Rounding off 2013

This will be the last post for 2013.  As I said at the end of my last post, I still had a few serendipity pieces to post. A few is just that – three of them.

This started out as a piece of brown paper.  I used it to wipe excess paint from any brushes before washing them.  The colour scheme and knowing when it is complete gets easier the more you do.  The colours of this piece of serendipity reminded me of some metal shim which had been printed with Lazertran and baked to fuse the two.  I embossed the surface, picking out the slightly abstract design.  I used a piece of card and cut out two windows slightly smaller than the shim. I covered the card with the serendipity paper. The printed shim was placed behind the windows and held in place by gold metallic knitted ribbon and machined to the surface using a zig zag machine stitch and gold thread.  I proud mounted it onto green card.
The next serendipity piece is an open box.

The paper for this piece was hand-made paper so it had a textured surface. It was large enough to make four sides to an open box. I used another piece of Lazertran printed metal shim. I cut it into four pieces and secured each piece behind a window cut in each side of the box. Each window was in a different quarter of each side. The sides were lined with black felt and joined with a machined zigzag stitch.
The final serendipity piece is a book mark.

I used a small piece of serendipity hand-made paper and applied it to a piece of card cut into the shape and size of a book mark. I stitched a piece of gold braid down the centre and some matching eyelash thread around the sedges.
Having used up quite a bit of my serendipity paper, I turned back to my art quilts.  I have a large number of them finished now.  the first one I am posting began as the image of a clock which had belonged to my mother-in-law. The image had been taken as part of my photographic file on time pieces which became an AV. As is my style, it was only part of the face which I called ‘Half Time’.

I put this into Photoshop and applied a filter which gave me colours which inspired me to use for an art quilt.

I printed this design onto white cotton.  I used both free machining and straight stitch to quilt the piece.

Once the stitching was complete I used metallic paints over parts of the surface to add to the effect.
The next art quilt began as an image taken at a mining museum up in the Durham Dales.  I love to photograph all things rusty.  They have such wonderful colours and textures.  This image was of a pile of old rusty wheels.

Once again I applied a filter in Photoshop and loved the colours it produced.

This was printed onto white cotton then free machined.  Once the machining was complete I dry brushed metallic paint over the surface.

The next art quilt began as a macro image of the workings of an old battered clock.

Once again I applied a filter to create a pleasing colour scheme.

This was printed on  white cotton but as you will see in all previous prints, the result of the printing onto cotton reduces the impact of the colours from those on screen even though I always increase the saturation greatly to compensate. I have, in the past managed to over print to get a stronger colour finish.  To do this, it is important to get the printed cotton in exactly the right place and ‘fool’ the printer to accept it.  The printer will reject an input which is already printed – clever huh? I have developed a way to fool the printer.  Occasionally, the feed is not always perfect and so the second print is slightly offset giving a ghost print.  This is what happened this time. So…. I decided to print another one with just one print.

As you can see, the colours are a bit washed out, but I still stitched the quilt and added some metallic paint to the surface.  However, I could not let the other printed quilt not be used, so I decided to free machine it anyway.  This was a difficult task as I had to find and define which lines I was stitching.  When it was complete and I had applied the paint, unexpectedly, I preferred this quilt.

The next art quilt began as an image of a laburnum archway at Newby Hall gardens.  It was in full bloom and looking beautiful.

I used the filter ‘cut out’ on the image then I selected different parts of the image and duplicated them.  I created a composite using these images.I had a lot of small images of different sizes and shapes.  Each of them was printed onto white cotton. Each of them was free machined. When they were complete the were assembled into the final composite and stitched together.

I applied some paint onto the surface to add effect.

This is a close up of the final art quilt.
The final art quilt for this post is one which I have posted before.  It was a black and white zentangle quilt with black zentangles on the white squares.  It has been hung in my workroom for quite some time and I had always wanted to fill the black squares with white zentangles but wasn’t sure about it.  Eventually, as I had used the time sitting on a long haul flight to create another eight designs, I decided I should use them so I free machined these designs in white thread on the black squares.  I am glad that I did.

So, that is it for this post and for this year.  There is still a big pile of finished art quilts to be posted but they will be posted next year in 2014.  Doesn’t time fly?????

Here’s wishing everyone an enjoyable, creative 2014.

Cheers
SAS

Serendipity and jars

It has been quite a while since I posted.  During that time I have been having a clear out of my wardrobe and drawers then stripping down all the fabric that is recyclable. This gave me a huge pile of fabric and so led me to create and make a lot of bag totes. They will be posted in the future.

I have also been to Rome so a lot of images to process and I have at last finished my audio-visual of Paris.  I have also made a small start on my Paris textile project. Busy, busy

After I finished my Venice project, I decided I needed to use up some of my serendipity papers and fabrics.  These are created by using paper and fabric pieces as 'mop ups'. I never rinse away paint or inks from my brushes, I wipe them on the paper or fabric.  Then I put them into water and wipe them again on the paper and fabric. I keep doing this until there is no colour left.  I do have a number of pieces of paper and fabric for this and try to use them in colour ranges.  They give some wonderful coloured papers and fabric pieces as you will see in the items I made using them.




