Oil paint colors were smeared across cardboard and let stand until the oil was extracted into the cardboard. Pigments were then scraped from the cardboard and added to melted 100% beeswax to which Damar varnish had been added to assist in drying and durability of encaustic color application on paper.
Barb Keeling of Keelingskrafts.com recently introduced me to Generation Green Colorants. The colorants come in small, but potent, eye dropper type bottles. One drop of the colorant in water goes a long, long way. When a smidgen of Fabric Magic is added, the fabric becomes washable. From another source I was given several pounds of 100% beeswax and had been wanting to experiment with the wax batiking process. The Generation Green Colorants proved very easy to use on 100% cotton fabric. They are non-toxic and contain no VOCs. The colors seen in this 13"x13" piece were added very sparingly to water. Perhaps I will be more bold and add more colorant to the water with the next piece. The colors are very vivid--real eye-poppers.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
What a great day it was at Keeling's Krafts. Not only were shared stories of project development absolutely fun, but Barb had saved spools and spools of thread for me. Now I need to head to the garage to build a thread cabinet. My spool holders runneth over but it seems that there is no word in the language to describe "enough" thread. Be sure to check out Keelingskrafts.com. It's like visiting a toy shop and the Keelings are ever so nice to work with.
I had a great opportunity to visit Barb Keeling of Keeling's Krafts today and was fortunate to find that she had the full spectrum of Colorants from Generation Green. These colors are listed as: zero VOC's, non toxic, Water Based AND MADE IN THE USA. A little bit goes a long, long way with these colorants and their vibrant quality is remarkable. The three bottles in mid-center, front row are colors that Barb ordered by special request with the art quilter and doll maker in mind. The range of skin tones produced by these three colors is spectacular.
It is indeed a happy day. My property and studio are situation on land that has been officially designated as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. The joy of creating is always amplified by views through 24 large windows into the bowers of a huge Sycamore tree and the eye-to-eye visits from many a feathered friend.
The egg form lends itself magnificently to accept paint, collage and embellishment. Just when I've exhausted my creative impulses, another egg and another idea must be rendered.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
FaveCrafts is having a free book giveaway. To visit FaveCrafts go to http://www.favecrafts.com. Not only are new crafting ideas presented regularly but you may also put your hat in the ring to be chosen to receive the "Zentangle 2" book. Many of the ideas in this book seem as if they would be very useful to those who journal and to all of us who may occassionally need a creative jump start.
Many years ago I became preoccupied with the egg form as a canvas for painting and embellishment and experienced a significant level of success with such venues as The Egg and The Eye Gallery and Robinson's Department Store. As other artistic applications evolved, the humble egg eventually found its way back to the breakfast table. Recently the egg form beckoned me again and over the past few days I have developed a drying platform that facilitates working on more than one egg at a time and almost 2 dozen collaged and sculpted eggs have been created. You may see just a few in the Roxio link posted here.
Notecards and envelopes seemed to spring naturally from the screen print on fabric of Cranes over Marsh Land. Ten printed cards and envelops make a set that is worthy of gifting.
The lure of possibilities inherent in the screen printing processes has overpowered the siren calls from the sewing machine. I haven't 't tried my hand at this before now, but, as of today, I'm hooked. I do not have the lighting equipment for the emulsion method, but there are myriad other ways to utilize the screen for printing and now I want to try as many as possible.
"Cranes Over Marsh Land" utilizes 4 different printing methods.
Step One involved cutting a sheet of newspaper slightly smaller than the back side of the screen frame.
In Step Two a rough circle was torn out of the newspaper. This was taped to the back of the screen with masking tape.
Step Three involved placing the screen on fabric that had been pre-washed and pinned to a padded board.
In Step Four ink was placed across the top of the screen and drawn across the circle shape. This was repeated 4 times, twice at the bottom of the fabric piece and twice at the top. A quick washing of the screen followed.
