Posts Tagged ‘play’

“Two” Many Ideas and More

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

The first post of the new year…. now that we are nearly 2 weeks into it….  I have actually finished a few little quilts in addition to my latest set of art cards for the “Arts in the Cards” group.  Each month a new theme is chosen as a guide for the cards we send out to each other. I have only been a member of the group a year or so, but this  month is the second anniversary of the creation of the group, so the theme was Two.

My Inspiration

The above photo shows one of the inspirations for my cards. Actually, I had originally thought that I would do a tiny quilt with a pair of Tulips blooming on it… Two Tulips, but while experimenting with a new die cutting machine, I happened to notice that some of the vine and leaf die cut pieces looked like they could be twos, and another idea began to form. I then thought about “two peas in a pod”…. another idea (see little “peas” upper right in the photo above)…. THEN came the Google results…. I found that the traditional gift for a second anniversary is cotton (ok, cotton Tulips would work), then I found that there was a flower for that anniversary- Cosmos…. I love Cosmos and more ideas were flowing.  I should have stopped at that, but I pulled up a dictionary which had the definition and tons of extra information, too…  I did some playing with the definition and other words from the dictionary in a word cloud program. The program put the words in different sizes and colors in random order and I did a print out (also showing in the photo- upper left).

Printed Insides

By the time I got  done with playing on the computer, I  realized I had too many ideas to put into one little art card, so I decided that I’d add another two… Two cards.  The photo above shows the text I ended up with along with more that I added, printed over photos of Two white Cosmos flowers. I decided that the two cards would be connected in a hinge fashion with one long piece of the printed card stock. The photo above shows 3 of the inside pieces printed and in the process of being cut to size.

Creased Insides

Once the insides were cut from the card stock, the center creases were made. I also ended up fusing some little “scraps” of the vines that also looked like 2′s in the inside.

Peas

When I first thought of doing “two peas in a pod”, I needed to figure out how to make the peas…. I squeezed out drops of a metallic pea green paint on parchment paper and allowed them to dry over night.

Tulips Start

Above shows one of the little Tulip sides that I decided to make as tiny “quilts” using a thin interfacing as a “batting” so that I could do the stitching.

Two Vines Fused

In the photo above, the die cut vines with leaves 2′s and single leaves fused and “smushed” to make little pea pods.  The background fabric for these is a white with silver glitter that was then fused to a thin fusible interfacing. The one upper right is the first I played with, placing the flowers and butterflies… I decided it would be much easier to stitch the vines first, then add the flowers and butterflies after that.

Beginning Stitching

I used a green variegated thread to stitch around the edges of the vines and leaves, and added little curly tendrils to the pea pod.

Ready to fuse to inside

After the green stitching was  done, I switched to clear thread around the tulips, butterflies and flowers. The little quilts were now ready to fuse onto the inside that would connect the two little “quilts”.

Cooled Under Pressure

This photo above, shows the stitched “2″ sides after they have been fused to the other side of the inside printed card stock. Once both little quilts were fused to the outside of the inside, the pieces were folded and cooled under a weight to keep them flat. When fabric is fused to card stock, things tend to want to curl, so the weight flattens things while they are hot, then when cool they will stay fairly flat.

Outsides of the Double-Sided Cards

This photo shows most of the cards after they had cooled. To finish the edges, I dabbed them with a stamp pad with purple ink. You can see Two of the cards standing up like little sign boards. I did find I had a problem with the ink. After I put it on, it seemed to want to rub off, so I ended up brushing on some gel medium to seal it.

Cosmos and Peas Finished

Here is one of the Cosmos, 2, Butterflies and Peas sides… you can see a bit of the inside printed card stock. If you look really close, you can even see the two little peas made from the paint tucked into a fold in the pod.

Two Tulips

This photo shows the Tulip side of one of the cards…

Two Many Twos Finished Group

This photo shows a group of the finished cards, with some showing the Tulip side, and some showing the Two Peas and more side, along with one open to show the inside of a finished card. “Two May Two’s” were then packaged in archival art card sleeves and sent to their new owners.  I really never thought I would end up with so many ideas for what one would think was a simple theme….  If you would like to see what other members created for this round as well as others (if you want to do a bit more scrolling) see the Arts in the Cards Blog where each of us have posted our creations.

Big Shot Machine with First Cut

This is the new tool I have been playing with that led to many of my ideas. It was one of the vine cuts shown in the photo above with the machine. The die shown is the first one I got with the machine. I also got a couple others, but this was the one that I have played with the most. I wanted to see just how many different designs I could make using  just one die. The die cutting machine is designed for scrapbooking and paper arts to cut paper and other similar art materials. I had seen a video online showing one being used for cutting fabric, and that got the wheels turning. I do a lot of fusible applique and have been doing more with tiny pieces and even with my straight handled scissors, cutting is hard on my hands and takes a lot of time.

2 Motifs

This photo above shows two full motifs that were cut with the die. I cut two pieces of Wonder Under backed fabric right sides together using the whole design on the die. Most of the designs I have come up with have just used parts of the motif with fabric folded in different ways.

Die Play on Dyed Fabric

This is a photo of one of the first pieces I played with. I took a 6″ square of white fabric, folded into quarters on the diagonal, run through the machine just using part of the die design. I pulled the vine pieces out of the square and fused them on the outside of it, giving me what you see here.

 

Vine Heart 5″x7.5″ SOLD

This little piece above is one of the little experiments I began with and finished. This is 5″x7.5″ in size, and I arranged the vines to make the heart shape and swirl below. I began quilting with green thread on the vines and added little tendrils, then I added more quilting with the clear thread to fill things in. This ended up going to a new home after I showed it at my local quilt guild’s show and tell…. My first sale of the year!

I now have some more dies to play and see what new things I can come up with. So far this little tool has been helping me to get the old creative juices flowing again. If you are interested, I have been adding photos to a Die Cutting Album  on my Facebook profile page.  I have two more little pieces finished using die cut fabric and have photos there. I plan to get any new pieces listed in my ArtFire Art Quilt Shop also.  If all goes well, I hope to add new posts more often this year.

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Posted in Art Cards, Art Quilts, New Projects, Play | 1 Comment »

Playing in the Studio Again!

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Well, I’m slowly getting back to posting here more regularly. Since the last post I ended up doing Waaayyyy more organizing in the studio than I had planned to, made my cards for the Arts in the Cards exchange, got behind with my weekly journals and caught back up again. In the middle of everything else I even got a little bit started toward cleaning up one of the biggest “eyesores” in the landscape around here.

Neat Shelves!

This photo above shows my shelves after I emptied every one of the “cubbies”, sorted and organized my fabrics. I have mostly my painted and dyed fabrics on the shelves now and will be selling off and storing what I keep of most of the commercial fabrics on the shelves in the office. Since my pot of pencils, pens, etc. seems to always be in the way on my table, I left a couple of the spaces free of fabric to keep things off the table.

 

Computer Parts

Once I got the cutting table cleared of debris again, I was able to get some of my projects done. The AIC exchange theme this round was Hardware…. Perfect, there is a lot of that around this place. My first thought was to see if I could find some little bits left from various computers that are stored in boxes… I soon found that nothing was small enough for an art card (and I wasn’t really into taking things apart… I leave that to my guys), I decided that I would use a photo of some of the parts as the background. I took a bunch of photos, and decided on a pretty simple layout.

Hardware Printed and Stitched Canvas

A photo of a circuit board of some kind? and one of part of some sort of hub-like purple thing (yea, I’m not geeky enough to know what is what) worked great together giving the feeling of sky and grass. You know me…. flowers always seem to pop up in my art.  I printed the photo onto cotton fabric, then fused that to some canvas I had to give some stability. I knew I was going to have flowers, and after playing with my card (the 7th one that included a printing boo boo) I had an idea of where I wanted stems and leaves that I stitched with silver metallic thread.

Painting Washers

On a trip with Ken to Lowes last week, I did wander down the hardware isle and check out all the little fun goodies they had. I only bought a package of little copper coated nails. While looking for the computer parts, I had to walk past Ken’s woodworking and hardware stuff. I found some of the cute little lock washers that look like gears on their insides. He had lots of each size, so I “borrowed” one each of 3 sizes for each of the 7 cards I needed to make. I also picked out some small “regular” looking lock washers (again… I’m no hardware expert..:). Since my little nails were copper coated, i pulled out my Lumiere paint and turned the plain washers into copper colored ones. Working with those tiny little pieces, I got as much paint on my fingers as the washers.

Hardware Card Wet Glue

I made two stems for each card out of copper and silver colored wire, and stitched them onto the bases (I only hit the wire once even with  my terrible eyes). After laying out the washers and nails, I realized things looked too sparse, so I pulled out some tiny grommets for paper crafting that I had collected years ago, and decided since computer parts were used for the background, I cut up an old software CD to make a couple more “flowers” for each card. The photo above shows one card while the glue was still wet. The grommets were attached using a hammer and grommet tool, and everything else was glued on with gel medium. You’d think I would have learned after painting the washers that working so tiny, I should have found a pair of tweezers to help me out. Instead, I ended up getting as much glue on my fingers and under my nails as got on what was being attached to the cards.  Once dry overnight, I printed up backs for the cards using more computer part photos, printed on a Radiant Gloss photo paper. The backs came out nice and shimmery, but the photo paper bubbled a bit with the heat of the iron when I fused it to the backs… Ahhhh another lesson learned.

Hardware Cards Set of 6

Above is the photo of the finished cards ready for mailing. There are 7 in this trade, so the 6 “good” ones get sent out, and the “guinea pig” one is mine to keep… Not exactly like these… it has all the trial and error boo boos on it :)

Week 5 Journal WIP

While doing my sorting and organizing in the studio, I found a bunch of unfinished projects dating back many years. As with the previous week’s journal quilt, I am using the smaller unfinished pieces for my weekly journal quilts. This was from my days of selling at art and craft shows, when I would work in batches. I would make up the bases of the pieces and then add the applique and quilting. This already had a few pieces fused on for fall leaves, so I finished it up with a tree.

Coloring Fabric

My tree needed more bright leaves, so I decided to color up some just for this one. The fabric is a leftover Wonder Under backed scrap from my placemat making days (that’s why the wierd shape). This piece is a white leaf print on slightly ivory fabric. I began by scribbling with my Inktense Blocks in orange, yellow, red, and a touch of mossy green.

Coloring Fabric Adding Water

I am still amazed at what happens when water is added over the Inktense blocks or pencil.

Coloring Fabric 1

The colors were too light and I wanted a bit of shimmer, so I pulled out the metallic paints. This was a gold color and looked too brown to start, so I scribbled with the Inktense blocks on the parchment near my thinned gold paint.

Mixing Paint

Look what happened when I pulled the Inktense pigment into the metallic paint… much nicer color.

Coloring Fabric 2

I liked the fabric a bit better after adding the mixed paint, but it still needed more, so I later added some more shades of metallic paints that I had on hand.

Week 5 Tree and Grass

While the paint dried, I turned back to the quilt itself. I cut out and fused on the tree trunk and branches. Then I added the stitched grass using one of my variegated threads in shades of green. I just did a sweeping patch of the grass to give the piece some movement.

Tree Texture and Outer Quilting Done

With the grass done, I needed to figure out what to do next. I added texture to the tree trunk with yarn couched on and added more branches by free motion stitching using a zig-zag stitch. This gave me heavier lines than straight FMQ would and it was fun to see how it turned out! I knew that because of the dense stitching in the grass and tree, I needed to keep the rest of the stitching and quilting dense, too. I used a pale variegated blue thread for the sky-like background, then I used a nearly matching thread in the green border and did a lot of tiny leaves vining around in the border. I also added more grass-like stitching along the bottom that would blend into the border. I fused a few fabric bits for fallen leaves and stitched the grass over most of them.

Week 5 Falling Leaves

Once all the background quilting was done, I added the rest of the leaf fabric bits (some from a bright orange section of one of my dyed fabrics), and then stitched over them with a variegated thread in shades of orange through deep rust. I did this stitching to mimic the angled shapes I cut for the leaves.  After steaming it out, “Falling Leaves” is just about 8″x10″. This is the firs one I think is “sale worthy” (others may have differing opinions :) so I decided to list “Falling Leaves” for sale in my Art Quilt Shop on ArtFire. The link will take you to the listing if interested, where there are more detail shots.

Once I had my week 5 journal quilt done, week 6 was due, so I pulled out another WIP and finished that piece, too.

Week 6 WIP

This was a piece I started back in 2006 on the trip to Houston’s Quilt Festival as something to keep me  busy for at least part of 3 days in a car. I had fused the sunprints to the batting with the white accent fabric, then I hand couched the bulky yarn over the seams. I never got any farther with this until now.

Week 6 Detail

Since I have been wanting to play with my threads and stitching during this journal project, I decided to try something a bit different from what I normally would have done. I began with my “usual” vine quilting in the white areas using a pastel variegated thread that has all the colors of the sunprints. The stitching was pretty pale in color so I added more over the top with a purple metallic thread. Some of the yarn is stitched with a rosy purple metallic embroidery thread, so I thought I would add some metallic to the  vines.

Week 6 Sunprints

I didn’t do much new with the quilting in the sunprints themselves… I still like that the clear thread adds just enough texture to accent the prints without overpowering them like other threads I have tried do. To finish this off, I bound the edges with the same bulky black yarn with the colors in it that was used on the seams.  A lot accomplished in the studio in the past weeks! Finally!