 This is a book cover.  It began as the holder for the food on a flight to America.  It was printed but it was lined with a fibre which gave it strength.  I used it to wipe my paint brushes until it was completely covered.  As it was too big for the book I was covering, the piece I cut off became a fastener for the book.  I used a small piece of velcro to close and applied a paper cast of a key for decoration.  Most of the paints on this are metallic but the image here looks a bit dull.  It is actually more vibrant.

This is a notelet pad cover.  The centre image of the cover is a printed image of a Da Vinci  sketch.  It is printed on  metal shim and then embossed. The frame around this embossed shim is a piece of serendipity hand-made paper. These are mounted onto pelmet vilene which was first colour washed then sponged with the colours of the paper frame.










This too is a notelet pad cover.  The front is a piece of hand-made paper which had a leaf spray embedded into it.  It was coloured by wiping my brush onto it as explained above.  Silver leaf sequins were applied.  It was mounted onto pelmet vilene which was first colour washed then stamped with a leaf spray and finally silver transfer foil applied.













This was another piece of serendipity hand-made paper which had a spray of leaves embedded into it.  It was colour washed on the reverse and folded in half. Printer paper was cut and colour washed then stitched into the folded cover.A length of dyed narrow knitted ribbon was used to close the booklet.

Another piece of serendipity hand-made paper folded to make a notelet cover.  Pink printer paper was spritzered with ink and stitched into the cover.  A little bird charm was attached for decoration and a length of yarn which had the same colours as the cover holds the booklet closed.














This piece of serendipity hand-made paper was folded and decorated with a paper cast of a feather.  It was glued to pelmet vilene.  The pelmet vilene was colour washed with similar colours to those of the paper front.  It was then stamped with the feather stamp which had been used to make the paper cast.

This book began as a scrap piece of white satin.  I had used it as a mop up for silk paints and sometimes metallic paint.  When I felt that there was enough colour in the fabric, it was ironed.  I made a stencil of a poppy-seed head.  This was stencilled right across the fabric. The stencilled poppy heads were also highlighted.  Next I machine quilted around the poppy heads onto a piece of wadding.  I cut a piece of pelmet vilene to be the cover of an A5 size book.








This was another piece of the serendipity satin fabric.  This one was decorated with partially stencilled oak leaves.  They were quilted onto colour washed and stencilled pelmet vilene.  Knitted viscose ribbon was machined in stripes over the surface. More ribbon was used to close the book.
 











These three pocket booklets were made using serendipity silk fabric.  They were free machine quilted onto colour washed pelmet vilene. They were further embellished with sequins and beads. Dyed viscose ribbon was used to close two of the booklet  and a crocheted chain stitch ribbon for the booklet on the left.











When I had used up some of my serendipity papers and fabrics I decided to expand on the altering of jars or bottles.  I had completed one of these for the Venice project and had collected more decorative jars to alter.





This jar was painted  with black gesso then cut outs of oak leaves were stuck to the surface and also painted with black gesso.  I then used an interference paint to colour the leaves and the decoration in the glass around the bottom. I hung a leaf charm on a chain around the neck of the jar.









This glass jam jar was covered with molding paste and flower paper casts applied and embedded onto either side.  It was painted with metallic paint and the flower paper casts highlighted with gold gilding wax.  A chain of charms was hung around the neck.









This jar was painted with black gesso then using a glue gun I spread shapes across the surface, then spread a web of fine glue across this surface. More black gesso was applied followed by the interference paint to obtain the green colouring.  The glue was finger highlighted with gold gilding wax.











This jar was also covered with molding paste.  Paper casts of keys were applied around the jar.It was all painted with bronze metallic paint and the keys highlighted with gold gilding wax.  Key charms were strung around the neck on a chain.  The inside of the jar was painted with black gesso.







The inside and outside of this empty tartare sauce jar were painted with black gesso.  Paper casts of clock faces were glued onto the sides.  The jar was then painted with bronze metallic paint.  Small clock face charms were strung around the neck from a chain.









There are a few more serendipity pieces but I think this post is long enough for today.
I have also been indulging in my art quilting so there are a large number of them waiting to be posted too.

Cheers for now.

Venice project is complete

Now that I have returned from my trips to Paris and Monte Carlo I thought I had better post the final pieces of the Venice project which is now complete.  It totals 106 pieces - much bigger than I had planned.  I have been booked to give a talk on this project and will have a problem trying to compact it into an hour. I have had a couple of ideas but will need to do a trail run to see if they will fit into the hour.
Meanwhile, here are the final pieces.
I had six quilted panels left over from the Ripple art quilt.  When I was printing the panels for the art quilt, I forgot to flip some of them so had to reprint which meant that I had six spare ripple panels. Not wanting to leave them unused, I decided to make one into a small pocket booklet.  Pocket pages were stitched into the quilted ripple cover.

