Some work we've been doing

The things we make in our time together and the things we make on our own at home are always interesting to see. You can see how different we all are, in the things we like to make.

You know Helen will be embroidering, probably on rug canvas.

 

She was working on this a few weeks back.  She said, "just don't ask me what it will be when it's finished". So we didn't. I  guess we'll find out in due course.

 



It was Robin's last meeting with us, as she's moving away soon. We'll miss her!

She was knitting, as she loves to do. This time, it was an intarsia jacket from the Jane Slicer-Smith book, Swing Swagger Drape.

Cindy was embroidering on paper. She likes to work in a mixed media kind of way, often involving paper. 

The piece is part of a collaborative work we're making for an exhibition. You'll see the various parts in due course, when they come in to us in March, and then the finished work. in April.

Carol loves all things shiny. This time, she was incising metal shim as an experiment.

She thinks it might be a book cover later on. Or maybe just a sample.

It certainly gives a gorgeous effect!





Nola was putting together her journal for the exhibition work she made late last year. Yes, usually you would do the journal as you go! But she had been keeping an online log throughout the process, and this was assembling the log and her samples into a visual record of her process. It's more useful to use in the future in this format than as a computer log, though the log is easier to keep as she goes.

Cindy brought along some sketchbooks she's using for an online course with Linda and Laura Kemshall. It's strongly focused on drawing but in a mixed media context.

They're gorgeous, aren't they?

Nola showed us some sample prints she'd made, on paper and cloth, exploring the possibilities of the foam board print plate.

This one was a three-colour print on cloth, experimenting with overlays to create shadows. The weave of the cloth is also a visible feature, as the print is only about 15cm x 10xm (6in x 4in).

We had very few postcards to swap, because we were all working hard on our collaborative work.

This one was made by Maz. 
 
It's hand stitched onto a cloth background, with the edges turned over a card base.

Cindy layered fabric strips and machine- stitched them down with fancy stitches. She added an applique butterfly created wit hand stitch.

The edges were machine satin stitched with variegated thread.

Next time, more about Habitation...

More Dala Sun Colors

After our unsuccessful sun printing session last time, we decided to give the Dala Sun Colors another try, this time on paper. We collected together all our stencils, foam brushes and spray bottles.



Cindy had brought some commercial stencils. She has quite a collection!

Here are two of her stencils being sprayed:



... and here's the result.

Now that's more like what we had in mind!

Cindy also created this page with her stencils...

Nola made this page with a commercial stencil too..

Maz got some lovely sharp images with really delicate stencils..

...and some brilliants results combining stencils.

Nola also created some paper stencils, which she coated with gesso on both sides.

The stencils were surprisingly robust.

She also made some prints with stencils she'd made with a glue gun.

Finally, Maz printed a length of cloth using a mixture of stencils...

Absolutely gorgeous!

We agreed that this was a much better way to use the medium.

The sun shone...

...which is a remarkable thing. Every time we plan an outdoor activity here at Fibrecircle, it rains. This time, it was not only the only fine day in the midst of cloudy rainy days but the UV index was high. We expected great things from our sun printing day.

 

Those expectations weren't really realised. We were using some Dala Sun Colours that Jan left for us. I think maybe we didn't understand the best way to use these colours. We used them in the same way as we'd used the Pebeo Soleil back here and here and Carol used the Sun Paint Kit for Kids here, but that may not have been the best method.

 

One strategy was to paint the fabric and then lay plant material over the top. We'd done this before with good results.

 

For her first piece, Yvonne painted the media onto cloth in stripes...

... added some leaves and yarn and put it out in the sun.

 

The results were quite faint, which was pretty typical of many of our prints.

This one from Cindy was about as exciting..

... as was this one from Nola.

Cindy managed this nice one with leaves..

... as did Maz.

Several of us tried overhead transparencies. Initially, we just laid them on but later Nola held hers down on the cloth surface with clamps, to maximise the contact with the cloth, and made sure the cloth was lying completely flat. These are Nola's..

 

The best of these was from Nola, but only because she accidentally put the transparency face down, and some of the ink transferred onto the cloth, which emphasised the faint traces of print.

 Yvonne's transparency print

Maz tried drawing simple shapes on stencil offcuts with a Sharpie pen.

but that wasn't hugely successful either.

The best results were with stencils, though Maz's first one was such a fizzer, she's asked us not to show it here at all! Cindy's was not terribly clear either

This one from Maz was a lot clearer...

 .. but the best of all was her bird.

But then she was using her own inks, not the Dala Sun Colours.

Then in desperation, we tried other things.
 

This one from Yvonne was with salt sprinkled over it and no resist...

... which came out rather nicely.

Cindy just crumpled up her wet cloth and left it to dry in the sun, with surprisingly pretty results.

As printing days go, this didn't really set the world on fire!

However, we haven't give up on these inks. We're going to use them as inks on paper, and maybe on fabric, when we meet next month. That sounds like a fairly safe bet.