Back of Workshop Mess

And to let you know that I have not totally been ignoring the gardens, here are a few photos. This one shows one of the worst “eyesores” in view of my studio’s North window. You can barely see the singlewide trailer that is a bit narrower than the one we live in that Ken is finally using as his woodworking shop. It is also where I make the wreaths in November and December. It is barely seen through the overgrown, falling down and obnoxious Sumac trees. The ones on the right of the photo fell down many years ago and are still lying there… I have had to mow around them and it’s not fun. In one way I hate to totally clear everything from here because the birds really love this mess. I plan to plant many of my baby trees in this area to have a neater and prettier bird sanctuary area. I have one huge pile of dead stuff ready to burn, and more is on today’s schedule to be  hacked and burned, too.

Salvia "Monsters"

I am also still learning my new camera… Here is a closeup of a couple florets of the Salvia Black and Blue… Probably the only Salvia I really like (most of them have red flowers). This photo came out pretty neat, with the florets looking like open mouths of some sort of monsters. The color even is pretty true without playing in photoshop!

Puff Balls and Moss on Stump

Thanks to Vladdi and Roxie chasing through the woods, I found this moss and puffballs on an old rotting stump. Vladdi and I were looking for Roxie who he left behind… She finally came slowly through the woods by the time we got too far.

Woods View

The last photo for this post… A shot of the trees in the woods. Lots of young trees, mostly Green Ash and Black Walnuts…. But a few more Sugar Maples are getting some size on them… They don’t seem to like the Walnuts… We usually get tons of seedlings, but very few live more than a couple years. There aren’t many Walnuts in the North end of the woods, and we are finally seeing some Fall color in that direction!  Walnuts and Ash aren’t great for color… A little yellow for a short time.  The Sugar Maples are the best! (in my opinion).

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Posted in Art Cards, inspirations, Landscapes and Skies, Weekly Journal Quilts | 5 Comments »

Back in The Studio!

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Since my previous post, I think it has misted or rained part of just about every day. Thankfully, nothing really measurable, and only a couple brief downpours. We certainly could use a dry spell.  One thing about the soggy outdoors, is that I have been back in the sewing studio…. Finally! Since starting the Weekly Journals, I actually have been able to make a small piece each week!

Sunflower Photo

This photo is one that I have taken of my only Sunflower. I didn’t plant it, the birds did, and this is the only one that I allowed to grow… This one grew at the end of the row of planters along the walkway to the driveway. The Black Oil Sunflowers are much shorter than most varieties, and their petals are much shorter… Not  as striking as many other varieties, but this one did add a splash of yellow out front. If you look closer at the photo, you can see a few visitors… 3 different typed of bees.

Week 3 Sept 18 Sunflower

Since my creativity has been near non-existant, for my week 3 journal I decided  to print the Sunflower photo onto cotton and play with different threads and stitching over it.  Since there is nothing that a colored thread can do to improve upon the beauty of the petals, I used a clear thread there.  For the flower center, I played with one  way of following the rows of florets. They seem to swirl toward the center, so I did a bunch of repeating “S” curves intersecting in the center. I used a variegated thread in shades of golds and browns, but if I were to do this again, I would use a different thread. In this, the darker brown shows more than I would like… Trial and error… Just what these journals are for….

Week 3 Sunflower Detail

This photo shows a corner of the piece close up. I used a deep green to tanish variegated thread for the fill quilting behind the flower. I didn’t really want the quilting to stand out, so I played with a “sort-of-herky-jerky” kind of stippling. I have never been able to successfully stipple and have always avoided doing it. Since I often have shaky hands these days, I thought I would try the shaky look. With the values in the thread going from very dark to quite light, I tried to get the lighter stitching in the lighter areas and the darker thread in the darker areas… Not sure about the thread choice here, either.  Something with less shift in values would have been better, I think. The piece is bound with an earthy, mossy green yarn couched on the edges. Finished size- 8″x10″.

 

Studio Organization- Cutting Table Pile

The Sunflower journal was finished in little bits and pieces of time during a very busy weekend, and as usual, I ended up with a major fibro flare (or should I say total Crash). It was a very enjoyable weekend, but I paid for it with days of barely being able to sit up. Finally by Thursday afternoon, I was a bit less wobbly, and while trying to figure out what to do for week 4′s journal, I ended up in a cleaning, sorting and purging mood. It all started out innocently enough when I decided to poke around some of my fabric shelves and then pulled everything off them (piled onto the cutting table of course).

 

Studio Shelves

The shelves in question are mostly covered by my design wall, so I really didn’t know just what was there… In the photo above, you can barely see those shelves to the left of the design wall with the batting flapping over them. I found all kinds of forgotten treasures….The main group of shelves that are seen in this photo are just a part of the wall to wall shelves that Ken made for me that cover two of the studio walls. Most of the end wall shelves are behind the design wall.

 

Studio Organization- One View from the Door

From this view, you can see my ironing board and machine past the cutting table. The pile on the table was shoulder high at this point. Buried on the shelves I had emptied, were rolls of Contac paper, Freezer paper, various types of stabilizers and more. I decided that these would be much more accessible if they were on the shelves to the left of the ironing board….  Next step… empty those shelves too…  The photo above was taken after those shelves were filled back up.

 

Ironing Board Shelves

All the rolls of various stuff that is necessary for creating are now neatly on the shelves where I can easily see them and use them. I did have to do a bit of fudging to make the shelves deep enough to hold the rolls so the ends would show…. Foam core is wonderful stuff (inside the empty Strathmore Paper boxes)! I even have a shelf that I will use for stacks of Wonder Under backed fabric pieces that are too big for the containers I store them in. There are clear containers of various sizes and shapes with the smaller “Wonder Undered” pieces on the shelf that is even with the ironing board surface…. (buried in the photo above).

 

Studio TV Corner

Well, as any cleaning session tends to go…. cleaning one area led to clearing and re-organizing other areas. The corner shelf above the TV was a real problem…. I had nearly a garbage bag full of Wonder Under backing papers that were stuffed on that shelf. I usually save all the backing paper because it comes in really handy, but there is a limit to how much of the stuff I really need. Now with the excess gone, I now have a couple of tubs of fabric there.

 

Buried Machine Again

The cutting table is not the only thing that got buried in the cleaning process…. Why is it that things always look so much worse before they get better.  I found a lot of random blocks, WIP’s, and odd fabrics. The painted piece on top of the pile is a piece of fabric that I played with years ago…. Lots of random flowers and leaves, etc.

 

Studio Neat Shelf

Here is a photo of the TV corner before I put the tubs of fabric on the corner shelf. The shelf above the window was another disaster zone that had random UFO’s, tissue and other papers, and whatever… I cleared everything off, and decided that this would be a better place for my backer boards, mats, archival bags and wide format paper. These things were on the shelf over the ironing board, and  needed to climb on my chair or use a step ladder to get to them.

 

Studio Paper Organized

Above the shelves by the cutting table, there are more shelves to the ceiling. This area is a bit out of the way, but I can access things without too much trouble, so I decided that the papers could be stored on the lower shelves. Things higher up are used rarely. There is a tub of random, fun collage goodies to the right of the rolled papers.

