Printing

The Jacarandas were still in bloom and the Poincianas just beginning, so I gathered some on my morning walk for another printing session.

It was interesting to experiment and see what came out. Don't know if I love it, but have put it in the stash for later use.

The Poinciana was hard work and I didn't persist for too long.

 

Progress on number 6

Once I had a few leaves stitched I began placing them on my background. I also was auditioning other elements at this stage.

Time to get out my stencil burner, glass chopping board and go outside with the synthetic organza.

Now that is looking better. Number 6 was a joy to work on and the binding is almost complete.

 

Stencils

I have many commercial stencils that I have collected over the years for use in my workshops and I got a few out for the grandkids and I to use with some canvas pieces. Most of the canvasses had been painted before, so we added another layer of paint to get some interesting effects.

Some possibilities here. 

Printing fun

I have been using my new printing table at least once a week. My explorations have been with plants from my garden and the occasional vegetable.

Onion weed after flowering forms these lovey seed heads.

Yes, I did say vegetable- coriander and shallots.
 

Progress on another in the series

When it came to using this strong background, it all seemed to flow easily and my design soon took on a life of its own.

Lots of this, all over the whole cloth background.

Then lots more of this stitching to make it shine.

 

Continuing

Thanks for the words of encouragement and ideas Chris, Kate and Barbara. I have decided that I need many more green skeletal leaves to fill in the area of my design. I have also begun the hand stitching in fine, white crochet thread in part of the design.

The massing of the green gives more impact and the stitching adds textural interest. Just need to keep....stitching........

And because I need another challenge, this is the next background I'm working with!

A strong background

I have been grappling with the strong background design on this piece. It looks like dappled light shadows and the idea of putting green skeleton leaves on it seemed OK in my imagined vision of the final outcome. Of course this was after I had evolved through numerous other design decisions.

Here are some of the leaves stitched on wash away.

And once they are washed and dry I pin them to the design wall in readiness.

I have applied some white pearl paint in a few areas to try to lessen the impact of strong background, but it didn't make a very noticeable difference. Time to breathe and reassess.

 

 

The finishing touch

This single leaf added the finishing touch to one of the quilts from the Seduced series.

 

South African National Quilt Festival

If you are joining the Down Under Quilts and Active Travel South Africa Crafts and Quilt tour you have the opportunity to join in with workshops and lectures that are scheduled for the quilt festival.

 The program has been been released for the Quilt Fair and opened for bookings on 15 November: http://festival.quiltsouthafrica.co.za/classes.php   It is a large booklet with many pages so please be patient as it downloads. International and local tutors are offering a variety of classes with something for all quilting tastes.

And you can join the tour from any part of the world as the quoted prices are for the land content. You add the airfare from your country of origin or tag the tour onto another holiday booking.

As we've had a lot of interest about the tour but no confirmed bookings yet, we won’t ask anyone to book their classes until the tour is confirmed with minimum numbers. Detail above is from one of the quilts from my African phase, with more to come I think!

The Tet challenge

Our Viewpoints 9 International group has had many interesting challenges in this second round and the latest one is no exception. Betty has asked us to look at hidden potential and while I initially thought of the potential of a seed, I dismissed this, as the seed has a predetermined potential to grow into a plant or tree. I have cast my thinking net wider and you may like to read about it on the Viewpoints 9 blog here.

Jacaranda postcards

One of my printing efforts of the Jacarandas has been turned into 2 postcards. Free motion quilting, some added textile paint and I was quite happy with the result.

 

Down Under Quilts

I'm always very happy to see the latest issue of Down Under Quilts magazine when it arrives in my post box and number 167, the Christmas issue is out at newsagents this week. Of course being a columnist helps my excitement grow as the anticipation of how my Global Thread column, page 32, will look takes over.

And wow! The layout looks great with Bob's super shots and my photos bringing the text to life.

The added bonus this time was the full page advertisement for the South Africa Crafts and Quilt tour and Kate Oszko's Textiles and Culture of Turkey tour, appearing for the first time. We are both thrilled by the opportunity to share these diverse cultures with quilt and textile enthusiasts from around the globe, as you can join us 'in country' from anywhere in the world, not just Australia.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my collagraph and printing efforts. I don't have a press, so used a brayer instead and was happy with the crispness of the result.

Rusty bits

My late Father-in-law collected metal pieces that he could repurpose into other things, such as gates. I inherited a few of the rusty bits to use with my textiles, not so much for rusting fabrics [already have a collection for that process] but more for printing and rubbing.

Off cuts of bridal gown silk that I've had for a few years is now being used.

The rusty patina is picked up in the printing.

I work outside so peg the pieces to dry on my portable clothes line.

Yes, these flower shapes are from metal pieces- rubbed and printed. I experimented with this piece and found the printing was more to my liking.



 

Collagraph prints

I have printed 2 of the collagraph plates I made and am happy with the quality of the print. The fabric piece shows various printing experiments with these twisted string designs.

Jacaranda

With Jacaranda trees in full bloom at the moment, I decided to experiment with the flowers for printing. My morning walk gave me the opportunity to collect what I needed. As I went through my stash of hand dyed fabric I found many pieces that fell into the jacaranda colour range.

I tested various print methods on a piece and noticed the fresh flowers left a brown stain on my fabric. The pressure of the brayer made them 'pop' and their bell shapes were flattened.

It was an interesting experiment.

Seduced by the Imperfect

Another in this series is finished! This is a detail from the fourth one I have worked on and happy to say 5 and 6 are underway now.

I love the varying textures of the machine and hand stitching combined.

 

 

Coffee break

Bob and I went to Billykart Kitchen to try their coffee, which was good. The Strawberry Shortcake was also very moist and delicious. We'll be back for breakfast at a later date! They are at Annerley on the Southside of Brisbane.

Added bonus

This doesn't look very interesting, but it is my print cloth that covers the felt underlay. The added bonus from printing is that some of the textile ink migrates through to this cloth and after many sessions I'll have an interesting usable piece of art cloth. I have already used my Hawaiian print cloth in a quilt and love the extra layers imbedded in these pieces of fabric.

Working

What a treat to use my new print table. It was put through a lot of work last week. The old table is also in use at the same time, so I have more options for exploring techniques.

Because of the layers I can easily pin my fabrics to the table, which is important as this is outside and the wind blows!

And at the end of the session I have lots to show for it.