Face Value #2 - A Difference of Opinion

"Face Value #2:  A Difference of Opinion"

In an earlier entry I posted a picture of a 12" x 12" art quilt based upon the theme, "Face Value". for a Serendipity Art Quilt group exchange.   When I started developing my idea for this theme, my first attempt looked like this:

First attempt
(with images rendered in paint and water color pencil)

The bust silhouettes were hand painted with fabric paints.  I didn't like it.  The images were too flat, not spaced well and so I started over to create this piece for submission:

"Face Value #1:  It's Not a Black and White World"
(with appliqued silhouette images)

For several weeks the original attempt sat on my work table.  Even though I didn't like it, I didn't relegate it to the trash can.  Just a couple of days ago I revisited the first attempt to see if I might be able to salvage it in some manner.

#1- I stitched spikey lines around the silhouettes with dark red, heavy thread...

#2 - I machine embroidered the leaves with bright green and highlighted the scroll shapes with red Sharpie "Stained"...

#3- I densely quilted the background with circles...

#4 - I dry brushed the entire background with red Setacolor transparent fabric paint. and, finally, twisted deep red, cotton yarn into cording that I couched to the edge to finish the piece.

 Here, again, is the finished piece:

When all was said and done, I am glad that I did not toss the first attempt into the trash, but instead experimented with further surface design elements.

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Floral Studies on ACEO Cards

"Across Open Land" ACEO Cards

These cards were created from one of those "what if" questions--What if acrylic paint is mixed with Elmer's white glue?

Results:

1.   The glue thinned the paint to a transparent quality, spread smoothly, and remained wet on the card surface so that images could be inscribed with a dull implement.  I used the rounded wooden end of a paintbrush to inscribe looped shapes to suggest flowers. 

2.  Unlike thinning acrylic paints with water which tends to warp the card, the glue thinning agent first warped the paper but then it settled to a flat surface.

3.  The glue sealed the surface with a matte finish upon which I then added line drawings with a very fine Sharpie retractable pen and watercolor pencils.

All in all, I believe that the process of thinning acrylic paint with Elmer's glue was a successful one.

Here are closeups of each card:

Floral Study #1

Floral Study #2

Floral Study # 3

Floral Study #4

Marching Across the Land

Experimenting with Liquid Rit Dye

Array of Six Mixed Colors

For the longest time I have been of the understanding that one should not apply Rit dyes directly to fabric, but the other day I wanted to see what would happen if I broke rank and applied the liquid dyes directly to wet fabric.  I was more than pleasantly surprised.  I was elated with the outcomes.
In a matter of a couple of hours I had produced over twenty 14" x 14" gloriously dyed fabrics.

A Sampling of the Dyed Fabrics

At the end of the following process outline are pictures of numbered fabric examples and Rit liquid colors that I used.

Let’s see...what colors did I use?

(First , I used the liquid dye, not the Rit powered dye. Next, I used a lab dropper to apply the Rit and since I only had one dropper, I had to clean it between colors. That was a pain in the neck so I am going to look for these flimsy, inexpensive, plastic droppers on-line and stock up on them for future use.)

On many of the pieces I started with Lemon Yellow and used more of that than any of the other colors because it was the lightest and could be overwhelmed by the darker colors.  I didn't measure anything.  I just dropped and swished and squished.  Here were some color combinations that were used in the examples shown:

Lemon Yellow and Tangerine

Lemon Yellow and Tangerine and Sunshine Orange

Lemon Yellow and Sunshine Orange and Scarlet

Lemon Yellow and Wine

Lemon Yellow and Wine and Navy Blue

Lemon and Navy Blue

Wine and Navy Blue

Lemon Yellow and Brown

 

The process:

1. Wash out any sizing from the fabric and thoroughly rinse out any soap.

2. Squeeze out excess water from the fabric but leave it quite wet.

3. Lay the fabric on a protected surface.  (I used vinyl because it cleans up so nicely.)

4. Randomly drop or streak colors across the fabric.

5. Scrunch the fabric to blend the colors

6. Hold the fabric up to see if the majority of white areas are gone.

7. Lightly scrunch the fabric and put it into an oven safe, non metallic container with a cover so that steam can be created.

8. Place in microwave for 4 minutes on high setting.

9. Let the container cool down a bit.

10. Rinse, rinse, rinse until water runs clear.

11. Squeeze out excess water.

12. Roll in towel and squeeze (I step on my roll) to remove more water.

13. Iron, if desired.

 To see pictures of individual dyed fabrics keep reading :-)

The next time I do this, I will have dry pieces of fabric at hand to mop up the colors on the protected surface between color changes. I used paper towels to clean up and the blended colors were pretty spectacular, so maybe they can be captured on fabric. If I do that, I will need to spray the clean-up cloth with water to help the colors blend before “cooking” them.

 Rit also has a mixing chart on their web site and I may print that out so that even more colors can be created from the ones already on hand.

Here are the numbered examples.  See below for the dye colors used in each piece.

Numbered Fabrics

 

 

 

 

Afterthought:  A friend who does not have a microwave asked if applying Rit dye directly to the fabric could be "cooked" in another way.  I have not tried the following, but it might work...

Instead of putting the microwave and oven safe baking dish into the microwave, perhaps it could be put into a range oven with the temperature set to at least 212 degrees (boiling point) and then let it "cook" at that temperature for 3 or 4 minutes.  This is merely conjecture and I have no idea how the fabric might turn out.

WARNING #1: Even though a baking dish might say microwave and oven safe, be very careful when removing it from the heating source.  Glass and glasslike products don't seem as stable as they were in the past.  Let the baking dish with the "cooked" fabric cool off a while before removing it.  These containers have been known to shatter in one's hands.  When creating any art, waiting is the hardest part, but caution needs to be the order of the day.

WARNING #2:  Do NOT use the baking dish for food after it has been used for dying fabric.  

 

"Face Value: It's Not a Black and White World"

"It's Not a Black and White World"

"Face Value" was this month's theme for the Serendipity Art Quilt Group to which I belong.  It seems that when creating a new quilted work, I tend to hand dye and/or paint fabrics but this time I decided  to dig into my stash and resurrect some fabrics that had been ignored for too long.  The background, however, was hand dyed.

A while back I had created a stamp from sticky back craft foam

Original Sticky Back Foam Stamp

but the image needed to be enlarged so that the silhouettes could fill the ground.  I copied the stamp onto card stock at 125%, and then used a craft knife to cut a stencil to use as a pattern for the faces.

Stencil from Stamp Image

 I then traced around the stencil onto freezer paper and ironed the freezer paper onto the fabrics.  Next, I ironed Misty Fuse to the back of the fabric (using a release paper to keep the fusible from sticking to the iron.  The next step was to use scissors to cut around each shape.  After the faces were cut, the freezer paper was removed and the images were ironed to the background.

Next I layered the top to batting and another square of hand dyed fabric for the backing.  Because I had already planned out the quilting pattern and I knew that it was going to be dense stitching, I used Sullivans Original Quilt Basting Spray instead of pins to keep the fabrics together.

Once the fabric was "sandwiched", I chose threads close to the colors of the faces and satin stitched around each image.

Satin Stitching Around Faces

The quilting is a scroll design that I wanted to be fairly consistent, so I drew the scroll lines onto the backing with a dull #2 pencil to guide me through this stage.  I used a fine, light yellow thread in the bobbin and metallic gold by Superior Threads for the top thread.  Because I wanted the background to suggest tapestry, I stitched over the quilting lines twice.

Quilting Design

The edges were finished by couching twisted cording with the same gold thread that had been used for the quilting design.

 And here it is, again, finished with a happy sense of completion.

Six Inch Mounted Fiber Art is Addictive

Once again, today I turned to the swatches of fabric that Deborah Stanley gave to me.  This time I wanted to experiment with a quilting design for the Quilts on the Wall "Maps" quilt theme that will be submitted in March, 2013.  I had been in a quandary about how I should quilt around the figure in my quilt, but when my eye fell on the print in one of Deborah's swatches, I figured I could adapt it and that it would be just what the doctor ordered.  The scroll quilting around the flower in this 6" mounted quilt is what I am now using,  The scrolls in this piece are cut off due to the size of this work; however, they will be full and connected scrolls in the larger "Maps" quilt.

More frequently than not, my freemotion quilting "practice" pieces are turning into little works on their own.  Now that I've refined the process of making 6" stretcher bar frames, I may never again look at practice pieces as only practice. 

Gallery Wrapped Fiber Art on Stretcher Bars

Six Inch Fiber Art Gallery Wrapped on Stretcher Bars

Yesterday I posted a note about using a Craftsman Band Clamp to square up stretcher bars.  Here are two examples of how fiber art can be gallery wrapped onto the 1" x 2" stretcher bars.  I cut 4" strips of black fabric, folded the strips in half, and ironed the strips for a sharp mid-line crease.  I then stitched the strips with a 1/4" seam as facing to the  6 1/2" square fiber art.  Finally, I mounted the art to the stretcher bars by pulling the facing to the back side and stapling it securely.  Waalaa--gallery wrapped fiber art ready for hanging.

As a reminder, here is a picture of the Craftsman Band Clamp that made this mounting project a quick and accurately squared one.

Craftsman Band Clam -  Squaring Stretcher Bars

 

 

 

Great Clamp to Square Up Stretcher Bars

Bar Clamp Squaring Stretcher Bar Frame

For anyone who makes his or her own stretcher bars on which to mount art, the band clamp by Craftsman is an invaluable tool.  Recently, I've been making 6"x6" works with facings that gallery wrap around stretcher bar frames but have been unable to find stretcher bars with these dimensions.  I use 1"x2" lengths of wood, miter the corners and then wood glue and staple the sides together.  Without this band clamp I'm afraid nothing would be perfectly square.  The bonus is that once the sides are glued and tightened in the clamp, the corners can be stapled while still in the clamp and even before the glue is dry.

In the picture above, you will see one of the stretcher bar frames with the band clamp squaring it.  Tomorrow's post will have pictures of two new work that were mounted on the stretcher bars I made.

Sketching with Thread (Continued)

Embellishments Added

As I looked at the piece I posted yesterday, it dawned on me that it might benefit by the addition of a representation of animate life.  I put some red fabric with stabilizer in an embroidery hoop made for use with sewing machines and freemotion embroidered a ladybug image and then stitched it atop one of the flower petals.  Then beading seemed appropriate, so out came the beads and on they went to the quilt sandwich.

Closeup of Embroidered Lady Bug and Beading

What started out as a practice piece became a stand alone mini art quilt.  Now I need to decide whether I am going to bind it or it on put a facing on it and wrap it on a 6" x 6" frame. 

More to follow...