 

Studio- Under Cutting Table

This area under the cutting table is also a bit neater. I am not happy with where the paper cutters are stored, but for now it will work. The laptop case contains my “traveling beading  studio”. More white and off white fabric pieces and scraps are in the plastic tubs.

 

Tub on Wheels

This is the space between the cutting table and the design wall… just enough space for this plastic tub. During this cleaning spree, I even took everything that was piled on top of this off (and added it to the cutting table), and sorted out what was inside. I thought it would be great if I could have it on wheels, and was going to do a “Suzy Homemaker” job of putting casters on a piece of plywood, but Ken did this up for me! A much nicer job that I would have done. Now I will be able to move this out of the way much easier if I need to access the shelves or electrical panels behind my design wall.  I won’t kid myself….. this will probably be stacked up again, but it will still be easier to move (so far only two flat boxes of scraps are there now).

 

Studio Chair Space

Just to be sure no one thinks everything is in order…. it’s Not!  The counter to the right of my machine with the laptop and printer and drawer units isn’t getting organized this trip…. I don’t think…. the area my chair is in is not that roomy…. While I am sitting in it right now typing this, the corner of the cutting table is at my back…. The floor does need cleaning, but it will never be pretty again… most of the black that shows is where the top surface of the tiles has worn off from my chair rolling over it. It was supposed to be commercial tile, but it didn’t have the nice glossy finish that it should have had on it. In order to have the room I do at the design wall end of the room, the table is rolled to block more than half of the doorway…. Pretty cozy…..

 

Studio- Empty Shelf Over Ironing Board

So far, the shelf above the ironing board and sewing machine window is pretty empty. This is where I stored the backer boards, mats and bags…. really hard to access because it is higher than the top of the shelf units which are 6ft high. I will probably be stacking clear plastic tubs up there with various fabric bits and pieces. Ken made the two shelves over the windows too. I can use every bit of wall space for storage to the ceiling on every wall.

 

Painting Sample

Here is a photo of that fabric painting sample that was on top of my machine a few photos back. I was experimenting with painting flowers. This has been hiding out for many years…. I think I did this before I really got into sunprinting. Since I ran across this, I thought it would work for this week’s journal piece.

 

Painting Sample Pink Flowers

I decided to play with various threads like last week…. I began with a cranberry to light pink variegated for the bright pink flowers.

 

Painting Sample Quilted Detail 1

I did some of last week’s jerky stipple type stitching for the paint dabbed floral areas. I started with some of the cranberry thread, then switched to a purple to rose to lavender thread for more of the random flower look.

 

Painting Sample Quilted Detail 2

I used the purple variegated for the rest of the purple flowers, then used a variegated green with deep to lime shades for the foliage. I tried to make the purple painted blobs look like Tulips. I used the greens for a grassy look along the bottom. I also outlined the  leaves for individual flowers and did a sort of upside down scallop for random foliage.

 

Week 4 Sept. 25 Journal- Painted Sample

And here is the full view of the piece. It is just over 8″x10″ in size. You can see the Irises and to the left, what looked to me to be an attempt to paint a Delphinium, so I stitched it that way.  This is by no means very artistically correct, but as a piece to play with I learned more about what I do and don’t like about using variegated threads.  I didn’t bind this piece because it may be screaming to be cut into small sections that would look better separate from the whole.

Now that I am 4 whole weeks into making these journal pieces, I am feeling really good about getting myself into the studio and actually stitching something at least once a week. Now that the studio is almost reorganized again, maybe it will be easier to find things and maybe I’ll get that “creative groove” back!

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Posted in Dyed or Painted Fabric, Play, Weekly Journal Quilts | 3 Comments »

July 5 & 6 Walks and ART!

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

To keep my posts from getting too long, I am including a couple days of photos in each. This post includes Photos of flowers taken during my July 5th and 6th garden walks, and as a bonus….this one also includes the first creative project I have done in a LONG time!

Black Caps

This year the Black Caps (or Black Raspberries) have been very productive. I have picked a few quarts of these luscious berries and eaten most of them myself… I LOVE them!

Blurred Berries

This is what happens when the camera isn’t ready to take a picture…. I am not sure if I could reproduce this effect, but it did result in a fun photo of the berries on this wild Honeysuckle bush.

Free Pink Petunias

These petunias flowers are on one of the self seeded plants. Last year I planted some plum colored flowers with deep veins in them, and this year I have an assortment of pretty shades of pinks, plums, and lavenders.

Kitchen Art

Since all of the drama around here, I finally got out some of my art supplies and worked on some very late ATC’s for the “Arts in the Cards” exchange group. Thankfully, the other traders were very patient with me! The studio is a hopeless hovel right now, so I took over the kitchen table.

Hearts ACEO Pair

The  group of cards due my the end of May had the theme of  “Fabulous Fakes”. I  had planned to do something with fake flowers or such, but after Ken had his heart attack a new idea crept in. Our real hearts don’t look as pretty as the “fake” ones we are familiar with. I used an image from one of Ken’s brochures of a real heart on the backs. We don’t tend to think too much about our “real” hearts unless they cause us trouble. For these, I cut my own stamps for the simple solid heart and the one with the rays around the heart.  I also used some thin metal in pink that I embossed with a pencil on both sides to give different texture. I also played with embossing powders for scrapbooking that I have had for quite a while now.

Wild Daisy

Sunflowers Daisy Print

The second set of cards were done for the theme of “Sunflowers and Lemonade”. The wild Daisies were coming into bloom, and I thought I would do some flower prints with them to make my Sunflowers. The idea didn’t work as well as I thought it would. I am used to printing on fabric not paper, so the textile paint I used was too thin. I had to play with the paint to get it thicker and finally got some decent prints.

Pair of Sunflower ATC's

The  prints needed a bit of touching up with my Inktense Pencils and I added the leaves with the pencils too. The backgrounds were painted in a watercolor effect using my Inktense Blocks, water and a paintbrush.  I used the pink metal again and used a scrapbooking paper punch to cut the butterflies, and embossed them with a pencil from the backs.  The centers were made glossy and sparkly by using embossing powder with Art Glitter over Inktense block.

Pale Yellow Pansies

Back to the flowers…. Here are a couple of pale yellow Pansies that came from seed in one of the deck planters. I had assorted Pansies and Violas in the planters in the past couple of years.

Seedling Petunias

This photo shows what I think are flowers from the same plant in an earlier photo. You can also see some of the purple Petunias and Lavender Violas that are also seedlings. The only purchased flowers I added to the deck planters are Impatiens, Lobelia, and white Alyssum. I have even found baby Lobelia plants, too!

Hosta with Cuddles

The nearly washed away Hostas were beginning to bloom in the Mound Garden. In the background you can see the top of Cuddles who likes to follow me when I try to take photos in the gardens.