The remaining five were made into needle case books each with a different technique.  Each had felt pages stitched inside.

This one had painted and beaded bronze hinges.

This one used the digitised distorted Venice text.  It was stitched out by the embroidery machine and then outlined with gold Japanese thread.

This one used the mask stamp which I over painted.

This one used a built-in digitised letter in a medieval style.  It was stitched out using a copper/bronze thread.

This one used the capital letters of the name Venice, stencilled and painted.

There was one more needle case which used up the spare printed image of the layer of the Contarini palace.

 

 I used metallic paint to highlight parts of the image.

My final two pieces depict one of the things Venice is famous for -  masks.  I wanted to make a full mask and also an eye mask.  I found a papier maché mask at a local craft shop and so that I could use it again, I decided to make my own paper cast of it.  I covered it with cling film first then applied numerous layers of toilet tissue with PVA.  Once dry it set hard and could be removed from the mold. I gave it a coat of gesso then with metallic paints. I painted the mouth and around the eyes with black paint followed by a coat of interference paint.  These areas were then coated with opal dust which is a thin glue full of tiny mica.  I made the acanthus leaf motifs from pelmet vilene.  They were glued onto the mask and tiny sequins added under one of the eyes.

I made the next eye mask in the same way.  This mask was painted with black gesso and interference paint and then with opal dust.  I outlined the eyes and edges of the mask  with metallic twist. The added decoration was made from pelmet vilene. I painted a wooden kebab stick to match and fastened it to the mask for the handle.

And that completes the project all 106 pieces.

Since completing Venice, I have been back to Paris to finish the photography for the next project which will be, of course, Paris.

Since finishing Venice, I have had a chance to play with some new techniques, use up stored serendipity papers and fabrics and created new art quilts.  They will be featured on the next post.

So until then, Cheers everyone.

Penultimate Venice project - I think!!

It has been a long, long time since my last post. It is that 'time fairy' again.  Not enough hours in the day to do everything.  So instead of all the reasons and 'excuses' for the delay, I will get straight on with posting more of the Venice project pieces.

The first of the pieces is a set of jewellery.  The source for the design came from Venetian glass.  I used glass gems and enclosed them in fine metal thread tubing separating them with small silver beads.

The next series of pieces came from digital manipulation of some of the images creating patterns and colours far removed from the original image.  The patterns were printed onto printer transfer paper.  I created bookmarks, bag tags, booklets and folders.  The first image is of a set of bookmarks.  The printed transfer paper was ironed onto pelmet vilene which had been colour washed first using a matching colour.  The surfaces were enhanced with embossing powders and gilding pens.

The next image is of a bag tag. This time it was ironed onto black craft vilene.

This is a small booklet.  The transfer paper was ironed onto coloured pelmet vilene.  Parts of the pattern were highlighted with a gold pen.  I stitched pale green pages inside and closed with some dyed viscose ribbon.

This is a small folder was machine stitched, picking out the main features of the design.  This machine stitching also decorated the inside of the folder which had been coloured first.  I also sponged the inside with lilac paint.

This next piece is very similar to the bookmark but this time I cut windows out, buttonhole stitched around the holes and then placed printed acetate images of Venice in the windows.  I repeated this for the back which means that it can be viewed from both sides and hence became a hanging.  Beads were added and tassels at the bottom.

I ironed the transfer paper onto black felt to create this bracelet.  It was enhanced with glass gems, beads and stitching.

I made a stencils using some of the carved stones in the wall of the Basillica.  I used these stencils to create a book cover.  I had some fabric left over from dress making many years ago - and was just what I needed.  It represented the waters of Venice.  Using silver paint, I stencilled the designs onto the surface of the fabric.  I made it into a quilt sandwich and machined around the designs.  I added some gold paint to highlight part of one design.

I always use the text of the place of a project so I digitised a distorted text of Venice and stitched it out for the flap of a bag. It was stitched over some dyed fibres made into a fabric. It was then outlined with a gold twist.

Much of the paint work in Venice is old, faded, discoloured and peeling.  I quite like old peeling paint doors and always photograph them.  I loved the colours of this door and it had been the design source for a few pieces.  This time it was the design source for a tile I created.

This is the door and the part that I used is the small square which I think is a mini door for checking who is knocking before opening.  I had to create the different parts of this square.  The raised frame was made from tissue and PVA over a strip of fancy edging wood.  I had some green wire which I twisted into the pattern of the wire in the square.  Not easy. I put them all together on a piece of stiff board.  Painted it with black gesso and the used a green interference to achieve the green patina and then highlighted with silver metallic paint.

Finally, I printed an image from Venice onto Avalon which had been coated with InkAID first.  I cut it into three panels and stitched them onto the flap of a denim fabric wich I made up into a bag.

I machined Venice along the handle.

So, that leaves just one more post to complete my Venice project.
Until then, cheers everyone.