Process - Challenge 15

On September 4 Vicki's challenge for the group was to show our process. The blog for the next several months showed posts by members of their inspiration, designs and creative processes. Click on the Challenge 15 tab above to view the results of our Process challenge.

The End of the Process

The process of laminating fabric as developed by Claire Benn, has a bigger learning curve than I anticipated. I purchased her book, Paper & Metal Leaf Lamination, read it, watched the DVD and thought about the process. She recommends printing the papers to be laminated at least a week before the lamination process is begun which I did not strictly adhere to and I believe this is one factor that affected the lack of stronger colors in my fabric.

The collage above shows the photographs I began with. The two on the left and the black and white photo were photos of iris manipulated with a kaleidoscope filter in Photoshop. The brown photo was pine leaves, also manipulated.

The final process, after rubbing with oil pastel colors to create texture and fusing the pieces to a white sheet, was minimal quilting. No batting was used. The quilting design was based on the diagonal lines in the black and white photo above.The borders were sew on after quilting and the last step was to adhere the completed piece to a gallery wrapped canvas.

I am not sure I will try this process again. It was very labor intensive and probably takes months to perfect the technique. The outcome is different than what I anticipated. It is definitely one of a kind. I still have no come up with a title, so give me some suggestions.

The feather process

So I got there in the end!  After my last round failure, I thought a lot about  my philosophy of creating and how we need to give ourselves permission to fail and to think of it as a positive, learning process.  As well, I believe fully that creating is about the process, not the product.  Producing an end item is good, if it happens, but it is the process that I wish to enjoy.  If I don't, then really, is it worth while? Creativity is, for me supposed to be a fun, happy process.
Well, for my process, I have posted

here

here

here

here

here

and here

The last step has been the beaded edges of the layered mini quilts

I love how the beading (which was endless, so lucky I enjoyed it) emphasises the dimensionality of the layers.

Here (Sorry about the blur) you can see I didn't bead the outer edge, but bound it with organza ribbon.  There is a limit to my persistence!

And here is my finished piece.  Because it was based on a spread in my sketchbook, I just used some large stitches in the centre to 'bind' it like a book.  I did not however stitch through the centre feather. I thought that might detract from the focus.

Garden 2014

The last steps of my process ...... after getting the basics together I had to decide how to finish the quilting. I chose a shiny black thread to outline the petals and then filled in with a gold metallic thread.

 Then how to finish the outer border..... I cut and placed fuzzy yarns which almost made the final cut...

 or how about adding a clay snake or worm? and do I add the black and white dotted fabric as binding or a yellow binding?

 No, I chose to face the quilt and keep it simple with the clay wiggle and four simple beads.

 I'm wondering if I added too much and should remove the clay pieces and go for even simpler. But for now it stays.

 Some close ups ... I did get some raw edges with the green strips as hoped for and I love the leaf prints in Lisa's sun-prints!

Thanks Vicki for another fun challenge!

Step # ?

After deciding which of the laminated fabric pieces to use, it seemed that a little more interest need to be added. The most successful of these embellishment attempts was using an oil pastel crayon and rubbing over a piece of needlepoint canvas.

The next step was fusing the pieces to a background. Covering the area to be fused with parchment paper, kept the crayon and the polyester fabric from sticking to the iron.

Now quilting??

Getting on

I have finished quilting the other pieces to my feathers!
But of course I forgot to photograph them.
The next step was to decide what to do with all the edges!
I have decided to bead them and so I needed to seal them

Here I am painting the contour cut edges with white glue.

I did both sides.  You can see here that I have not put any backing fabric on.  This is just one of my little foibles.  I always leave the backing off, and add it it after I have finished handstitching to cover up my threads.

Here are my pieces hanging up to dry.

And the dried pieces arranged as they will be in the finished piece.

And here I am beading the edge of the centre piece.  I hope I will finish the beading in time!  Also, notice I am using a mix of beads.  I did not have enough of any particular colour to do the whole edge, so I have chosen a range of colours that are in the fabric.

Process Showing Progress

This week I moved along quickly with my Process.

 I laid out the fabrics I would start with and selected the threads that I thought would work best for the quilting. I decided to stitch my fabrics together onto my batting as I went and do some of the quilting as I went along, so chose a backing fabric and ironed it onto my batting. I'm using a polyester batting with glue on one side.

Playing with various options for the corners, thinking some black and white fabric would suggest the butterflies who visit the garden.

 Always thinking of adding some clay pieces....

 With no raw edges it didn't feel right as my garden is not nearly so perfect to suggest no raw edges so I decided to tear some strips of green fabric, twist it as I stitched it on and hope for some raw edges showing hap-haphazardly.

 I had some gold jump rings laying on my table so laid them in the center over the mad quilting I had done with variegated thread.

 I decided to leave that idea behind but may add some had stitching in metallic thread later.

