Mixed Media Daily Postcards - December 23 - 28

Merry Christmas!

I am taking a few days off to enjoy family.  Will be back with my daily blog posts on Sunday, December 28th, with the last of my Daily Mixed Media Postcards!  Blessings to one and all. 

Hand Printed Machine Quilted Iris Ornaments

Here they are, all finished.  Once the stitching is complete, I cut them out and added a bit of embellishment with some puff paint and glitter. 

Fusing Iris Cutouts onto Black Felt

The cut out prints of iris are being fused to the black felt.  A hand dyed fabric is on the back of this quilt sandwich.  Once fused, I machine stitch along all the edges and on all the detail areas, using black thread.

Mixed Media Daily Postcards - December 15 - 21

Cutting Out Hand Printed Ornaments

The back of the hand printed fabric is treated with a fused layer of Misty-fuse.  Then, individual iris shapes are cut out.

Printing Iris Christmas Ornaments

 I created a batch of iris ornaments for the Big Sky Iris Club's Festival of Trees entry.  I used one of my hand carved rubber stamps to print many iris on a fat quarter of lavendar hand dyed fabric.  I used Pebeo Setacolor Transparent Paints for the printing.

 I used a mottled multi-color fat quarter of hand dyed fabric for the back.

Yellowstone Art Museum Auction Donation

 I have just dropped off my piece for the upcoming Yellowstone Art Museum fundraising auction.
This piece was juried into the show / auction.  It will hang in the museum from mid January through mid March, when the artwork is auctioned off.  I am always pleased to have my work included!

Greg Jahn - Nancy Halter Pottery - Merry Christmas to Me!

For many years, I have been collecting the work of Greg Jahn and Nancy Halter, a Billings couple who are also collaborative artists.  They open their studio every year in early December and I always go early and make my selections.  Here are my choices for 2014.

http://gregjahn-nancyhalter.com/home.html

Kimono Collage #5 Work in Progress

 Auditioning a different print on this background.

Kimono Collage #4

I am satisfied with the first group of kimono collage pieces and have decided to try a couple more.

I still have quite a lot of the kimono silks to work with.  I thought I would try a slightly different approach.  This collage is fused to black cotton, rather than batting as I did with the first group.  The silks are fragile and I think they will be more stable with cotton behind them before adding the batting.

Below, I am auditioning a couple of the screen prints.  Just thinking about using them, though.  No commitments yet.  I am going to print some more of the silk lining fabric before I make any decisions.

Mixed Media Daily Postcards - December 7 - 14

Kimono Collage #2 Detail

This detail image of Kimono Collage #2 shows a bit more of the printing, stitching and the luminous quality of the freshwater pearls. 

Kimono Collage #2 Finished!

Here is the second Kimono Collage!  Fused collage of dark silks has been machine and hand stitched.  The next layer is Thermofax screen printed silk lining embellished with machine and hand embroidery and freshwater pearls.

It is stretched over a re-purposed 16 x 20" stretched canvas.

Screen Printing the Kimono Lining

Moving ahead with the Kimono Collage series, I felt I could develop my designs a bit more authentically if I could add a bit from my own hand.  Thus, a section of the lining has been Thermofax screen printed.  Not sure this will be useful, but it seems worth trying.  Especially in light of the fact that all the patterned lining fabric I have is now used up.

Kimono Collage #1 Detail

Kimono Collage #1 16 x 20" Stretcher Bar Mounted

Here is the first Kimono Collage I was able to finish.  It measures 16 x 20" and is stretched over a re-purposed stretched canvas.  The rectangular top layers are from kimonos (linings), but the vertical hand stitched cord is actually a man's necktie rolled up and stitched in place. 

Kimono Collage 12" Square - More Stitching

This is as far as I have gotten with this 12" square Kimono Collage.  I took a leap of faith and screen printed over the top of a couple of layers of silk.  I am not thrilled with the printing - don't think it added a whole lot, but I am committed now - unless I remove or overlayer with something else. 

Actually, I have even considered abandoning the Kimono Collage series or changing the scope significantly, but I decided to try to finish the other two 16 x 20" pieces I began at the same time.  More Kimono Collages tomorrow.

Mixed Media Daily Postcards - December 1 - 6

Silk Kimono Collage - Another Composition

This collage is intended to be a 12" square - I am thinking I will wrap it over 12" x 12" stretcher bars.  At least that is what I am thinking, and that is why I have folded the edges back.  I like the hand stitching and I think I will do more of that.  I also like the machine quilting in a diamond pattern - it is subtle but helps keep things together .  I built this collage on a piece of batting, so it was sort of fragile.  The red is from the lining of a kimono.

Composition Auditions for Kimono Collage

Here, I am messing around with various elements to add to the collage foundation.  I thought maybe a pop of red might be a good choice.  This seems a bit overpowering, but it is a good start.  More ideas to come.

Kimono Collage #3

Third Kimono collage.  I am planning to add some hand and machine quilting to these.

Another Silk Collage

Kimono Silk Collage #1

Here is a first effort with the kimono silks.  I mixed in a few necktie silks, too.

Antique Kimono Silk - removing mothball and mold smells!

A friend in my art quilt group, WAV  (visit our blog here) brought a big pile of antique kimonos to our October WAV meeting.  She suggested we could each take pieces of them home and I focused on the dark ones with subtle woven patterns.  As I was taking the kimonos apart in order to salvage every bit of useable fabric, I was envisioning creating fused collages from them. 

When I got my pieces home, and began to iron them, I found the odors of mold and mothballs overwhelmed me!  I could not work with the fabric the way it was, so I decided that even though all this fabric is silk, I would wash the fabric, hoping the odors would vanish in the wash.   I washed in warm water, delicate cycle and used what I always use when washing silk - Orvis paste.  I washed twice hoping the odors would disappear.

Not so!  In fact, the washing seemed to intensify the odors!  Oh my!  The whole house smelled like mothballs and mold - even my husband was bothered by the smell.  I researched how to remove the odor and back into the washer all the silk went.  I soaked it for 24 hours in white vinegar/ water solution.  Then, I spun it out and found it still reeked! 

OK, so the next step, according to my research - hang it outdoors until the smell disappears.  Here are the silk panels on the clothesline, where they hung for a month.  These were my "Halloween decorations".  My grandson and hubby thought it looked very "witchy" or "ghostly". 

I did finally get the smell out