She Has Flowers in Her Hair

I'm gearing up to get started on some new fabric art projects. I said 'gearing up', and that is really a more active-sounding euphemism for 'procrastinating'. But procrastination isn't all bad: I do accomplish a bit of this and that while 'gearing up'. I've rescued a knitted vest from the UFO pile. I've returned to an unfinished sock project. I've had my sewing machine serviced. I've decluttered my messy home (a bit). I've actually started cutting up and using some of all the old t-shirts that I've saved over the years to crochet a small rug. And now I'm going to blog about an art quilt I made last year. I can't believe I haven't done it already, but that's how it is. It fell between the cracks, and it's only now that I'm 'gearing up' for my next quilt, which will also be a portrait (of a mermaid), that I remembered I still haven't blogged about the last one.

So before I sail off to join the mermaids, I'll show you what I did about a year ago, when I made my flower lady quilt. I reckon I will use basically the same process for the mermaid quilt.

It all started with a watercolour painting in one of my art journals:

Before I start working on the actual quilt I like to research my methods and make samples. I hadn't used Derwent Inktense pencils in an art quilt before so I did some tests to find out how they would work.

I like to work with layers in my art quilts, and it's fascinating to see how the individual layers, which often don't make much sense on their own, will make perfect sense when combined. I'm sure there's a metaphor of something important hiding in that observation.

The bottom layer with fused raw-edge and painted appliqué

The silk organza top layer, spray painted, and with a freezer paper mask to protect the face

Silk organza, spray painted and further enhanced with Inktense pencils

The layers combined

Free-motion machine quilting in progress

Machine quilting finished

Hand stitching to add final details

The finished art quilt, which I've had the fortune to be able to display in three exhibitions so far.

I loved working on this quilt, and now I'm really looking forward to getting started on my next girl! Yay!

My plan for a mermaid quilt

I want big eyes, but I think I overdid it a little this time, so it needs a bit of tweaking. But I'm excited to be on my way. I'm also planning a mermaid doll. Yes: mermaids are The Thing for me right now, and I'll go with the flow, follow the tide, dive in and immerse myself in the subject. 😊

Thank you for dropping by and I hope to see you again soon!

Wake-Up Bells

Today is the final day of Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, and the winners have already been announced, so now I'm safe to publish images of the quilt that was sent there. As I've already mentioned here, the theme this year was In My Garden, and spring was the season that was given to Finland. I chose the lovely snowdrop, and titled the quilt Wake-Up Bells. Here's an image of the whole quilt, as well as process images and some detail shots of the finished quilt. As mentioned, it will be on tour for two years, so I took lots of photos before I sent it off.

The size of the quilt is 30 x 30 cm (12" x 12"). It's a wholecloth printed and painted quilt with collage elements between cotton and a layer of silk organza.

First of all I made a preliminary plan of the quilt on watercolour paper to help me make decisions about the colour scheme and texture before I started adding paint to fabric.

I printed cotton with pigment (textile) paint and various handmade and found stamps, transferred the pattern to the cotton with a mechanical pencil and painted the hair with a brush and pigment paint.

I also printed and spray painted silk organza,

and the cotton fabric that I used to soak up the paint that went trough the sheer organza was used for the back of the quilt.

I outlined the image with Derwent Inktense pencils, and started adding the collage elements.

I added the organza over the cotton base fabric, free-motion quilted the whole thing and added hand embroidery as a finishing touch. Here are some close-ups of the finished quilt:

If you're interested in this way of working, I recommend looking up Melanie Testa's book Inspired to Quilt. Melanie works with dye in the book, but it's also possible to use pigment paint, as I have done, if that's more accessible to you.

Thanks for visiting!

Untried Thing No 3: Fabric Medium + Watersoluble Media

Here's my third and final Untried Thing for this time: combining watersoluble media with fabric medium on fabric. Again, my inspiration is Design Matters TV (DMTV), and I learned this technique from Linda Kemshall.

