Art Foamie Stamps - if it doesn't move - stamp it!

What a fabulous mantra... if it doesn't move  - stamp it! I recently discovered this cool creative arts business located in Canada. Art Foamies founder, Emmie Roelofse is a fabric painter herself and the business grew from her desire to create stamps from her own designs! 

Look at this awesome box-o-fun that arrived in the mail! Art Foamies ships anywhere in the US and Emmie is a treat to work with. What I love about this product is the thickness and texture of the stamps. It is sooo easy to work with and allows even a novice stamper (such as myself) to get great results. I've never come across stamps like this before and I encourage you to take a peek at the website! 

I quickly decided to use Color Magic by Jacquard with the stamps. Color Magic is a curious product; when applied to fabric and dyed any area with Color Magic will be super saturated with color creating a secondary pattern. You can stamp, paint, screen or apply in any way your imagination takes you - but that is another post! 

I planned to ice dye the fabric once the Color Magic dried and I was so focused on the stamping layer that I forgot to pretreat the fabric with soda ash and water... duh! Unfortunately the ice dye results were less bright and intense than I had planned.This is NOT the red/orange I was looking for but the bird is very sweet! 

Not to be deterred I plunged forward using Speed Ball fabric paint. I can't stress enough how easy this stamp is to work with. Just look how it sits up high accepting the paint without me having to even hold it!

Press lightly...

Lift...

Repeat!

I've got a whole gaggle of funky little birds racing across the fabric surface! What a fun project! I tried out every stamp in my box-o-fun so check back for more posts this week! 

Guest Blog Spot on The Slow Stitch Movement!

I'm so excited to be the first guest blogger for Mark Lipinski's Slow Stitch Movement site! 

Here is what Mark has to say about this awesome new venture and why I encourage you to check it out! The Slow Stitching Movement is an illuminating revolution within the stitching and fiber art  industry, launched by international quilting personality Mark Lipinski. Modeled after the international Slow Food movement, The Slow Stitching Movement is open to all fiber and needle artists and will prepare you for a higher form of creativity and important work in the needle and fiber arts, be it quilting, knitting, crochet, tatting, embroidery, rug hooking, weaving, needlepoint, cross stitch, etc.

Following the tenets of The Slow Stitching Movement you will: 

• Approach your creative art-making in a totally different way.  
• Recharge your passion for the needle fiber arts .
• Engage the connection between your body, your quilts, and your legacy.        .
• Expand your creativity, self-esteem and even your spiritual journey.
• Tap your right brain, to train and develop your imagination.
• Find the creative genius in you.
• Implement your creative thought in today’s too-fast world.
• Heal your life, emotions and boost your physical health.
• Create groups and habits to support your creative vision.

If you’ve hit a creative wall, if you have more yarn, fabric, floss, threads, and notions than you do inspiration, if all of your projects are beginning to look alike, or if you’ve been creating in the needle arts  for years and have nothing especially wonderful to show for it . . . The Slow Stitching Movement is for you. 

Getting Ready for Some Down Time!

I'm getting ready to spend time at our family cabin - yeah! Knowing I will be away from my studio creates enough anxiety (not in a bad way!) for me to get busy preparing fabric that I can bring. My grand plan is to add layers of stamping or "whatever" to the fabrics as a project that doesn't require full access to my studio! 

I did manage to create a couple of ice dyed pieces that felt "done" so I added them to the inventory and available for purchase if you need to add to your stash!

I can't wait to share the results from my cabin-fabric experiments. Anything can be fair game for stamping... pine cones, bark, weird shaped things found on the trail!! 

#ID023 - Detail
The colors are bright and a lot of the blue is jade. 

#ID023 - 100% Cotton, 1 Yard, $22

#ID024 - 100% Cotton, 1 Yard, $22
The colors are mostly a yellow green - it feels very calm.

Click here for details on purchasing - look for the word NEW! 

My Handcrafted Fabrics Are Now For Sale at Etui!

I'm delighted to announce Etui Fiber Arts shop and gallery

is now carrying my handcrafted fabrics!

Etui Fiber Arts is for fiber enthusiasts of all kinds!  The shop carries a full line of high quality supplies for knitting, crocheting, spinning and now my handcrafted fabrics! Owner Julie Saviano promotes the "Field to Needle" movement where crafters are connected to the farmers, growers, ranchers, and hand-dyers who create yarns, wools, and cottons that they use in their crafts. 

Exhibition Artist: Jane Davila

The in-house gallery features monthly exhibitions of regional and national artist

Mark your calendars - November 9th - I'll be giving a demonstration and talk about my techniques and approach to surface design... it'll be fun and I hope you join me! 

Etui

2106 Boston Post Rd., Larchmont, NY 10538

http://www.etuifiberarts.com/home.html 

914-341-1426

Summer Hours, beginning July 1:

Wednesday - Thursday 10-5

Friday - Saturday 10-4

Closed, Sunday - Tuesday

Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective ~ Jazz Tones Exhibition

Greater Hartford Arts Council

presents

The Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective

JAZZ TONES

A collection of textile fiber arts and mixed media work that celebrates 

and depicts  the diverse sounds of America’s indigenous music: JAZZ.

100 PEARL STREET GALLERY

JAZZ TONES

June 15 - August 23, 2014

Artists:

Christina Blais, Diane Cadrain, Carol R. Eaton, Mary Lachman, Karen Loprete

Linda Martin, Wanda Seldon, Rosalind Spann, Antonia Torres, and Carol J. Vinick

Opening Reception -Thursday, June 26, 2014, 5-7pm

Featuring internationally acclaimed fiber artist, Ed Johnetta Miller

Book signing of “Textured Rhythms: Quilting in the Jazz Tradition”

Greater Hartford Arts Council - www.LetsGoArts.org/Gallery

Bubble Wrap + Paint!

