Flags Mixed Media

After taking the Mark Making class and Be Free, Be Free Class
I have moved on to making flags. 

 These are garden flags that have been sewn and then painted.

May the sun shine upon you daily.

Be Present

FOCUS

 I was inspired by Tracy Verdugo's painting and her choice of colors. 

 She is also on facebook and is an amazing painter. 

NAMASTE

Merri made this great flag.  The spirit in me see the spirit in you!!!

Mark Making with Mixed Media

Bring out the paints, glue, brushes, stencils, spay bottles, markers and pens, OH MY!!.

 These are the surface design tools needed to make FAB art.  Instruction was fiven to be sure and collect inspirational pieces along the way as color and pattern is so important in the scheme of things.

I took a class from ruthie Miller from the Fabric Art Shop in Lake City, Florida in exploring surface design techniques.  She showed us how to transform  plain old fabric into quite funky designs. 

 Ruthie our teacher is scratching her head wondering just what do with us!!!!

She said we were her most creative students!!!  I am sure that is what she said.

Joyce wants to know who wants this stencil?

 Merri, my sister always has the best ideas and is creating up a storm.

Joyce still wants to know... who wants this stencil?

These are some of my pieces.
Do you just love the roach on the yellow fabric?  I did all these. 
The blue one is done with a bleach gel pen. 

Joyce finally gave up on the stencil and began to create using a credit card.

  That is all she talked about was how wonderful art was with a credit card. 

I thought shopping was wonderful with a credit card also.

These are my fabric pieces all lined up.  I plan to use them in a fabric journal.

 Merri finished her pieces.  See the little beetle bug stamped fabric.

Love the JUJU in the middle and guess who used the stencil.  Way to go Merri!!!

A week later we came and did a class on using the sewing machine to add embellishments to our already painted fabrics.  Free motion stitching.  Ruthie kept say be free, be free.


I felt so free I made  flags using all that I learned in her class.  Stay tuned for the unveiling of the flags.

Stamping on Rust Fabric

Ready to show off our Rit dyed rusted fabric. Each person in our group was to stamp their squares of fabric.  They could all be one design or they could do a variety of things.

Exchange of rusted /stamped squares happened at the May meeting.  Our next task is to create something from these pieces.  We will display all pieces as a group in some art/quilt show.

My Goatfeathers studio is set for the event.

As part of our Fiber Muse group in Lake City we are now stamping our fabric that was rust dyed.

Use Rit Dye and put it in a tin pan over top of a folded paper towel.  We later found that just painting your stamp with a foam brush was equally as effective if not better.

Full Instructions are available here.  How to Block Print Fabric (stamping)

Use stamps that have fairly large details. 

Rubber stamps, foam stamps and block wood stamps can be used.

Clean up is a breeze if you use hand sanitizer. 

 It cleans the stamps and gets all the dye off your hands.

Using material from nature makes wonderful stamps.  This is a bamboo leaf.

The fish on this was cut from very thin foam and scored with a pencil for the scale detail.

 Joyce liked using those computer parts.  Very Techie!!!

This was done with a plastic doily.

This work belongs to Joyce Ross.

Merri was creating an African look.

 

After awhile you could see that each person had their own style.  This is Merri McKenzie's art work.

Un-tail-it challenge

Recently I entered a quilting challenge sponsored by the Fabric Art Shoppe in Lake City, Florida.

This was my first piece that I ever entered in a contest.

The rules were to use the fabric that was given to you in at least 25 % of the project, must have batting and some type of quilting. It could not be larger than 18" x 24".

This was the fabric called cat tails that was to be used. I looked at this fabric and I could see alligator eyes, frog eyes but could not figure out how to execute such a grand design.

  I opted for the female figure that has the title Retail Theoay

Look I won a prize for the Most Original.  I was shocked.  My sister won also for Best Use of Color.

What a fun project.  I just love the corn.  That is my favorite.  If you could see it in person you would see that the fabric had been textured to resemble corn kernels. 

Bottle People

Get out all your old bottles, clean out the mustard jar and throw out the shoe polish. 

 My sister and I need those bottles to make more of these really cute bottle angels. 

 I love what my sister did with the hot pink tulle and the wings made out of air conditioning tape.  

 She always has the best ideas.

This is the chunky angel. 

They are best to heal when you think you have eaten too much.

Merriberri Creations

This is the one that is made with the shoe polish bottle.

  Look how my sister used the brush as part of the design.

Merriberri Creations

This is dedicated to Cynthia who taught the lesson on Angels.

  Thanks Cynthia. 

There is a special angel watching over you.

Rusting Fabric Again and Stamping using Rit Dye

I just finished rusting 10 yards of fabric for our Fiber Muse Group that meets in Lake City.

This is part of a challenge where each person in our group will receive 12 squares of fabric. They are to stamp in black whatever design they choose. It can be one design done twelve times on the squares or different designs on each square.

In May we will exchange the squares and decide how we will use them. I might make an African Quilt. I have some fabulous fabric the Dr. Nwafejoku Okolie Uwadibie gave me upon his return trip to his native land of Nigeria.

One of my favorite things to rust with is the square thing that is used in house construction. Rusting is done by adding the iron pieces and speeding up the process by adding white vinegar. I usually let it set for at least 24 hours and sometimes longer.

This is rusted using nails and steel wool.

At the meeting we experimented using liquid Rit Dye. About 3 - 5 tablespoons are poured on a paper towel that is folded in half or you can use more layers. It is placed in a metal tray large enough for your stamps. Some stamps can be quite large. There were stamps that were at least 12 inches long.

Here is a great site for buying wood stamps  A Trade For a Trade.

One of the best tutorials is on this site.

Notice the stamped fern leaf. You can use all types of natural items. The rose is the cut end of celery.

The spiders I found hanging over the garage. Just kidding. The star is a potato cut in that shape.

 There is a good tutorial from Joggles about how to use stamp pads. 

I cut the end of Romain lettuce and got this lovely rose looking piece.  The bubbles are from a cork.  Using large sponge stamps makes great marks on fabric.  Make sure your fabric has been ironed.  You can even tape it down so the fabric does not move when you stamp.  I use painters tape.

This is done with one of the old wooden stamping blocks from India.