Triad Appears

 

Et voilà! A triptych appears.

I'm looking forward to quilting these now, a much more manageable size. I used fusible batting which always speeds things up for me. I even remembered to cover the print with something just in case some of the paint wasn't fixed. There were a few little tacky bits, so I'm glad I saved my iron the trouble.

I might use a thread color that matches the central print through the whole thing in lines...Sightlines.

In triad color theory that should work. I'll try it and see.

Sightlines Triad

 

After getting the printing done that I wanted to accomplish I chose my three favorites to put into a quilt to enter into the Print/Quilt exhibit. It was going to have to be on the small side to get done in time, but I really didn't want to cut up the prints. The initial idea was to call this quilt Sightlines and have quilting lines going between all the eyes.

Based on a sketch that took a triad view from my color wheel, I came up with these combination of hand-dyes to sort of frame each one. The cerulean blue print would be framed with chartreuse and blue-red. The Blue Green print would be framed with red-violet and yellow-orange. The orange-yellow print would be framed by aqua green and violet.

I decided that I needed something in-between the print and the much more intense hand-dyes, so I chose a lighter hand-dyed and manipulated one that would tie all three together and had the additional dye printing work of dots which echo the backgrounds of the prints. I thought that looked a lot better, but I still didn't like them all in one piece. Too crowded, too formal, not enough space to have a dynamic design.

So I decided to make three separate but much smaller (but not too small). Much better. 

What's this? Another triptych?

This works much better for me. It's really fun working with my hand-dyed and surface designed fabrics, it's been a while. If I can figure it out, I'm going to quilt them keeping the Sightlines idea in mind to have the quilting lines connect between the three quilts and the eyes.

Even More Printing

 

In a big push yesterday, I think I've finished off the printing I'm going to be doing for now. It's a lot of set-up and then clean-up of course, but it sort of takes over and then I can't sew or do anything else.

But wow, did I ever have fun as you can see. Combining colors and using the same set of stamps the whole way through.

This one might be my favorite.

Some of my fabric paint is on its way out, not as juicy as it should be, and the heater came on which is directly overhead of my worktable, so this plate got really dried out before I could even pull the print. I think this one would have been my fave if it had worked.

As you can see it did not. I added some over the bottom and I do like the look of that.

Wait, this one is probably my favorite. I guess I don't really have to pick just one.

I quite like the range of colors I ended up with, it's going to be very usable.

The worktable after the tools have been removed to the sink for cleaning. 

The very pleased printer after cleaning up, new glasses and my Mrs. T's apron (and a bad rosacea flareup for my eyes, yikes that's not trendy red eye makeup).

Pre-Print Work

Time for some mark-making before I start doing some Gelli Plate printing. I measured my Gelli Plate and cut pieces of freezer paper to size and ironed it to some of my hand-dyed fabric. 

I recently bought some new-to-me media, Faber-Castell Gelatos, which are pigment/wax/oil crayons and Edding textile markers, which are wash-resistant water-based ink.

I was very pleased with the transparent look of the Gelatos on the fabric. I smeared it around with the sponge included with it. Like a makeup sponge but much more firm.

This was very fun and hard to stop myself from covering the entire surface. I wanted to leave room for what I'll be printing over the top. It's All About The Layers.

I think these pieces of fabric are going to be even more interesting to work with when I'm printing instead of using plain white or solid color fabric.

Gelli Plate Printing

I just got one of these Gelli printing plates recently and have had a lot of fun so far playing with it.  I never did get around to trying the whole gelatin plate thing where you mix up a batch of thick gelatin and then it kind of breaks down as you make prints.
Everything I learned about the technique but never actually tried is in this great book by Rayna Gillman  I just used all the techniques in the gelatin monoprinting chapter with a Gelli plate instead.  This thing is pretty substantial and durable and seems to be intended for many reuses, although likely not a forever kind of print plate such as a piece of glass.

It's all about layers, this video shows how to do it really clearly.

