Making and Stitching Fabric Paper

March 26, 2013

Using my waterbrush to prepare paper for tearing

Papers layered and collaged to fabric

Today, I made some fabric paper by attaching sumi-e paper and colored Canson paper to a well-worn  handkerchief with acrylic matte medium.

March 27, 2013

I am remembering that stitching mistakes on paper are very conspicous! The needle makes an irreversible hole.

 The curvy lines I added were made with my little old Singer, in free-motion mode. I left the feed dogs exposed (they won't lower) and loosened the presser foot pressure as much as possible. I didn't think it would work so well!

Strip Quilt #2

March 23, 2013

I am making another view of the pond lilies into a strip quilt, this time with vertical strips and stitching.

March 24, 2013

Lining up the strips and fusing to the batting.

March 25, 2013

Stitching down the strips.

Friday's Little Task

fused strips

March 22, 2013

 This morning, I set up my little Singer and sewed the strips together. I like it! When I get to my studio later, I will find a good way to frame it.

sewing across the top of each strip with black thread

all strips sewn down

Next Steps

March 21, 2013

Today I assembled a white cotton backing, thin cotton batting, a layer of MistyFuse, and - one-by-one - the strips of the pond lily fabric. I covered the fabric with baking parchment as I ironed and fused the strips, overlapping one edge of the strips.

fabric strips laid over backings

fusing the fabric strips

lifting parchment paper from fused fabric strips

Back to the Daily Practice

March 20, 2013

October Pond Lily Leaves printed on muslin

October Pond Lily Leaves in slivers

Since we moved into our new home in June, I haven't had a good place to play with my art the minute (almost) I wake up. So I haven't returned to my rewarding Daily Practice that took me so far a few other times in the recent past.

Enough excuses! I receive regular posts from the blog "Zen Habits" by Leo Barbauta. Always interesting, but the one that came yesterday really grabbed my attention. It was all about making changes, a.k.a. changing habits, and I wrote out the most important change I want to make Right Now and how I plan to do it. That would be "making more and better art, especially more and better fiber art." And that means a Daily Practice. And showing you makes me accountable to you. I hope you will let me know what you think and keep me going!

The list of options is long, but I was interested in a technique I read about in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts magazine - tearing fabric into strips that are then fused to a backing and stitched along the tears. I spent about 10 minutes tearing this piece I fabric I printed from my photo awhile ago. Tomorrow I'll fuse it. And onward.

Thank you, Leo and Quilting Arts. And thank YOU!

Heart Art

Our co-op gallery, NorthWind Fine Arts, opened our Valentine show last night. Three other galleries in Saranac Lake had openings as well, and I got to each one. Some pretty fine work all around. 

Ginger Leaf Love

Morning Glory Love

My contribution to our group show included these two mixed media collages. I used photographs of my once-was garden, fixed them up a bit with Paint.net (very cool editing program), and printed them on sumi paper. The sumi paper is great for collage. It runs through my printer beautifully with no carrier sheet and adheres perfectly to the acrylic-painted canvas with acrylic matte medium.

And Valentine cards! Who doesn't need Valentine cards?! In addition to selling my cards at the gallery, I have printed several designs from my original watercolor cards to sell at Saranac Lake's Community Store. Some samples:

Fresh Snow and Introspection

Fresh Snow II

We had our first real snow last week. It transformed everything into a pristine, soft, bright fantasy - as if we hadn't seen this world at all before. The rain and warm breeze over the weekend erased all of it, but now it feels like winter and the snow will return.

I love the promise of quiet and introspection that comes with this season. It's a time to take in all that happened in the past year and process it, keeping what is constantly nourishing and learning from the rest.

The piece above, Fresh Snow II, is part of a diptych I made after a ski into Grass Pond last winter. I was experimenting with textured stabilizer as a substrate for printing digital photos, as I did in April. I am still learning how to prepare the substrate for printing, but I love the effect so much that it is a very satisfying process.

One of the best experiences of the past year was the coming together of a small group of spectacular women to paddle every Monday evening. We began in August and continued into late October, when the lakes and streams began to return to their solid forms. As the days got shorter, we paddled by headlamp and made campfires at our destination each time to warm our hands and to heat whatever food we brought to share. The experience of being with these adventurous friends in beautiful wild places was expanding and miraculous for each of us. Our thankfulness for each other and for the amazing place in which we live became our name: Gratitude Girls.

I started a Gratitude Series of collages, using some of photographs I took of our adventures. They are hanging now in the holiday show at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. Here are a few. Make some Adventures of your very own!