"Speaking Out" in Fuller Lodge Art Center, "Pulse" exhibit

"Speaking Out" © Linda Friedman 2016

I'm tickled pink to report that my quilted art work, "Speaking Out," has been juried into the Los Alamos, New Mexico, Fuller Lodge Art Center exhibit, "Pulse".    Here is an invitation to the opening reception that is scheduled for this evening.

Invitation to Opening Receiption

If any followers happen to be in New Mexico during the remainder of June through July 30th, I hope you will visit the Fuller Lodge Art Center to take in the exhibit.  The address of the center is:

2131 Central Avenue

Los Alamos, NM  37544

The call for art outlined what the jurors were looking for, as follows:

"Examine the concept of rhythm and take time 

to tune into the cadence of the world around you..."

My work, "Speaking Out" was inspired by Pharrell Williams' song, "Freedom" that was released in 2015.  This quilted work was composed upon white and red cotton and cotton blend fabrics, screen printed and stenciled using my original designs with acrylic paints mixed with fabric medium, and free motion quilted.

Sure wish that my schedule would allow traveling to the reception.  The variety of art promises to be stimulating.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Deep Sea Ballet in Fiber - Scene One

Several years ago I started a 40+" x 40"+ whole cloth quilt that was a lot of fun creating.  Somehow other projects including shows and exhibits intervened and it was set aside and became one of those UFO's (unfinished objects) that I promised to get back to one day.

This has been the week to set about finishing the work.  Because it may be in a very large exhibit for the entire month of August, 2015, I am only going to show elements of it until the exhibit is past.

I first designed and hand cut a freezer paper stencil of two kelp images. each with two branches and then painted the images onto the commercial background fabric with fabric paint.

You may be able to see that I inserted cording between the top and the batting and then stitched on either side of the cording.  This is just one small area of the quilt.

At the time I was originally working on this, I was also exploring needle punching with a battery operated needle punch machine that I purchased from Keeling's Krafts and created three fairly large needle punch fish onto the quilt top.  This was done before the quilt top was added to batting and a backing.  Here is one of the fish images.

To add another type of kelp flora, I cut strips of an old stretchy type garment and then slashed it up and down the strip length.  This element rises from what will be the sea floor.  It is only stitched along the middle of the strip from top to bottom.  The edges are left free to create a feeling of movement.

I'm actually becoming quite excited about the way that this work is developing and it's all I can do to hold back sharing the entire piece. The next post will show another element though.

Should you happen to be in the Orange County area in California during the month of August, you might enjoy visiting the Mission Viejo Library where this work will be exhibited and where each of us in the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists group will have a full 11'x8' of wall space for our works.  There are 10 of us in the group so it promises to be a spectacular exhibit.

I'll be BAAAAAAAAACK...

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved

Stenciling with Glue and Glitter

After success with using overhead projection sheets to cut stencils I wondered if these stencils could be used with glue so that glitter could be applied to fabric.

1.  I used the stencil I cut yesterday.

 

2. Poured a dollop of Weldbond glue onto a scrap piece of paper.

3. Placed the stencil over fabric and applied glue with a small "makeup" sponge.

4. Carefully lifted the stencil from the fabric to reveal the pattern of glue on the fabric.

5. Before the glue dried, I sprinkled extra fine, almost powdery, glitter made by Recollections, over the entire glued surface.

6. When the glue was dry, I shook the excess glitter onto a piece folded paper so that I could return it to the container and then used a soft brush to remove any remaining loose glitter.

Here is a close-up of one print made with the stencil, glue and glitter.

I continued printing more images with the glue.  I sprinkled each image with glitter as it was made.  This was done to make sure that the glue was still wet.  If I had waited until all images were printed, the first glued images might have been too dry for the glitter to adhere.

Here are repeated, glittered images.

After applying glue, I washed the stencil with warm water and used a soft brush to remove any glue that didn't wipe off easily. 

Since the overhead projection sheet has remained totally intact, I'm thinking that it might even be used to apply a textured medium to greeting cards and journal pages.  Hmmmm.  Discovering multiple uses for things is great fun.  If you happen to try this stencil cutting method, I'd love to hear how it works for you.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved

Cut Stencils from Overhead Projector Sheets

This morning as I was tidying up the studio that had become a total wreck after working 3 weeks on the peacock work (which is FINISHED :-), I ran across a partial overhead projector sheet.  The choice was to either throw it away or use it.  Guess what I chose to do?  Relegating things to the trash is like pulling teeth for me, especially if they might have a future use.  I wondered if the sheet would make a good and permanent surface for cutting stencils, so I started somewhat small.  After all, it was an experiment, I told myself.

Here's how the process developed.

1.  Tools used.

2.  I used a painter's tape roll to draw a circle onto the transparency sheet.

3.  I then drew a pattern onto the sheet and cut out the stencil shapes with a craft knife.  When drawing the pattern, I made sure to leave uncut "bridge" spaces so that the stencil would not fall apart.

 4.  Since I was low on white fabric paint I mixed textile medium with craft paint in a small roller pan.

5.  I then laid the stencil onto black fabric and used the sponge roller pictured above to apply paint.

6.  The stenciled image was very crisp.

7.  I was so pleased with the result that I continued using the stencil to make multiple images.

7.  My only limitation was the length of the black fabric remnant.

I'm quite excited that the transparency sheet was so easy to cut--much easier than anything else I have used in the past and will definitely use this process again in the future.  I liked the outcome so much that I wish I had printed on a few yards of fabric so that I could make a garment out of it.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved

Moroccan Surface Design (continued)

http://www.SAQA.com

I just couldn't leave the basic design alone. I cut another 6' vinyl stencil to suggest scroll work and applied yellow acrylic paint to which I added fabric medium. Although the yellow paint was the same as that which is in the diamonds, it was not applied as thickly and, therefore, lets more of the dyed red fabric show through and, thus, produces a somewhat pink color. Something tells me that this will not be the end of this surface design project.

Cranes over Marsh Land Notecards