Friday, May 1, 2009

Metal on Fiber

Gee but it's great to be back. Too long without getting to do something creative is stifling. Thankfully a friend of mine sacrificed a whole day to come out and help me clean and re-organize my studio. Now that I again know where stuff is -- I had a blast on this Surfacing swap! I feel like a new woman. My studio is my sanctuary!


The concept - putting metal on fiber.

I love the way metallics play off of black so I chose several pieces I had from a class I took a couple of summers ago where we painted with Jacquard Lumiere on fabric. I really loved the images from the various techniques we learned and have kept the pieces for just the right project. Well, this is it! The descriptions of techniques and metals are below each picture.
All are done on black Kona fabric with Lumiere paints and are 4" X 6" in size. They are all stitched onto a stiff backing with Gutterman thread.
ENJOY!!!



HEAT WAVE













Black Kona painted with Violet Pearl Lumiere. Gold Mesh "ribbon" stretched and stitched onto the card with brushed gold metal thread.


ZIP IT!













A mix of bronze and gold Lumiere on black Kona stamped with a cut up foam piece. Gold metallic "ribbon" diagonally with a piece of a black leather purse with metal studs and a metal zipper. (my friend left it for me to put in a garage sale or something -- I think I found a better use for it!) Stitching was done with brushed gold metal thread.


HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT













A monoprinting with violet and bronze and gold Lumiere on black Kona. There two pieces of metal "captured" under bronze sequin waste. The metal pieces small tubes I found at our local Ax Man surplus store (gotta LOVE that store). I cut them open and "painted them with Adirondack inks.


HILLS AND VALLEYS













Black Kona again stamped with an aqua and gold Lumiere paint using bubble wrap as the stamp. I cut open a pop can and cut a rectangle from it and folded in like an accordion. Then I squirted Adirondack inks in the valleys and on the ridges (hills) and let them mingle as they would. It is stitched with metal thread onto a "nest" of steel wool which was also dribbled with Adirondack inks. You can't see it much from this photo but the accordion folds are still 3 dimensional.


TWINS UNITED













I chose this piece of fabric because I made these on April 30th - the first birthday for my twin grandchildren! The black Kona is painted with an aqua Lumiere paint applied with a brayer over a ginkgo texture plate. I wanted silver with this one so I found one of the antique chains I have accumulated and sewed it on with a zigzag stitch with silver metallic thread. The circle is a jewelry piece I bought at a local craft store last summer. I adhered it to the piece with E6000 adhesive.


That's it for now but I am hoping this will be just the first in more regular posts.

5 comments:

Wil said...

Great to see you posting again. We have to pay a visit to the Ax-man for those little tubes.

Susan said...

You always come up with the most interesting uses for ordinary things!! The pop can is very cool.

Judi said...

Great pieces love them all you are so creative.

Karen said...

Really nice Kelly, you're so creative. LOL, I've got fabric printing on the brain because I looked at the mesh and thought "I have some of that" and then the next thought was it'd make a good resist to paint over.

Unknown said...

OH yes it would! I have also used this in some monoprinting and some breakdown printing as well. Very versatile product!