Paper Fabric Collage

I started out in the studio on Friday working on my Fiber On A Whim project. I did get the netting burned and it is a really cool effect. It looks like an underwater scene now, complete with the fragmented underwater vegetation. I hope that blogger will allow us to enlarge the image, you can really see the effect of the burned netting. It also was quilted with Iredescent thread, bluish black color. The netting has a shimmer to it as well...making the entire piece really cathces the light when you turn it. I plan on adding some beads to it as well.

You know, I started out planning a 5"x7" piece with a grid , like a game board...I have gone about as far away from that as you can. Perhaps I'll keep the underwater one and just work on the original design...we'll see.

Anyway, here are pictures of the 5"x7" piece, along with a practice piece.

Now what happened after I burned the netting is possibily a mystery to even me...and I was there! I somehow got side tracked and began working on fabric paper...similar to what Beryl Taylor demonstrates on the QA dvd. As usual, I strayed from the directions and did my own thing...I really did start the whole thing like she said. But then I thought...hey...this would look good without the paint on top of it all...and you know this would look good without the tissue paper...and I ultimately ended up with a really awesome fabric/paper/found item collage. Here are pictures...oh yeah, I used Ranger Ink Distress Ink refill with Perfect Pearls mixed in a spritz bottle to color the background. I also sprayed it lightly over the top. The entire piece has a shimmery look. TYhe bark is from a tree in our yard. My dh had pruned a few trees and we were moving the limbs to a "burn pile" (yep, Cheryl, that's from the "burn pile incident" story!) and I saw the loose bark on the ground. I knew immediately it was going to go in a piece of artwork! So, here it is.

I also worked on another collage. I was trying different tissue paper pieces, thicknesses and colors. I did use the Kimwipes also...they held up just fine as long as I didn't brush it too many times with the glue/water mix. Oh, I guess I didn't tell you how I actually did the pieces, did I?

Well, I started out with a piece of plain muslin or PFD fabric. I then mixed half craft glue/half water. I applied this to the fabric with an old paintbrush. Then I arranged torn papers on the piece. Most of the time there was enough glue to hold them down without adding more , you've got time to move them around also. I preplanned one of them but the other ones evolved as I went. I placed torn pieces of handmade mulberry paper here and there, adding pieces of other handmade paper as I went. I applied a thin layer of the glue mix over this. I then applied either tissue paper or kimwipes over most of the piece. I wanted to see how the fabric paper (or paper fabric?) would respond to being sewn after it dried. I liked the effect of the thin tissue paper, you can still see the color of the paper underneath it. The kimwipes behaved about the same way. The thicker tissue paper changed the color of the underlying paper a bit more but was very nice to work with. It didn't move around or scrunch it when I painted the glue mix over it. I'll try sewing it later today...it will be interesting to see how it does.

Here's a picture of the last one that I did yesterday.

Well, I finally gave in

and started my own blog. I read others and really enjoy them. What I really enjoy is seeing what all the other artists are creating...how they are creating it...I enjoy the learning experience as well as the sharing of info with others.

I will begin my Blog with a picture of my latest project. I went by Judy Coates Perez directions in the Apr/May Quilting Arts magazine. I changed a couple of things so I could use what I had available at home. Instead of using tea bags, I used an awesome product called Kimwipes. It's a low lint wipe used in a lot of industrial settings. My awesome husband is a sales engineer in an industrial setting, so I have access to them. They come in a box of 140 and measure 14 x 16 inches , plenty of room for a large design image if you want. And I believe they are reasonably priced ( even more so if you figure just how many designs you could put out with that many sheets!).

Anyway, here's the (unquilted) paper quilt.

I have had so much fun with this and learned quite a few things. Some things that I will do on the next one and some things that I won't. The tree in the center, the key hole and the small tree are all from the Kimwipes. Notice how the wipe paper almost disappers into the fabric background. It is also very transparent so it's easy to trace images. If you are interested in trying it , let me know and I'll try to get some.

Well, this has been a great week so far...I've actually been able to cross off a few things from my (growing) "to do" list...this blog included.

More later.