In Step Five, wide masking tape was torn in strips and randomly placed on the back of the screen. As in Step Four, ink was placed across the top of the screen and drawn across the entire screen. Again, a quick wash of the screen made it ready for the final printing.
Step 6 involved drawing a flying crane shape onto the dull side of freezer paper and cut out with a craft knife. This piece of freezer paper was then ironed, shiny side down, onto the back side of the screen.
In Step 7 ink was placed just above the crane shape and then drawn across the screen. Yet again, the screen received a quick wash.
Step 8 involved placing painter's tape along the bottom edge of the top print and along the top edge of the bottom print and ink was drawn across the open space, thus creating an integration of the top printing and the bottom printing.
Because the dark gray "marsh grasses" slightly show through the red strip overprinting, another layer of red will need to be made, but once that is complete and ironing sets the color, quilting can begin.
This seeds of this work began to grow as I took a look at my transparent vinyl bag of fabric scraps and decided that it was high time to either start using some of the scraps or find a better place to store them than under my sewing table. I began laying out some of the pieces on the dining room table and started to see a design take shape. It was at this juncture that I figured that the design needed to be placed on a fabric backing. I had tried to save the initial design with a digital picture, but since some of the pieces were rather small, I wasn't having much luck putting them back exactly as they were in the photo. As the design unfolded, I added other elements such as mesh from a potato sack and embossed strips of aluminum from a roasting pan that I had colored with alcohol inks. I was amazed at how easily my machine stitched through the aluminum.
According to Barb Keeling (www.keelingskrafts.com) Henry seems to be setting up housekeeping in preparation for Spring, but he does visit Barb on her walks by the lake each morning, even if for only a minute or two. Henry has lots of acquaintances at the lakeside and a few of his wading friends have hopped onto fabric and wire at my studio.
The Tribute to Henry is nearing completion. The tulle sandwich on which Henry's form was stitched was placed on a creamy, wool background and then attached to the background by machine needle felting the layers together. A fluffy, salvaged mohair scarf was used for batting and the backing came from an old wool skirt that had been deconstructed. All layers were then quilted by machine needle felting them together. The quilt was squared up a second time because the needle felting process had slightly skewed the project. The unit was further quilted by top stitching leaf forms around the edge and a row of decorative stitches to provide an inside framing structure. The edges were then sealed by satin stitching with heavy weight thread. After the quilt resides on the design wall for a few days, further embelishments may be added, but at this point, the quilt is finished and only needs the addition of a hanging sleeve.
Barb Keeling's daily notes about her visits in the park with Henry have made him leap from the annals of e-mail to the surface of a created "fabric" of tulle, fibers and paint.
A dear friend, Barb Keeling of Keelings Krafts takes brisk morning walks every day in a park near her home and has developed a "friendship" with a bird who she has named Henry. Her stories of Henry have captivated my heart and Henry has jumped from my heart to my hands to my journal. Henry has a cousin, Al, also and they may be further related on their family tree to the Titmouse. Here are a few entries that feature Henry and Al.
Barb and her husband, Doug, are dynamic, creative spirits who carry wonderful things in their on-line shop. I first found them as vendors at big quilt shows and have grown to care deeply for them...AND I love their products. Barb is ever kind in letting her customers know about new products and new applications for them and she has a tremendous blogspot. Check out KeelingsKrafts sometime. You won't be disappointed.
This quilt has been great fun to make. It started a couple of years ago very innocently as a small paintstick doodle on a small piece of muslin. Over the months it developed into a springbboard for experimentation. I cast the seahorse figure from a mold I made from a bronze bookend. The metal frame was cut from the bottom of a disposable roasting pan and then embellished through embossing with whatever dull object that happened to be at hand and colored with newly discovered alcohol inks. The project seemed to grow all by itself. I have yet to be able to capture the vibrant colors in a picture. Lighting hasn't been right. When I finally capture a good, bright image, I will post it. Meanwhile, the photos here show the full quilt, a few details and the label that I designed and stitched with free motion embroidery.