Do you horde packing materials because they have interesting shapes... I do! My box of weird plastic stuff was calling to me so I pulled out some large and small sized packing bubbles. Many of us have used bubble wrap to stamp fabric with great results. I wondered what would happen if I reversed the idea and placed the bubble wrap underneath the fabric.

I laid out as much bubble wrap as I could find but didn't quite have enough to completely cover the entire underside... no worries - this is an experiment so no rules apply!

I misted the fabric surface and applied fabric paint with a big 'ole 3" brush. I wanted to slop on a lot of paint quickly so the paint would have time to meander over and around the lumps and bumps of the bubble wrap before drying out.

This is a detail shot of the texture. It was unexpected and fun... feels like another paint adventure to pack into my bag of tricks!

 I use Setacolor from Dharma Trading Co. What are your fabric paints and techniques?!

New Ice Dyed Pieces!

The weather in CT this week was cool and drippy - not conducive to getting outside for painting in the sun. I reverted back to the inside studio and dyed 10 yards of ice dyed fabric. 5 of the fabrics were happy and 5 went back into the buckets for another round of color! I have mixed feelings when putting a fabric back into the buckets; double dyeing creates a richer overall color palette which is lovely (not complaining!) but a single ice dyed piece typically has that light and airy watercolor feel. Both are great results but different from each other. Below are photos of the single ice dyed fabrics. I'll post the double dipped fabrics next week and you'll see what I mean! 

If any fabric needs to come home with you please click here 

and look for the word "NEW"! 

#ID018
Shades of Purple & Red/Pinks with some Blue

#ID016Brown, Blue & A Little Tan

#ID019
Blues, Greens, Pinks & Orange

#ID017
Brown, Blue & A Little Tan

Fabric Paint + Ice Cubes = Cool Effect!

I've been playing with ice cubes again but this time with fabric paint rather than dye. The end result is a fun crystal look that can get pretty wild depending on the colors used! In this post I used black... not such wild a color but those posts will come later! 

First I painted the entire surface with black fabric paint.
Next I crinkled the fabric and randomly placed ice cubes across the fabric.  

Once the fabric was completely dried (this can take a while!) I heat set
with a dry iron for permanency. 

This is one of the rare times with the design on the back of the fabric
might be more fun than the front! 

The back is gray vs. black but the crystal-look seems sharper.

I can't wait to show you more... my next playtime will include 

multicolored pieces that are truly wild! 

Have you played with ice cubes lately?! 

SNOW DYED FABRIC - When it's Gone it's Gone!

I just uploaded my remaining inventory of snow dyed fabrics to the "Snow Dyed Fabric" tab. 

When they are gone... they are gone... at least until the snow flies again! Having just had a taste of summer and the fun of sun printing Old Man Winter can stay away for a while! 

Click here to view...

More Fun in the Sun!

The initial sun printing on this painted fabric turned out to be a wee bit boring. Since the sun was still strong I covered the surface with a layer of blue paint and placed ice cubes on top. As the ice cubes melted into the folds of the fabric they created a visual texture that made the overall piece more interesting. 

The final piece!
22" X 37"

Boring right - this was the original design!
It defiantly needed another technique to give it some oomph.

Here are the leaf details. I painted on the back side of each leaf before laying on the fabric. This caused more detail of the veins to be imprinted.

For information on purchasing this fun in the sun piece click here! 

Sun Printing to Celebrate a Sunny Day!

For sun printing you need the lovely combination of a nice sunny day along with little or no breeze. This weekend delivered both so I headed to my outdoor work space with my clippers! 

I saved trimming the cherry tree for this occasion 

and here are the cuttings immortalized in paint!

The colors are primarily pink, pernod and moss green.

The shape and texture of the leaves allow them to lay fairly flat without much fuss.

Dye Powder Having a Party!

Silly dye powder... here is a piece I ice dyed using Evergreen and Orange. The cool thing about working with dry dye powder is the unpredictable way the color particles will separate and meander creating unexpected results. Since neither green or orange are primary colors they had quite a party in the ice bath!  It makes me giggle...

Detail

Full Yard

New Ice Dyed Pieces For Sale!

I pulled some colorful ice dyed fabrics out of the dye bath! 

All three pieces are 100% cotton and 1 yard long. 

Each piece is $22 plus shipping. 

To purchase a one of a kind fabric please click here to contact me!

#ID001 - Detail 

#ID001 - Full View

#ID002 - Detail 

#ID002 - Full View

#ID003 - Detail 

#ID003 - Full View

Ice Dyeing + Thermofax Screens = Sweet Gifts!

I created these two pieces for my darling sister-in-law! She's been looking at a blank wall above her computer for a while and now she gets to look at her favorite colors! 

This 22" X 28" piece was stretched over canvas which is a really a quick and easy way to hang art cloth. The fabric was first painted and then ice dyed. I added the dandelion design using a thermofax screen printed across the surface. I apologize but I can't remember the name of the artist who created the screen. If you recognize it please let me know so I can give credit! 

To keep the color palette consistent in the room I made a matching runner for her side cabinet. 

The fabric was ice dyed using the same colors as the above piece. It's been a while since I sewed and I was reminded of how fun it is to use custom fabric for creating a unique piece!  

Custom Fabric Give Away!

Ok folks... it's time for The Printed Fabric Bee's May give-away! Lisa Chin's typography themed fabric pack is your's for the taking... just leave a comment on her blog, Something Clever About Nothing or The Printed Fabric Bee blog for a chance to win. 

On your mark get set - go! The winner will be chosen on June 13th!