Mosaic Challenge ~ You Could Win a 6" X 6" Fabric Pack!

Lesley Riley of The Printed Fabric Bee was February's "Queen" and asked her fellow artists to create fabrics with a mosaic theme in mind. Leslie provided a photo that inspired her and the "hive" was off to the studios creating pieces for her! 

I experimented with a number of techniques finally settling on freezer paper. If you only thought of freezer paper as something you wrap food in you'll be delighted to add a roll to your surface design toolbox! The paper is a nice heavy weight for creating patterns and the shiny side can be temporarily adhered to the fabric using a dry iron.

In contemplating a mosaic design I focused on creating small tiles in Lesley's color scheme of yellow, orange, purple and fuchsia.

The first step was to cut out a design using an exacto knife.

To create the little tiles I used just a small section of a stencil and
applied the fabric paint with a stencil brush.

This tile was made using a piece of plastic netting.

After the piece was painted I waited 24 hours to let the paint cure.
TIP: Let the paint dry in-between each color application to
avoid smudging the paint. Trust me it can happen!

Once the paint is dry peel off the freezer paper and heat set the paints using a dry iron.

I felt the fabric needed a little more purple so I put the cloth into an ice dye bath and waited another 24 hours for the ice to work it's magic! 

Here is Lesley's final piece... a very busy looking mosaic! 

Would YOU like a chance to win a 6" X 6" fabric pack of the same custom fabrics The Printed Fabric Bee created for Lesley? Check our facebook page or Lesley's blog for details on when the contest starts - within a day or two - GOOD LUCK!