A New Products Weekend

I love to use products that aren't the norm... and in a couple weeks will show some folks at G Street Fabrics how to use a few that many non-artists aren't very familiar with.... so this weekend I played around some. I have lots of technical samples but needed to have a sample to whet some appetites. This is what I made. I am certainly not a Quilter, but I love to make little quilties to try out and show off techniques and products. This stars Lutradur, and uses Tyvek, Angelina, beading, foiling and patinating as well as photo transfering. Love them all. I will also show Bubble Jetset, but not everything has to go on one sample!

My Angel of the Sea

Well, this is what I have been working on for the last ten days. She is for the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition... my first time entering anything like this. She is based on the head of an angel on an icon, blown up and printed on my inkjet printer. Then I made several phototransfers of marine critters and used composite leaf. I covered everything with organza, stitched the features and hair. I burned away the organza over the face and critters, then I tore organza and used it to stitch seaweed, also silk ribbon. I used a netting at the base, and I painted and deformed Tyvek and sewed it on too. More stitching, ribbon anemones and seed stitched her hair some more. I pleated ribbon and sewed to the outside. The background is rayon-silk velvet backed with 2 layers of cotton flannel, then hand stitched in no particular pattern, then shunk in hot/cold water and the dryer. I supported everything with foamcore board, and finally sewed on a hanger. Phew, done. I am not hopeful of a prize, but want to get new kinds of needlework in front of people. Not many here do this kind of stuff, or at least in public. I shan't be embarrassed to show her off!

Inspired by Beryl Taylor

One of my art groups (The Artists Circle) is doing a workshop on BT's techniques and this week and last we did discharging and paper fabric. These are the results of my efforts. Blogger has decided on the order, not I. The 1st, 2nd, and 7th are the Tyvek pieces, the 5th and 6th are the cotton paper fabric, with the 3d and 4th being the velvet.

I didn't have the required cotton velvet for the discharge, only a little silk velvet remnant, so couldn't use the bleach method of discharge. I did have Jacquards discharge paste which is much gentler on the fabric (smells better too). The midnight blue turned a pinkish gold, very pretty. To activate the paste you must apply heat, I used an iron and the resulting shine on the velvet looks really great.

The fabric paper was on both a cotton fabric base and Tyvek base, 2 each. The smaller Tyvek bit had no tissue paper applied to it, and was heat distressed to be a control for the papered piece. The tissue paper really didn't shrink much at all, just wrinkled. Both the front and back of the papered piece were pretty enough to photograph. It was painted on both sides, papered with white sparkly tissue paper then painted again. Whew, what fun! Now, what do I do with the samples....

Cool Technique

Wow! It is a giveaway on this site! http://www.nancymalay.blogspot.com/ . Take a look at her work, she is a super talented lady indeed!

And another giveaway at this site: www.cmscanlon.blogspot.com. Love her work... and now she is giving away 2 copies of her book, Art from the Heart.

This is a page from a book I made for my sis...she too is so talented in so many things, swimming, knitting, music and more. The colorful piece on the right side is a bit of Tyvek, painted and ironed until it bubbled. Be careful with your iron, once it starts to bubble, it goes lickety split! Protect your iron and ironing board. I use a teflon sheet below and parchment paper above the Tyvek. Any acrylic paint( I used neopaque, lumiere, and Golden), permanent or heatset ink will work. I also like to add some sparkle with metallic waxes or mica powder, even glitter will work. Try this technique if you haven't discovered it yet... it will become a favorite, I am sure.