More fabric collages

Last week we were back at Littleheath Barn for the next session of Textile Explorations.  Liske suggested some ideas for experimenting.  One of which was to use water soluble fabric.

They have yet to be cut down to 10cm square.  And I'm not sure what backing fabric I'm going to use.

A second suggestion was making two contrasting squares and cutting them exactly the same to mix and match the pattern.

The bottom two have had foil added.  The one on the left had glue applied through a Thermofax screen and the one on the right had little strips of bondaweb ironed on.

I tried the four samples done with water soluble fabric on different colour backgrounds

Which colour would you have chosen?   This is my choice

 And here are the other four cut to size.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

And then . . .

I made some more!

Yes more 10cm square collages for the Textile Explorations workshop.

I'm trying to use up fabrics I have already made for previous projects.

Some of the collages are random.  Actually all of them are random! But some fit Liske's list of things to explore.  Below right is a log cabin square and at the bottom is paper lamination.

Actually paper lamination isn't on the list but I found some left over so I bonded it to some printed fabric.

And the next day I made 3 more.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

More textile explorations

At the October get together of the Art Textiles workshop I had a go at flour paste resist.  I've done it before but wanted it to have another go.

Normally I think you would use a darker colour to paint through the crackle but I wanted to stick with my colour scheme so used copper acrylic paint.  Plus I used already printed fabric so the contrast is not as strong as it might have been.

I love these serendiptous little trees.

Because all my collages to date had straight lines, Liske challenged me to do some curves.

I took the original collages with me to C2C to stitch in the evenings at the hotel.  That didn't happen.  I can see there's going to have to be a mammoth stitch session at some point.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Textile Explorations

Liske has started a new year of Art Textiles Groups.  This year's theme is Textile Explorations and has come out of her 100 day project where she made little collages each day using different techniques.

I took along for inspiration my Venice based Concertina sketchbook and some remnants of fabrics I have used for my Venice hangings.

I made 4 little collages during the workshop.  They are all 10cms square.

Back home it dawned on me that I had my 30 days of collage book.  So I looked through that and made some more fabric collages. 

I also added other bits to the original 4 squares and started stitching them.

I could have made quite a few more but I think I need to do more stitching to these before that.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

ATG Landscapes

Last year I joined in with a Seasons themed series of workshops at Littleheath Barn.  This year the theme for the Art Textile Groups is Landscapes.

Liske introduced us to various drawing and collage techniques.  I used photos of canals for this session.

I looked online for photos of people's work that I admire and I hope will provide inspiration.

We did some mark making and I used photos of the coast as inspiration.

In our latest session we started with painting dye and paint on fabric.  I worked on this piece of scrim laid over silk noil.  However I didn't much like the colours and wasn't inspired at all.  This was mostly because I was still confused about which landscape I was concentrating on - rural, coastal or urban.

After discussion with a friend I took her suggestion of concentrating on coastal.  When I turned the fabric the other way up I can see how I can make this coastal!

I then started working with my favourite colours and back in my comfort zone.  This was mark making on silk noil.

This was using up the paint with torn paper and a dry brush.

I used dye on this piece of silk noil.

I prefer the back of it.

It will be interesting to see how this develops next year.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Florida cut up

As you know I do lots of workshops at Littleheath Barn.  One of them was an Artcloth based on a landscape.  I chose to use the Atlantic coast of Florida for my inspiration.  I wrote about the course here.

Liske suggested we worked on 2 pieces of cloth.  One was the practice piece and the other was to be the finished piece.  The one on the right was supposed to be the practice one, but it ended up being the finished piece.

You may know that I love to cut up my work, especially if I don't like it.  I happened upon the work of Katie Fowler who paints abstract landscapes on cloth and then cuts it up.  She also cuts up her finished quilts!

So I'm in good company!

I decided to cut up the other Florida piece.

I was fortunate to find a large box canvas at Hobbycraft - and, extra joy, it was half price!   I found some soft calico in my stash and started auditioning the squares on it.

I ironed a small amount of bondweb on the back of each square and bonded the squares to the calico.  I machine stitched round each square.

 I ironed bondaweb onto some of the offcuts from the original artcloth.

 I cut small pieces of the spare fabric and auditioned bits on the squares.

 These were then bonded to the large piece and machined.

The calico is now pinned to a backing fabric with a pad of felt wadding.  I am going to do some hand stitching on the squares and then some hand quilting before stretching the finished piece over the box canvas.

Watch this space for the finished piece.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice