How helpful and generous all of you are!

After my last post, I had several (nearly ten!) emails from people who privately offered me their collective wisdom in solving my "burning issues".  I'll start by telling you how I temporarily solved them, and then share all of their great ideas!


So, when I left you last, I was trying to figure out a couple of things:
a:     where to get lutradur/what to use instead in my limited time frame; and
b:     what to use instead of  Margaret Beal's heat tool.

The unspoken issues I had were:

a:    was it better to paint the substrate first and then put the fusible and then cut it out?
b:    should I put the fusible on before or after I cut and paint, or can it all be done at the same time?






I also had a very light weight Pellon, nearly translucent, that had some fusible on it already. I had been fusing that Pellon to delicate silks and lightweight chiffons to enable me to work with them more easily in other applications in the past, so thought I'd give that one a go.

I knew that the small amount of fusible on it would be useless in this particular application, so I fused the Steam-A-Seam to it, cut it to size, and then peeled off the back, using that bit of sticky-ness to adhere it to the glass.


Then I slid the whole over my  image (I took the original sketch, blew it up and darkened it at a professional copy place) and commenced to cut.  It worked a dream! (And my head is already filled with other applications for my Pellon and my heat tool!)

You can see that I used the tool to make more marks to "scuff it up" as you may remember the orignal rendering looked very "abused" and I wanted that look rather than the "brand spanking new" look I got with other fabrics.





As for me, after I cut my fused Pellon, I painted it - right on the glass!

To find out whether it worked, check back in on Friday.  Till then...

So, when I went to Jennie's house last Thursday, she introduced to me to her trick to make her precise work - Lutradur and her secret weapon!  Though Jennie's work often uses Lutradur as one of it's many elements, and though I had a chance to work with a bit of it as part of the challenge when I made "Ontology of A Rabbit", I didn't realize how amazin' the stuff is!


She had asked me to come prepared with my sketch of Travyon blown up for our experiments (here, it's about 14 inches x 10).  We taped the image to the table and then put it under a piece of glass, and then put a piece of Lutradur on top...



And then she introduced me to her secret weapon! A burning tool from Margaret Beal - with whom she'd taken a class a few years ago. Now since the tool is from the UK, we had to use it with both a converter (so it could be used in North American outlets) AND a booster so it would get hot enough, and it sure did.  "Cuz check it out!



Just from tracing the image through the glass with the tool!

I gave Jennie a big kiss and a hug, 'cuz she's totally brilliant!

Of course, IIII don't have any Lutradur, and I haven't been able to source any here in the past - not to mention - I don't have this handy burning tool, and also - the Lutradur is white.  So stay tuned for more problem solving...

It feels like I'm developing a routine, but don't get used to it! :)

And speaking of getting used to things - don't be frightened by this combination of fabrics, you're just going to have to trust me!

 They're not going to be laid exactly like this, as you'll see - I was going for a brick pattern.


And some odd shapes...

And coming up next - some white acrylic paint and encaustic wax.  (Uhm, what? )

Method to my madness my chickens, I assure you! :)

See what's next on Wednesday ...




P.S. I've been insanely busy the last week (both at work and at home - I'm trying to get ten NEW pieces together for a submission that's due in ten - no - NINE days) so if you posted something you'd like me to see, please let me know and I'll go check it out - otherwise, I think you'll find me quiet for the next little while!

...so don't be intimidated by the word "sketch".  No one's going to look at it except you (or in my case, you and me, but we'll just keep it between ourselves); and the point of it is, to be a guide - so that you know the direction you're going in.  You know, so that you'll be able to work with intention (hah! I bet you thought I forgot about my word of the year, didn't you?) :)


And then, the fun part - pulling fabrics from your stash! I actually pulled about four bags of white, but I figured there's only so much interest you could possibly have in bags of white scraps.


One of the bags contained all these delicate white fabrics that had already been cut into little squares for a super secret commission I'd done last year, and some of them were perfect for little Tom.  So, I fused some of those and some of the other whites, and then...


Commenced to cut out feathers.

