Fun With Fabrics

I've started mucking about with fabrics now. I went to a thrift store and picked out a selection of colours and I'm pretty pleased with what I found. Especially the fluorescent pink, which is from a kid's sleeping bag. I'll be using that colour in moderation though. Once I had my fabrics, I was ready to try my paint and string designs in a new medium... transferable dye.

I just recreated the effect of the paint and string on paper, but used the dye instead of the paint, like so.

Then you place the paper face down on your fabric, and iron on the design. I tried the transferable dye on scraps of all my fabrics. You can see that the dye is more vibrant on some pieces. This is because the transferable dyes are intended for synthetic fabrics only. Thus the more cottony fabrics, such as the gray and light pink, create a softer effect. I have to say, I'm happy for the variations. They range from a stark x-ray look to a ghostly imprint. It will create a more interesting pallette for my quilt.

Here's an example of how much of a difference the temperature of the iron makes. The darker image was pressed at a higher temperature. This can get dangerous though, because some fabrics melt or shrivel at high heats.

I also tried out a little applique. I heard about this great product called "Steam A Seam" from some quilting experts I know. It allows you to fuse applique shapes directly onto your work without any sewing! Wow, right? Well, I tried it out, as you can see, and it was very simple to use and I give it four stars. My only problem with it is evident from my above photo: this stuff is supposed to prevent fraying at the edges, but that fabric is clearly fraying.

Here is my applique with the flourescent pink fabric. There was less fraying with this one, but as you can see, I need to keep my iron temperature low when dealing with nylon, or it'll melt!

Drink and Draw

I have now attended two artist get togethers in Guelph, fondly known as drink and draws. They were organized by illustrator Michael Byers, whose excellent work can be perused here. These gatherings have been a great way for me to meet some working artists who all have a lot of wisdom and experience between them. It's also bee a great way to relax between all the school projects, and I ususally feel refreshed after a night of drawing just for kicks. Mike has set up a blog to exhibit some of the group's creations which you can check out here.

Here are some of the drawings we've come up with.

Here are a few recent sketchbook pages. It's not too often these days that I get to draw whatever I want!

A haunting model with decorative carnivorous plants in her hair.

A cool mod chick.


I enjoy the nestled squigleys in this one.


And some canteloupes!

Mr. BeeSean

I came across this amazing artist today and almost creamed in my pants. You can check out more of his art here.

The Branches of Completion

Well, it's been five months in the making, thanks to the intense work load at OCAD, but I've finally finished this painting, which was my first commissioned work. My customer is picking it up on Monday and I'm horrendously nervous about how she'll react to it. Nevertheless, it feels great to be finished!

This piece is mixed media. I used a variety of delicate and textured papers along with acylic paint.

Playtime!

One of my current project involves expanding and developing a technique we loved as a child. I used to make these as a kid with paint, string, and folded paper. I'm happy to say it's just as fun now as it was then! The quilt(s) I'm going to to be creating are the result of expanding this technique to fabric.

Judith Content

I'm about to embark on creating some small art quilts. I was inspired to do so almost solely because of the work of this artist, Judith Content. Most art quilts I find hideously tacky and overdone, but hers are perfect, zen, and beautiful, and I can scarcely tear my eyes away from them. See for yourself!