Fabric Postcards

I was looking up some information on fiber art when I found a website that is full of information and inspiration for fiber artists.  It is a whole website dedicated to creating and sending fabric postcards around the world called Postmark'd Art. I decided that making fabric postcards would be a great project for my post this week. I wanted to go with a spring theme so I started out by coloring a piece of white cotton, large enough to make nine postcards, with a yellow Derwent Inktense block.  I sprayed my fabric lightly with water and added the yellow color.  I made some areas intensely yellow and some more pale.  I blended it all together with a brush and textile medium.  I let this layer dry. I used three colors of Metamica paints and Tam's Butterfly Wings stencil to add butterflies over the yellow background. I used some of my hand carved stamps and more Metamica paints to add flowers and dragonflies over the butterflies. I added splatters and drops of pearlescent acrylic inks to get some more contrast.  I let all the paint dry completely and then I heat set the paint. Next I layered a piece of cotton flannel and muslin with my painted fabric and I free motion stitched a wavy pattern over the entire piece. I didn't want the postcard to be too thick, so the flannel makes the perfect batting. I choose some fibers from the Pacific mix and hand stitched them over the surface. I then cut the piece into nine pieces that were a little smaller than 4" x 6" postcard size.  I picked one piece to add details to and finish off for mailing. On this card I added some more hand stitching.  Next I layered another piece of muslin, a piece of stabilizer and the quilted postcard.  I satin stitched around the edges and trimmed off the excess fabric. Now my postcard is ready to add an address and a message and be sent off to a new home. I hope that I have inspired you to make some fiber mail art.  It is fun and easy to personalize these small pieces of art.  Sending them through the mail should bring a smile to the recipient and some postal workers too. Janelle You can view more of my art on my website at www.handsandharts.com

Drippy Dylusions

I have been inspired to play with Dylusions Ink Sprays this week.  I am taking Lifebook this year and Tam has us creating fun pages using Dylusions. I wanted to play with them on a canvas.  I love the bright clear colors and all the effects that you can create with these sprays.  I wanted to leave some white space, achieve some great drips and build up the color.  I hope that you enjoy how my canvas developed. Supplies: §  Dylusions Ink Sprays in: London Blue, Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise, and Cut Grass §  Stencils: TEXTures 2 Miro and Picasso, Star Coral and Sea Foam §  FW acrylic inks in: Genesis Green, Galatic Blue, Waterfall Green, and Turquoise §  Golden fluid acrylic paint in: Teal, Ultramarine Blue, and White §  Pitt pens in Blue and Turquoise  §  12" x 12" canvas I started by laying the two TEXTures stencils on my canvas and spraying the ink sprays through them.  Then I flipped them over into the blank areas and blotted the back with a paper towel to get the excess ink off the stencils and onto the canvas. I let this dry, as I will after each step, so that I have more control of the inks. I made a couple of puddles of Dylusions in the middle of the canvas with London Blue and Cut Grass.  I added some water and I splattered the ink around with the brush.  I also tapped the brush to move the ink onto the canvas.  You want to get a bit messy and get the ink to move over the canvas.  Next I tipped the canvas so that the ink ran down to the edge.  While the ink was still wet I added drops of the acrylic inks to the wet puddles.  I tipped the canvas again to get these to run to the edge also.  I did a bit of blending to get the ink to blend a bit in the middle. After this was dry I took out the star coral stencil and sprayed more Dylusions into the two corners.  I off-set the stencil so that it wasn't directly over the previous layer. I flipped it like last time to get off some of the excess ink.  I made sure to leave the upper corner untouched so that I could have some white space. I repeated this same process with the sea foam stencil.  I used a damp brush to blend the inks around my focal point and in some other areas.  I decided at this point the my painting wanted to become a jellyfish in the water. I added more acrylic inks and water to the jellyfish and let it drip more.  I wanted this little guy to have a lot of tentacles.  I blended the inks in the body of the jellyfish more as well. I used the stencils again with some fluid acrylics to add back some of the patterns that got covered when I sprayed through the sea foam stencil.  After I was done I blended out the edges of each area so that there wasn't such a harsh line.  I used the teal paint to cover the edges and the sides of the canvas. I love how the drips went onto the sides of the canvas to continue the painting. I used my Pitt pens to define the jellyfish and its tentacles.  I also added a few water droplets to the top corner of the canvas. I love how this canvas developed.  I seem to be drawn to these water stencils and colors right now, maybe because everything is still white and frozen where I live.  The only thing that I would like to try now is using these same methods on an unprimed canvas.  The canvas that I used had gesso already and the Dylusions tended to bead up instead of sinking into the canvas.  I think that the colors would have been a bit more vibrant on an unprimed canvas.  I hope that you have some fun playing with Dylusions and seeing firsthand how fun they are to use. Janelle You can view more of my art on my website at www.handsandharts.com

