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Archive for the ‘Mark making’ Category

Printing Text

Friday, May 30th, 2014

lisatextPFB

This morning, I awoke, feeling like the crappy virus had left me. By late morning, I was up for a walk with Scooter and Mr C. After lunch, I headed for my studio to get the printing done for this month’s Printed Fabric Bee Queen. The criteria was – text based, favored color – turquoise and other bright colors, 12 inches square.

I found a turquoise fabric that I had painted a while ago.

turquoisepntedfabric

Lisa said we could use any kind of text, real or imagined. I have a stamp with fake handwriting. I used purple dynaflow paint.

textstamppurplepnt

Here is the base printing on the fabric with the stamp and purple paint.

stamptextpurple

For the next layer, I used a thermofax screen that I made some time ago. I used chartreuse screen printing paint.

textscreen

I was disappointed that I did not get a sharper print with the chartreuse. My test on plain muslin was much better. But, it has a nice subtlety.

PFBtext6

I got a great idea for my What’s Blue to You quilt for High Fiber Diet. It has to be 24 x 60 inches. I printed out a rastorized version of my idea and pinned it to my design wall. I think it is going to work. So that is my project for next week. Stay tuned for the fun.

I snapped a photo of the street car that rolls by my studio. Love the sound.

streetcar

My Happy Place

Sunday, April 27th, 2014

 

artnouveauprint

I went down to my studio for the first time since I dumped the last load of stuff before we moved into the condo. It is the end of the month and I needed to get a print done for the Printed Fabric Bee.  The theme is art nouveau.

This is what my studio looked like when I walked in.

messylovejoystudio

Nothing has been put away. I grabbed the stuff off my work table and put my print board up and went to work. First, I found my Bose radio and turned to my favorite rock music station!

I had cut a couple of freezer paper stencils. I wanted to do an art nouveau stylized flower. I decided to do some wavy lines of dots first. Here is my stencil.

browndotstencil

browndotpaintstencil

browndots

I used the skinny end of a chopstick to add yellow dots to the brown dots.

yellowdots

Here is my stylized flower stencil.

flowerstencil

This is the 6 inch piece that is going to the winner of the printed fabric pack. The piece for Jackie is up at the top.

68nchartnouveau

I went to my studio in a great deal of pain. My lower back has been killing me again. All the shuffling and packing and unpacking has taken a toll.

The thing is, I was so happy and stress free working in my studio after all this time that I suddenly realized I was not in pain. And, I was so happy. So happy that I started to cry. I am really looking forward to getting my studio organized and getting back some creative time.

 

 

New Work Finished

Monday, September 30th, 2013

indigomoonweb

This is the third in my moon series. I have named it Indigo Moon. I did a little bit of hand stitching on this every day for the last two weeks and finally called it done. Here is a detail:

indigomoondetailweb

I ran out to Mill Ends to find a backing fabric that was sturdy and found this bark cloth. The combo of the organza and prefelt makes this very light and soft so I needed a backing that would give it some body.

1375217_10200981835527298_1488370398_n

I also finished this piece which is titled, Graffiti. I accomplished my goal of creating something a little more interesting with an edge. I feel I took it from a pretty collage to something that would invite the viewer in to see what is happening.

 

graffitiweb

Here is a detail shot:

graffitidetailweb

We have had incessant rain and wind and gloomy weather. It was nice to have my daughter, Lisa, here for a week to bring us some sunshine! She left today. The girl has so much illustration work that she had to keep working while she was here. We had the whole family here for dinner last night. Did some talking about passing on some of our stuff to them when we move. It is good to know what they are interested in and what they don’t give a darn about!

So, I think life is returning to normal, at least for a week or so. I have a big birthday coming up this month. I am ready for it!

Break Through!

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

handstitchedmoondetail

 

I tried a different configuration for the beads on my moon. It just didn’t speak to me. I had an epiphany that I needed to do some interesting hand stitching instead of beads. I had an idea in my head but wasn’t sure about executing it. I started drawing sketches of marks in moon shapes and decided I just needed to have at it. I did the curved lines first and was very happy with the result. I was originally was going to stitch circle shapes, but ended up referencing circles with some seed stitches. I used a variegated Perle cotton that goes from yellow gold to a yellow green to red. It was perfect for the discharged area. Here is the final piece which I love so much.

monnstruckhandstitched

 

For a third piece, I am repurposing a piece I did with pomegranate photos printed on organza and collaged.

poms

 

The first thing I did was remove the binding and finish it with a facing.

pomegranatedwobinding

 

I already like it better, but I need it larger and more red. So I am making another quilt using red dupioni silk. I will mount this on top.

pomsredborder

That is tomorrow’s project.

My raspberries are beginning to ripen. Here is Tuesday’s picking:

Tuesdayraspberried

 

Here is today’s — almost double.

Thursdayraspberries

 

Needless to say, we are all very happy with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling. Now, Lisa and Clay can be  legally married and have the same benefits of same sex couples. I love how happy they were on June 1st!!

992955_10200412561975815_1876304730_n-1

An Epiphany

Friday, June 21st, 2013

redcollageprinted

 

At some point over the last 24 hours, ir occurred to me that one of the printing blocks I bought on Wednesday would be a great counterpoint to the work I have done so far on the red organza collage. It is always a leap of faith to print on a piece that is well underway and quilted, to boot. But, I really like how it has taken this piece to a new level.

I did some discharge on red silk and red cotton. It is drying and I will heat it tomorrow to see what happens. I am still hoping to do another shrinky dink quilt.

Have a great week-end and happy solstice!