Now you see it, now you don't, now you see it

I guess i'm one of the few who enjoys working with invisible thread :} When i Googled, i found 99.9% of the images and sites were commercial---very inspiring, a shot of a spool of invisible thread--_whoooo.......

Leigh Anne Lester however has some pretty cool stuff, though her focus is more the use of it to hold plastic together---ethereal and icy!

I also signed up for Maggie Grey's Workshop on the Web, and am looking forward to learning some new things to apply to more than artsy journals and bags :} I discovered this site yonks ago, and never had the wherewithal to go for it, financially or confidence wise.

Dragged out some of my library too, to really look at things---i WISH i had taken note in '94 when i bought Juliet Bawden's book "The Art and Craft of Applique", that she had mentioned and showcased textile artists who were incorporating paper and found objects in the late 80's/early 90's! Note to self--read the WHOLE book, not just the good bits and the pictures! I highly recommend going through some of your own treasured tomes and seeing if there's anything you missed, or that you now understand or want to try with elan :}

And now on a completely unrelated note---i just realized getting a marriage license without current photo id is nigh on impossible! I've planned what we're wearing, who's going to be there, where and what flowers i'm getting, but it will be a sad moot point if the JP says "Umm no marriage license, no marriage".............

*another* one.......

photo test 

Invisible Woman, a kind of love story

I've had invisible thread in my stash for yonks, using it only occasionally, usually snarling at the snarls and the difficulty in threading a needle, any needle, with it. In the last couple of days, i have finally whipped it into submission and am falling in love with it.

I like the way the needle leaves a hole as the nylon pulls just the slightest bit, i like the delicately raised strip it leaves when you use a zigzag, i like the texture it gives quilted over a sheer or a tulle, over metallics and heavy areas of paint. I really like the way it blends torn strings of sheers right into the background. It nudges aside the weft and warp on cotton and sinks into velvet, resting on the bottom like a fallen strand of hair.

It lets the fabric speak without an edge to its voice.

Coupled with the takeout box pattern and this sly line, i have 3 more cutout and ready to go! One box will be a deep foresty green rayon velvet that i've stamped turquoise ferns and lilac flowery circles on, one is from the fabrics below, and one will be my beloved rusts and rusty bits.

The black and white w/ a splash of gold background is a monoprint done with Polyfab, 15 years ago!  The script is mostly backwards because at the time i forgot about mirroring, and i have no idea now what it says, (something about a forest?)......The dragonflies will be cut out and appliqued---originally they were on a sheer vest that was made too small for any decently sized woman. I've stamped a few areas of the "background" with turquoise, purple and bronze as well.

And i do know myself----i will probably create 4 in a breathless week, then not make any for months or years :}

Take-out from Madame LaToussa's Cafe de Chinoiserie

I saw these boxes a long time ago when i was first cruising the net, and always wanted to make a few! That idea solidified with one of the back issues of QA that DebL had kindly sent me---- there was an article and photos with instructions by the artist i had discovered then, Leslie Gelber. I had already used an actual take out box as the pattern, and was semi-confident of the construction, but Leslie's article helped with a few points.

The delight of these boxes is that they can be as simple or as ornate as you want. My first one was created from the purple sample i showed in a previous entry-----worked up beautifully because of the weight and hand. MIL had literally an hour before handed me a couple of strands of old shell necklaces and they were perfect for some of the embellishments! I left some as they were and painted a few as well. (She also gave me some lovely little hankies that i'm planning on turning into one of these for her :} I might not have it done for her birthday, Friday, but i know she'll love it whenever she gets it!))

My purple piece wasn't quite big enough, so i let some of the edges be wonky:

Front:

Back:

Side:

For the handle, i doubled a piece of wire, sliding the looped end through the gold ring, twisting it to anchor, then wrapped one "strand" with the hairy yarn, twisted them together and looped through the other gold ring. The gold rings are grommet parts that i can't use (yet) because i don't have a proper setter for them.

Leslie's pieces don't have a slit in them to close, but since i had already cut one from my cardboard box pattern, i used a button to close it--she used ties, toggles and all kinds of stuff. I also didn't need to have cut little holes for the handle as the sides are stitched together and embellished, with the handle attached to that point. Fortunately they are hidden by the HY :}

She had also mentioned using buckram or a cardboard takeout container as an interlining---mine was stiff enough to need only lining to hide the quilting.