That coin is a subway token (slightly smaller than a dime) so you'll get an idea of the size of all those tiny little feathers.  I blithely assumed the amount I had here would be enough to cover the bird, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong!


It wasn't even enough to cover the first layer!


Here's a detail shot so you can see how naked poor Tom was after two layers.  All in, I ended up using about 800 of those little tiny white feathers, which were painstakingly fused down about ten at a time.

(Keep in mind, however, that I chose to use very translucent fabrics and netting to get the look I was going for. If someone doing this technique chose to use opaque fabrics,  I'm sure they could get the look with 300, or even 200 feathers. )



And because you've seen me needle felt tree branches about a thousand times now (if you've been with me since the beginning), I won't bother with that again.

But come back on Friday for the big reveal!


P.S. - Hooking up with The Needle and Thread Network and Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Go and see what everyone else is up to!

Well, it's that time - I thought I would step up to the mic and tell you the sad tale of my abysmal failure.  lol

You may remember that about a month ago, I had an idea to see if I could do something similar to Riusuke Fukahori's resin work in textile. I was totally sure it would work, so after a errant step into encaustic, I shook off my paw and happily skipped off to get some resin.

The first layer turned out really well, and I was pretty excited.  The only problem I found was that it didn't provide enough depth to create the look I wanted, so I knew I'd have to do 3 or 4 more layers before I could start laying the animals out.  But, so what, right? Fukahori has to do like, a gajillion layers of resin - what's 15 or 20 layers for  me?!?


The next layer turned out equally well, although it took longer to dry. The first layer took about 12 hours, the second layer about 18 hours.  (You see where this is going, right? I didn't. I mean, I suppose I would have, if I'd actually thought about it, but I just kept blithely going on...)


But I soon realized it's inherent problem was built right in. It was a glazing resin. I was already through my 3rd box and my first layer of animals was only covered half way, and the drying time between layers was taking 5 or 6 DAYS.

This pic was taken at day 5 - and as you can see, it's nowhere near dry.

It was time for me to re-assess. 

I'd have to use another 3 boxes to finish the piece, and at this advanced drying time, it would take me months to finish the piece - not to mention, at $36/box, this was becoming quite an expensive enterprise.

Enter my new hero, CASTING RESIN.
At only $22 for the medium size, this was clearly going to be a far more economical enterprise, and it promised a drying time of only two hours!  I was practically dancing with excitement to get it done and show you the result.

I mixed according to directions, carefully poured it over my piece (made a comment to myself along the lines of "Wow. This stuff is WAY more smelly than the glazing resin") and then cleared a space to set it to dry. 

I began tidying up my room to start another project and became aware that the "chemical" smell was becoming quite unbearable. I opened windows throughout the floor that my sewing room is on, made sure all the doors were open, and got to work on the next project. 
About 1/2 an hour later, BSP came downstairs and "yelled" "Are you trying to KILL us??!! WHAT IS THAT SMELL???!!!" I went upstairs and discovered that the smell was all through the house. Oh-oh!  I opened up some more doors and windows, took a break to have a diet Coke and chat with BSP and then went downstairs again where I was practically knocked over by the incredibly powerful smell of the resin. 

With apologies to the Day Supervisor, There was nothing for it but to move the project outside.

Unfortunately, I knew it would be ruined. It had to have a mininum temperature of 70 degrees to set well and this was Ontario, in March. (eep!) We'd been having warmer temperatures than usual, but 70 was a lot to ask, especially at night.

I put it outside, covered it to protect it from anything that might fall on it and left it.  I mean LEFT it.

I knew it was going to be ruined and I wasn't psychologically prepared for that, so I left it there for a couple of weeks. I finally picked it up about ten days ago, brought it down to my sewing room and uncovered it.


::sigh:::

So, until it's summer weather here, that's the end of my resin experiments. However, having assessed the time, cost and effect, I may not do this again.