The new year is upon us and it is time to try new things so I jumped into Roxio to make a slide show of some ACEO cards that I have created. The title lacks an "s" on the end of Linda's Art Quilt...s, but I can't figure a way to change it. If anyone can tell me how to edit the cover title, I would be most thankful.
The most recent work on the art quilt docket began as a trial of some fabric crayons and then continued to grow into a work that not only features a freehand focal fabric element, but also will feature an embossed aluminum frame with a cast seahorse...at least that is the plan now.
The entirety of this past week has been filled with take-down activities following the first open studios event. Decompression needed to take place so that internal creative batteries could recharge. The welcomed lull in activities allowed time to fully enjoy my recent issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and to indulge in a bit of creative play. In one of the publication's e-mails 5 free patterns were included and the urge to make the folded bag was irresistible. That brought out the paints, decorative yarns and sewing machine--all items that had been stored away in anticipation of open-studio Saturday. There was no stopping then. Snippets found their way into a heart and the left over felt pieces from cutting the bag pattern seemed to magically find complimentary fabrics to become an art doll. The remainder of the studio event take-down activities had to wait. When the muse rings, she must be invited in for a visit.
The past months have been very busy ones of painting, creating art quilts, opening a shop on Etsy, organizing with a friend a core group of 9 emerging artists from San Diego, California's North County into a group we have named Artists in Action and hosting our invitational 1st Annual Arts and Fine Handcrafts Emporium on November 7, 2009. The event experienced success that was beyond our wildest expectations. Over 100 guests visited our 6 hour open studios and sales were phenomenal. The level of enthusiasm among artist participants, as well as among guests, was over the top and already we are laying the ground work for another event in the Spring of 2010.
Only a few pictures were taken by one of the guests who graciously shared them with me and those are posted above. With any luck we will have an official photographer for the Spring open studios. 2009 has been an exciting year and 2010 looks as if it is going to hold even more joyous moments of creative work, networking among other artists, and establishing and "marketing" the art works of our newly formed group of talented artists and artisans.
Barb Keeling of Keelingskrafts.com recently introduced me to Generation Green Colorants. The colorants come in small, but potent, eye dropper type bottles. One drop of the colorant in water goes a long, long way. When a smidgen of Fabric Magic is added, the fabric becomes washable. From another source I was given several pounds of 100% beeswax and had been wanting to experiment with the wax batiking process. The Generation Green Colorants proved very easy to use on 100% cotton fabric. They are non-toxic and contain no VOCs. The colors seen in this 13"x13" piece were added very sparingly to water. Perhaps I will be more bold and add more colorant to the water with the next piece. The colors are very vivid--real eye-poppers.
What a great day it was at Keeling's Krafts. Not only were shared stories of project development absolutely fun, but Barb had saved spools and spools of thread for me. Now I need to head to the garage to build a thread cabinet. My spool holders runneth over but it seems that there is no word in the language to describe "enough" thread. Be sure to check out Keelingskrafts.com. It's like visiting a toy shop and the Keelings are ever so nice to work with.
I had a great opportunity to visit Barb Keeling of Keeling's Krafts today and was fortunate to find that she had the full spectrum of Colorants from Generation Green. These colors are listed as: zero VOC's, non toxic, Water Based AND MADE IN THE USA. A little bit goes a long, long way with these colorants and their vibrant quality is remarkable. The three bottles in mid-center, front row are colors that Barb ordered by special request with the art quilter and doll maker in mind. The range of skin tones produced by these three colors is spectacular.
It is indeed a happy day. My property and studio are situation on land that has been officially designated as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. The joy of creating is always amplified by views through 24 large windows into the bowers of a huge Sycamore tree and the eye-to-eye visits from many a feathered friend.
The egg form lends itself magnificently to accept paint, collage and embellishment. Just when I've exhausted my creative impulses, another egg and another idea must be rendered.
