SURPRISE ME! November

CARLA

I am into printing and recycling these days and I love it.

This pillowcase was a home-dyed -poor quality- cotton shopping bag.

I drew and cut out  shapes of ' human figures' as a stencil to print with.

It is an experiment ,so I didn't bother with good pint and used just cheap acrylics. 

The ?-mark is a foam stamp.

Some hand embroidery was added , not too much because it is already pretty busy as it is.

On second thoughts I think I maybe could have done some more hand stitching.....

What I learned from it is to use better material ,even though it is an experiment : 

the work is the same but the result will be of a better quality.   

VIVIAN

I chose some fabric that I printed using disperse transfer dyes. They are a surprise when you complete the process ... you do not know what colour will print.

The basic method:

1. mix powdered dyes with water (some come premixed)

2. paint on white copy paper and let dry

3. transfer to polyester fabric by ironing ... put paper face down on the fabric and iron without steam ... use press cloth or parchment paper above and below ... hold layers flat and still as you iron ... peek to see when it has transferred ... be prepared to be surprised!

4. rinse with synthropol to remove excess dye

This little piece is the result of an old blouse (see vertical tucks) and a piece of curtain lace. They must be polyester to take the dye.
I stitched, did a small amount of colour addition to the area of the tucks and probably will add some hand embroidery and embellishment.

Below is the paper ... notice how dark it is. You can get more than one print and you can also spray with a light mist of water and get additional prints.

Below is the same piece embellished with hand embroidery, a dragonfly button and a few beads.

Carla and I began with an on-line group named ' Abstract Challenge'.

I am in Vancouver, Canada and Carla is in the Netherlands. We were able to meet when Carla and her husband attended a conference in Vancouver.

We decided for 2012 we would work together on 'DESIGN EXPLORATIONS'. We chose a theme each month and created our little quilts that are posted on this blog.

MEMORIES December

VIVIAN: Making Memories with my Friends

After a workshop with my friends … I thought about making ‘memories’ with these wonderful and creative friends. We meet about once a month and share a technique … something  good to play with. We show our current projects and have a great day!

This project was to work with Inktense Blocks and decorative stitching. We used the blocks for colour, couched heavy decorative cords, used a ‘fancy stitch’, the triple stitch to give a strong line and then made a quilt sandwich that is stitched with metallic thread to hold the layers in place. The little quilt can be used in many ways, including placing in a frame.

CARLA :                     " SHARING MEMORIES WITH MY DAD."

It is good to sit with my dad and try and help him to share the memories of his long life.

Over a cup of tea on one of my visits we talked about what has happened the past few months in our lives. Before we realized we went more and more back in time from there.

He needs a little help sometimes to dig in the past  and get started but then suddenly all the little pieces of information fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and then amazing stories are told about people he met and worked with.  

Wonderful stories of his youth,his brave actions as a 16-year-old boy in the Resistance movement in WWII , and  ...how he met my mother.

Moments to be cherished !

BE IN TOUCH - October

VIVIAN

After seeing Carla's photo collage with the shadow, I remembered the photo above with a reflection. I was at an art gallery where they had a mirror that was shaped in an S surface. My image was repeated and distorted ... as I took a picture of my 'other' selves. I was getting 'in touch' with my camera, doing what I love to do ... taking photographs.

On second thought, I looked back to a photo I shot that was similar to Carla's choice and decided to explore that. I was standing on the Pitt Polder Dike. It was early spring with the snow still on the Golden Ears Mountains and reflected in the Allouette River.

My challenge was to show the depth of the layers and my shadow stretching across the golden grass.
I used Derwent Intense blocks and many layers of stitching.

CARLA.

PHOTO COLLAGE  : 'BE IN TOUCH' 

"Shaking hands or holding up your hand in a sign of greeting stems

from an ancient tradition of demonstrating to those you do not know
that you have no weapon and mean no ill will."

HOME - September

CARLA

What really makes me feel at HOME is  caring for my plants inside the house and in the garden.

That is a thing I miss being away from home.

Coming back home after a holiday one of the first things I do is to check out the garden and plants in the house,which are always so well-looked after by our neighbour. 

My good old finger plant inspired me to do this small piece (20x20cm)  in home-dyed fabrics and organza.

