Humpty Dumpty ATC

My ATC group recently had a theme of "cracked." I chose Humpty Dumpty, who was famously cracked, and worked from a vintage children's book illustration. Check out the others on artsinthecards.blogspot.com.

New Fabrics, June 2010

I haven't had much time to work on my fabrics lately...May went by in a blur, with busy workdays and no time for art on my lunch hour, plus physical therapy after work for my rotator cuff. But, I did manage to work on a few new designs...all in the orange/yellow/red family for some reason.

For the Crane Dairy design, I scanned a cream...or maybe cottage cheese...bottle from my small collection of vintage bottles. (My mother's family's business many years ago). The clear bottle has an orange logo, but I flipped the darks and lights in photoshop, then step and repeated it in QuarkXpress.

The floral is my "Yellow New York Roses" that is a companion to my "Pink New York Roses" that is actually selling (!!!) on spoonflower.com. The red and orange is a blockprint I carved that I monkeyed around with in photoshop and Quark.

Painted Peltex

I puttered the other day with some watersoluble oil pastels and crayola slick stix on Peltex. It worked best when the Peltex was really saturated with water. The colors stayed bright and it was fun to smudge and blend them. The end result looks kind of like wool, or needle felting. I am working on a larger piece with the same technique. Here are a couple ATCs I did, just for me...not to trade as I usually do.

Metal Madness

My ATC group is doing a rust/metal theme. Here's how I made these ATCs:
1)I painted a layer of copper Lumiere acrylic paint on recycled tyvek.(I use USPS and FedEx shipping bags...the ones that are lightweight and hard to open unless you have scissors)
2)I put woven copper mesh fabric over the painted tyvek (yes, REAL copper that is woven into fabric! I got mine at Michael's Arts and Crafts)
3)I painted, freehand, swirly leaf shapes on Lutradur with gold acrylic, then burned away the unpainted area with a heat gun, which left a lacey effect on the edges
4) I layered it all together on a base of Peltex, then basted it by hand
5) I machine stitched the gold leaf with gold thread
6) I machine zigzagged the edges with copper thread and did a minimal quilt across the little pieces
7) I embellished the edges with gold dimensional fabric paint dots, which I like to think gives a metal studded effect
80 I accented the center vein of the leaf with copper dimensional fabric paint.

Just a Little Bit Warped

Inspired by artist Wanda Stivison, a group of us recently exchanged "warped" ATCs. I did a warped self-portrait by taking a self-portrait that I painted a few years ago and giving it a twist filter in photoshop. The second one was a postcard sized painted piece that I did for another artist, Heather Simpson, a few years ago when she had a 'time' theme. The twisted clock hands, melty puddle and Alice in Wonderland inspired checkerboard said 'warped' to me, so I reproduced in in a few little ATCs.

Printmaking Mixed Media

I've been doing a lot of printmaking lately, using them in fabric designs, and these ATCs and postcards I did a few days ago.

The blue postcard has strips of cotton, ripped to have a rustic look, and gradated. On top, I stamped one of my handcarved designs onto a coffee sleeve, and stitched it on with buttons on the corner.

The ATC was made from Yogi Tea KavaKava tea wrappers, which have a lovely shade of lavender. I collaged them together on cotton with watered down glue, stitched randomly with two shades of purple thread, and stamped over it randomly with several of my hand carved stamps.

Doodles to Fabrics

I doodle constantly. I sit in business meetings, taking notes, but doodling in the margins, or on the back page. Don't get me wrong...I do my work, pay attention at the meetings, and am pretty efficient and productive. But my hands just can't stay still. I often doodle (as many people do) the same things over and over and over. If the doodles come out decent, I rip them out and tuck them into a journal. Sometimes I refer back to them, sometimes they just stay in the journal.

