Color on Fabric

A deconstructed screen print from a series of four. This one is the second in the series and started with purple dye on the screen, dried and printed with ochre. I wish I had taken better notes but, I'm pretty sure that the design is rubber bands. The process is messy and time consuming so I'm not sure if this is something I will do very often.

I have no idea why this pic looks like there is a swirly design running through it, there isn't. I'm still in love with Dye-na-flow paint for a quick way to get color onto fabric. This piece is muslin that was fan folded and painted with blue, dried, re-folded and painted with yellow. Interesting, I seem to be using a lot of yellow lately.

I ran across a link to this site and am seriously considering ordering some gel medium and colorants. Input is appreciated. The idea of earth friendly products appeals to me.

Quote: Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark. Scandinavian

Saying

Week #27

I feel a lot better about this one. #26 still bothers me.

Components: Hand-made paper casting, painted and heat distressed lutradur, junk jewelry (broken) with black fabric backing. The paper fragment was stitched onto the painted lutradur. The lutradur was stitched to the black fabric backing that has been glued to mat board.

Size: 5x7 inches

The jewelry piece was way to shiny for this piece so I knocked it down with black paint. The earring, that I can't imagine wearing, is a broken one that was included in an ebay purchase.

All 27 of the projects can be view on Picture Trail here:

Quote: No matter how long winter is, spring is sure to follow. Proverb (Happy Spring!)

Tagged!

Darlene tagged me and I decided to take the challenge, after all it involves photos. I posted the challenge photo along with others on my G-photos blog. (March 18)

After some PSE filtering this image turned out to be my favorite. This lighthouse photo was shot during a trip to Cape Cod in 2005.

Quote: Anythin' for a quiet life, as the man said when he took the situation at the lighthouse. Charles Dickens

Circles

Just a little one, 4x6 inches that I started many months ago. I realized yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, that I rarely use green in my work. Even with the tangle of circles and flow of blues this pieces is soothing, at least it is for me.

Components: gesso and fluid acrylics.

Quote: Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it you need to start young. Fred Astaire

Cirque re-visited

Not sure about this one yet, but it's getting closer. I posted a version of this one last year; it was on view for awhile then I put it away when I couldn't figure out how to improve it. I've added 3 paper cast swirls but that's the problem, they look added on! I like the swirl on the left, but the right side is just bloody awful! Maybe if I tone it down some . . .

I should have posted something green in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Quote: It is not the years in your life, but the life in your years that counts. Adlai Stevenson

#26 of 52 projects

I wish that this painted wonder-under was the half-way point of the 52 projects! At least it's colorful and abstract enough to please me.

But it's this one that ended up being week #26. Components: embossed copper with 2 pieces of junk jewelry (the scallop/flower shape in the middle and the lower right wire shape) that was hand-stitched with copper thread onto a distressed needle punched piece. The blue and red sheer fabrics needle punched onto black felt created a nice background, but when I started to edge-stitch the piece I remembered how wonky felt gets. It buckles, stretches and refuses to behave itself; I wonder when I'll remember to use black fabric and not felt for small pieces, or, simply not edge stitch them??? This tiny piece started out as a 4x6 inch one and is now 3.5x5.5 inches with not enough space around the copper to allow it to breathe, except on the right side. The more I cut off the unruly edges the worse the piece looked. I tried to put it onto a larger background, ugh! Sometimes it's just best to let go and move on.

Good grief! Twenty-six weeks until the BIG-O birthday. I'm not only surprised to find that I'm on the threshold of another decade in the aging process but half-way through the 52 projects. As of today I'm caught up.

Quote: Wrinkles merely indicate where smiles have been. Following the Equator.

Week #25

I have no idea what this is! It started out as a tree shape but now it seems to have taken on the look of cacti. Organic?

Components; Painted lutradur, first with red iron oxide then once the plant shape was stenciled greens were used. Machine feather stitching inside of the plant shape, barely visible. Shapes were melted with a heat tool followed by gold highlights. The piece is backed with black felt and is 4x6 inches.

Lutradur is full of possibilities such as painting and distressing with heat.


Quotes: Here one is in later in life, and it's perfectly pleasant really, not for a moment that garden of cactus and sour grapes I'd always imagined it must be. James Ingram Merrill

Copper

My love of metal continues! Three copper hearts with instant patina and an embossed piece that also has a bit of patina on it. Two jewelry scraps were worked into the embossed piece and the embossed hearts were highlighted with red.

I've been collecting junk jewelry for years that I've mostly purchased from Thrift stores but sadly practically everything has suddenly gone missing. I hate to think that anyone would be so daring as to walk off with so much of the fun stuff, but after four complete searches that is the only conclusion. Sad. I will leave a note for the cleaning people in the hopes that nothing else goes missing. After days of bidding on ebay it looks like I'll end up with more items than I owned; I will take pictures and put the new collection away so as to not tempt anyone. Some pieces have been missing for months; I had hoped that I had simply misplaced the items, but the only piece I ever found from the entire purchase was a pin with my name on it. Some of the pieces I had hoped to make molds of and incorporate other fragments into my work. I was picky when I bought them, but one can't be choosy when buying lots on ebay. I might list pieces that I don't feel I can use. At least the few expensive pieces of jewelry are accounted for!

Quote: No legacy is so rich as honesty. William Shakespeare

Rust dyed fabric

Some time back I rust dyed a leaf print that has spent considerable time on my sewing desk. Last night I cut out a tree shape and fused it onto dye-na-flow painted pellon. Boring! The depth, dark areas, came about while coffee dyeing some handmade paper; I can't stand to toss leftovers. What would happen if I lightly added some coffee? Much improved. The 4x6 inch piece is now waiting for further inspiration.

The example is the rust dyed leaf pattern and beneath it is a pre-dyed piece of fabric.

Quote: The day, sun, moon, night - I do not have to purchase these things with money. Plautus.