Hemerocallis Bella Lugosi Closeup

This is one of the first varieties of Daylily to bloom….. Bella Lugosi is a really deep wine purple color with a greenish yellow center. They are hard to photograph due to the deep color. I really wish these blooms lasted more than one day… At least there is a bumper crop of buds this year.

Hemerocallis Bodacious Returns

Bodacious Returns was the first Hemerocallis to bloom this year. The plant is not very tall… barely over a foot, but the flowers are absolutely HUGE! As the name implies, this is a re-blooming variety. It should bloom again sometime in the fall.

The next post will have lots of Hemerocallis flowers of all colors. I have counted at least 13 different varieties in the gardens with flowers in all sizes and colors.

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Colorful Fabric Dyeing Results

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

This post will mainly show some of the fun, colorful fabrics that I dyed in the past week. I usually use paint because we have a well that is not very reliable in the warmer months. Right now, there is still snow on the ground, and with the melting going on, all the springs are running full tilt so I am playing while I can.

Windbreak Trees March 24, 2011

This is what had me in great need of some “Color Therapy”. This was what it looked like heading up the driveway last Thursday after another snowstorm on Wednesday. I started ripping fabric, scrunching it into containers, and squirting on colors while the snow fell. Thursday was the first wash-out day.

4 Yards in Dye Pan

The above photo shows one of the first batches soaking in soda ash.

Multi Color Yard 1

Here is one of the pieces from the first tub…. As you saw in the earlier photo, I just randomly squirted concentrated dyes onto the scrunched fabrics.  This is only one of 4 pieces from the first sweater sized tub. The next few pieces that I did were sample fat quarters to see what the colors I had would look like.

Cerulean Blue and Fuchsia

Fire Red and Cobalt Blue

Mixed Blues Quarter

The above piece is a mix of 3 different blues. Some of the blues ended up nearly the shade of the sky in the first photo.

Spring Green

1 Yard Brights 1

This and the next large pieces were done in the same tub. I used less colors and kept them clearer by not overlapping them much. For the green, I mixed yellow with a couple of the blues, then added it. The above photo was randomly scrunched, while the lower one was sort of fan-fold scrunched on the diagonal, then packed into the tub.

1 Yard Brights 2

Mediums Yard

The piece above was scrunched similarly to the previous one, but I diluted the dyes before adding them so the colors would be less intense.

2 yd Plus Mediums

This piece above is over 2 yards that was scrunched into the bottom of the sweater size tub. I used diluted dyes for this one, too so the colors are similar to the one before it. I was trying to get a lot of different “garden-like” areas to play with. I had to lay this on my bed to take the photo, so it is hard to see all the details.

2 yd Brights

This piece above is another bright one that I expected to come  out  much different… I guess that is one thing about fabric dyeing, you don’t know for sure what you will end up with until the fabric is completely rinsed and dried.

Fuchsia

Here is a piece done with Fuchsia, the way I scrunched it into a small square container allowed it to be deeper in some areas and much lighter in others.

Fire Red Quarters

Here are two pieces done with Fire Red. The lighter piece was scrunched and placed on top of the first piece so it got less dye on it.

Yard Spring Green

This piece is a color that I am hoping to see outdoors someday soon…. Some bright springy green would be a nice change from the white snow and brown mud…. At least I have been able to play with lots of pretty colors indoors while waiting for the gardens to bloom again.

Once I finish another big day of ironing, I will have more pretties to show. I have even dyed up some sad looking towels to give them new life as well as some white shirts and tops… A great way to update the wardrobe.

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Playing with Inktense Blocks Part 2

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

As promised, here is part 2 of my experimenting with Derwent Pencils New Inktense Blocks.  In the previous post, I showed a Delphinium flower stem colored with the blocks.

Delphinium Flower Dry

This is the Delphinium on white cotton fabric after it finished drying. The color lightened a tiny bit, but is still nice and bright.

Inktense on Paper

Before I played with the blocks on fabric, I did a little on a sketchbook page. The photo above shows a few Delphinium florets that I began with. The upper right and middle fully open florets were done completely with the Inktense Pencils. The other florets were outlined with the pencil, then the blocks were used to fill in the petals with the color. I used the same Deep Indigo and Sea Blue with tiny touches of Fuchsia. I added all the colors dry, then dampened with my blender pen. There is not much difference, but the florets done only in pencil show more “sketchy lines”.  You can see the direction I drew on with the blocks and used the blender pen, but there aren’t the distinctive pencil lines. (A more experienced pencil artist could probably get a less “sketchy” look with the pencils, but the blocks made things very easy for a relative beginner like  me.) You might be able to just see the faint, still dry Fuchsia color I added to the background by using a long side of the block with very little pressure. I was doing an experiment before doing the background on the fabric piece.

Water Over Dry Inktense

The next experiment I did was over part of the drawing on the fabric. I wanted to do a wash of color for the background, so I added some plain water with a brush over a small section to see what would happen. With fabric, colors will run very easily. There was very little bleeding of the blue into the white background, and all I did with the pencil and blocks was to wet it with the blender pen. (Just ignore that funky green below the flower, the fabric  was a “printing failure”… the paper backed fabric jammed in my printer, leaving just a strip of the image and a few black streaks here and there along the sides.  Mistakes on fabric are just opportunities to do something else with it.)

Dry Cotton

While the test area dried on the first fabric piece, I decided to play with another piece of fabric… Here is the white cotton I began with.

Wet Cotton

The fabric sprayed with water and smoothed onto an acrylic sheet to begin like I would when painting my fabrics with acrylic paint.

Adding Sea Blue

The Sea Blue block rubbed over the wet fabric…. I had a sky of sorts in mind….

More Colors Added

I then did some passes with the Fuchsia block and more of the Sea Blue, hoping to end up with some lavenders when the colors mixed. I added the greens available in the 12 block tin to see if I could get some mountains….. None of the greens are near what I usually use, so some over-mixing will be needed. This is a “guinea pig” anyway, so a perfect place to play….

Water Brushed Over Colors

Above is what the piece looked like after I used a very wet half inch brush over the Inktense colors. There is also a nice brown in the set that I used in some of the lower edge areas. By mixing the Apple Green and Leaf Green in different ways, I got colors more to my liking. I think I also added Apple Green over some of the Teal Green that in the beginning really looked out of place.

Colors Blended More

Here is what I ended up with after a bit more blending and adding a tiny bit of the Sun Yellow to the horizon. I did a bit too much blending in some areas and started making “mud”, but like with the paints I usually use, I never know what the dry end result will be…..
This morning, this is what the dried fabric looks like. The areas that were too bright dulled down a bit, and I like the look better. I am not sure if this will become a finished piece in it’s entirety, but if not, it will work nicely for part of a book cover or something else. I LOVE how easy it was to do this…. I didn’t need to pull out my paints and brushes that I haven’t had out in a while. All I needed was the fabric, acrylic  sheet, Inktense Blocks, a spray bottle, little cup and  a brush. Very little clean-up needed. This will be super for coloring up small pieces of fabric needed for various projects.

