Beads

IT's definitely Monday. I had the worst time trying to get a decent scan or photo of this necklace and finally put it on my dress form. If I hadn't run out of patience, I'd have used a better background.

The chain was to be for another pendant but just didn't work, so I covered a button form to make this pendant. It's only the second "button" I've made, so I'm satisfied with it. I tried fringe on the bottom but didn't like it. Now to make a cord for the other pendant.

Workshop

Wendy Huhn demonstrated gelatin plate printing and sent us home with a small piece of gelatin. This is the unflavored, clear household gelatin. It is a neat printing plate, as it is so unpredictable. Paint is applied with a roller. You make marks on it, use a rubber stamp to remove some paint, and then print by putting the fabric or paper on top of it. Here's what I did at home.

Class Tester

Sue has put out a pattern for a mini journal. It's such a nice size, and the pattern is easy to follow. I used the pages of an old atlas rescued from the Goodwill Bins. Most of them relate to where I've lived or where family is. On this front I live off the bottom of the map.
Here's the spine.

This is the inside. You can get the pattern at: http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/sueb/minijournal.html

Comments

Thanks to everyone who visits and especially those who leave a comment. I try to answer everyone but can't always find a contact way. I do visit the blogs of those who comment to see what they do.

To answer some of the questions here seems like a good idea.
The fabric for my Bead Journal Quilt is a commercial batik. I haven't tried that...yet.
I worked it in the portrait position but like it better in the horizontal.
I'm a left brained artist-sounds like something that can't happen-so my work and my work space tend to be organized.

Bead Journal Project

I'm taking part in the Bead Journal Project again and this time I'll do a journal sized quilt using batik fabrics. Here is September. First I hand couched a decorative cord in the design area using a metallic thread. Then I machine quilted the background to hold the batik to some batting. Beading is heavy and needs the support. Next came lots of hand beading. Lastly, I backed and bound it using the decorative cord along the edge of the binding.

Or perhaps it should go this way. What do you think?

Workshop2

We also transferred toner, injet, and lazer copies to fabric in the Wendy Huhn workshop. One technique used paperless paper which is a special paper that dissolves completely. It is the bottom image and is clearer.

Did you know that you can coat an image with medium using many coats and when they are dry dissolve the paper to get a translucent image? I didn't. It takes a while, because each coat has to dry before the next one is applied. I did learn that an image with open space looks better.
And then there was the thermofax. The screens are fun to use. I did like most of the techniqes best on the sheer curtaining that the leaves are on.The screen can also be used to put on the glue for foiling. Be sure to wash the screen right away. The gold on black is very dramatic in person.

Workshop

For 2 days last week I was in a workshop presented by Wendy Huhn. If you ever get to take a class from her, I highly recommend it. We learned so much about how to transfer images. Here is the first installment of my samples.

These are xylene transfers. It is an architect's pen and needs to be used outdoors with a respirator and solvent type gloves-yes, they are different. Xylene melts the others and also plastic. I worked on a corregated cardboard which gave the vertical lines. If you didn't want the lines, you would use plexiglass. It was easy to do and gave good detail. These were copies of old photographs of my parents and grandparents.

Don't you love the hats?This is a copy of a photo I took. It worked better for me than the magazine page and is on a sheer curtaining fabric. It is done with Citrasol-a cleaning product-used full strength and also needs to be done outside with a respirator. It was hard work-lots of rubbing-not my favorite way, but it can be left and finished at a later date.
Lastly for today, a rubberstamp I carved using a Dover Publication image. I've carved stamps before, but Wendy's hints made it so much easier to do a detailed one. Stay tuned for more on the workshop.

Calendar Girls, Quiltie

This is my Calendar Girls(link at right) postcard for September. I used a silk flower and leaf hand stitched to cotton fabric. The center is Ultrasuede held in place by hand beading.

This month there was no theme for Unlimited Textiles, so I decided to use the flower that reminded me of a Chrysanthemum-my favorite fall flower. It's fused to wool and machine embroidered. The center is hand beaded as well as the edges.

Here's the thread sample that resulted from my Take It Further Challenge http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ The diagonal from upper right to lower left showa the pure colors. The left side is what happens when the first layer of thread down with circles is covered by straight stitching in the other colors. The right shows it with circular stitching for the second layer.
Here is the reverse side. Not much different. I used the same color on top and in the bobbin and learned that even if you use the heaviest water soluble stabilizer, it distorts. If it needs to be square, a hoop would be necessary.

Calendar Girls

Here is the postcard I received from Doreen http://doreeng.blogspot.com/ for the Calendar Girls swap for August. Aren't I lucky? It's yummy to touch. She put it inside this card that she made-a talented lady.

Embellisher Club

A friend from quilt group and I went to the first meeting of the Embellisher Club which is being taught by my good friend, Catherine. To learn to blend fibers, we hand felted the fleece to styrofoam balls and eggs. I'm in a rush this morning and scanned them, so they are darker than in real life, but see how the orange/yellow one glows. It was fun to do. We followed it with the 3 of us going to lunch and then to Fabric Depot. A very nice day.

Take It Further

This month I've decided to do a thread experiment for the TIF project featured on Sharonb's blog http://sharonb.wordpress.com Of Course, for the last few months I've changed what I was doing mid-month. Stay tuned to see, if this month I stay on track.

Class Tester

Here is the

book cover that I made from silk fusion fabric. It is one of the lesson in Sueb's class www.twocreativestudios.com The decoration is shiny foil. The silk roving comes in so many colors and is so nice to work with.

This "holiday" weekend is a working one for us. I picked wild blackberries on our property and made jelly-looked like a pin cushion now from the thorns. We are also getting another downed tree out of the woods to use as firewood in the wood stove. Lots of good exercise!