I'll take pictures of my papers and fabrics and post them soon. But go get yourself one of these things, I bought mine at  Blick Art Materials.

Contained Observation

A new quilt that I finished recently, "Contained Observation" (20.5"w x 30.5"h).  I used many of my hand-dyed or painted or marbled fabrics, two of my hand-cut stamps and re-purposed zippers.

From Leather to Kaleidoscopes

 Going a little crazy (or bored) recovering from hand surgery, so I made a couple of kaleidoscopes from a recent picture taken on my work table.  I'm happy to report that I can now wiggle the tip of my pinky finger, so far that has made the surgery worthwhile.

Can you tell what the source picture might be?

 Well it starts out with some leather.  Small leather samples from a recent trip to FabMo.  I snagged them because of all the great and varying textures.

All the shiva paintstik  colors got a try with each of the patterns, but the yellow light pearl didn't show on the white fabric of course.

  So here it is on black fabric.  And that's the source picture for the kaleidoscopes at the top of this post. Tada!

Squares & Circles

 I was given this wood block (wall treatment I think) sample by Bron, from one of the recent FabMo distributions.  I thought it would make an interesting surface to do some ShivaPaintStik experiments with.  Consider this a bit of a tutorial on playing with PaintStiks.

 When working with the paintstiks, I always try to remember to cover up most of the surface I'm working on as they tend to smear and get pretty messy.  As an aside: I have been re-using the same white pieces of butcher paper for a while now for this purpose as well as fabric painting and some of them are getting pretty interesting looking all on their own...
So, I started out with ironed flat pieces of plain white pima cotton.  I've found that you really want the fabric flat if you want the image you're trying to capture by rubbing to come out clearly.  If you don't care, then go for the wrinkly look and see how it looks!

 I didn't tape down the fabric to the surface just held the edges taut with two fingers as I ran the first color of paintstik over the surface.  If you want to tape the fabric down use that blue painter's tape or cheapie masking tape, both work pretty well for that. 
When you first use a paintstik you have to rub off the dried skin that forms on the exposed area, I just use a paper towel for this, twist gently and it peels off very easily.  And keep those paper towels around, because you'll need them to wipe your fingertips off on as you keep working.

I found that it was a bit hard to keep the fabric in the exact same place, but I liked how the slight shifts looked with the additional color.  If I was aiming for perfectly lined up shapes I would definitely bothered to do some taping down.

 Moving the fabric around to get the surface covered with marks and trying out various color combinations.  The overlapping colors make great combinations and when the paintstik color hasn't dried you can smear it together with your fingertips to soften the edges of the marks and blend to make new combined colors.

 I like the overlapping areas and the not exactly lining up of the squares.  As you work with a paintstik and start using it up, you'll have to peel off bits of the paper sleeves (just like with crayons!).  Don't do the whole thing or too much because it will just dry out and be unusable.

 Flipping over the wood block, hey surprise, surprise, there are circles instead of squares. A two for the price of one tool, gotta love it!

 I like how the circles side looks a lot, especially how some of the circles get filled in slightly with color as the fabric gaps down a bit over the larger holes in the surface allowing the paintstik to make a mark.

 Changing direction with color to escape the grid.

 Two experiments on one piece of fabric. Rows of color and filling in most of the surface with color.  That green line down the middle was made with some fingertip smearing of a bit that broke off the green paintstik.  Didn't want to throw it out, so I used it up by adding an additional mark of color to the surface.

 Instead of a regular grid pattern, I shifted the fabric slightly over the wood block as I went over each column of shapes.  I like the more random look and the combination of circles and squares in one piece.  I could see a dress made out of this fabric with the circles on the bodice and the squares in the skirt....  With this piece of fabric I guess I could make that dress, for a Barbie doll maybe.