Hand and machine embroidery was used to give it  texture and depth. 

VIVIAN

It started in my sketchbook

I painted on white cotton with Inktense Sticks

This is the back

And, then I stitched it!

We traveled a great deal during 2012. When I returned home this fall, I realized how much I had missed friends, family, garden and the comforts of home. Home is where my heart is! Colour has always been important in my life.

Techniques: I experimented with Inktense blocks. They work like a pastel, but are powdered ink pressed into a 3” stick.

I painted on treated fabric (I backed the fabric with freezer paper to make it easier to paint on), added water and the powdery ink dissolves into intense colour. The back shows that the ink has partially penetrated through. When I sewed the project, the needle caused dye powder to gather on the surface. I washed a small piece. The colour remained strong ... but there was a grainy residue.

FOREIGN - August

VIVIAN    Russia: Symbols of Power

I love working on these little pieces. They give me a chance to experiment and play!

The August topic was 'Foreign'. We were travelling in Russia - a river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg with a few days in Helsinki, Finland. (photos to come on the blog)

I was struck by the symbols of power that existed during the political turmoil of the last century:

The lavish and extravagance of the Tsars and princes is still evident in the beautiful buildings, the art collections and the churches they funded.

The Communist party is evident in the hammer and sickle, the symbols of the workers and peasants. As the Soviet Party developed, the Red Star appeared on public buildings. This one rises above the Spasskaya Tower in the Moscow Kremlin. 

CARLA

It was high time to use my embellisher again,which resulted in ' SUMMER IN SCOTLAND '.
Hand -and machine embroidery was added for some more detail.

During our stay we fortunately had good weather -to Scottish standards- and we were able to be out and about all day most of the time.
On some of the islands time seems to have stood still and this together with the peaceful and quiet atmosphere and the friendly locals made it a very worthwhile trip.
We enjoyed the lovely hills with purple heather,the beautiful skies above the scenery,many lochs and beaches.
There are many famous brand Whisky distilleries on the isles at the west coast,so we were never cold in the evenings....

SUMMER DREAMINGS - July

Summer ?  NO,not really so far.

Dreaming? YES, about sunshine !!

Carla

Whenever it is a dry evening we like to play 9 holes of golf at our club,which is situated in beautiful natural scenery (aren't they all ?)
We hear all kinds of birds,see awesome skies, wild  flowers, hares and squirrels.
It feels so good to be outside and enjoy the fresh air and long evenings.

I drew and  cut out a stencil of birds and one of cow parsley and stenciled  them on home dyed fabric with acrylic paint ,added machine- and hand stitching and some fun yarn.


Vivian

One of my favorite spots for ‘Summer Dreaming’ is to sit outside in my garden courtyard and watch the soft rain falling on flowers.

My friends and I explored using crayons on fabric.

The method was to heat a piece of parchment with an iron and rub the crayon on the hot paper to create a ‘puddle’ of hot wax. With a brush you pick up the hot wax and paint it onto paper (see pink-purple flowers). You then transfer that by flipping it on fabric and pressing.

 It seemed like a complicated method to create colour on fabric and I found that I got bits of crayon built up to make it uneven.

I used a piece of blue hand dye for the background.

Then, I added fusible to the back of the purple petals and pressed them in place.

For the green grass and leaves, I drew directly on the fabric with crayon and it was much less fuss and cleaner, without dark bits. I was easily able to vary the depth of colour by pressing more or less on the crayon.

That was followed by stitching of grass, flowers, dragonfly and rain.

OVERLOAD - May

Carla

 Is this  a bad case of 'overload ' or what ? 

So much going on mentally and  physically.

Stresssssss !

It is important to stay balanced and lift the weight and burden from your shoulders.

Hand and machine stitching on stenciled and painted fabric.

detail

Vivian

My Brain on Overload

I do this to myself ... I thrive on being active in all parts of my life. Unfortunately, sometimes I get overloaded when several  projects overlap and reach the crisis point in the same time frame. At this point, my brain has random thoughts about everything and has difficulty focussing on any one task. It then becomes necessary for ME, MYSELF and I to sit down and discuss priorities within a plan.

Some people call it multitasking ... I think it my norm.

