This week we were using acrylic paint on fabric to create different effects. We started by stippling some calico with a dry brush using 2 colours - blue and yellow in my case, resulting in lots of green and looking like a flowery meadow! Then we moved on to using a diffuser and thin paint to give an effect like airbrushing, holding a piece of ripped paper in front of the fabric to act as a mask so that some parts stayed white. Then we moved on to a way of making monoprints on glass. We put blobs of paint on a sheet of glass. Some of the paint was special acrylic interference paint that produces a shimmery effect when printed. We then put another sheet of glass in top and pressed hard and twisted the glass to get the paint to mix at the edges. When the sheets of glass are prised apart, you get feathery patterns in the paint. We places pieces of fabric on, pressed lightly and printed off the image. These are some of the prints I made from 2 different attempts. As with all these things, it is the choice of colours that is most important for a pleasing result. The paint dries quite quickly but it can be easily scrubbed off the glass to do further prints. I then chose one of my prints to quilt. I made a sandwich with the printed fabric, cotton wadding and calico. Then I sewed round the edge of the feathery edges using free-machining to produce the quilted effect. It took a long time to do all the 'fingers' of paint but the final piece is very appealing. Next we had to choose another print and try out a quilting technique called Trapunto. Here you have the printed fabric and a backing fabric and outline your shapes. I chose a more 'blobby' print and outlined the islands of colour using free-machining again. Then you stuff selected blobs from the back with wadding. This shows part of the back of it. You cut a slit with sharp scissors, poke the wadding in with a bodkin and then sew the slit back up with herringbone stitch. I don't know if I have over-stuffed mine as the final piece is now quite wrinkled. Another learning point is not to use this kind of furnishing fabric as a backing fabric again as it seemed very hard to sew using free-machining - the needle seemed to get caught in the jacquard pattern. I have been working on my manipulated calico sampler this week too. Once I had decided what size to go for (about 32cm square) and laid out the pieces I had already made I didn't have that much more to do. I have still got to mount it onto card, which is why the corners are still hanging out. The end result is going to be quite impressive. The techniques used are (clockwise from top left): Furrowing (see post from Week 13) Pleating Stuffed pyramid Fabric strips folded alternately like a paper jack-in-a-box spring Frayed edge strips gathered and sewn in rows Selvedge strip gathered to form a rose Random tucks sewn horizontally and vertically Stuffed sausage shape decorated with a strip of gathered frayed fabric Frayed strip gathered to form a rose Circle gathered round a piece of card and topped with another one and a frayed gathered strip Various circles gathered and stuffed, the large one quilted through in places Thin strips pulled through a square of Binca fabric (in centre of sausage circle) Thick wool wrapped in calico Strips of folded fabric woven Raw edge circles gathered and pulled up, large one round card and small one stuffed Fabric gathered by hand in both directions, ruched up and sewn down round the edge only Fabric gathered round chick peas 2 circles gathered up round card, one with snipped edge and one with turned edge Various fabric 'nipples' made by sewing a running stitch in a spiral and pulling up Evenly spaced tucks pressed and then sewn across at right-angles in alternate directions Today is it my daughter's 16th birthday so I wanted to make her a special card. I chose co-ordinating papers and decorated them in various ways, dragging the edges across a black ink pad to give a vintage look. I was very pleased to find a sheet of paper featuring a rabbit that looks similar to hers, except for the colour! I also made a Valentine's Day card for my husband using a square of red heart plastic bag behind a silver Angelina fibre heart, topped off with a red heart cut from a Quality Street wrapper! The hearts are suspended across the window on very thin wire wrapped round tiny red brads. It looked really good for not much effort and lots of recycling!
"Autumn season is mushroom season. And if you cannot make it to the forest to see any, you can easily sew your own using fabric and batting. They will add a rustical autumn charm to your home during fall and stand nicely on their own as well due to the heavy filling of dry lentils, beans or rocks. There is an illustrated tutorial that shows how to sew these together as well as a template for the mushroom pieces."