Background 1 Added

Back to the Delphinium piece…. The test area dried with next to no bleeding, so the next step was to add a light bit of the Fuchsia block used on it’s side. I only wanted a wash of color,so kept the pressure on the block very light. You can see a couple of streaks at odd angles due to some extra “stuff” under the fabric that was on my work table…. A clear table is hard to keep in my studio.

Water on Part

This photo above, shows the top half of the piece after I brushed over it with a sloppy wet brush. I had to take the paper backing off the fabric because the paper was curling badly…. another lesson learned…. The pink color was very light, except where a corner of the block rubbed harder, or whatever was underneath caused a deeper streak. The water was brushed over everything, even the previously colored flowers.

Fuchsia Used with Water for More Color

I wanted a little more color, so I used my brush on the block of Fuchsia to pull color into my little cup with a little water to make some liquid color to add here and there.

More Colors Added over Wet

Here is the piece with a little bit of Sea Blue and Teal Green added to give more interest to the background. This photo was taken before I did more wet brushing over the new colors.

Fabric Dry Adding More Flowers

This photo above shows the fabric dry again, you can see how there is just a bit of mottled color for the background. I decided to add another flower stem next to the first one.  This one is going to be lighter, using mostly Bright Blue. I began as with the first one with the pencil for the outlines.

Adding Leaves and Stem

I drew in the leaves using my Ionian Green Inktense Pencil for the outlines, and filled in with the Apple Green and Leaf Green blocks mixed to get the shade I wanted. The photo above shows the leaves still dry.

One Leaf Wet

This photo above shows how the colors change with the addition of water. The right leaf has been partially gone over with the blender pen. With a bit of “scrubbing” with the pen, I was able to blend the two shades of green blocks.

New Flower Done Damp

This photo shows the new flower stem after the petals were filled in with color and dampened. I mixed a little of the Deep Indigo with the Sea Blue and tiny touches of Fuchsia on the petals while the pencil was dry.

Done Dry

Ta-Daaa! Here is the piece fully dry this morning. This is destined to be chopped up into ATC’s for my exchange group. I was amazed how little color bleeding I got from the deep blue flowers when I brushed the water over them to do the background. I did blot a couple of spots, and found a few areas that some of the color transferred to my paper towel, but most of the previously dampened and dried color stayed in place. I will probably play with covering the fabric with different acrylic mediums to see what happens. I love to play with the pearlescent, and wonder what a little gloss over the top will do…. More play time needed :)

Hopefully I will have another update tomorrow or the day after…. An errand running afternoon is ahead, so I have no idea what the body is going  to do when I get back home.

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Playing with Inktense Blocks Part 1

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

I was amazed a while ago when I left a comment on the Facebook page of Derwent Pencils for a chance to win a tin of their brand new Inktense Blocks, and WON!! I was one of five winners, and my new tin of fun arrived over the weekend.

Inktense Blocks Tin

I spent the weekend with a nasty fibro flare, so I didn’t do anything with them until yesterday. I got a design drawn out on some cotton fabric backed with Wonder Under with the paper backing, making it easier to draw  on…. Today, Tuesday, I finally cracked open the plastic seal on the Inktense Blocks.

Inktense Blocks Opened

This month’s theme for the “Arts in the Cards” ATC group is Indigo… anything goes that uses any shade of blue. My first thought was Delphiniums, of course…. I love them and they come in so many great shades of blue. I first drew (actually traced an enlarged drawing) a Delphinium stem lightly in pencil, then outlined the flowers with my Deep Indigo Inktense Pencil. After outlining, I went over the Inktense with something I have had lurking in my supply drawer for well over a year….

Blender Pen with Inktense

In the above photo to the right of the colored pencil is what I found works super for wetting the Inktense pencil, causes minimal bleeding on the fabric, and is so much easier for me to use than a tiny paintbrush with water. I bought a set of blender pens at a Stampin’ Up! party for Scrapbooking. I first intended to use the pens with my water soluble wax pastels (I also bought colors of those I didn’t have yet that were demonstrated that night). Due to the creative block problem, I had not even opened up the box of  3 pens I bought until now.

Blender Pen with Inktense Pencil

As you can see in this photo above, the blender pen has a nice sharp tip and is easy to control. You can see how the color of the Inktense pencil intensifies when water is added to it. My first attempt at using my pencils with the Chickadees was a real learning experience. It took a lot of time to reload the brush with water and(or) medium. The blender pen fed a constant supply of water to the tip…. It was just like tracing over the pencil with a felt tip pen.

Blender Pen Over Inktense Pencil Outlines

This photo shows what a section of the Delphinium florets looked like after they were outlined with the Inktense pencil and then dampened with the blender pen. I finished all of the outlines, then allowed the fabric to dry. The Inktense pigments are permanent after they have been totally dissolved with water, then dried.

Inktense Blocks Sample Marks

Once the outlines were dry, the fun began with the Inktense Blocks! The new blocks are the solid pigment, without the outer wood of the pencils. They look like, and can be used like pastels to add color to a project. I made a few sample marks to get a feel for how the blocks would work. I began with a swipe with the full end of a block, then drew a line using a corner of the block. The block used in the above photo was the Deep Indigo, the first wide one was pressed harder than the second wide one. It looks nearly black when dry, and the first marks I made left a few crumbles as the edge was smoothed up. I brushed off those loose bits into a little cup.  I will show what I did with the “crumbles” later….

Inktense Blocks Added On Fabric

I used the end of the block to fill in the petals with color. I didn’t add too much to start, so I could test the waters, so to speak.

Adding Water to Inktense

You can see what a difference the water makes with the Inktense pigments. The first lines that I colored and dried stayed in place nicely, and it did not take too long to really brighten up the flowers. The blocks are great for coloring larger areas without getting the “scribble” lines I always end up with using the pencils. Using the blocks on cotton fabric is a little more challenging than smooth paper. The weave of the fabric grabs the pigment from the blocks, causing some streaks and more color to be laid down where the backing paper had wrinkles, too. “Scrubbing” a bit with the blender pen helped to move the color to where I wanted it.

Blender Pen on Inktense Block

Another way to use the Inktense Blocks is to treat them as you would a solid watercolor paint. I wanted to add a bit of purple to the flowers, so I used the other tip of the blender pen (each pen has 2 tips) like a paint brush to pick up some of the pigment to accent the flower petals.

Adding Fuchsia with Pen

The above photo shows the Fuchsia Inktense added to a floret. I had already added a bit of Sea Blue over the Deep Indigo to vary the color in the petals more like they are in nature. The first streak or two of the Fuchsia were a bit intense, but with a bit of work I was able to blend them in a bit.

