Friday Favorites

This week has been busy with preparing my  new blog that is technique driven.  We have 9 artists who are willing to take the lead in experimenting with different techniques and to report back.  I have the banner and the logo ready to go (you can see the logo on this blog).  Another week or so and I will be ready to unfurl the banner, show off the blog, and see if anyone wants to follow it.

Haven't heard anything from the No Holds Barred jury yet but it is very early.  I did go on the SAQA site and print off the directions for 3 or 4 more SAQA shows that I might consider entering.  I did run across one blog post that said she had entered quilts for 7 years before she got accepted.  I hope it does not take me that long.

On to Friday Favorites!

I love improvisational piecing.  I do it between pieces that require attention and fussing and  detail work and annoy me to death.  It feels like taking off a way too tight corset.  I thought I had invented it because I was doing it at home in a vacuum.  Now that I am more in the art quilting world I see all these other folks doing it too.  Maybe I should have copy-righted the idea years ago when I first thought of it. (LOL)  Anyway, Malka Dubrawsky gives 10 tips for improvisational piecing that I thought were really good.  The link takes you to the tips in Quilting Arts but Malka has just published her book that gives lots more techniques that she uses in improvisational quilting.  I have not seen the book so I can't comment on it but the title is Fresh Quilting: Fearless Colors, Design, and Inspiration.

Speaking of copy-righting my improvisational piecing idea, Kathleen Loomis at Art with a Needle wrote an interesting article on sharing quilts and quilting techniques.  You know, this is not the first time I have blogged about Kathleen.  I like what she says.  I also like that she states it is her opinion and leaves room for others to have opinions that do not agree with hers.  I find her posts generally raise questions that I may not have thought of but should consider as I make my way in the art world. What kind of artist do I want to be?

I have tried to ignore Arlee with all her ecodyeing blogs.  Yea, it looks interesting but I don't wanna go in that direction. Then I made the mistake of dying that fabric I showed you earlier in the week--the one with the rose leaves and the other one with the mums.  Remember?  Okay, now I am hooked.  What was I thinking?  Now I want to strip the woods and yard and see what I get from dyeing with the material.  Anyway, Arlee shares with us some more of her experiments with really good directions.  Don't look unless you don't mind another addiction. ***sigh***

I found a new blog this week.  It is Simply Robin.  She has a great tutorial on flat fold fabric dyeing.  The process sounds really interesting but it takes a day of hot sun.  That is not a problem in Maui where she lives.   I live in Maine and it is November.  A day of hot weather is probably 7 months away.  I will get to snow dye long before I get to try this method.  But I do want to try it on the 1 or 2 days of summer we get per year!

And, last but not least, my fellow 5 artist has posted a tutorial on soy wax dyeing.  Yes, she makes it sound so simple and the pictures she has posted of the results are so beautiful that I clearly need to go home and heat up my electric skillet.  I think that is what we are doing this coming Saturday for our play date.

Dyeing Silk with ties

 At our last play group we dyed silk using men's ties.  We followed the directions in the latest Quilt Arts magazine.  It worked.  It worked amazingly well.  You can even see the seam up the back of the ties printed on the fabric.  I can't image what I would do with this technique but if I can figure out a use, I know how to do it!

Metallic Class revisited

I didn't think it felt finished so when it did not sell at the craft show, I played with it some more. 

NOW it feels finished.

"And Then We Set It On Fire"

I think that will be the name of a new blog dedicated to mastering different surface design techniques. That is the motto that Rosalita and Beth have for their play dates.  In other words, anything goes in their experiments for surface design.  First they dye, overdye, paint, stitch, glue resist, paint again, flour resist, dye again, silk screen, stamp, thermafax, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, and fuse, then they set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.  Magnificent!

Here is the format I have in mind for 10-12 creative folks who like to play:

1.  Every month there will be a technique we will all try together and report our results.

2.  We'll take turns choosing the technique for the month.  If it is my month to choose then I will give as much direction as possible or tell you where the directions can be found.

3.  Participants may follow the directions given or, if they have their own preferred method of the technique, they may use it and explain their method.

4.  Participants will post 2-3 times per month showing their process. Posts don't have to be long and can be scheduled in advance.

5. Finished products are not required but would be nice occasionally to show what can be done with that gorgeous fabric just made.  Posts can also include failures, mistakes, and comments like "I will never do this
again."

6.  Followers will be encouraged to try the techniques and send us links to their results.

Beginning date is projected to be Jan 2011.

Scratch-a-Print and Roses

Remember the fabric I printed with rose leaves?  The prints themselves were very faint and the color of the fabric itself was a very light delicate mottled yellow-green.  I have now used Scratch-a-Print to add some metallic gold and metallic sea green rose leaves to the fabric.  The result is very light and delicate.  Not my type of fabric at all.  And I really like it!

This was my first time to use the Scratch-a-Print product.  I bought it a couple of months ago and just hadn't had the time to play.

Here are the good things about it: 

1. Easy to make the lines
2. I made maybe 50 prints and it held up well.  In fact, I washed it out and have stored it away for another try later. 

Here are the iffy things about it: 

1. I had difficulty getting a full print every time given the way you have to sponge the screen; 
2. The screen was smaller than expected but certainly not smaller than the thermofax screens I have;
3. The lines on the screen opened wider with use so the first prints and the last prints are decidedly different if you are really checking them out.  I don't think a casual observer would notice. However, it certainly is an indication that the screen should not be considered a permanent screen like thermofax screens are.
4. Since the frame for the screen was posterboard type stuff, I covered it with duct tape to make it more washable and durable.  Don't know if that was necessary or not but seemed like a good idea.

Here are the things I really disliked about it:

1. The screen bubbled up with use.  I think that made it really difficult to get a perfect print.  However that would not keep me from using the product again.

One last picture of the fabric.