Anticipation…
Anticipaaaaaaation is … making me wait.
It’s keeping me waaaaaaaaaiiiting.
I’m going to try to let these 15 scarves passively cook in the sun and rest for a whole month before unbundling this time, to see just how much more of the natural plant color and texture might be absorbed by the cloth.
Happy Birthday Boo Boo!
Happy Birthday to my little brown-butted Emma girl – she is 7 years old today! She brings so much joy and laughter to our lives, I am most thankful she picked me to rescue almost 7 years ago.
 Emma with her new birthday ball (Thanks Grandma!). I’ll share results of the bundles, when they are done resting, all in good time. (Props to Tom Petty and Carly Simon.)
“Damn, I only have a hundred (dollar bill)”, the man said, as he started to put back the group of golf balls he’d selected from our egg crates.
“Hey wait!” my brother said. “We can make change for that.” He motioned the man to come over to where I was standing, at the other end of our table full of egg cartons filled with golf balls.
I tallied up his purchase, pulled the wad of bills out of my pocket, and gave him his change. He and the group of guys he was with were laughing on the way back to their car, impressed that a couple of kids selling golf balls on the side of the road could actually have enough cash to make change for his hundred dollar bill.
My Entrepreneurial Spirit was borne of Necessity
Money was pretty scarce when we were kids. I still remember being embarrassed to have to point out my name on the list of “poor kids” that only had to pay 10 cents for lunch, to the lady who took the money in the school lunch line.
I figured out at a young age that if I wanted or needed anything “extra” beyond the basics that our family could provide, I was going to need to find some creative ways of making some money. Even then I somehow knew that to pay for things like summer sports leagues, books that I wanted to order from those catalogs passed around in school, and even being able to get a car and go to college, I’d better get my act together and start earning some dough.
So at age 11, not being old enough to legally get a job (although I did start my first fast food job at age 15), and living just down the road from a golf course, my brother and I got this idea. At night, once the course was closed, we hopped the fence and went swimming in the pond and gathered up all those “good” golf balls that had landed in the pond that day. We also scoured the really rough rough along the roadway and found good balls there as well.
We took our bounty home, cleaned them all up, organized them into “excellent”, “good”, and “fair” categories, and and placed them into egg cartons. We made a big “golf balls for sale” sign and some little signs: 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents.
And then we’d schlep our cartons and signs out to the side of the road really early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, strategically placing ourselves directly in the path that the golfers had to take to get to the course.
I’ll never forget the sense of freedom I felt when we would pack up at the end of the day and head home with our pockets full of cash, knowing that I’d have some spending money for the coming week and also feeling good that I could pay for some things myself and not have to ask my Mom for the money, because I knew we didn’t have much.
It seemed pretty easy back then – go find the golf balls, clean them up, and sell them to the guys that wanted them – no start up or operating costs, no overhead, no taxes – it was great!
With those humble beginnings, and working my way through high school and college, I developed a good business sense, and appreciation for what it takes to earn a living and make one’s way in this world. Along the way, I’ve had my fair share of character-building moments and financial challenges, but those have only steeled my vision, focus, and determination to go forward in achieving my dreams. They’ve also given me some good life stories to tell.
Speaking of Visions and Dreams…
It is my dream to make my ART as my full-time job, and I’ve been building the runway toward making that happen for several years now. I’ve just recently achieved another one of the stepping stones in that grand plan:
Today I’m announcing the grand opening of my new online store.
 my new online store I’ll be selling my “Hanna-dyed” scarves, art cloth, and fabrics, as well as my textile paintings on my new online store. I’ve posted a few items to start with and I’ll be adding more products over time, so if you’re interested in buying my work, check back occasionally for new items.
From golf balls to art….it’s been a long and winding road to get to this point and every bit of it necessary. I am thankful for the financial nudge that necessity gave me at such an early age. It’s helped me have so much appreciation for each achievement and all those along the way that have helped make it happen.
Thank you all for sharing my art career journey!
at the New Legacies: Contemporary Art Quilts exhibit opening reception, this Friday, 5-8pm at the Lincoln Center, Fort Collins.
1. It’s a good Art Show! This is one of the few annual national juried contemporary art quilt exhibitions in our region (it includes 49 works by 27 artists from throughout the US), and the quality of work and range of contemporary uses of textiles is always great in these shows.
2. Good Food and Good Company. The Lincoln Center throws a good party, there’ll be good appetizers, and lots of people including some of the artists in the show, available to “talk art”.
