Today I thought I'd share with you material choices....which for me can make or break a project. You might be surprised at the amount of experimenting/testing that is required as my pieces move along in their various construction phases.
The photo I posted yesterday is an example. Comments have been made about the success of the sky and water......that's all the fabric folks! It did the work for me. The sky was a piece of my hand-ice-dyed cottons. The water was gelli printed cotton, made using a 'grunge' approach where Alcohol Resist created the texture.
This work in progress started with a line drawing cloned from my good friend Sandy S's watercolor painting. It was enlarged on my home computer in sections, taping them together for the final 'pattern'. Using my window as a light box, I pencil traced onto my main fabric that had been altered with dyes/inks to provide just the right color. That was followed by VERY slow and VERY careful straight stitching. Some areas required a more pronounced outline, so testing the stitch settings on scrap fabric provided a documented guide for future use as the piece progresses.
To obtain accurate "templates" of other details....for instance this door. I traced just that section onto a stabilizer, then transferred the shape to wonder-under which was fused to a piece of blue hand-dyed cotton fabric. Once in place, details were stitched onto the door. You can see how something as simple as adding a door requires many steps.
I've come to depend on my gelli plate to provide unique textured fabrics with just the right colors for the desired motifs. Creating 'grunge' prints are my favorite!! BUT the real advantage is that similar to batiks, these fabrics do not easily fray, perfect for raw edge fusing of small detailed motifs.
I hope this overview inspires you to try some 'new to you' techniques and further reveals the length of time that is required for me to create one-of-a-kind art quilts. Keep watching for further views.
No comments:
Post a Comment