Monoprints

Monoprints made with acrylic paint printed onto fabric is a quick and easy surface design technique. It's important to use a paint that is fairly thick (I like to use fluid acrylics). I dab, smear, drop, paint onto an acrylic or glass sheet - using my fingers, pencil eraser, or any tool that is handy I create a design. Print onto fabric - let it dry - iron to set - that's all there is to it.

An example of a monoprint enhanced with free motion machine quilting.

Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain!

I've been invited to participate in the Naples Museum of Art's 2010 fund raising event "Have a Seat III - Fabulous Fabrics!" The funds raised will support educational programs, lectures, exhibitions and the endowment. Forty-one artists are participating in this event.

Each artist was provided with an umbrella. Most of the artists invited are painters. I like to use fiber in my creations - naturally! I thought about what do to for quite some time. I made several false starts, and then had one of those "Aha!"moments.

This beautiful striped taffeta took my breath away. I sliced it up and started sewing
around, and around, and around!
I may add a few more rows of stitching - but that will have to wait until next year!!
It's Christmas Eve and we've invited friends over to celebrate. I've got to start rattling some pots and pans in the kitchen pronto!

However you celebrate the holiday season, I hope it's filled with joy and love.

Queen of Tarts - Revisited

A few weeks ago I made the "Queen of Tarts" doll and have been thinking about what I might do to enhance her a bit. An article I read on making paper cupcakes gave me the idea to make a tart for her to hold.

The paper cupcake instructions were altered as shown here. Measuring from the rim, cut the bottom off of a paper cup. Cut a circle of plain paper (a bit larger than the open "bottom") and glue it in place.
White tissue paper was glued around the form and painted with cheap gold paint.
A circle cut out of foam core was smeared with a layer of ceramic tile adhesive and let dry.
Glue some fancy trim around the top edge of tart form.
Crumpled tissue glued into the tart pan and then glued the "tart" in place. Using a quilling tool, make spirals out of quilling strips and glue these on top of the tart and add a heart - of course!
Here is our little queen holding her tart. It really does look good enough to eat - and NO calories!!

Christmas Bustier

A few years ago, my husband presented me with a dress form for Christmas. It was something I'd always wanted. I love decorating "my girl" in seasonal attire. Here she is sporting a Christmas bustier. The "fabric" is made up of brown paper bags, painted, stamped; cut to size, stitched and decorated with Christmas trim. The skirt and necklace are Christmas tree garlands. I particularly like the tree topper I found on clearance a number of years ago!

This bustier is made in much the same way as above. Image transfer techniques were also added to the bags. This "Size 10" piece hung in an exhibit at a local art museum. The theme was "10." I took pictures of anything with a 10 on it, i.e. speed limit sign, street signs, house addresses, my toes, Richard's fingers, a dime and $10 bill - these two elements embellished the piece quite nicely making up the shoulder straps and bottom edging.
Here she's dressed for summer - embellished with additional paper, buttons, and trim. The skirt is a Christmas tree garland. This was bustier sold during my studio tour sponsored by the Naples Museum of Art.

Christmas Angels

I love to make dolls for my granddaughters to celebrate their birthdays and Christmas. It's a challenge designing something different each time though. Over the years, the dolls are getting smaller in size!

These little angels can either hang on the wall or sit on a shelf. The doll is approximately 8" tall. Various neutral cotton fabrics make up the body and head. I needle sculpted the hands and faces (just the nose since the head is quite small). Acrylic paint, colored pencils, gel pens and graphite were used to paint the faces and, of course, each has painted fingernails! The "shoes" are painted on with gold paint.
The dresses are made of silk scraps. Making the blouse was a bit of a challenge since I decided to slip it over the head which meant the armholes needed to be wide enough to accommodate the hands. I interfaced the silk too which made it much easier to handle.
The dolls are a bit top heavy and need to lean against something to sit up straight - which they must do at the dinner table! I cut the core of a roll of paper towels to size and painted these with cheap gold paint. The doll will sit nicely now and the support doesn't show under her skirt.
Here are the completed angels. The buttons and trim are hand sewn. The angels needed crowns which are made from painted and punched card stock. There is a small ribbon hanger on the back of each as well a pretty wired bow which forms the wings.
I've still got lots of Christmas gifts on my to do list...better get back to work!

Travel Photos

I had a lot of fun taking pictures in Croatia. The cities were filled with charming doors, windows, winding streets and interesting people - plenty of photo ops! On one of the upper "streets" in the walled city of Dubrovnik, I saw a lovely young couple sightseeing. I took this picture of the young woman standing atop the stairs. I liked it so much, that I thought I'd play with it in Photoshop Elements. I sharpened and blurred the image, changed the opacity, reduced saturation, added filters, etc.

This is the original photo.

(1) Orton technique

(2) Warming filter

(3) Sepia photo filter

My favorite is No. 1 - what's yours?

Home Again!

We had the best time in Croatia and Slovenia and hated to leave, but now we're happy to be home. My travel journal is overflowing with memorabilia. We made a lot of new friends on this trip. There were only 23 people all together. We felt like family in no time. No longer "tour virgins," we're looking forward to doing it again. I can hardly wait to look through and sort all my photographs - but laundry comes first!