Inspiration Wednesday

I have been noticing that we are including much more mixed media in our work of late and I signed up for a course this year which has been quite interesting. I joined Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday course earlier this year but have only just got going on it. It consists of a new video every two weeks which is basically about playing with different materials and layouts for a journal. Some of the ideas probably won't translate to fabrics but most will. I have only just got going on this year's classes as well time is always a challenge isn't it! 

But I've signed up for next year as I think the different techniques that she demonstrates are quite fun and worth a look.

It isn't that expensive I only paid £29 for next year (it's in dollars so you have to pay attention to the exchange rate). 

Here's a link to her web if you want to see what she's offering. I do like Donna, her stencils are fab and her outlook and way of working are really down to earth and inspiring. If you want to do something on mixed media that isn't so intense but much more about playing and fun then have a look.

http://donnadowney.typepad.com/

She also does a find out Friday feature which features different artists creating pictures using limited materials and the Artist's Gang is also worth a look. Both of these features are free. 

Just thought that I'd pass on the info, if you know of any good courses or exhibitions then let us know and I'll post them for you ! 

November meet - idea to try!

Further info on the meeting

Mel has a very intriguing idea about making a book cover. It looks very interesting and lots of fun. I sense a messy session or is that just me! I like messy sessions!

Here is a list of what we will need if we wish to have a go...

 you will need: piece of fabric the size you want to make, can be anything but cotton or calico is a good standby – it will be a good way of using up stained fabric.  Flour (Mel will bring some) PVA glue or gesso, hairdryer, table cover, newspaper to work on, bowl / container to make mix in, something to spread the mix with a credit card or flat knife that sort of thing.  Rubber gloves if you don’t like getting gooey hands, apron and paints.  Paper to decorate to make inside cover.  

That should be everything but apologies if anything has been forgotten- you can add your own bits and bobs I am sure! 

Sounds good. I'll definitely have a go! 
If anyone else has any project ideas then let me know! 

November meeting

Our next meeting will be on November 5th!

We will be looking at using paper or stationary to create pieces of delicious-ness!

It will be an opportunity to use different papers to create backgrounds or motifs to use within designs or to stand alone.
I am sure we have lots of different types of papers in our stash and don't forget you can get paper tape or yarn now too.

I have started a Pinterest board with some ideas on- just search paper in textiles on the site and you will come up with my board. I will try and add more to it before our meeting.

I have had a go at creating a paper collage to add to a piece- I am working hard on making faces of late. It is something that I enjoy doing and after many an online course- see the Life Book button on the right - I am hopefully getting better at it! I was going to stick my pieces down with bondaweb like applique but it was far too fiddly so ended up using the trusty gel medium and have stuck it all to a cheap canvas. I am hoping that I will be able to take it off the frame and sew it to a background which I am hoping to make a week on Saturday. I might break a few needles though! Best bring goggles!

Then again you could try finding some of Cas Holmes work on diaries and fabric books. Her work is wonderful if you look it up. She makes a diary or joins pieces together made out of fabrics and papers. Remember you can add and fix your pieces with different things- wires, string, clips anything we are not necessarily sew! There's also Becky Adams who is based in Penarth. She makes wonderful things from paper and might be one to look up for future workshops. We also have Pauline and her wonderful paper ideas and books that she showed us at the last meeting..... would you like us to bring anything Pauline to try things out ???

Hope that everyone will be able to attend. I'll bring lots of paper with me and I am so looking forward to seeing how we all take using this material. I have lots of ideas but putting them on or with paper (ha!) might be another thing!

I'll let you know if we need any further materials although this is a bring what you like day as we have the hall to spread out and help each other! 

Here's my face from paper although with the amount of gel medium I used it might take the machine out on Saturday !

Mash up!

I have finally finished my mash up of different pieces that I wasn't that happy with. I kept looking at them and thinking, well I like them but.... so decided to cut them up and mash them together. Have been thinking about the theme of cracks so decided to try and put spaces between the pieces as sort of cracks!

But it didn't seem to have any focus so made lots of circles out of wire and wrapped them with paper tape that I found in a bargain store. I spent ages sewing them on and that made it all go a bit wonky so had to readjust! 

I added some metal circles as well just to get different textures and sizes.

Then added some paper pieces and lots of texture. I added lots of jewelry findings, cogs, beads, washers- anything really just to add some interest to the places where there was very little stitching and it was quite blank. I used gel medium to add all the extra bits. I also added some texture paste through a stencil and covered the glue bits with art stones from Prima. I then made the scary decision to cover the entire thing with black gesso. This was pretty scary as I didn't know if I would ruin it all and end up having to just start again! I did leave some of the circles clear so you could see the stitching and shapes and also to provide a focal highlight going through the piece.

I then brought the textures back by mixing mica powders with a small amount of gel medium and with more or less a dry brush, brushing it over the black gesso. I love this technique it picks up all the textures from the metal pieces to the stitches and the fabric textures beneath. 

It still didn't seem to hold together or have any flow to it so I added some long stitches from all the circles to make them look more spiky. This I am much happier with. So all I have to do now is add something to the back to hang it up! It has lots of holes rather than cracks though! 

will have to get a photo of it finished now! 

If anyone would like me to document the making of their artworks then let me know or send me photos! 

September workshop meeting

Some more info about the first meeting in September.
Mel has given a list of items that could be useful for our burning, heating, distorting experimental, fun workshop.
Mel says......

For Saturday September 3^rd we will be concentrating on burning, so the following would be good:  we need table covers and a heat mat if you have one, respirators / Breathing masks (Amazon have whole face ones for £4.50 or half face for £9.50 -don’t ask me why).  Tyvek is good, Angelina fibres, fabrics that melt/burn organzas, kunin felt etc, fabrics that don’t burn or melt to stitch pieces to or to give stability.  I found that sweet wrappers (ie Quality Street) do not melt with a heat gun. Colourful plastic bags, embossing powders/paint (Stewart Gill paints are good) or acrylics, inks, whatever takes your fancy;  puff paint, expanding medium etc.  Heat gun, soldering iron,  glue gun and glue.  In fact all sorts of things that the imagination can think of.  Apparently Lutrador is good, but I have never used it.

I can say that I love Lutrador, it is a wonderful fabric to sew, colour and heat and gives a wonderful texture when heated. It is however quite dangerous for your throat and chest. If you are going to burn Lutrador then please use a mask and work in a well ventilated area. I had a dreadful sore throat after using it once and I learnt my lesson so I would urge you to make sure you use the right safety equipment. Most plastics will give off fumes as will acrylic paints if you add them to your materials first so again, use a mask.

I have set up a pinterest page on heated textiles so if anyone would like to join and add their own pins then let me know and I can send you an invite.
There is a pin on there about a course that uses laminated fabrics for a burning project. You could heat some fabric, stitch them, or add sheer layers to them (not too much) and then try putting them through a laminator. The laminator can then be reheated or embellished with a soldering iron.


Looking forward to having a fun experimental and investigative day in September, start collecting your materials now!


Also don't forget you will need to bring your sewing machine and associated items (extension lead, threads etc) and hand sewing items if you want to join or combine materials or stitch them first to create a resist. This works well with Tyvek.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Summer, we have had a few lovely days. The puppy below is just because I love him! He's so sleepy!

Adding embellishments

Not sure if I have posted this picture before and I apologise if I have but I decided to add some embellishments to my gelli  print background. I made the gelli prints during Sheila's workshop and decided to add organza as they were a bit bright. Then added the face and flowers on the top. I added the metal embellishments using gel medium. I am not sure if you are familiar with gel medium but it is super stuff for sticking down almost everything. If you don't want to have to stitch pieces down then you can use the gel medium. You can get it now in most craft or art shops and I think they also do it in some places like the Range. It comes in gloss or matt but this will not matter if you are only using it to stick down items. There is also a 3D version and a heavy body version (mostly from Prima or Liquitex- you would have to get them from an art shop online) and they are wonderful for sticking down heavier items or larger ones.
Anyways thought I would post the picture just in case there are any of us that don't know about the gel medium as it is a fab product. I can always get some for people if you would like to use it.

Have a look at the link opposite!

Just a quick message to ask you to look at the link opposite called Textile Artist.org. There are some very interesting articles on there and I found one by Anne Honeyman and her fabrics are amazing. She specialising in the fragile using machine embroidery. The work is very interesting and the link is here
http://www.textileartist.org/anne-honeyman-interview-fragility-fluidity-and-structure/


There is also an article on Sue Hotchkis whose work I know has inspired Averil in the past. She does lots of lovely pieces on rust and .... cracks!
http://www.textileartist.org/sue-hotchkis-interview-free-motion-machine-embroidery-and-print/


Also there are a few articles on Cas Holmes whose work I really like
http://www.textileartist.org/finding-inspiration-for-textile-art-by-cas-holmes/


http://www.textileartist.org/reflections-life-home-and-work-cas-holmes/


Please check it out as there is some lovely stuff on there!