Saturday, October 03, 2009

Fabric book?


Finally, back to working with fabric! Just in time for a two week break; next weeknd we leave to stay with my grandsons while their parents celebrate their 10th anniversary by going to Norway. I've never gotten the boys ready for school or made sure that homework was done, or taken them to their numerous activities so it will surely be an experience.

Anyway, I'm not sure yet if this is the cover the Vegas Fabric book, but in case it is I stitched the Las Vegas Blvd photo onto the canvas fabric and glued on the room keycard. The top photo is the one I posted somewhere below and while it's not as rich printed on muslin I still like it a lot. It's the night scene of the water show at the Bellagio with street lights in the foreground. In case you can't tell, that's a swirl earring stitched on at the base of the lights. After the photos were stitched on the edges were painted with layers and layers of paint.



This isn't the first page; I plan to use some photos of the Mohave Desert taken from the car in route to Vegas for the first page.

So, the plan is to sew tabs onto the edges and either do a piano hinge book binding technique, my version. Or, tie the tabs together. The base fabric is canvas, nice and sturdy. The Paris page was done on muslin that might be stitched onto the canvas, or fused on.

Two photos were printed onto the inkjet prepared muslin. I use Bubble Jet Set 2000. Then the muslin was fused onto a thin fusible to make the muslin sturdy enough to embellish with paint and stitching. On the left and below the Paris balloon are rows of stitching that added texture when painted over. Barely visible in the photo of the Paris street sign is the pole it's hanging from; I used blue paint around it to help blend the photo with the background fabric. The Paris balloon photo was our first sighting of the hotel, taken from the car and includes a portion of the Eiffel Tower. The black and gold letter "P" is wood and the black circle with the round gold dome is an earring. Now you know all of my secrets!

Quote: Assume the best, until you know otherwise. Sally Husss

6 comments:

queenopearls said...

Both very cool and you have to be pleased. Go you!!!!
I love the fountain photo on fabric!

Anonymous said...

Both of these artful creations are full of depth and interest. I love them both. The second one really speaks to me. The black and white photo on the first piece looks great against the colored textured background. All I can say is WOW!!!

ART*ticulation said...

Oh how exciting, I don't know why I don't do textile work there is so much to do with it and you have yet proved it again beautifully!

Val Foster said...

Wow....just Wow!!! I love both of these so much. What kind of fabric did you use for the first piece, the one with the criss-cross pattern? Is that design on the fabric itself or something you did? What authentic and unique pieces you did here, with fabric no less. I love how you used the earrings on each piece -- very creative! This is going to be a fantastic fabric book, holding great memories for you.

And to think I still haven't made any progress on my first fabric book....makes me want to cry. You've inspired me Gail. I really need to work on my fabric book. I'm not promising when, but thanks so much for the inspiration. You're a dear, and a fabulous artist. Your work always impresses me.

Hugs,
Val

Julie said...

Just got back from my vacation to wish you well for your break away! I really enjoyed your Las Vegas posts and the water shots are amazing. Your Las Vegas book will be a great reminder of your stay.

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

I really love the idea of a fabric book. Loved your explaination of how you did things too, thanks for sharing your secrets:) and that piano hinge link too. I watched the vid and will be giving that a go sometime soon! (I hope!)