Fused Plastic Art

I wanted to make some art from my recycling bin for today.  I have been saving pretty plastic bags for a while now in a rainbow of colors.  I decided to go with a Valentine's Day theme since that is coming up next week.  I have seen some beautiful art using fused plastic bags.  I figured that if I'm ever going to make some beautiful fused art myself, I had better start practicing. I started with a base of regular plastic bags, I used bags from Target.  I cut off the handles and cut down the seam until the bags were flat. I stacked six bags on top of each other.  I made sure that the logos were all to the inside.  I cut the bags in half, so that one side had the Target logo and the other was white.  I set the half with the logo aside. I took the top layer off of the white stack of bags.  I cut hearts out of purple and pink plastic bags and laid them down on top of the bags.  I also cut rectangles out of purple plastic mesh.  Then I laid down the top layer again. Next I ironed the bags.  I put them onto a piece of fabric that I use for art and I put a piece of parchment paper on top.  I ironed the bags on low heat moving the iron slowly until they were fused together.  This is the part that takes some practice.  You want the bags to become one layer without over fusing them and completely melting them or getting a lot of shrinkage.  As long as you use low heat it should work out okay.  Keep in mind safety measures and fuse the plastic in a well ventilated area.  You don't want to breath in plastic fumes.  I fused both stacks of bags. I decide that I wanted to make two clutch purses out of my fused plastic.  I made a pattern and cut them out of the plastic.  You can find free patterns all over the internet. I also cut out a lining fabric and a piece of stabilizer for each one.  I wanted the extra layers to give the clutch purses some body and stability. Before I sewed them up I wanted to add some decoration with free motion stitching.  This also adds strength and stability to the fused layers.  For the clutch with the red logo I picked out the Square Rose stencil and traced it onto the plastic with my fine Pitt pen. I then stitched the lines of the stencil with a few extra lines to connect the stitching.  I stitched onto the plastic and the stabilizer layer together. For the other clutch I first cut out some hearts from Angelina Film in two pinks and a purple.  I laid these out and free motion stitched over the surface in pink thread.  I used hearts and loops for my pattern.  Then I got out Tam's Hearts and Stars stencil and traced out the pattern with my fine Pitt pen over the three segments of the clutch.  I stitched the hearts and stars in black thread. Once I had the designs all stitched up I added the lining layer and stitched up the purses.  I used two different methods to put these together, just to try out what I liked best.   I added buttons to close them too. Hearts and Stars Square Rose I'm not completely happy with how these turned out, but it was a great learning experience. I learned how the plastic behaves while fusing and what happens when you over fuse and shrink it.  I also learned what construction method that I like best and what tweaks I want to make to my pattern.  The pattern needs a lot of work, but I'll leave that for another day. Now I am ready to make more art out of fused plastic.  I do love how the black rose pattern looks against the red logo and how the hearts and stars look against a background of hearts.  All is all this was a great experiment.  I hope that you are willing to go and experiment with materials and techniques because that is how you grow as an artist. Janelle You can view more of my art at my website: www.handsandharts.com