Next is the gold metallic stitching through the petals...... and how to finish .... I'm feeling confident it will be ready for the 24th. Now back to the garden for more inspiration......

A Never Ending Process

After seeing the results from my previous laminating experiences, I decided to try laminating images printed in only black and gray and black.

The black ink only image remained black.

The black and grays image became a paler black and the grays have a greenish tinge.

So back to more experimenting.

Progress Beyond the Sketchbook

Several weeks back I got out my machine and did some stitching with my friend Jackie. I was just randomly cutting and stitching, hoping to get inspired for my pocket quilt. Later I played with these two pieces but it didn't lead me anywhere but out to the garden. With the new reveal date I have renewed hope of revealing on time. So this week I made a few more sketches of ideas thinking that I needed to incorporate or refer to what has been one of my major time consumers in the past couple months. THE GARDEN seemed to surface. So instead of continuing with my pockets idea I switched to the garden. I also decided to incorporate photography as that is one of my passions when I'm out in the garden. So I found this on my shelf ..... I cut up some fabric and soaked it in the Bubble 200, ironed on some freezer paper, cut to size and ready to print.

I decided to alter a few photos in Photoshop and headed to the printer only to find it out of colored ink. So to the store ..... no ink for our old printer, too old and no time to wait for mail order so back to the store. New printer ....

 Only one of four test pages jammed so the printer is a keeper.

 I've chosen one photo of a Sand Dune Sun Flower... and I'll combine it with a sun-print of leaves from Lisa. I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use Lisa's fabric and this seems perfect, thanks Lisa!

 So I think I'm on a roll now.....

Starting to stitch

I am just started on my stitching of the base of my piece.

Here is the bottom layer, stitched.  I am hoping to have time to do a little hand stitching and beading, but we will see.

Now I just have to rinse and repeat with the other layers.

Since four of us would like a bit more time and this is all supposed to be fun, Reveal date has been moved to the 24th.  Breathe.  You now have an extra 8 days!

Spirit pillow - progress and process

At my last post, I had designed several Celtic knot wreaths.  Next step in the PROCESS was to narrow it down to one of the designs.  This is the one I selected.

Fabric selection was next.  I found a black/white striped fabric that I thought could work for birch and a brown/tan stripe that may suffice for cedar.  I also wanted some background that might give the impression of being "high on a hill"; you know "airy like".  A Northcott Stonehenge worked beautifully.

After tracing the Celtic knot to the background fabric, I made some bias tape and have started attaching it to the traced pattern like this

and like this

The bias strips are now all attached.  Next will come the hand stitching (lots of it).  Something representing a willow needs to be added.  There are a few more items to add so I'd best get going.  November 24th will be here before I know it.

More Process- Beverly

I spent some more time with my piece this weekend.  It had been telling me that it wanted a pop of color- I thought of lime green, orange, or red- but Brigitte suggested giving orange a try, so I did!  I had a lovely piece of yellow-orange that I'd done as part of a gradation a few years ago, and it gave me just the pop I was hoping for. So, it is all pieced, sandwiched, and ready to quilt.

 

When I was looking at it on my table- it also told me something else.  I'd been assuming this was the orientation, but when I saw it upside-down- that just worked better.

 

So that's where I am.  I will have to scramble to get it quilted in time- at least I have a good idea of what I want to do.  And the Christmas soaping is done, so that won't be getting in the way.

Time is Wasting

The actual process began today. It isn't as if nothing has been going on. The thermofax screen has been, prepared for use. The printing surface, plywood covered with 4 layers of old sheet and a bottom layer of felt is ready. The images for laminating have been printed.

polyester voile, images, thermofax screen, matte medium, padded print surface

applying matte medium to voile - images are underneath voile

heat setting to laminate the voile and the paper using parchment paper

soaking to soften paper for removal

Removing paper from back side of voile

the result

It appears that there is a whole lot more practice with the process which needs to happen before I have anything bordering on what I was expecting. Most of the colors on the printed image vanished, and the matte medium was not evenly distributed so some of the image did not adhere.  Back to square one.

..and then wait 72 hours.

So today, I painted my Fabric for my piece.

I used acrylic, simply because it was easier.  I intend to do a lot of free motion embroidery and the stiffness helps with that.  The piece at the top was an extra piece that I put all the leftover paint on.
When they dried, which was not long as it was very hot today, I stencilled the feathers.

I used shiva sticks to do the stencilling, although I could have just used paint.  The one on the left was my scrap piece and I thought it looked a bit like monet's waterlilies, so I added a bit of paintstick to make it look more like it!

And now.  Wait 72 hours.  I put quite a bit on, so although stencilled images can dry quicker, I will wait the whole time, 'till tuesday, just to be sure.  and then I'll be doing a lot of stitching between then and the due date.