Pinned Down Doll

Local artists were asked to participate in a fundraiser for the Rockford Dance Company's upcoming benefit by transforming a white muslin ballerina doll into anything we wanted. I love it, no rules!
My doll had been patiently waiting in the studio for attention of any kind, so with the deadline looming, and seeing my best friend Bobbie's incredible doll (almost finished), I was ready...

She was so pale, so I started by giving her a coat of burnt sienna acrylic. She did not want to sit or lie still for me, so I had to pin her down, literally. I never forget how a simple thing like adding color always gives a piece "life" even in the early stages. In this photo, I've posed her so you can see the white on her other side. Check out those gams and perfectly pointed toes...

My next step was to add a coat of a Lumiere metallic acrylic - the Hi-Lite Red. Although I absolutely love the Lumiere's, you really have to give your pieces a dark undercoat first to get the full effect of the Hi-Lite colors. It was a challenge getting a smooth application for the first coat, so I sponged on the second one. After the painting was done, I was counting on her to tell me what she wanted to look like and what she wanted to wear (if anything)...and if you know this artist well, it would NOT involve a tutu.I found this beautiful, ethereal poly sheer in my novelty fabrics stash, so I just started wrapping it around her body. Okay, that was good. Wired fabric tubes wrapped around her legs. Okay, that's good too. Uh oh, here we go - the face!!! I have to admit creating the face was the most frustrating part of the process. I mean, it's what brings a doll to life, so to speak. Bobbie and I were discussing this yesterday and we decided that we didn't like the anxiety and that we were ready to drop them off at the dance company's office.

After going through many books I have at home, I came across this head shot of Anna Pavlova, early 20th Century Russian ballerina. I printed it out on heavy cardstock and gel medium'd her face. I added a little Setacolor paint to the medium to add a tint. I then glued her face on and added a few beads with perle cotton. Whew...she's good to go.


I wonder if doll artists go through this every time...

MIU supplies

Thanks to John, the president of Creative Art Materials and Diane of BEACON ADHESIVES, the participants in my "Create Texture and Dimension with Gauze" workshop at Make It University will receive some pretty great materials to use during the workshop and to take home afterwards!

Look what came today...John sent 25 sets of the Neocolor II Aquarelle Half Sticks (and a 40 color set for me).

and I received these the other day from of Beacon...enough 2 oz. bottles of Fabri-Tac glue for everyone in the workshop. What's good enough for Project Runway is perfect for my workshop!The thought of putting 25 supply kits together actually excites me, at this point. I often do this for the kids in Sunday School at Emmanuel and have done it many times before when I was teaching awhile back. For me, it's like wrapping 25 gifts for special people.

Now I'm on the look out for lots of 3 inch wide surgical gauze. Gee, maybe the good Dr. Phil, foot surgeon from Emmanuel has some, you think? Doesn't have to be sterile...

Make It University Sample

If you're coming to the IQF-Chicago in April, here's what I'll be teaching at Make It University for Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

My workshop is titled "Create Texture and Dimension with Gauze" and it involves wrapping pre-painted surgical gauze around small canvas panels, making folds in certain areas, deconstructing the gauze, then adding more rich color with oil pastels (Caran d' Ache Neocolor II).
CARAN d'ACHE > Company > Company > History. I have loved pastels for quite some time now, and these are my favorite for color and blending. Rich, creamy (thinking about ice cream now?) color.

Stop by and sign up - we'll have fun and make some art, too...

A Substitute for Citrasolv?

I've tried almost all techniques for image transfer and after hearing so much about using Citrasolv, I thought I'd give it a try. I looked on their website to find out where I could find it in Rockford - one place. Since they didn't have it in stock, I had to order it. Alas, when calling that store today, I was told that it won't be ordered until this Friday and I'd have to wait until next Tuesday. NEXT TUESDAY? Well, that's way too long for an artist who is on a mission to try a new technique, hello?

I started my trek across the far east side of Rockford in search of it. Read: I live on the west side where there's virtually no traffic and no strip malls every few feet to slow down by to find that tiny store front. The big stores are even a little intimidating to me, but I took a deep breath and pulled into the local Home Depot.

I might have found a substitute for Citrasolv. I know it's not completely natural as Citrasolv is, but the solvent in it is the same - from orange peels.

Thank God it was sunny and a little warmer today, so a window in the studio was opened, the heat turned off, and it was time to experiment. I had read about the National Geographic art project on their website: Citra Solv's Artists Site . It involves brushing the product on every page in the magazine, squishing it together, pulling the pages apart and placing them on newspapers to dry. Messy it was, but the outcome was well worth it. Next time, however, instead of doing a whole issue, I'll just pull out certain pages.



On to image transfer...it worked. When it dried, I did feel the urge to heat set it, which left a stain on this small piece of one of my hand dyed cottons. Afraid that the image would disappear, I was hesitant to dunk it in the sink. Oh well, experimentation. I ran cool water over the fabric, rubbed it a little, and to my delight, the image stayed in place. When it dried, I noticed that some of the color had faded from the cloth - I chalked this up to the fact the this orange stuff was a "cleaner" after all. Can you say residual dye?