Two Florets Colored

This photo above shows two of the florets fully dampened with all 3 colors used. The rest of the florets have just been colored in with the dry blues, ready for water.

Inktense Crumbs in Cup

Ahhhh…. back to the crumbs…..  I brushed the crumbles into a bottle cap and dropped a bit of water onto them. This is another way the Inktense Blocks can be used…. They can be grated and mixed with water to make a liquid watercolor paint. To play with my flowers, I just added a drop or two at a time and used the blender pen as my brush.

Delphiniums Colored

The final photo for this post…. I used the crumbs mixed with water to add more color to the petals. There were crumbs of both shades of blue, so that helped to even out some of the streaking I ended up with. The upper florets were still damp when I took the photo and looked a bit deeper than they ended up. The lower ones that are quite light hadn’t been painted over with the liquid color yet. I will let this dry over night and see what I decide to play with for the background… I am not sure what color I will try yet….. To color in the large background area, the blocks can be used along the long edges to quickly lay down a lot of color. I am toying with the idea of using a very light touch of the Fuchsia for a pale pink background that will add a cast of pink over the flowers, too if I just go over the whole thing with the color… I plan to add a bit of pearlescent paint to the floret centers, so losing the white there will not be a problem…. Tomorrow I will try to have another update….

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A Tale of 2 Dyeing Sessions…

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Yesterday I had the chance to “run away” from home to play with friends. Three of us got together and had a dyeing party… Fabric Dyeing that is….  I had a blast scrunching fabric into little plastic containers and squirting dyes onto the fabrics. After a bit of waiting, we began opening up our new creations. It is so much fun to start  rinsing out a piece of dyed fabric, unfolding it so see all of the little nuances and color variations that were created in the process. My day ended up being more of a learning process than I thought….

Yard of Bright Dyed Fabric

The above photo shows a piece of fabric that I dyed back in April and blogged about Here. This was sort of what I was expecting to see from the newest dyeing session. I did want to get some pieces in various shades  of greens from deep, dark to light, as well as some pieces in blues, purples and multicolors.  The following is what happened, and some very important lessons learned:

Dyed Fabric Soaking 1

This photo shows a few pieces soaking after their first rinses and an overnight soaking. I had used my dyes full strength like I had in the April session. I also used the leftover dye concentrates from April, too…. That ended up being my problem….

Dyed Fabric Soaking 3

Above photo- my “Dark” Greens and a sweatshirt that looked like it would be pretty deep blue with purples upon first rinse……

Lessons Learned:

  1. Mix your dye concentrates fresh for each dyeing session if you want vibrant colors. Mine were mixed in April and used in July, stored in my kitchen which reaches temperatures over 80 degrees in summer even with the AC running. Just because I got away with old concentrates in the past (during the winter), doesn’t mean I’ll get away with it again.
  2. When using old dye concentrates, if your fuchsia is a bit lumpy or “clotted” looking, take that as an indication that things are not right…. Fuchsia can have a few specks, but lots of gobs… not good.
  3. The way a piece of fabric looks upon first rinse out is not always what you will end up with after all the unused dye particles are gone. Each rinse ended up with my fabrics getting lighter and lighter. The colors pretty much rinsed all out.
  4. If your darkly splotched clean-up fabric pieces that have been soda ash treated wash out to super pale colors, realize that there may be something more going on than too short a batching time. Mine rinsed out really pale, and still I thought that I could get deeper colors by just trying again. I don’t learn too quickly at times…
  5. Never have preconceived ideas of what you want to end up with when you are playing with dye- the same goes for paint… you never know what you will end up with. I think that is the best part of playing with paints or dyes.
  6. Most of all, Enjoy the process, no matter what you end up with.

Another bucket of fabric. I did get some pretty purplish blues that kept some good color, but as you can see a lot of the pieces washed out to very pastel shades.

Shibori 1

This is one of my first attempts at pole wrapped Shibori dyeing. I had wrapped this piece around the pipe back in April, but didn’t add the dye because I had already made a big enough mess in my kitchen at the time. This piece was spectacular when it was first unwrapped and given a quick rinse. By rinse number 2, it got lighter…. then by the time the water was running clear, this is what I ended up with. The golden yellow stuck around the best because it was freshly mixed dye that my friend gave me. I just added it without thinking too much on the end, and it ended up being the only “bright spot” in this fabric. I do love the patterning I ended  up with, and the pastel colors are different than what it looked like at first. I also love the colors that did stick around… I do like pastel colors.

Dribble Catcher 1-2

This I call a “dribble catcher” because I placed it in the bottom of the bucket I used to catch the dribbles of dye as I poured it onto the above Shibori piece. I also let the pipe rest in the bucket while I let the soda ash do it’s job. This caught a bit more color in places…. This fabric is a white on white print, and this is the back side of the fabric. I love to play with these because you get something different on each side. Most of this 2 yard piece did end up rinsing out to the pale blue shades, but you can definitely see the golden yellow.

Dribble Catcher 1 Front

This is the “front” of the dribble catcher piece. I prefer the look of the back, but this side is interesting.

Shibori 2

This is my second Shibori piece. It also began looking much deeper colored. I wrapped this one a bit differently than the first, but both pieces ended up being pastel, too.

Sweatshirt

This began the day as a white sweatshirt…. It then looked as if it would be deep blues with rose and purples… now it is a pretty near turquoise blue with a few flecks of pink.

More Fat Quarters

Even though I was expecting to end up with some deep colored fabrics somewhat like the ones in this photo, the results were wayyy lighter. The great thing about fabric is that if I really don’t like what I end up with, I can just go ahead and mix up new dyes, re-scrunch the fabrics and pour on new colors, and it’s like Christmas all over again…. Opening up and rinsing out dyed fabrics is a lot like opening up Christmas gifts. You never know what you have until you open it up (and in the case of dye- rinse it out).

In the two dyeing sessions of this year, I have learned a LOT about dye and what I can and can’t get away with (OK, I am always trying to break rules :) . Even though I didn’t end up with fabric colors I was looking for, I ended up with some really pretty fabric that I can leave as it is, overdye, or even add a bit of paint (sunprinting over some of these might be really fun). The best part of the day yesterday was being able to have a “play date” with a couple other fabric lovers. That is better than getting the “right” colors.

Now more fun begins…. Time to see what I end up with playing with my newly colored fabrics.

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Play With Chalk and Paint

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

This post is a bit later than planned, but the past few days have been a  bit busier. Note to self— Don't even pull one weed without gloves if you have a history of breaking out in itchy blisters. I found many perennials buried in the weeds at work, and decided to give some Hibiscus plants a break, pulling just a few weeds out from their pots and surrounding area. I then didn't think to wash my hands after doing it, and now I am paying the price– fat, red, itchy fingers– It's not the first time, so I should know better. Ice packs are wonderful things!

