, but more technical industry/art blog for fiber artists and quilters.

Recently, I was writing a post for Journey of a Fiber Artist and the phrase “the fiber nation” leapt off my fingertips. In the end, I took that phrase out of the article as I realized I had the name for my technical blog/site!

Who is The Fiber Nation for? Anyone that works with fibers as their medium for art!

What does The Fiber Nation plan to offer? What you want! I took a poll on my personal site, and you told me that you're looking for pictures and tips/techniques. I plan on giving that, and more!

I know that you're going to want to see pictures of fiber art, but I am also going to be sharing my personal photography with you, a “tool” that I often use as inspiration for my fiber art. My hope is to alternate articles and inspirational photos.

The Fiber Nation also intends to bring to you interviews of fiber/quilt artists that you're interested in. This is another aspect where you're opinions are needed. Just who DO you want to know more about? What would you most like to ask them? You can email me at thefibernation@gmail.com. I will do my best to try and get interesting and important artists in our field for you to get to know better!

Here is a quick overview of what The Fiber Nation will be bringing to you!

Techniques:
Here are just a few techniques I have planned to share with you..

Paint sticks – How to use them, what you can do with them, different brands, etc.

Fabric markers – Using them in your fiber art, and how they can enhance your quilts and quilting

Tsukineko Inks – Using inks to create a project, or enhance a project

Dover Books – How to use Dover images in your pieces and really make them look like “your own”

Pictures:

There will be two different types of photographs that I'll be sharing with you here at The Fiber Nation:

1.Project Photos: Photographs of finished pieces, pieces in progress, and photos of other pieces I have done using the technique we're discussing.
2.Inspirational photographs: photographs meant to be used as inspiration in your art, these will be photos that I take, that you are free to interpret into a piece if you wish or to just simply take inspiration from, whether it be the content, the colors, or the overall design.

Design Concepts:

I have a degree in graphic design, and have realized I can finally put it to use helping other people, instead of just using it for my own fiber arts! I am by no means a “design goddess”, but I think I have some hints and tips I can share that you may find helpful. Expect to see information about design elements, color choice, etc.

Fiber News:

From time to time, I may share articles or blog postings from others that are relevant and noteworthy to the fiber art community. If you see an article or have one on your blog that you think might be very useful to the community, Email TheFiberNation@gmail.com, and it may end up mentioned on the site here!

Another goal, is to eventually have leaders in the fiber arts nation do guest blogging from time to time – one way to make that happen is for you, the community, to keep reading the blog and mention it to others!

The Big Goal:

I think most of us will agree that being an artist can be hard, and being a fiber artist can make it even harder! Historically the fiber art category has not grown at the same rate as other arts out there – hopefully if we continue to get the word and information out, and share what we do with others, then maybe the fiber arts will begin to get more notoriety!

Stay tuned for more from The Fiber Nation! 
Up next: International Quilt Market Spring 2010