Friday, May 11, 2007

Fun in the Studio

I worked on Honu II for a bit last night, then needed to do something else for a change of pace.

Our art quilt group meets next Tuesday and we'll be doing bleach discharging, and sharing our projects for the theme of "Shoe." However, I'm getting a jump start on June's theme, which I thought up after I had this thought:

How many supplies have you purchased that you've never used?

So, the theme for June will be to list five things you've purchased but never used, and to use at least one of them for your June journal page. Note: fabric only counts as one item!

Last year I went a little crazy on art supplies. I love office supply stores, so an art supply store is like nirvana - so much potential in there! On various trips I bought Shiva paintsticks, some Sennelier oil pastels and recently succumbed to a Quilting Arts email suggestion and purchased some rubbing plates. Here's what I started:

This was a piece of fabric from a dye painting class with Ann Johnston years ago at my shop. Before we got into the class she did a short demo on "color by accident" and this was one of the gorgeous colors. She kindly gave me the samples and I've hoarded them ever since.

My fabric, rubbing plate (hard to see but it is the ginko leaf one), Shiva paintstik and Sennelier oil pastel at the ready.

I learned, after a goof with the first piece, that you should really tape down the rubbing plate after you slip it under the fabric. It helps to keep it secure so there are no shifts in your pattern.

Ta Da! The completed rubbing. I used a Shiva stick for the base color, then highlighted it with the iridescent oil pastel. I really like the Sennelier oil pastels because they don't seal over like the Shivas. I must get a small pocket knife for cutting the skin off, and some gloves since I managed to get paint all over the place.

I purchased the gingko Bali fabric just yesterday. It's what inspired me to do something with my rubbing plates and paintstiks. I had the Ann Johnston hand-dye out as potential turtle shell fabric, but it went so well with the Bali, I had to make something! The only thing I think I'll change is the green rubbing. I think a dark burgundy color will go better...the green is just a little bit off.

I'll show you how it turns out soon!

2 comments:

catsmum said...

oh that is such a coincidence... a friend and I bought a set of those plates each and I got the set of the leaf ones. The ginko is my favourite.
Ya gotta love those Shiva stiks too, but I found out the hard way on the first challenge piece I used 'em on in 05 that they can take a lot longer to cure than the notes say and you need to be really sure that they're properly heat set too. Guess who had to redo a whole stencilled border when the paint transferred the first time I folded it.

allie aller said...

Hi...I check in with you now and again...;-)
Love the ginko rubbing. It sure looks like a woodcut to me!