Techniques: the fabric is my monoprint. I free motion stitched patterns in relation to the paint patterns. The paint did cause some problems with shredding of thread (small crisis).

Colours: the red parts are the crisis lines from various projects, the blue with the random stitch patterns is the norm and the yellow is me trying to keep my sense of humour through it all!

NAVIGATING - June

Carla

Figuratively: navigating though a career by networking and seeing opportunities , making the right decisions.

Literally : navigating through  a complex business building,finding your way around,hurrying to a meeting.

No fabric this time,but a photo collage.

The pictures were taken in Munich,Germany, at the BMW museum and  were made into a collage in Picasa.

Vivian    Navigating through the obstacles of life.

We navigate through our personal pathway in life.

Obstacles can be:

- the result of a decision we made ... or someone else made

- by chance or deliberately placed

- a clearly visible physical object or a nebulous fear in our minds

- simple with no problems or complicated with consequences

- our health: we are able to cope or it is beyond our physical abilities

- needed skills that we have developed or have you to learn

Life is a project in process ... every obstacle teaches us something about ourselves or others!

Techniques:

Monoprint from a rubber stamp in colours varying from yellow (my path) and littered with orange and red obstacles that I need to navigate around.

BOUNDARIES - March

Carla.

NO BOUNDARIES but...Personal Freedom:

The luxury of being able to make your own choices:

                                  to decide where to go, how to live, to say no. 

Vivian

For this month I wanted to work with text,which is one of my goals for 2012.

Thermofax screen print of a dear and personal letter

 my father wrote to me when he worked in Zimbabwe when I was a teenager.

Handprinted whole-cloth in reverse machine  appliqué and -stitching

Paper strips with text in a cocoon of organza.

IMPRESSIONS OF WINTER - January

Carla

WINTER SCENE

Bare trees you can see through with or without snow falling.

I love the view through the tree silhouettes not hindered by  any  foliage.

Painted and printed whole cloth,machine appliquéd and stitched.

Vivian

It is sad to be a winter tree!

I stand alone, the birds have left,

The wind has taken my leaves

The farmer is gone.

But, Spring will come

I will grow leaves and shelter nests,

The farmer will rest in my shade ...

I will survive!

Armed with a sketchbook, I traveled from my home in British Columbia, Canada to La Conner in Washington, USA. As we passed through the farmland, I was impressed with the trees that stood strong, tall and alone. The day was misty blue.

NEW BEGINNINGS - February

CARLA

Monoprints in watercolor on paper with accents in pencil.
I tried to work spontaneously and I am happy about the way it turned out.

At the time I made this our granddaughter was about to be born.

TEXTILE TRANSLATION:

I managed to construct a semi-transparent convex shape from plastic on which I stitched square scraps:

The womb in which my first  grandchild grew and developed into a beautiful baby girl.

From here she experienced the first the sounds and light coming from the world she is about to enter.

Vivian

Happy

I made this little multimedia piece as a demo for my friends ... I wasn’t thinking about anything more than showing them the method.

When I was putting away the pieces, I realized that it fit the challenge of ‘New Beginnings’. My state of mind was ‘Happy’. I have a great family, wonderful friends,  I get to play in my studio to produce art and I’m healthy ... a great way to start my 7^th decade!

The initial piece was layered with gesso. So, I layered the piece with batting & backing, sewed around the edge of the cheesecloth and hand couched a decorative thread.

STRUCTURES - April

Carla

I was fascinated by the Clematis flowers that popped open in our garden in spring.

The combination of the flowers with the trellis that supports them is what I wanted to show:

the beautiful and delicate structure of the flowers and...

 also the contrast structured vs unstructured. 

The background is painted whole-cloth 

on which I did some free machine stitching, adding circles of organza and beads.

The trellis is stiffened cotton thread and was added in an attempt to create some depth.

Vivian

Glass Structure - Transparency

I was experimenting with a technique: I painted on parchment with Jaquard Luminescent paints, added a layer of Misty Fuse, a layer of sheer and another layer of parchment. Then you flip over and press from the back. The paint transfers from the Misty Fuse to the layer of sheer. It may not transfer completely, but that gives a look of reflecting light.

I layered the sheer on hand dye and topped it with another sheer with large scale handwriting. A little machine stitching was added to emphasize the look of the glass.