3. I’d love to see you and share my work that’s in the show with you.
That’s it, short and sweet. Hope to see you Friday!
 Various paraphernalia used for breakdown screen printing process I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen family too.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks of fire, rain, and family. The comings and goings of my Spanish family who thankfully visit from Madrid each summer and some rare vacation time for me mixed in, have been a welcome change of pace.
As well, “our” Highpark fire has been 100% contained, evacuees allowed to return home, and all those prayers for rain have now been answered. In fact, over the past couple of days, the monsoon rains have come and we now have mudslides and flash flooding in the burn areas. When it rains, it pours!
Studio Tour a Success!
It was a great event and I had fun meeting lots of new people and reconnecting with friends. We had a steady flow of visitors on both days of the studio tour this year and the majority were first-time visitors to our studios.
We didn’t know what to expect as far as turnout since this is just our 2nd year on the tour, but this year was really different from last – lots more visitors. My new hand-printed scarves were a bit hit – so much so, and by request, I’ll be making up another batch to have on hand for our holiday studio party in Dec.
 "texture" options for pre-printing (L), and dye pots and printing area (R) Looking ahead – Telluride workshop in August at the Ah Haa School for the Arts
My past week’s focus has been on mixing dye and print paste, assembling my “texture” supplies, pre-soaking fabric in soda ash, and creating some pre-printed screens, all to get back into the groove of breakdown screen printing in prep for the workshop I’ll be teaching at Ah Haa in August.
I love this process because I find it to be a great blend of printing and painting and it’s really versatile. After preparing the screens, I spent a day printing them out on the soda-soaked fabric. Here’s a step-by-step slide show of one of the screens being printed:
The “final” image is really still a starting point. It’s a good foundation and to take it further in resolving it as a finished piece, there are multiple options – print more layers on top of it, hand paint more dye on it, applique and stitch on it, cut it up and use parts of it in other pieces, and any combination of the above!
 "final" breakdown printed image from the single silkscreen pre-printed with thickened dyes I’ll be printing more of these as examples to show my workshop students, and post some more of them here as well.
After teaching this breakdown printing workshop in Telluride in August, I’ll be working on plans to start offering some textile workshops locally, even possibly at my own studio later this year. More on that as those plans develop.
Have you seen this technique before or used breakdown printing processes in your work? What appeals (or doesn’t) appeal to you about this process?
Steaming right along in preparation for our Studio Tour event this coming weekend, I’ve been designing my first ever black silk scarves, using black scarf blanks and then drawing and printing on them with discharge paste to remove the color:
When discharging fabric, different value ranges can be achieved by adjusting the amount of steam applied to the areas treated with the paste. I used both a homemade thiox-based discharge paste and a store bought discharge paste.
By using both types of discharge paste as well as varying application methods between direct drawing and screen-printing, I was able to get some subtle color changes in the discharged areas, ranging from blue to tan.
 All 12 of the discharged black silk scarves I made, ready for the weekend studio tour. I made 12 of these to go along with the 12 eco-dyed silk scarves, so I’ll have 24 scarves on display and for sale at my studio during the Fort Collins Studio tour this weekend. More info about the 35 participating studios and tour maps can be found here.
 12 discharged black silk scarves (detail) It’s going to be a hot weekend in town, so I’m hoping that lots of folks will stop on by our Hanna-Hooly studios to cool off and see some new artwork. We’ll be here all day Saturday and Sunday from 10am-5pm, so please come by and see us if you can.
More, More, More
As the High Park fire continues to rage (now 56,000 acres burned and 45% contained), 1700+ firefighters are battling it, many people remain evacuated, and at least 181 homes are known to have been lost so far. And the fire conditions remain at “Red Flag” warning levels….very high temps, high winds, and super low single digit humidity – not a good mix for battling wildfire.
 Second batch of eco-dyed silk scarves this month. My pots have been fired up and simmering along with the rest of northern Colorado this past week/end. Preparing for the upcoming studio tour this coming sat/sun, I made a few more eco-dyed silk scarves and also discharged some drawings/designs on some black silk scarves.
 5 silk scarves from the clothes line photo above all bundled up, eco-dyed, and waiting to be unrolled. Un-bundling = The big Reveal
I’m fully hooked by the mystery and excitement of what colors, marks, and textures the plants decide to leave behind on the fabrics:
 This is the unfolding of the scarf which is hanging 4th from the left in the photo above of the scarves on the clothes line.  This is the unfolding of the scarf which is hanging 3rd from the left in the photo above of the scarves on the clothes line. And More to Come….
