Painting On Fabric Paper

 Fabric Paper is all the rage these days, and we got to try making it back in May at CQFA I missed the first stage where the actual fabric and paper were combined with thinned down glue.  Basically you use any fabric, in this case just plain white cotton, and you glue down layers of papers, arranging them until you like how they look and you've fully covered the fabric.
When it completely dries, the real fun starts which is where I got to jump in.  Thankfully our workshop leader Sue had extra to play with (thanks Sue) so I got to have a try at it.

 I used craft acrylic paints, some metallic in mixed colors.  Some just brushed on with a sponge brush, but mostly I wanted texture and pattern. So I used the tools I brought with me.  Bubble wrap, carpet protectors, Duplos, lace, bamboo mats.

 The possibilities are pretty much endless, because of the combination of what papers you use and what surface design work you do on top.

 Tissue paper, wrapping paper, tissue paper clothing patterns, any interesting paper is fair game to use.

 Those circles are from a Duplo (giant sized Lego for toddlers) dipped in paint and stamped on.

 The background small dots are from carpet protectors.

Fabric paper is much stiffer than fabric of course, but it is still flexible and somewhat sew-able.  There were several examples of journal covers made with this which look like a good use of this material. There were also wall hangings, notecards and ATC's.

Manipulating Fabric Again

I've been working on finishing the quilt I made with the manipulated-Frankenfabric last year, it is turning out really great, (I'd show it to you but I am entering it into a show) and so I have have been wanting to try the technique again. But I don't have much polyester, absolutely no clothing (bleah, I just hate wearing it) and not much in the way of yardage in my stash. Polyester is the only fabric that the shapes will stay in permanently, so that's what I have to find.

So I had to do a brief search for a few more polyester skirts to deconstruct and manipulate into new and more interesting shapes, so off I went to the local Goodwill. These three pieces of clothing will be taken apart, and put through the process I described in this post last year, the green is a polyester skirt with a polyester lining and the floral is a polyester skirt with a brown polyester lining, the black/white one is actually a very large polyester tunic. All together they cost $11.

The last (and only) time I tried this fabric manipulation technique, the polyester was just a solid ivory/beige, so it will be interesting to see how the patterned fabrics look once they've been shaped into a 2D form with 3D shapes. I'm guessing that the strongly patterned black/white one will be hard to see the shapes in, but who knows. That's the fun of this manipulating fabric technique isn't it? I am planning to use a variety of objects this time, instead of just marbles of various sizes.

The rubber-banding process will be a good exercise for my right-hand to undertake. I'm slowly working towards getting strength and dexterity back up to my usual levels. A lot of movement and gripping still really tires my hand out, so I'm doing this in small batches as I catch up on the last few episodes of LOST before the new season starts.