31 March 2017

A book cover out of a layered art cloth



I don't know how many of you remember this piece of art cloth. I made five of them in stages a few years ago. They were about half quarter size and this one started with fabric paint in purple and limey yellow. I used a square piece of sponge with dark purple paint in a line long the left side. I applied pearl paint with an X and a spiral stamp I carved from an eraser then made a seaweed shaped stamp with hot glue applying it to parchment paper to cool and harden. I applied the burnt orange paint and "stamped" it on to the fabric. The fifth layer was foil glue applied with a roller covered in elastic bands. Then I ironed on the foil which looks like thin lines more visible on the right side of the first photo. It is very obvious when the light shines on the gold foil.

I actually forgot to take pictures of the finished book cover but my friend who I sent it to took these pics for me. 










29 March 2017

Moonlight Landscape


I am out of frames and mats so I cut a piece of foam board to give an approximation of how this will look after it is framed. I think the "mat" I made is a bit distracting so I took a close up of the reveal.





27 March 2017

Indigo Moon



I am still working on my landscapes. I thought I'd try a few night landscapes with a discharged moon. I had some compressed sponge which I had had for years and it was starting to plump just a tad. I also had some new compressed sponge as flat as a sheet of paper from the DMTV shop. I thought it would be interesting to see which was harder to cut with scissors and which grew taller with water. 



It turned out each was equally easy to cut with tiny scissors and they all expanded to the same size when wet.




I was working with some indigo dyed fabric so I used the compressed sponge with Jacquard discharge paste




Wet and waiting for the paste to dry




And now the big surprise. Indigo discharges yellow green like indigo in it's liquid form. I was disappointed but maybe others want a yellow orb. Back to the drawing boards.






25 March 2017

winner of the first book giveaway



Gil, it is YOU!!



Email me even though I think I still have your address

24 March 2017

Goodwill


I have had to throw 3 shirts away lately because they were shredding (falling apart). Sad day. I just happened to be passing by the Goodwill and stopped in to check it out. We were expecting another snow storm so the lot was kind of empty. I ended up with 5 great shirts and even a pair of boots (finally). Yes, I've been wearing sneakers in all this snow we've had.

Anyway, two of the shirts could use a little dye even though they really weren't that bad but I had the need for color. I didn't realize how many tattersall shirts I actually had but none of them were turquoise. The other shirt was an odd brown which I thought would benefit from a bit of purple. Both were LWI and I did expect that mottled color but the brown/purple shirt was a happy surprise. Trust me, no one will have a shirt like that

Before




After



22 March 2017

My grandson the artist

My grandson, Byron, lives in Malta with my son Russ, his beautiful wife Fiona and his older brother Zac. He was out with the family when he came upon a cut piece of wood. He picked it up and mentioned that the cut end had really cool patterning. When he got home he made these prints using the cut end of the wood.



a tree


Another tree


Very creative design


Byron

And here is a surprise giveaway for all those who are reading this post




20 March 2017

Third Landscape

This is kind of a repeat of the first one. As I said on Facebook, the first one is the first one - kind of like waffles.
Both the first and second are sold plus orders for more. Today I am doing the night landscape and I am using my hand dyed indigo from my "dipping" party. Stay tuned.

This is the first "Sunrise" followed by the new version



The start laying out the fabrics


The beautiful embroidery scissors my daughter-in-law Fiona bought me. They are Victorinox.


Finished piece with the colors of Madeira Lana thread. I love this wool blend.




17 March 2017

Second marked sketchbook



I made two more "marked" sketchbooks; one was for me and the other I sent to Marcella for sharing her gelli print pages. One thing I forgot to share with you were the marked pages. I just had a post of the last batch of stamps and stencils but not the pages. I should have taken some close-ups before I tore them down into pages. Just a few pages:


The green square was a stamp. The circle in a square stamp is on left page


Love the feather and the effect of the sponge stamp. This is for you Elle!!


I love that noisy monoprint


At the top is the large corrugated circle for you Deborah.


The circles were yummy.


Corrugated square stamp.


Sponge circle


And my favorite crow stamp. I used this stamp as my signature on quilt for years.



I kept this book. The paste paper was made with just plain green paint but then I scribbled with water soluble oil pastels. Marcella showed me this technique. I LOVE it.


15 March 2017

Second finished landscape



I am showing the first finished landscape to a friend in Portland who is interested in buying it. This is the second design and it has sold already.


These are all silks dyed by me. The sky is a cotton I dyed a while ago. All segments pinned in place.


All stitching done without the birds.


The birds added just the perfect balance in the sky.


Close-up in mat


Matted and framed. Now I am out of frames but will be going to Boston at the end of the month to renew my stock (smile). I am doing a night landscape next.



13 March 2017

Painted fusible interfacting



I have always loved the effects of painted fusible interfacing. I even used it on the paper in my sketchbook last month.



This is a sheet of Steam-a-Seam with the top layer of paper removed. The bondable side is facing up and it is taped in place.



I use three colors of Jacquard halo paints. These paints are blue, green and pink. When painted on, a layer of gold floats to the surface, very unique and a beautiful effect.



Here the sheet has dried.



Here is a small square cut out still on the paper backing.



Ironed on to fabric.



After the fabric has cooled the paper can be peeled




I took two picture to make sure you could see the interesting effect of the green and gold.



Always remember that after applying it to fabric, it can never be ironed unless covered with either release paper or parchment paper because the painted interfacing will stick to the iron.

Have a go and have some fun!!


10 March 2017

first piece finished

This was my maiden voyage. I am pretty chuffed with the results. The sun finally came out and I was able to photograph the pile of "new" dyes that I did a few days ago.


I started with a small square of synthetic felt because it is so easy to sew. The needles slides through as if through butter especially when using silk as I did on this piece.


Silk chiffon and silk open weave fabric.


 Last strip was wool but very open weave.


These are my first selections of Madeira Lana threads (wool blend) and below are most of the ones I used.




I like how this finished


And I like it even better matted


Then I put it in a 1" deep shadow box frame. Keeps the dimension and texture of the loose threads as they are and not flattened.

The finished framed piece is 9" square and the mat opening is 4.75" square.

You can have this beautiful landscape for only $50.