Fabric Art and Skinny ATC's Tutorial

Well yesterday, after reading Jan's blog, i decided to take the bull by the horn, well not literally lol, but had a big clean up of my crafting table. (Mind you looking at it now you wouldn't think i had bothered).

But what i have been meaning to do for weeks is having a go at Fabric Painting, plus collage with fabric.

I sorted out all of my fabric into bags, and managed to fill a large plastic box with them, ooh didn't realise i'd bought quite so many Fat Quarters from Ebay and Etsy. Luscious though lol.

So decided to start small with the experiment, and cut out a piece of fabric from a pillowcase, larger than an ATC, leaving room for seams etc.

Cut and ripped up very small pieces of cloth, and voila, here is Stage 1

I have very roughly sewn the pieces on, with ordinary sewing thread, but also used embroidery silk in places. I've left the pieces in their rough state, as this will add to the feel. Oh and try not to notice the spot of blood on it, you know how we artists have to struggle with our art.

Can you tell what it is yet lol.

I decided to use brusho inks, as i really love the brightness you can achieve with them. They cannot be 'fixed' to the fabric, but as i don't intend washing this, it doesn't really matter.
I painted and sprayed the brusho on, letting the colours bleed into one another.

Next i added a small amount of glass seed beads, size 8, and a small amount of embroidery. To get the beads to look natural, i dropped them onto the fabric, and marked where they fell.
This is the technique used for sewing seeds in the garden for a natural effect. Just copying nature really.

When I had finished this, i realised that it could be made into a Skinny ATC. It's only this week that the Skinny's have come to my attention. Nayski on MAMMA Flickr, makes them, and found out that they are ATC's made to th size 3" x 5". I'm not sure how to display them or keep them, maybe they'll have to go in the Postcard collection folder.
I then attached it to a felt backing, with card in the middle to make it more substantial, did blanket stitch round the edge, and then painted purple brusho to the edges.

'PURPLE HAZE'

I definitely want to take this further, and larger too, as it will be much easier to explore this technique.

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Gifts, Giveaways and dirty hands

I received a beautiful package from my dear friend Cindy

Cindy had a giveaway recently, and lovingly gave away 5 of her beautiful handmade brooches. I received Betty Boop, as she says i remind her of her LOL. oh how i wish i had her looks, body and vitality. lol

She also very very kindly sent me some ric rac, which i will definitely be using after the hols.

Sweet sweet Cindy.

Now another dear friend of mine in Tasmania isBelinda .
She is giving away an absolute humdinger of a giveaway. Not one, not two but...... FIVE ART DOLLS. can you believe it. Woweeee.

Oooh i hope i win one. Here is one of the beautiful art dolls

Today i am learning a new technique known as gouache and ink resist. Hence the dirty hands.

This is from a tutorial from my dearest friend Ange (Agnes the Red). She is an absolute brilliant artist, and jewellery maker and cake maker and........ the list goes on, and she is fantastic at each and every one of her arts.

We both belong to a yahoo group known as New Inspirations, and bi-monthly she gives us GREAT tutorials for new techniques for us to learn.

Here's a link to the resist technique

They are clear and concise with photos of each stage, plus tips as well.


Tomorrow, i will show you the results from my attempts lol.

I had such fun, it reminded me of the days in the print room, at both college and uni. Oh boy did i enjoy printmaking. It really gives you a buzz, mono-printing, collograph, dry etching.

This technique was similar in some ways to acid etching, ie with the building up and washing away. Similar but different. lol

So get on over and have a try at one of her tutorials.

Tutorial coming up

This weekend I will be posting a tutorial for everyone to use. What is it?. Well here is a sneak preview

Can you tell what it is yet? lol.

This is a very simple tutorial, but with a fantastic outcome. I DO hope you'll join in and make one yourself.
Supplies needed:-
Card
Scrap paper,
Ink pads
lace
brad
embellishments
vintage images.
glue

And that's it.

So come on in, and join the fun

BACKGROUND PAPER

I promised a step by step of the background paper that i used for the Japanese Doll.
Ihave also used it for other projects, and found it extremely handy to have around.

First i took some thick paper, size A4,and coated it with pva glue. I usually use about 3 different colours of tissue paper, and you begin with the darket colour first. Just rip and stick down randomly, leaving plenty of the white paper showing. Add a coat of pva on top, to make sure that it is all stuck down. I do this with every layer.
Let it dry before adding additional layers, as it makes it so much easier.

Again i gave another coat of pva, on top of the last layer, as well as on top of the second layer.This time i used torn red tissue paper, and stuck down at random. still leaving parts of white paper showing through.

Third stage,you used the mid tone colour of your choise. I used bright pink on one half of the paper, and orange on the other. This was because i intend to make two dolls, one Japanese, and the other african, so rather than make two separate sheets, i decided to do it half and half.

The third layer, the palest of the colours is used. This time i used yellow tissue on the bottom half, but on the top i wanted to knock back the brightness of the pink, so i used pale pink along with pale grey, and a bit more red.

With all the different layers, and layers of pva glue in between, this has given the paper a good thickness, so when applied to card, it is quite stiff, and useful for embellishment making.

The final stage i've used gold embossing powder, stamped on at random. There is no need to be precise at any stage, as it will be cut up. The randomness of it all, adds to it, i feel.

Tomorrow, i will show you a doll made with this paper, that i hope to have made by then.