All the fabrics up on the wall together.  Very interesting and fun experiments all in all.  I think next time I'll try using some already colored fabric to not end up with so much contrast with the white background.
After several months of curing, the smell has finally gone away enough so that the fabrics are usable for me.  I don't know if I'm extra sensitive to the smell of the paintstiks, but I have a hard time using fabrics I've done right away, especially if they are in a piece that I'm ironing a lot.  Seems to release a lot of the carrier oil smell. 
What do you think? Have you tried these Paintstiks yet?  

Utilizing The Unusual

I'm challenging myself to use a lot of different materials this year in the art that I create. I know, I know, I already do that, but it is my intention that I will be make it a real emphasis this year. I'm interested in exploring what else I can incorporate into the work that I already like to make.

One of the first things that caught my eye to use is this braided fiberglass rope which is used as a gasket for woodstove glass. We had to replace our woodstove glass window as it got cracked by a falling piece of wood. Unfortunately the initial measurement made for the replacement was off by half an inch so it didn't fit. This rope comes with a sticky side made for adhering to the glass so that it is sealed into the woodstove door. It wouldn't have worked a second time, so when we got the glass recut to the correct side we got some more of the rope. And I snagged the used once only and not-sticky-enough-anymore rope for my unknown-at-this-time artistic pursuits.

I may use it as a surface design tool, perhaps as a new rope-wrapped stamp. Or it may be a design element, part of a border, maybe an edge treatment, or cut up into pieces for embellishing. We will see what I come up with!

Coiled up like this it reminds of a cross between my favorite cat Hobbes who was this exact grey color and a garden snake. She would have made a great snake as she was one of those cats that love to spend a lot of time weaving their way in and out and around and through your legs. I am glad that snakes are not in actuality furry. Because that would just be weird, scales are strange enough.

Taking My Lumps

After I shared the manipulated fabric experiment last week, I decided I wanted to try and use this now very 3D fabric surface in a 2D quilt. So I thought to keep it coherent and complete, I'd just use the silk skirt fabric that the lining fabric came from as the base for the quilt. Turns out it makes a very effective base to play off of with its graphic undulating lines and interesting use of space. And I really like the idea of this complete recycling of a silk skirt! (except the zipper, which on second thought, I should use on the back for the label...

The first picture shows how I originally had the whole shebang pinned together before attempting the sewing part.


Here is how it looks after quilting and re-arranging and folded and stretching and tucking and trimming. I used invisible thread on the 3D fabric, and black rayon on the background.

Not sure if there are still to be beads in and amongst the lumpy bits as was my original thought. I think I'll try beading a section and see how it looks to me. There are some swaths of fabric not currently quilted through, so they need some type of anchoring otherwise they'll pooch out too much after hanging for any amount of time. (learned this by personal experience, oh yes I have!).

The title of this finally came to me: Taking My Lumps
and the size is: 31 x 37"
Let's call this Quilt #2 of 2009!

Manipulating Fabric

One of the coolest things I've seen in a while, was friend Debbie's presentation at our recent CQFA retreat. She showed off some of the fabrics she created in a two week summer class called "FrankenFabrics" at Cabrillo College with instructor Richard Elliot. All of these are polyesters of different types which are secured around something like marbles, blocks, rocks and then boiled. The shapes created are then set into the fabric permanently until you boil it again.

Well, I just had to try this out for myself. I found a nice, yet teeny-tiny silk skirt with a polyester crepe lining at the local Goodwill, and took it apart. This is a picture of The Boiling Of The Fabric! Marbles were secured at regular intervals with small rubber bands. Boiled for about 20 minutes.

Then it was hung up to dry for about a day. After removing all the rubber bands and marbles this is how it looks:

This is what the whole piece looks like when it is hung up. Pretty interesting texture was achieved.

And this is the remains of the silk skirt which was deconstructed that I'll now incorporate into a piece with the manipulated skirt lining.

Some close ups of the interesting surface created by this technique.

I'm looking forward working with this flexible and strange fabric, making an attempt to corral it into a more 2-D shape. It will be challenging I'm sure. One thought I've had is instead of stitching in and around the shapes by machine I'll tack it down by hand by stitching on beads in and around the "grape shapes".