I took one of my leafy, amoeba, paisley doodles and decided to play around with it on my lunch hour. I had already scanned it, so I took the jpeg, opened it in Photoshop, and added color. I saved the new design, then brought it into QuarkXpress, where I flipped and repeated it and shrunk it, and then flipped and repeated the smaller design.

I ended up with a 1960s, Liberty of London-inspired paisley that would really look hot made into a shirt, and draped on the ever so handsome torso of Austin Powers. I printed the design on a t-shirt transfer sheet, ironed it to cotton, and viola!...my latest design for the fabric line I am doing as part of my SAQA Visioning Project.

Voice...SAQA Auction Donation

This is my 12" x 12" donation for the SAQA 2010 fundraiser.

The background is done in acrylic paint, on the inside of a recycled tyvek mailing envelope. The center section was designed on the computer using QuarkXPress, and printed on Avery printable cotton.

The message is both personal and universal. It is about me, finding the courage to speak up and voice my opinions (though many people who know me now might not believe it, I was a verrry shy child, and I have been fighting anxiety issues and panic disorder for years).

It is also a general idea about saying what you think, using your voice to vote and work for change rather than grumble and complain about life. Additionally, it is a comment on and for women, who often smile and keep their mouth shut to keep harmony in their personal and/or professional life.

I am planning to make a series of 12" x 12" art quilts with the VOICE theme.

Up-cycling Coffee Sleeves into ATCs

Cousin of recycling, up-cycling is taking something most people would throw away and using it again, but making something better than what it was to begin with. In that thought, I have been collecting cardboard coffee sleeves that have a cool design embossed in them, really pretty gum/candy wrappers and used coffee filters/tea bags (minus the grounds/tea).

I made some ATCs (artist trading cards, 2.5" x 3.5") this weekend out of my upcycled materials. I painted coffee filters and coffee sleeves with Lumiere acryllic paints and cut them into off-kilter strips. I did a random, abstract multicolored painting on the coffee filter, and cut it into wedges. After pieceing them together, I added little pieces of gum wrapper and stitched.

I liked the effect so much that I started cutting bigger pieces for a larger up-cycled work.

And Yet More Fabric Designs

I never seem to tire of making fabric designs, and it is SOOOOO cool to get samples in the mail from Spoonflower, which, for a not so small fee, will print my designs on fabric. Usable fabric. Not rubbery heat transfer sheets, not stuff on wimpy printable cotton that has faded, dull colors. Bright, crip cloth with a soft hand that you can really use, and wash, and wear and enjoy. I am only in the design phase, but will eventually order enough of my favorites to makes some clothes, or something for my house or maybe a little doggie jacket for my maltese baby, Coco.

These are the latest samples. On the left, a design I did on paper with pencil and left over beet juice (from dinner, fresh beets!)In the middle, a patchwork from two old favorite designs that were step and repeated in photoshop and on the right, a design I did with printmaking techniques: I used a styrofoam meat tray and 'carved' a design into it with an inkless pen, then painted watersoluble pastels on top and printed on paper. The scanned design was put into a mirror repeat, which gives it a bandana effect.

January Spoonflower Samples

I just got a package in the mail with more Spoonflower samples of my fabric designs for the SAQA Visioning Project. Can anyone guess my favorite color?

Happy Dancing the Embroidery Dance

Santa brought me an extra sewing machine! One with a gazillion embroidery stitches. Now I have to view the video and study the manual. Very excited because I can bring my old one to ny and keep the new one in my studio. Any tips on machine embroidery are welcome since I know nothing about it.

Two feet under and shoveling fast

Eastern Long Island got dumped with snow last night. Here's a few pix I snapped around the yard.