In the next day or so, I’ll post some photos of the black silk scarves that I’ve been creating designs on with discharge paste.
I will have 24 scarves in total available for our studio tour this coming weekend, so stop on by if you can and see our new work!
Fire and Smoke
It’s Day 5 of the High Park Fire, and while the fire has burned over 46,000 acres, it is now 10% contained and authorities have doubled the number of resources fighting it (1000 staff) along with 100 fire engines, 5 heavy tankers, 5 single engine tankers, and 14 helicopters – the cavalry continues to arrive!
The fire continues to grow, 2600 homes evacuated, 100+ structures burned, and the focus of firefighters remains on structure protection while also building fire lines around the perimeter.
Although our home is only a few miles from the fire “mileage-wise”, the good news is there is a large reservoir between us and the fire. We do have to stay wary of flying embers and the air quality is pretty bad with all the smoke, but we are safe. My heart and thoughts are with our friends and community members who have lost their homes, and with the awesome firefighters who continue to work to save as many more homes as possible and to put this fire out.
There are many grass-roots benefit efforts spinning up locally to help out those impacted by the fire (one of the reasons I love living here is the awesome community spirit) and we’ll work together to get through this one day at a time. Right now there’s still a lot of waiting and watching and sadness about all of the destruction.
Unbundling
And then there are the artful distractions that I’m thankful for. Unwrapping these silk bundles, they somehow seemed to carry some of the energy of this fire and thick smoke in their threads:
 eco-dyed silk scarves, unbundled  eco-dyed silk scarves I’ll continue on with finishing these and other new artworks to have on hand for the Ft. Collins Studio tour June 23/24, even though with the fire raging on, everything else seems to pale in significance.
High Park Fire
While our home is not in the threat zone, it’s been a very concerning weekend as many of our friends have been forced to evacuate their homes due to the aggressive raging High Park fire which has burned 37,000 acres and several “structures” since Saturday morning and remains completely out of control due to high shifting winds, low humidity, and hot temperatures.
 View of High Park Fire from our home on Sunday, June 10. Fire is approximately 10 miles to the northwest of our home.  View of the High Park smoke plume from our back deck. The plume has now reached over 250 miles and extends into South Dakota. This fire is a worse-case scenario for Northern Colorado/Rist Canyon/Buckhorn area, one of the more heavily populated mountain communities northwest of Fort Collins. We continue to monitor the situation as the fire grows and continues to move east and southward towards us, and hope and pray for the winds to subside and RAIN, RAIN, RAIN (sans lightning please) to come!
Bundling
Needing a distraction from the fire while also being able to keep a literal eye on it, I was outside much of the weekend, doing some bundling, simmering, and steaming of some silk, working on some scarves to have available for the upcoming Ft. Collins Studio Tour.
 silk bundles, eco-dyed and awaiting unbundling Now, as I hear the fire bombers making their runs overhead, I’m waiting and watching and wondering what comes next – with both the fire and these bundles.
Weekend Road Trip – Art Parties
Is it really Monday? The weekend was a blur – It’s great to have such a creative family, although 2 solo show openings (one in Denver and one in Steamboat) on the same weekend is pretty over the top.
My partner, Barbara Gilhooly had a reception for her solo show of paintings, drawings, and wire sculpture at 44T Art Space in Denver. Her show is open now through the end of June. My Dad, Rod Hanna had an opening for his 50 year retrospective photography show this weekend at the Steamboat Springs Art Museum. His show will be up through Oct. 14th.
I made it up to Steamboat on Saturday in time for the Dinner at the Museum with the Artist event – a 72-person group event, tables filling the art museum. It was good food and good times – seeing my Steamboat family, some friends I hadn’t seen for quite awhile, and meeting some new folks.
We enjoyed a great dinner surrounded by a selection of 68 amazing photographs from the 3 “periods” of my Dad’s 50 year photography career (early black and white newspaper reporter journalist photos, KC Chiefs and Denver Broncos sports photos, and colorful western landscapes as well as Colorado horse drive photos).
As I sat there at the dinner and looked around at all the people and all of my Dad’s artwork, I felt like I was at my Dad’s graduation! He’s made some amazing pictures over the past 50 years. It’s a great show. If you can’t get to Steamboat to see the show in person, here’s a link to the news story and some of the photos in the exhibit.
