Rust/Metal ATC Trade

I did these in half the time as last. Some designs take time and others just flow out quickly. Our challenge was to incorporate something rust or metal. I used rusted fabric. I was inspired by my visit to the Field Museum in Chicago and took a bunch of photos of the fossils. The fish grabbed my attention so that was my inspiration. I made 8 up on a page and printed out on my color ink jet printer. Then I photocopied it on a copier. Each fish is printed on the card using the citra-solv method. I found the lavendar version at the IQA show in Jane Davila's booth. I wanted to make them look like they do in the museum - saved in the rock they found them. Didn't quite work so I added black puffy paint to add dimensionality to them. I stitched around each and then FMQ the background to make it look like a rock. Didn't really work but I do like the fishes!

Warped Challenge

Finally finished my ATC's for the latest challenge and I am about 10 days behind schedule. What can I say. Life.

Anyway, I was inspired by the meteor that flew over Illinois and landed in Wisconsin, as well as time warp and the images of the volcano from above. So I was thinking "What if a meteor ripped through the fabric of time?"

I painted white fabric with black puffy paint, let it dry and then puffed with heat gun. I then painted the "islands brown and green and the water around in various shades of blue. I painted a thin lutrador with midnight blue acrylic paint and smeared a glitter glue in areas across it to simulate space and stars.

When dry, I sewed to the top of each card and hit it with a heat gun to "Tear" through the sky. I added some small silver beads to create little meteors and then a silver washer - hand numbered to make a clock and had a small white cardboard circle behind it. I edged each with black/blue thread.

Something New ATC trade

I have added my new ATC trade. We were supposed to do something new. I used some hand dyed blue fabric as the background and then painted some shiva white onto the background to create clouds. I then fused white on for the trees and the snow. I machine quilted around the trees with black and free stitched additional trees. I had wanted to do something that was "sketched in black" for some time and this was the perfect time to try out the technique. I hand beaded for some leaves and painted some glitter glue onto the snow to make it sparkle! I love how these turned out - especially since my first attempt had to be put away because I hated how they looked. I will think about them and used them another time.

Ghostly Galleon

My latest piece was created for the Fiberart Challenge group. The word was poetic. I took my inspiration from the poem The Highwayman. The line "the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas," came to mind. The moon has inspired poets, writers and artists for centuries.

I just love how this one just came to life on it's own. I used commercially dyed blue and white fabric. The moon and the snow was done with shiva paintstiks and then I machine quilted it.

Going Green ATC Trade

I am actually early on my next trade. It isn't due until March 1st but Hubby's birthday is next weekend and the weekend after, I have to go on a girl scout camping trip. So this was it for me to get them done. I am really excited how they turned out but my photography is not so great.




The background is a paper towel I used to soak up excess dye during my summer experimentation with daughter and friend. I thought the colors were cool so I kept them. They were perfect for this challenge. I stamped a fern type pattern on each with a hand cut stamp. Then machine quilted around to accent them. I added some left over angelina fibers and some green netting I had on hand from a lime bag. They make great grasses! I sewed over them with some thread to make blades of grass. I added some sequins and beads for a little extra something and then finished the edges. I am really happy with these and have 3 left over!

Comfort

The Fiberarts Group I belong to had a challenge. Every two months, we will get a new theme to work with. Our first was Comfort and what it means to you. I am late getting my entry in as I am getting over a nasty sinus infection and the in-laws have swooped in for an impromptu visit. Was supposed to be two weeks but is going to be 4. I love them to pieces but the little time I have to work on art has been whittled down to near extinct. Oh well.

So my entry was born out of a small snow storm that we had. There is something very peaceful about the world blanketed with snow. (Not the 30 inches in DC mind you) but a few inches that makes you stay home and hang out with your family.

I used some fabric from a previous experiment. I drew the background with Neocolors watercolor crayons and then added water to blend. When dry, I used various rubber stamps of trees and leaves and grasses to create the treeline. I placed the stamp underneath and rubbed using the same water color crayons. I misted them with water to let them bleed and blend a little and then quickly ironed the fabric (from behind) to heat set and stop them from disappearing all together. I thread painted the trees and grasses. I also added angelina fibers to create the snow in the foreground. The tree in the middle was beaded with some metallic beads to add some texture.

I still feel it needs something in the lower right hand corner. I wanted to add some tall grasses but my hubby thinks it looks great the way it is. What do you think?

ATC Challenge - Red

I was invited to join a small Artist Trading Group and we just finished our first trade. The challenge was the color red. Originally I was thinking Valentine's Day but that was so obvious. But then I ran across some Chinese envelopes I had in a drawer and the inspiration took hold. This year, Chinese New Year lands on Valentine's Day! So I created ATC's based on the year of the Metal Tiger which is this year's animal.

First I used a red fabric background and stamped a chinese character in dark blue. Then stamped some other oriental motifs in cold and a darker red. I then used a puffy paint to paint individual tigers on each card. When dry, I used a heat gun to puff them up and then painted them copper using H20 watercolor paints. When that dried, I added in details and stripes with a dye pen. The pen with the H20 paint trashed two of my black pens. Apparently they don't play nice together. So note to self, don't do that again. I sewed a Chinese coin onto each and finished the edges with a satin stitch in black.

I made 8 so that I could pick the best of the bunch for my trade which included only 5 people. So I have 3 left but need to do some adjustments to the faces.