Fabric Paper

I have been working with fabric and paper together, much like the technique published by Beryl Taylor - Mixed Media Artist
in the first Cloth, Paper, Scissors issue.
We have done similiar techniques in workshops at Emmanuel, but always with different papers, no fabric.
What's nice about her process is that you can stitch on the fabric paper by hand or my machine. It's very strong and I'm sure it will hold up to many other mixed media embellishments.
I've taken some photos of the steps that I've done on one of the pieces, so I thought I would share them with you.




white muslin on plastic, diluted white glue brushed on fabric ~













pieces of scrapbook and printer paper pressed into wet fabric ~














another layer of glue brushed on top ~












pieces of yellow tissue paper laid down ~














another layer of glue brushed on ~











silk paint (liquid acrylics, setacolor, etc. can be used) dripped on ~













paint brushed into the glue ~












the color is further spread by dabbing into the piece with a dry cloth ~























the finished piece after drying overnight ~



Here are some other finished fabric papers...using vintage wrapping paper, text and images from an old bible book, and gold crepe paper/magazine clippings.
















































I'm not bored yet! Went into Dick Blick yesterday with Jason and found their collection of hand made papers. Ooh-la-la. We were both drooling, me with the papers, him with the specialty spray paint.

UPDATE on quilt giveaway: Just waiting a few more days, hoping for a few more comments and numbers. Soon everyone, soon...

Christopher's Dream

A newer art quilt, inspired by Christopher Reeves' hope for stem cell research: Hand painted interfacing, acrylic pastels, satin stitching, quilted. 9 x 21
inches.

N/A

Eclipse x 3

One of my newer small art quilts: Hand dyed and discharged cotton, embroidery, beads. 8 1/2 x 20 inches.

Leaves and Such

Two mixed media collages: cotton, hand carved stamp used for rubbings, embossed lutradur, beads. 6 x 6 inches each. ~ 12.00 for both.

~ SOLD

Bubbles and Brackets

This is one of the pieces I created for possible inclusion in my article from Cloth, Paper, Scissors, May/June 2007. Silk and cotton, painted and embossed hardware, beads, yarns, fl0ss, trims; quilted. 11 1/2 x 13 inches. ~ 50.00

Mixed Media Beads

"More than Words" - An assortment of 10 mixed media beads: vintage and other papers, words, embossing. ~ 6.00

mixed media beads

10 beads $6.00 20 beads $12.00 30 beads $18.00

Bursting with News

This was fun to create! Hand painted and rusted cottons, silks, hand carved stamp used for rubbings, novelty trims, quilted.
20 x 20 inches. ~ 60.00

~ SOLD ~ thanks, Bobbie and Lenny!

Spring!

Art Cloth: First Process

I'm working on a few pieces for Rockford's Spring Artscene that is coming up mid-April. Emmanuel's Celebration Gallery is once again hosting an exhibit. According to the Rockford Area Arts Council, there will be 41 galleries participating this year! The theme of our exhibit is "Sacred Seeds: Emergence" and we'll have about 15 artists represented. Along with the art, we always have the best food, live music and this year, artists will be demoing.

This is a piece of art cloth that started out as black cotton sateen. I've just finished discharging it in 3 steps. I wanted to see what I could bring to the piece by first scrunching the cloth and painting on Soft Scrub with a brush. 2nd step - masking off areas to represent a bit of nature shooting out of the ground. 3rd step - using a very fine tip from a plastic bottle, I squirted curvy lines to represent growth; finished with lots of tiny droplets. I'm keeping an eye on it, hoping what I've done with the 3rd step will discharge to an off-white before I rinse and de-chlor.

My plans at this point are to add some color with oil pastels, then we'll see how it looks. I want to hang this piece as art cloth, but am unsure of how to hang it properly so it lays nicely. Any thoughts?

Update: the wise ones from Quiltart have given me lots of wonderful ideas - thanks everyone!

Flowers of Yo

Clover has these neat yo-yo makers - easy, yes...but don't get too freaked by their printed instructions. I purchased the small flower one at the store last week and realized that today would be a good day to try them out. Side note: it has been raining for two days and I needed some signs of spring, even if those signs were fabric flowers...my first two are in this photo. Small print cottons, batiks are pretty.

















Here's the package it comes in, with the two parts, disk and plate.
















You start with a circle approximately 4 1/2 inches around. Place the wrong side of the fabric on top of the plate, then snap the disk into place on top of the fabric. As you can see from the photo, there are little notches and what looks like curvy cut-out sections. Knot one end of a piece of strong thread and as you fold the fabric down, you make stitches through the disk and the plate (next photo-back side). Go all the way around, finishing where you started, having your thread next to your knot.












Take another shorter piece of thread, knotted, and stitch through the center, starting from the back side. Finish as above.
















Pop the disk out, then gather the center stitches and secure with a tight knot. Grab the ends of the outer stitches and pull tight, adjusting your gathers as you go around. Pull out the petals when you're done, and again after securing your stitches. It will be small...the finished size is about 2 inches around.













Sorry about the color on this photo, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like. The yo-yo is much prettier, especially with a pearl in the center.

For Krissy's Eyes Only

Since she finally asked how to find my blog when we were at work last night...well, Miss Krissy, this one's for you!

A little greeting from Elsa the tabby!