Studio Samples

It’s nearly the end of the week already and I still haven’t caught up with what I did last weekend. I finally spent some time in the studio, after clearing the decks of other tasks, and quite literally, clearing off the tables. I’ve picked up work on a piece I started before I left – it was good to have the foundations already laid.

                                                    Yes, that IS the 'cleared off' table!

Having done some samples of paper lamination the previous week, I had a play with stitching on those.

I was keen to try the material I had bought from a florist wholesaler, hoping it was the same as the Lutrador we tried in our workshop - I was pretty happy with how it reacted to the heat gun after it was painted and stitched. Not quite the same, but pretty good.

Next I wanted to try some layering, so put together this selection topped with some crusty burnt lace.

The next sample was paired with organza, which is when I discovered it was the reverse that gave the effect I wanted. Classic. A perfect example of why we play.

So I tried it again, trapping some other fabrics in between. I was very happy with how the already distorted satin material seemed to be enclosed by the organza layer.

Then yesterday and today I started on the actual piece - first step was a lot of stitching around edges and cutting out. Today I got to work out the placement of all the pieces and where the colour splashes are to be - I just slapped on some acrylic to mark the spots where the fabric layers will be placed.

                                        It's good to be back creating with all these new ideas.

Paper lamination on fabric

Definitely nothing to do with paper in plastic pockets being heated in a machine, laminating paper onto fabric is basically glueing it on to fabric in order to get an image. I've had this book for years but somehow it's one of those things that never really made sense to me - until my recent workshop with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden. 

We didn't use this particular technique of attaching paper, we stitched it on to fabric then washed it away, leaving texture. I guess it gave me the confidence to give this a try.

Workshop sample

Although I've been manipulating some of my photos from my recent trip in Photoshop to get some crazy colours, I found an image from King Island I had previously been working on - a smashed sea urchin shell. I printed it out on my home computer - I'm guessing that's an inkjet printer? Apparently using rubbishy photocopy paper is the way to go, so I had that covered.

Following the instructions closely, I laid the paper print side up on my printing area, then pinned a fine polyester organza over it. 

Next I placed a screen over it, and squeegeed through acrylic paint medium so it wet through the organza and the paper. After drying flat for 10 minutes, I hung it up to dry in the sun, then heat set it with an iron.

After that it was a soak in a lukewarm bath for 10 minutes, then I was able to start rubbing and scraping away the back half of the paper - it almost splits into two - leaving the front half with the image attached to the fabric. When it was dry again I ironed it to get rid of the worst of the wrinkles.

Although the vivid colour has been lost, I'm calling this a successful process sample. I guess you could call it a bit of a dodgy brothers digital print to fabric technique! I am wondering how a print-out done at Officeworks will fare in comparison - I might try that next. This is a way of creating a background to begin stitching into - the beginnings of 'complex cloth'.