Leslie doesn't appear to have a website anymore---i know it was a fabulous one, but it's gone for whatever reason, though if you Google, you will find info and pics of her work.

Squarespace is still not behaving, so i can't post pics as thumbnails for you to click on for larger details, sorry! If you do want to see them closer, head over to my Flickr or if you're in any of the Ning social network sites, you'll find them there shortly.

SEnd me white!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to be doing some serious digging in my rubbermaids of fabric, after seeing these-------OMGOMGOMGIWANTTHESEFABRICS!!!!!!!

Patricia has really been turning me on to the rustabilities of this technique!  Actually, i'm going to try these with all kinds and colours of fabric and all sorts of rust, dirt, grime and grease :} I've bought the biggest bottles of vinegar and huge boxes of salt, have stockpiled some buckets from the Flower Mines, and am just waiting for a long stretch of time. I'd love to score some space from the local junkyard to bury and strew fabrics, throw some in puddles for them to drive those big manly crusher thingies over and drip battery acid, oil and carguts all over them.

Yeah, it's wierd. Yup.

In the meantime, i have been "colouring" today---just noodling around with scraps and colours and ideas. Here are two results that i will translate further once the above insanity has been accomplished.

The first is a base of some of my rust dyed fabric with scraps of coconut fibre (from Karen in Vanuatu) and a piece of birchbark from one of our road trips last year. Some text on paper, a bit of copper and black tulle. Meh. Crosshatchy, eggy, and intense-------but i love the texture of the applied raw edged twisted strips and the definite dots of the quilting. File these ideas.

Next i tried that quilting bit on some strong colour----hand dyed cheeseclothy gauzecotton, slivers of copper foil, some loose angelina and a bit of saffron shading into orange shading into hot pink roving that i am jonesing for more of, all again with copper tulle over. LOVE the texture and hand it gives. Useful base for something--cuff bracelets? Bag? Box? Still just a developing idea.

But if i use this/these with some Rustabilities???????????OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bear with me please...

Squarespace has released a new "version"---it looks the same to you, but as the owner and administrator, it's quite different on the "inside"--there are bugs they have to work out, and new things for me to learn, so if you get confused, well, so am i :}

work

out, and new things for me to learn, so if you get confused, well, so am i :}

closeups of sample book cover

The spool shapes i showed in this entry are used on the cover of the Sample Book. I had gessoed plain ol' cardboard that was slightly heavier than a business card weight, painted them, then wrapped various yarns and flosses, and some twisted wire. I love the dimension they added, which you can't see in the previous entry's photos. Here are some angled close-ups:

sample book

Cover:

 

Detail:

 

Inside cover:

 

Incorporating UFO's that illustrate techniques and specific designs, and purposed sample pages. I wanted to use large grommets in the edge but i haven't a setter of the correct size! Pattern is based on a page shape and size from MaryAnne's CoffeeBook. 

more rust lore and love

"If there is a large amount of iron in soil deposits or in the water, liquid household bleach can cause rust stains to appear on fabrics." I am SO tempted to bury bleachy wet fabric at Drumheller and in the furthest reaches of the scrapyard, the part the general public is not allowed in!

"One thing that you need to be sure of is that you don’t use bleach on rust stains because the
 bleach will make the rust stain permanent in your fabric."  HA! You BET i AM gonna do this!!!

It's interesting to me that i resisted this technique when it was first popularized, and now can't get enough of it. It's not that i particularly care for brown's; it's the natural "forms" (designs) and variations of colour that intrigue me. When i go into a fabric shop now, i'm drawn to all the creams and whites and pale pale colours, especially if they have some intrinsic texture, wondering what they would look like rusted. I used to go for the glitz and the bright solids, never cared for "patterned" fabrics, unless i did it myself. I'm eyeballing old rags and worn clothing, collecting found objects and bits of paper.

I did successfully rust some Lutrador last year and loved the results--translucent and delicate, but with body because of the "deposits". I'm going to layer some with handmade paper and see what happens.

If you Google "rust dyeing" you will come up with a plethora of wonderful sites, the 2 best being Kimberley Baxter Packwood and Lois Jarvis, two artists who have really raised the bar. 

purely decorative

 

 

 

 

 

 

So ends another day.