My Newest Projects

I've spent alot of time recently screen printing on fabric.
The first picture shows my work table with some sketches and preliminary digital images.
The second picture shows the screen set up and ready to print. I'm using thickened procion dyes, rather than paint or ink. I don't want to change the hand of the fabric.
The final pictures are some of my results before washing the activator and excess dye out of the fabric. The colors lighten up just a bit.

Finished Product

Here's the same rusted piece after being washed and pressed.
I used a large coffee can for this piece, it is larger than most of my rusted bits. Now coffee comes in plastic tubs (useful for other enterprises but what to rust with next????)

Rusting Fabric

I've found that I am IN LOVE with rusted fabrics. They stand alone wonderfully in a project and are excellent beginning pieces to dye, paint, stamp or print on. Here you see a collections of rusted elements and the pieces in the rust dye bath. I like to wind cotton cording around my pieces. It increases the pattern on the fabric and yields yard and yards of rusted cording.
The last photo is a piece right out of the bath (in bright sunlight.) It will lighten a bit when it has been washed and pressed.

A New Year, A New Post.....

Happy New Year!

I'm going to try to get caught up posting pictures I've been taking of all my projects these last couple of months.
These are some of the little polymer clay tiles I made while reading "Mixed Media Mosaics" by Laurie Mika. A wonderful book that got me looking at my collections of stamps and mica powders in a whole new way.

Outside Front Cover

This is the front cover of my 'Garden Home' accordion book. It is covered with metallic foil and alcohol inks. The pages are bound together with ribbons tied through grommets attached to each page. The photos don't really show it, there are a variety of charms dangling from the ribbons between each set of pages.

Interior Pages

The page on the left is the inside front cover. Two pockets each hold a tag, the first is labeled 'heart' and the second 'soul.' The tags have my favorite quotes about gardens. On the top of the right page is a marbled ribbon with the word 'treasure.'

In the second photo, the left hand page shows an angel. The word 'remember' is printed on a bit of ribbon just below her. The page on the right shows a photo, though aged and distressed, of my own garden. The word 'dream' appears at the top of the page.

Garden Home Back Cover

The top phot shows the last two pages of the book.The page on the left says 'believe' at the bottom of a pocket holding three feathers.

The second photo shows detail from right page, the inside back cover. The word 'home' is stamped on a bit of ribbon over a piece of vintage lace.

The last photo is the outside back cover.