Now to the fun part…. I played with my chalk pastels a few days ago. The weather hasn't cooperated with sunprinting, so I decided to use the breezy, humid weather for other paint play. I learned about using chalk pastels with acrylic and textile paints from my workshop with Elizabeth Busch this summer. The chalk stays put when used with the paint, when the paint dries the chalk  doesn't rub off. I got some great effects, and got myself a larger selection of pastels to play with. Irises are one flower I have used in my quilting a lot, but they don't do well for sunprinting. They are great subjects for the chalk!!

Pastel Iris Panel
Pastel Iris Panel

I am better at just "slopping paint on fabric, then letting nature help me do the details. Amazingly, I just started to draw the Irises onto the just painted fabric and this is what I got! I love the lines of the grassy foliage, and started there, then "scribbled" the flower shapes and kept adding bits of color over, and am happy with this first attempt. The one thing I need to remember is that since I am working on wet, painted fabric, that the pastel colors look much darker as I am applying them. The darker purple I originally tried, looked too black so I used the lighter shades. The middle group nearly blend in with my background, but that is how you find what works and what doesn't– lots of play!

Pastel Iris Panel Twins
Pastel Iris Panel Twins


 Another thing I did that I don't normally do, is to stack 2 pieces of fabric on top of each other to see what I would end up with on the bottom piece. For this I used a more open weave fabric than I usually use. The photo here shows the 2 pieces together.

A lot of the chalk did go through to the second piece. The green for the leaves shows the most, and the lightest colored flowers in the middle are very faint. I will have to try again with the tighter weave fabric I usually use. I don't know if as much will go through.

Pastel Landscape Twins
Pastel Landscape Twins

Here is another set of "twins". I tried for a landscape look, here. I think I really like the under piece better than the top one. It is interesting how the greens transferred through.

Pastel Pond Panel
Pastel Pond Panel

 
 Here is another landscape type piece. I was trying to get the look of a pond with grasses growing around it. I used sea salt on the green area for a different texture.

Pastel Rainbow
Pastel Rainbow

 

And last for this post is the pastel rainbow. I combined the paint, pastel, and sea salt for this one. After finished, I wished I had tried the stacking idea on this one- I'll have to remember to try it some other time.

It felt good to be back to my more cheerful colors to work with, instead of the "rocks and mud" colors I have been using so much of this summer.

One good thing about the rocky stuff is that the journal quilt I entered into the Houston show was accepted!!

For something I wasn't even thinking of trying to enter, it just happened and ended up being one the jurors wanted. Now everyone will have to wait until late October for the unveiling of the whole piece. The sneak peek is here. You'll have to scroll to the end of the post.

Now back to a fresh batch of sunprints!! I actually got some done yesterday. I just need to finish heat setting them. I will show some in another post.

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Color Play- Updating Some UFO’s

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Being challenge leader for the Color Play challenge for the Janome6500 Yahoo group, I have decided to pull out some old UFO's to see what will happen. In the earlier post, I showed photos of some of what I found. I began to play with 3 of them, and here is what has happened so far.

Pair of Old Blahhh Hangings
Pair of Old Blahhh Hangings

UFO Wall Hanging2
UFO Wall Hanging2

Here are the photos of my first subjects. The little "blahhh" hangings are small pieces I used to make and sell at craft shows. These two didn't get finished for some reason. The one with the butterflies didn't even have the quilting finished, and some of the blue markings are still there.

The star and paisley wall hanging top was another of a series of hangings I sold regularly. This one never got finished probably because I had moved on to other things or that style of hanging wasn't selling as well. I know that I would not use that paisley fabric in anything I do now.

There is nothing I can do to hurt any of these, so there is no pressure to end up with a "masterpiece". Great pieces to try things I would not have otherwise tried.

 
I usually paint on plain white fabrics, so this is a bit different for me.

Blue Flower Mini 02
Blue Flower Mini 02

For this little piece, I thought it mainly needed more color. I began with my colored pencils and colored in the flowers like a kid with a coloring book.

Blue Flower Mini 04
Blue Flower Mini 04

Blue Flower Mini 03
Blue Flower Mini 03


 
   After coloring with the pencils, I added a layer of diluted Super Sparkle textile paint over it to add some glimmer and to keep the color in place. I then added touches of yellow and white chalk pastels to add more interest onto the wet paint.

Blue Flower Mini 05
Blue Flower Mini 05

 

I also added different shades of green pastel to the leaves. This piece definitely looks different from it's beginning, but it still needs something- more quilting…

Blue Flower Mini 06
Blue Flower Mini 06

  This is the result after the quilting with clear thread in the background. I still am deciding as to whether I will add a hint of color behind the flowers or not, but this one is done for now. I will probably trim the edges neatly, and add my usual couched yarn binding. The pillowcase finish on the edges here are a bit ruffled.

Butterfy Mini 03
Butterfy Mini 03

Butterfy Mini 02
Butterfy Mini 02

Next is the butterfly piece. I didn't even finish the quilting to outline the butterflies, so started with a quick drawn line with blue pencil, then quilted with the clear thread.

The quilting lines will give me an outline to color in.

Butterfy Mini 04
Butterfy Mini 04

Here is what I ended up with after coloring and painting this one. As you can see, I got a little carried away with the sparkle paint on the border. I quilted my favorite vine-leaf design in the border, then filled in the leaves with the watered down sparkle paint. At this point, this piece looks a bit too busy and gaudy. I will be adding more with colored pencils or pastels to tone down the border. I may also add some more definition to the designs in the wings of the butterflies. This is the perfect way to find out things that DON"T work!

Paisley UFO 02
Paisley UFO 02

Gold Paint
Gold Paint

I decided to try over painting the paisley fabric on this piece. I no longer like that particular fabric, so I started by painting over it with diluted Lumiere gold paint. It gave the fabric a bit of an aged look, but was not enough to cover well. I had wet the fabric first, and with thinned paint coverage was not good. I then pulled out my new set of chalk pastels and found a color that would compliment the center star blocks. I scribbled over the paint, and ended up with a more distressed look.
Paisley UFO 03
Paisley UFO 03

The center of the piece now looked too bright, so it got the same gold metallic paint with a bit of the pastel over the paint on the white areas. I liked what was happening with the star squares, so just left them with paint only. This photo shows some lines of the pastel color on the white fabric. I brushed over them with my paint brush to blend the colors better.

Paisley UFO 04
Paisley UFO 04

The next morning all was dry (biggest problem for me doing this, is waiting for things to dry- I had to work inside due to the weather- not too patient a person). As you can see, after the paint and pastel dried, the chalk shows more than it did when wet. This photo also shows the other big problem with this piece- there is a lot of wrinkling in the white areas due to my stretching the borders as I stitched them on. I plan to do a lot of close quilting in these areas to "suck up" the excess fabric. I will do minimal quilting on the borders and just a bit more on the stars. This piece, like the other 2 may be mounted to fabric covered canvases for display. I'll see what develops as I continue to work with these.

Well, back to the studio for some stitching. Updates will follow……

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