2009 Breast Cancer Strength and Memory Quilt

This is the quilt I made for work as a breast cancer fundraiser during the November breast cancer awareness month. I took orders from anyone in the hospital who wanted to buy a square (well, donate $ to the American Cancer Society and get a quilt square as a bonus.) I scanned in the pretty pink floral that they were using on all their fundraising materials and used it as a backgroud on some of the squares. I ironed cotton to freezer paper, cut it to 8.5 x 11, and fed it thru the inkjet printer and, viola!, instant quilt squares. My challenge was that I could NOT sew it, I had to use wonder under and glue and a hot glue gun and some nasty glue backed felt left over from last year that someone else ordered. The carpentry shop made a nice wood and glass case for it so it won't get wrecked by time, NY soot and dirty hands. (Picture is kind of blurry because of the glass case.)

A Lot On My Mind

This is a little piece I did one day when I was feeling kind of overwhelmed and pulled in 1000 directions at the same time. I called it "A Lot On My Mind" for obvious reasons. And it, for a change, is NOT a self portrait, just a generic woman of no particular age...but I AM working on a self portrait for the QA InnerAnimal Challenge. Want to guess what my inner animal is?

Mirror Image Fabric

These are the samples of my own designs that I ordered from Spoonflower. I chose the mirror repeat because you don't have to fiddle with putting it in repeat and repainting the whole thing to step and repeat it. It gave the pink one a kind of William Morris effect, the abstract one a kind of psychadelic feeling and the pink roses floral a bit of a tie-dyed effect. It is soooo cool to have some yardage on my own designs instead of little swatches printed from the computer.

Art Deco

I work in a hospital that was built in the 1930s.(No, I'm not a medical professional. I write and design their monthly newsletter, quarterly magazine and do any other creative things that need doing.)

The entrance is surrounded by imposing pillars with really great art deco details, so I snapped a few shots of them; I love the geometry. I tried taking some rubbings recently...I took a yard of white cotton and a black paintstik out into the parking lot/driveway/entrance on my lunch hour. I wasn't too successful..the pillars were kind of high and it was hard to get a good rubbing without a ladder, so I will try and work up a design from these photos.

Many people think the pillars are merely a bench to hang out on while they take a smoke break or wait for the shuttle bus. I felt kind of ridiculous and touristy taking my rubbings and photos but since I had on my official ID, the hospital police did't arrest me.

Spoonflower Samples

Here are the samples I sent for from Spoonflower. Tried to post them on my SAQA Visioning page but as usual had technical problems. They are 8x8", washable, usable soft cotton, and I am happy with their quality.

Mandalas at Lunch

My art time has shrunk since I started my new job (when is a new job no longer new? hmmmm...) so I have been sneaking in some small drawings at lunch. In my little sketchbook, I trace around a CD with pencil, and randomly draw what ever flows out. Since I mostly have on hand yellow highlighters and pencils, many of the mandalas (circular designs) are yellow. After a while I broke down and bought some markers in other colors that I tucked into my drawer. Unsurprisingly, textiley designs emerged.

The drawing process calms me down and is very meditative (check into Jung and his mandala work...very cool) so these are pretty much the opposite of what I usually do. I printed a few out on fabric, and made this triptych with woven brass and copper mesh (with an underlay of colored fabric--pink under the copper and olive under the brass.) I stitched it all to peltex so it would be firm and be able to stand.

Lately I have been so busy that I don't even have time for my full lunch hour because I am working on a "Strength and Memory" Quilt as a breast cancer fundraiser. I have taken orders for different size pieces and printed the messages out on pink or white cotton with calligraphy fonts, then fused it to some glue-backed felt (nasty stuff, but I was required to use up the supplies that were left over from last year). Unbelievably, I was forbidden to SEW it (my boss once made a quilt, so she knows how long it takes.) So, I'm almost done...just waiting for a few last minute orders from the nursing department. Then I can have my lunch hour back!

grrrr...RGB and CMYK are driving me crazy

Well, hopefully this is the turning square in the colors I want. I saved it as CMYK, but it is showing up on the blog all ugly and blueish.

Spoonflower...have I died and gone to Heaven?

Someone from my SAQA visioning group pointed me to Spoonflower, a site where you can send them a design and they will print your fabric. It seems a little expensive, about $18/yard, but when you consider that it costs thousands to commercially print a design, its pretty cheap.

