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!

What is it?

If you can guess what this is, I'll send you a little goodie!

I'll be heading down to the basement late tonight with Jason when he returns home from seeing "Coraline" with friend Ashley. Jeff and I stayed home and watched "Religulous" (liked it, although we thought it dragged a bit after the visit to "Holy Land Adventure."

Midnight class in Dyeing 101...maybe we'll be dunking what's in the photo.

Go ahead, give it a try -

WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Gabriela of Threadheadsanonymous guessed right...it is waffle muslin that we carry at Jo-Ann's (you can find it with the other muslins). I purchased a yard of this to see how it would take procion dyes. After I pre-washed it, all the little waffles disappeared as the weave tightened up. As soon as I put some color into it, I'll post the results...I'm very curious.

Gabriela...send me your address ~

Shisha 4

The evolution of play. A larger mirror. Two colors of perle cotton around the mirror. Other stitches and some french knots. Reddish shell coins. Tropical floral cotton in the hoop.

Starting this coming Sunday, we will be displaying samplers for the upcoming art workshops at Emmanuel. This will be one of mine...it will be attached to something. Maybe a purse?

Bla-gone-jevich

Now we can get this state working again...

Shisha 3 and Art at Emmanuel

Well, I've moved up to a larger embroidery hoop and have started working with larger circle mirrors (like the one that didn't make it in the shot very well), and some small square mirrors. I didn't even think about the fact that those could present a challenge, so I just started with the anchor stitches the same way, then went around all the edges. On the corners, I put the needle in the fabric just to the left of a corner, then did it the same way just to the right of the corner. I finished with a few more fill-in stitches. I could now go back and do more fill-in, but I'm happy with how it looks. More texture, more dimension, yes...

On another note, our "Art at Emmanuel" group met this evening to brainstorm some upcoming events. We do have a trio of workshops already scheduled: encaustic collage, art from digital photography, and the shisha embroidery.

Our current exhibit, which is up until February 15th is called "Inner Passages." We are planning for the next exhibit which opens February 29th, and for our exhibit as part of Rockford's Spring Artscene, which will be in April. We got excited at the prospect of hosting an outdoor arts festival in July...

The First Couple

I can't resist...aren't they cute?