Here's how it all worked out, re expenses:

1.    Encaustic wax, damar resin and electric frying pan  $160
2.    3 boxes of glazing resin @ $36/each                         $108
3.    1 can of casting resin                                                 $22
4.    Silk and other fabrics, batting, fusible, thread           $20

GRAND TOTAL:    $310

THREE HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS!!!!  (I'm glad BSP doesn't read my blog. lol)

Now, to be fair, I'll give the the encaustic stuff another whirl (I've already got an idea for something I want to try), so we can take $160 off that total price tag.  And our learnings have taught us that glazing resin is not the answer, so we'll just need casting resin in the future, and for a piece this size (8 x 10) I'd probably only need two cans, so that's $44 plus the supplies for the quilt itself at $20, so all told, it's $66 rather than $310. 

But still....

$66 for an 8 x 10 piece is quite an investment. And as you know, I usually work in the 20 x 30" or 30 x 50" size, so that price would probably be more like $150 which is getting a up there again.  I mean if I spend $150 on a quilt, I should be able to sell it for at least twice that much. But I've never sold an art piece before and I don't know what the market will bear...but I don't think it'll be $300 for an 8 x 10" piece!

And, the truth of it is, if you look at that first pic up there where everything was going so well, it looks fine, but it doesn't look awesome.  I mean, the addition of the resin made you go "Oh. Cool." but it didn't really add anything to it. 

Except weight.  A LOT of weight.  lol

By the time we got to the point where the piece was ruined, it was already about 3 pounds.  And that was prior to the next couple of layers being added on - don't forget - this was just layer one of the animals; there was supposed to be another layer of animals and then another layer of trees - this thing would have weighed about 10 pounds, possibly more (!) by the time it was done, and it was only 8 x 10"!! 
So, expense + weight + "not that cool after all"  = I probably won't do this again.

But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  Stay tuned for my next adventure!

And have a wonderful holiday weekend whether you're celebrating Easter, Pesach or just some time off!

I'll be golfing. :)

(And there are a LOT of resins out there.) I figured glazing resin as opposed to other kinds  would give me a nice skim coat without making it look like it was under glass.


So I made an enclosure for it out of an old cardboard box and masking tape, set it up on an old cutting mat, and poured the first layer of resin on.



So far, so good, right?  

I'm hoping to show you the finished piece on Monday, at which time I'll also share with you the trials of the resin (and there were MANY); I'll also tell you my learnings and do a run-down of the costs, but it may not be ready as I still have two more layers of resin to do and holy cow, it takes 12 hours to dry for the FIRST layer. But as you build them up? Longer and longer drying times.
If it's not done, never fear. I'll still have something to talk about 'cuz I haven't been sitting on my hands during that drying time!

and a new technique!  I don't know how it's going to turn out, but let's find out together, shall we?



Earlier today, I was checking in on some of my favourite blogs and saw Mary Stori's beautiful unfinished piece called Bluegrass Postage Stamp Quilt.

I don't know why, but as soon as I saw it, it reminded me of the Brother's Grim story, The Musicians of Bremen.

There is a new technique I've been wanting to try, and I thought this would be the perfect piece to try it.




I started with a sketch, as usual, and because it's going to be a many-layered piece; before I started drawing the rest of the sketch, I needed to trace an overlay of its composite pieces as a template for the fabric.




and speaking of fabric - I thought these lovely scraps of silk brocade would be a good background.

Let's see how that works out on Wednesday, yes?  And don't forget about the giveway. It closes on Saturday, March 10 at midnight.

Which were then cut into slices and incorporated with other strips of coordinating fabric from my stash. I tested a lot of different fabrics, found the right ones and then laid them out (on my new design wall. Love it!!!!)

Normally, I would have stopped there and quilted it, but because I was working with Rayna Gillman's technique (through And Then We Set It On Fire), I added the slashed inserts.  Totally not my thing, but I really like it just the same. Hope you do too. 

But now I'm on to some of my own work.  Looking forward to showing you the process!

I finally got my laptop back (it was actually ready 7 days before I was able to pick it up, but due to a miscommunication in house, they kept telling me it wasn't. ARGH.) 

In the meantime, I was working on lots of stuff, but first up, playing with plastic!