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One of my passions is textile design. I don't get to do it enough these days, and I was thrilled to be able to take a natural dye class at The Workroom taught by Julie Sinden, a fantastic textile artist. This course blew my mind!!! I'm fascinated by process, and how people have figured out how to do the intricate techn
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I still haven't cleaned behind my fridge!! I have however taken some time to gather together the eco and rust printing, both on fabric and paper. I have also had a good rummage in boxes and suitcases for vintage fabrics and papers, decorative tissue and handmade papers. Worryingly I seem to have a stock pile of all these things that I had forgotten about. I have compiled the substrates that I have drawn, inked and painted on. Now is the time to work into these pieces or covering up anything I don't like. Also to use those precious bits and pieces that have been languishing in a stash...now is that moment for these treasures to shine. Lets start with the paper and the vintage and hand made papers I have been hoarding...I mean collecting. The colour of eco printing lends itself to vintage, hand made and printed tissue paper. I like subtle muted tones, but if you love colour and you feel that the eco print has gone a bit dull, now is the time to use hits of brightness. I like to use PVA glue with a sponge roller to attach my collage. You might prefer Pritstick, I always apply the glue to the collage piece making sure I glue over the edges, then apply everything to the main substrate. This stops glue getting all over the front of the piece. I try things out first, moving unglued things around before I commit myself to sticking. I particularly like the way tissue paper, rusted or plain blends into the surface when the PVA is on it. A well glued piece of collage will become part of the surface. But as usual, anything goes and if you like partly attached pieces, try that out too. There will be a few pieces that you will not want to cover, the mixed media drawing or an eco print which has been very successful. Turn them over and collage the reverse, this will make it two sided, ready for a later idea. Most of my collage tends to be random and ripped. Here I have cut circles of paper in response to the washer printed paper. Give shapes a try. If like me you have a large stash of eco printing and rusted tissue make complete pages in sketchbooks and use them as surfaces to draw onto. My fabric pieces have been treated in much the same way although I have used vintage and eco printed fabrics to collage with. Less is more for me, I have just chosen fabric that again blends in with the background and added ripped strips here and there. I have attached them with a spot of glue stick to hold the pieces in place. This is not a permanent solution. You might want to hand stitch these bits in place, simple repetitive stitches work well or/and machine stitch. Either free machine embroidering or a set decorative stitch. Just holding fabric collage in place or embellishing shapes and areas that have been painted or drawn on. Of course, you could collage fabric onto the paper substrates and paper onto the fabric work. Stitch into the paper with your machine or hand stitch. Draw, paint and print back into the pieces after you have attached the collage. I found the more I worked onto a piece the more I wanted to layer back into it with the previous techniques. The thing that really concerned me was that despite delving into my stash, it just didn't seem to get smaller...!! I could give you a vast list of artists using collage and mixed media to have a look at, that's what Pinterest is for lets face it. But here are a few of my favourites:- http://www.littlefieldstudios.com/paperfiber-mixed-media https://www.robenmarie.com/blog/watch-the-process-art-journal-page-flourish https://www.instagram.com/under_the_oaks_creativity/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/shelleyrhodesartist/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/carolinebelltextiles/?hl=en https://casholmes.wordpress.com/ Enjoy manipulating your ever growing resources and using up some of those things you are keeping just in case. Have the best creative week you can. Best wishes, Sue
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When a customer tells me their dogs have taken over their sofa, I recommend denim for their slipcover. A weighty and supple 12 to 14 ounce denim holds up well to frequent wear and wash. A good quality bull denim (solid color) works fine for a pet friendly slipcover. However, I’d go with a yarn dyed...
Let’s talk chapstick today. Are your lips addicted? Mine are. Like, I canNOT fall asleep without chapstick on. Those dry little lips of mine bug me.
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Download Fine machine woven cloth texture in high resolution. Use it anywhere for free.