 "Garden Party", 19.5"x20" (cotton fabric hand-dyed and breakdown screen-printed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread) ©Ayn Hanna Switching Gears – Garden Party
It just so happens that today is the deadline to drop off artwork at the Lincoln Center for the Ft. Collins Studio Tour Preview Show. Each of the 60 participating artists will include 1 work of art in this “studio tour preview” show which will be open June 8 – 24, with an artists’ reception on June 15, 5-8pm.
Naturally, I was still working to finish my piece for the show this morning as I didn’t get much any stitching done on it this weekend. Not that I rely on deadlines to keep me going or anything (I do), but I did get my piece finished by early afternoon today, and it came together pretty easily, once I gave up the idea of doing a bunch of hand-stitching on it.
 "Garden Party" (detail), 19.5" x 20" ©Ayn Hanna So, this piece is all machine stitched. It began as 1 piece of cotton, screen-printed with multiple colors and imagery via the breakdown screen-printing process. Breakdown screen-printing is a great combination of painting and printing with procion mx dyes. (I would show a photo of what the initial screen-printed base fabric looked like when I started this piece, but apparently, I missed getting a picture of this one after printing it.)
 "Garden Party" (detail), 19.5" x 20" ©Ayn Hanna Working on my initial base layer screen-printed image, I appliqued some pieces of my hand-dyed fabrics then added batting and a backing and machine quilted the piece.
This will be on display at the Lincoln Center Gallery, June 8-24. I’ll be there for the artists’ reception on June 15, so please stop by and join me if you’re in the area and can make it.
 "Garden Party" (detail) 19.5" x 20" ©Ayn Hanna
My Major “Scores” this year at Brimfield
In this previous post, I told the story of my recent trip to the Brimfield Antique Show. Since I flew out there for the show and couldn’t schlep some of the treasures I found home with me on the plane, I shipped a big box home and it arrived late last week.
One of the things I’ve learned by reading and experimenting with natural plant dyeing is that the pot that one uses in the dyeing process can have a significant effect on the outcome of the dye color as well as contribute to the permanency of the colors on the fabric.
So, the main items on my shopping list this year were used and well-loved copper and cast iron pots. I scored on both accounts, even getting 2 copper pots, and all of them at reasonable prices, even considering the costs to ship them home.
I’ve got my first batch of plant materials soaking in the large copper post as we speak. Will be fun to start using these and compare results with those I’ve been getting with the stainless steel pots I’ve been using so far to do my dyeing in.
 Treasures I found at Brimfield: 2 copper pots and a cast iron kettle. My 2nd major score this year was this group of natural yarns on old spindles (I believe they are wool). The booth that I found these in was a huge tent filled with thousands of old wooden spools of all sizes as well as boxes and boxes of these spindles filled with colored yarns.
The couple running this booth said they had bought out all the remaining contents of an old yarn company that had gone out of business. This was one of my favorite booths at the show this year and they were selling everything at very reasonable prices so I loaded up on a bunch of this thread.
I really like the “earthiness” of the colors and think they will work well with the new textile work I’m doing now.
 Spindles of yarns found at the Brimfield Antique Show Avocado Pit Dyeing Results
We had such great weather this weekend that I putzed around with my eco-dyeing pots and buckets and potions outside as much as spending time in my studio. Back in this post I showed a photo of the avocado pit dye pot as I was creating the dye solution. Below are the results of dyeing several fabrics with this dye solution:
 black bean-dyed silk, overdyed with onion skins in an avocado pit dye batch  cotton wrapped with onion skins, dyed in avocado pit dye bath It’s really interesting how varied the results can be from the same bath depending on lots of variables such as different kinds of fabrics, whether they were pre-mordanted or not (and if so, with what), how much heat is applied, length of time of soak, and type of pot used.
And one might not expect that avocado pits would give this deep russet red color, but they do. All of the fabrics in this post were pre-mordanted, the silks in an alum mordant and the cottons in a soy milk mordant.
 Fabrics dyed in avocado pit bath. Upper left is cotton, Lower left is silk organza (doubled over on itself), Right piece is silk habotai wrapped around a tin can.  cotton bundled with rubber bands, dyed in avocado pit bath Time to keep keeping on as the June 23/24 Studio Tour is looming and I’ll be traveling to 2 family member art show openings this weekend. It’s as much Art All the Time around here right now as we can possibly fit in (sprinkled with some walks and ball fetching time thrown in).
 Emma is very happy with her current (squeaky) ball. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!
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