Combining fabric medium and watersoluble media such as e.g. watersoluble crayons and Inktense pencils can be done in different ways. In my library I also have a couple of videos where Kerr Grabowski demonstrates how to use on fabric what she calls 'fugitive media', i.e. media that wouldn't stay on fabric unless you combine them with some sort of binder. The difference between Linda's and Kerr's methods (at least in the videos I have access to) is that Kerr uses a silk screen to trap the pigments under a layer of medium, whereas Linda uses a brush. I want to try both methods, but I decided to start with Linda's. As I see it, if you draw on fabric and want to make sure that your marks stay exactly where you put them, you should use the silk screen method. However, if you want to blend colours on the fabric, you want to use the brush method. Also, with the brush method it is easy to limit the area that will be stiffened with medium to where the actual image is. With a screen the medium will also cover the areas around the image.

The technique is very straightforward. You draw an image on fabric, which has been stabilised with freezer paper, using some kind of watersoluble medium (pencils, crayons). When you're happy with the image, you apply fabric medium over it with a brush, covering the whole image and blending the colours. The medium will stiffen the fabric about as much as an ordinary fabric paint would. Here are my samples:

Inktense pencils

Neocolor II watersoluble crayons

Graphitint pencils

I haven't tried washing any of my saples yet, but I'll get to that too eventually. In Linda's tutorial she used Inktense pencils with good results.

I'm very excited about this technique as there is so much potential in it. Be still, my heart!

Thanks for visiting: I hope you too will be inspired to try this! - Annika

A! fredome is a noble thing

(John Barbour, 1320?–1395)

The long-awaited summer vacation has finally arrived: How will I enjoy thee? Let me count the ways.

I’m hoping that this year’s vacation will be a balanced mix of lazy days, creative days, clearing the clutter days and travels. It seems like a waste to use one’s vacation for clearing out clutter, instead of just resting and generally enjoying life, but I’m pretty sure that by getting rid of a lot of the physical junk, I’ll also get rid of a lot of mental junk, which will boost my energy levels. I started by backing up my computer, and then I sorted out a big heap of paper. What a relief. I have more areas of my home that I will deal with soon, but one thing at a time. I’m on vacation, I remind myself.

I’m planning to draw and paint. The first thing I did after work on Friday was to go straight to the art department in my nearest bookstore and splash out on new art supplies: I bought a set of Derwent Inktense pencils and a set of Derwent Graphitint pencils. While I was backing up the files on my computer, I played with my new pencils. 

Inktense pencils. These are permanent when dry, so they can be used under other water media, and they can also be used on fabric I’m told. Ah, the possibilities! In the colour swatches to the bottom left I applied a wash of water on one half and let it dry, and then I applied a coloured wash over the whole swatch. You can see how differently the colours mixed. Aren’t these colours yummy!

Graphitint pencils. As a water medium I found these a bit trickier to get the hang of than the Inktense pencils, but I’ll keep on experimenting. I drew the leaf to the lower left with a 2B pencil and coloured it with Graphitint, the sprig is drawn with just Graphitint and a wash of water, and the leaf at the top with Graphitint and no water. I’ve only worked dry on dry so far, but I will also try dry on wet and lifting colour from the lead with a brush. I also want see how the colours mix if you overlay them with a coloured wash.

During my vacation I will challenge myself to draw an object from life every day starting from Monday. I also plan to participate in The Sketchbook Challenge. The theme this month is ‘Element’. Excellent! Although it’s not the most imaginative choice, I want to explore the four Classical elements: air, fire, earth and water. Perhaps through mythological beasts. That really gets me going, but I’ll have to be careful not be too ambitious, because that usually results in UFOs.

Another thing that I want to do is to explore Procion MX dyes. I have hardly used them since last summer, so I have a lot of catching up to do. I want to try shibori and deconstructed printing and perhaps gelatin printing. There’s so much out there to try!!

At some point I’ll visit my family in Ostrobothnia. Weather permitting, there’ll be boat trips and swimming. I’d like to try snorkelling too, but suspect that I’ll have to get a wetsuit for that. The water temperatures here aren’t quite what they were in Thailand. Neither is the underwater world, but I’m willing to give it a try, providing the circumstances are such that I don’t freeze after 5 minutes and sink to the bottom of the sea.

I’m also on my way to Edinburgh, which is about time. I haven’t been to bonnie Scotland since 2006. I lived in Edinburgh for a year as an exchange student, and again when I was working 6 months as a guide at The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Oh, happy days! 

As you can see, I have lots of plans (more than I’ve written here), and it is likely that I’ll only manage to do a fraction of what I want to do, as usual. Never mind. I’ll do my best to be realistic about things. I’m on vacation, I remind myself. I’ll report back on my explorations, so stay tuned!