So, now I have to decide: out of my gazillion paintings, drawings and textile designs, what do I start with? Will they put it in repeat right? so there are no "track marks" running up and down the fabric where it repeats? Can they do watercolor effects, color traps or will it be just flat color?

Well, these are a couple old designs I am toying with sending. My question is...how can they do this for only $18 a yard? What kind of equipment do they have? and where can I get some so I can do it myself?

Oh, GRRRRR, got my CMYK and RGB color mixed up. Hopefully the turning square will have the right colors now!

Random Design

When I first discovered that there were markers made just for drawing directly onto fabric, I could hardly contain my excitement. I was skeptical, so I left Sam Flax, went out into the streets of NY, and purchased an "I love NY" t-shirt from a sidewalk vendor. I scooted back into Flax, and tested the markers on it.

Sure enough, it worked, with no bleeding or smearing. I spent the evening doodling on the fabric, and this design flowed out. I haven't decided what to do with it. Any suggestions? (well, I did cut a little bit off and make postcards...and one was in Cloth Paper Scissors back when I wrote my article "Painting Out the Panic"...but I still have a couple big hunks of the design left over.)

More Visioning Samples

I stumbled on some old designs as I was looking for something else on my bookshelf. I was putting some recent graphic work in a binder and, while looking for more clear plastic sleeves to go in my binder, pulled out an old binder full of designs. I step and repeated this red design and printed it on fabric, which can be seen on my SAQA visioning page. Here is the original design and a possible colorway. I did them from a couple of little doodles that I scanned and arranged in a fuillard (traditional set, uniform layout, like in a man's tie) pattern.

SAQA Visioning Project

I recently signed up for the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Visioning Project. It will be a year-long project, and each participant can set their own goal, pursue any fibery dream, big or small.

I have always wanted to have my very own fabric line, an idea that is just tooooo expensive to do on a big scale. Thanks to modern technology, I can print my own designs, directly from my computer, right onto fabric. I decided to do small pieces (about 8.5" x 11") and present them as a salesperson from a big textile manufacturer would: on headers (basically a printed cardboard piece with the company's name, logo, address, along with the pattern name/number.) I may also make a swatch book, with smaller pieces of the cloth in different colorways, like the books they have in decorating stores.

You can find out more information by going to SAQA.com. You have to be a member to sign up though, but it is only $50 per year.

These are two designs I did a while back for the Dixie "Art of the Plate" contest (which I did not win, but it was fun anyway.) I may translate them into fabric for my new line, called, unsurprisingly, Edzellinni Fabrics. Both of these designs started as doodles, which I developed into circular designs for a plate. It was fun and challenging working with a circular design, after years and years of square or rectangular formats.

Angelina Experiments

Inspired by the book Angelina, Between the Sheets, I tried my hand at working with the glimmery fiber. I started by trying to emboss my hand cut stamp designs into angelina fibers. It worked, but wasn't anything that wowed me. Next I tried cutting pieces of fused Angelina sheets, and ended up creating a checkerboard effect on black felt. Instead of sewing them on, I outlined them with squeezable gold fabric paint. I had some of my hand-rolled, recycled tyvek beads hanging around, and they just matched. The piece is unfinished, and it is temporarily pinned to a background of torn tissue fabric.

Postmark d'Art: black and white

After months of puttering, delays and interruptions, I finally finished my black and white postcards for my postmark d'Art group exchange. I made three styles: one with my own fabric design, done from a doodle, that was printed on cotton directly from my inkjet printer. It has a center print of one of my small, handcarved stamps, printed on cotton with black acrylic. The other two are done from expanded squares, and printed onto either Avery cotton or t-shirt transfer sheets. I kept the stitching minimal on all of them. If you look closely, one of the expanded squares has my daughter's initials (AKW) along with the number 2 for one of her birthday digits.