Another Deconstructed 12" Composition

This 12" square also has the same 3 deconstructed print fabrics as the one I showed yesterday.  I feel like these are working on some level. 

Deconstructed Composition 12"

I am playing around a bit more with several deconstructed print fabrics.  This small 12" square has three different fabrics that I think work together.  This is a good exercise in composition.

Deconstructed 12" Squares

This is another whole cloth piece.  I am not sure this one needs anything......some stitching, perhaps.  This one is going to wait for further inspiration.

Deconstructed 12" Squares

 I've decided to work with my deconstructed screen print fabric again - I want to try to develop a series with this fabric, and I am finding it remarkably challenging - because the prints are so strong......  I feel like maybe I can experiment with the 12" square format to troubleshoot.  Using the small size reduces the anxiety over using up my precious one of a kind fabric.  Unlike hand painted or hand dyed, block printed or screen printed fabrics which I could easily reproduce - I feel like the deconstructed screen printed fabric cannot be replicated.  The fact that this fabric is one of a kind makes it difficult to build a series.  I am reluctant to cut it up, but I am going to give it a shot.

I am encouraged by the success of my small piece - Red Planets.  This gives me the confidence to try.

Here are several pieces I have cut into 13" squares - aiming for a finished size of 12" square after quilting and binding.

The top two pieces are whole cloth, but this bottom one has a strip of deconstructed fabric pieced in.

Three Red Mandalas

Here are the three pieces I did in the Red Mandala series.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am happy to announce my new blog:  Alternative Cooking.

I am sharing many recipes for gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free cooking.  I have been cooking this way for 15 years due to multiple food allergies.  Please take a look!  http://adaptivecooking.blogspot.com/  My daughter, Meshell Alyse has done the photography - really beautiful food photos!

Today's recipe is Tamale Pie!  

Red Orange Mandala - 12" Square

This one is more orange than the other two.  Same screens for printing.  The black "mandala" is a block print on raw silk.

Dark Red Mandala Foot Square

 Here is the next one in the group - it is a bit darker shade of red (I used multiple colors of red dyed when I dyed a very large piece of fabric - giving me a lot of nice variation).

The binding is fused - made of silk organza that was in the same dye batch of red dye.

Red Mandala Revisited

 I had a request for my Red Mandala 12" square, but it was already gone, so I needed to make another.

I had some of the red hand dyed fabric from a big RED dyeing day last winter - and actually, there was enough to make a group of three, so that's what I opted to do.

Here is the first of the group.  Each one in the group is a slightly different shade of red (even though it was the same strip of hand dyed fabric).  I just could not resist making a group of three!

 Sorry the full image is a bit darker than the detail, shown below.  The black Chinese screenprint is the five elements.  There is a gold colored print of an onion here, as well.

Fused Binding for 12" Square "Winter Walk"

 This 12" piece is ready to be bound - so I decide to bind it with silk organza, fused in place.

 Below - the finished piece - I've quilted the binding.  I like the way it looks on the bottom and sides.  I don't think I will use organza binding on my next piece except in areas where there is organza on the quilt.

Now, to try this approach in a larger scale!

44th Celebration of American Crafts at the Creative Arts Workshop

 The 44th Celebration of American Crafts at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut has just opened.  This special fundraising event remains open through December 24th.  It is intended as a public service for the community - offering the opportunity for holiday shopping for hand made arts and crafts.

 I mounted these five 12" square pieces on stretched canvases and sent them off for the sale.  I look forward to seeing how they do at this year's sale.  Prices are affordable, I think - for one of a kind textile art.

If you are anywhere nearby - I hope you will go and take it in.

Special events:

Celebrate Style - Sunday, November 11 - Fashion show and champagne reception.
Connecticut Artists Night - Thursday, November 15
 Crafternoon  - Sunday, December 2

I doubt the Creative Arts Workshop is open today - given the impending visit from Hurricane Sandy.  However, as soon as things settle down - I am sure their doors will open!

 

Foot Square #32

 I really enjoy the challenge of overprinting a strong background.  I thought it would be fun to see the impact of pastel on this bold plaid.

 

I thought this background might compliment a screen print of peach blossoms.

This week's foot square is "Peach Blossoms on Plaid".

Foot Square #31

This week's foot square is a gelatin printed background with fused screen printed butterflies.  Summertime is gelatin plate printing time!

Foot Square #30

The background for this piece is a fingerpainted monoprint.  The crow is screen printed directly onto the fingerpainted fabric, so this is a whole cloth piece (as much of my work tends to be).

Foot Square #29

This week's foot square is another Thermofax screen print based on my daughter Michelle's strips of negatives.  I like this one better than the one I showed last week.

Foot Square # 28

This week's Foot Square is a collaboration with my daughter, Michelle.  She actually made the Thermofax screen from some film she shot while a student in the commercial photography program at Northwest College in Wyoming.  I printed some white fabric with it, and have used some of this print in past projects.

Foot Square # 27

This is one of my more involved Foot Squares.  Lots of printing on a hand painted background of cotton and cheesecloth.  Block prints and screen prints. . . . hand stitching and rock embellishments.  This one even has a name:  "Cairns #2".

Foot Square #26

 

This week's foot square begins as a horrible piece of decorator fabric from the 1980's.

I monoprinted  (fingerpainted) it with some brown paint many years ago and never found a good use for it, so it has been languishing in the scrap drawer for years.

 I decided to try giving it some life by coloring some of the spaces with watercolor crayons.

Here's the box, so you can see what I use.

Here it is trimmed to 12" square.   Is this interesting?  I'm not sure, but I don't really feel that every 12" square has to be a success.  Some are going to fail and some are just experiments.  I am not putting myself under any added pressure by expecting all of these in this group of 12" squares to be individually successful.  What I am really going for here, is a body of work that will be interesting displayed as a grouping.  In that context, I think this one is good.  It will be a calmer piece to compliment some of the busier ones!

Foot Square #25

Hand dyed, screen printed, block printed, and the red is also printed with an onion sliced lengthwise.  I love onion prints!  The onion is sliced and left out to dry out overnight so the rings separate and give more definition to the print.

The Chinese writing says: "Montana".

Foot Square #24

 Here we have this week's Foot Square.  It began as this lovely hand dyed fabric below:

 Here it is after block printing (below).  I had to crop it significantly to get the 12" square.

Here is a picture of the back before I added the binding.

Foot Square #23

 To make this 12" square, I started with an unfinished Ricky Tims background - you know the part where he had you cut a curved line in two pieces of contrasting fabric and sew them back together to create two opposite pieces . . . . well, I did that part, but never got around to doing the next step.  It was languishing in a drawer, so I hauled it out and block printed it.

Quilted, and with rick-rack trim added - I gave it my signature!