Leaves and Twigs - Tyvek Study

I painted Tyvek in autumn shades. I purchase archival quality Tyvek in 50 foot rolls, since we use this stuff in my retreats.

I made this little quilt as a study for a much larger piece. The base fabric is a gelatin monoprint.
I am calling this piece "Leaves and Twigs". The print on the background fabric is printed with leaves, then I fused strips of handpainted fabric for twigs, and also quilted it with a twig pattern that I developed.

The leaves are made of the Tyvek I painted. The main problem I wanted to work out was whether to fuse a background fabric behind the Tyvek leaves or just to use the Tyvek directly on the quilt. I wasn't sure the leaves would "pop" well enough if only Tyvek was used. Sometimes with Tyvek, I find that the image fades away too much after ironing and I like to use another fabric behind it. I made leaves both ways for this study.

In the picture above, I have layered some of the leaves with another fabric behind, but some of the leaves are made of only painted Tyvek. After layering, I stitched the veins of the leaves.

Then, I use my little Rowenta iron. This is really nice for working with Tyvek because it gives me much more control than my big iron. Parchment paper between the quilt and the iron keeps everything in place during the melting process.

A closeup after ironing. I think I really prefer the look of the leaf made with only Tyvek. The leaf looks really skeleton like and delicate - which I think complements the delicate gelatin print in the background. What do you think?

I am preparing for my Spring Retreat, which takes place June 8 - 10 in Billings, Montana. We will be working with Tyvek and making gelatin prints. There are still a couple of openings. Interested? Learn more about it here.