Half Full

There was an amazing strip of delicate ice lace by our front door.  I tried to photograph it in place....but couldn't get the right angle.  When I tried to pick it up....it broke in half.  

But I'm thinking of this as a glass half full moment rather than half empty....and marveling at how beautiful this tiny chunk of ice was with the morning sun as the backdrop.

Fusing 101 lesson #6: Motifs...finally!  

You can construct motifs on release paper from small pieces of pre-fused fabric  overlapping and fusing the pieces and parts.  Once you're done...you can peel off the motif as one unit and fuse it to something else.

Here I fused two strips together....

peeled it off the paper and cut it into a leaf. 

I keep referring back to my year of Folt Bolt projects....because every single project was mostly fused.

The September seed pod inspired piece had several  motifs....and it started with a pile of pre-fused fabrics.    

The plant pot is made from individual strips of hand dyed fabric assembled on release paper.  And the snake plant leaves and lotus pod motifs were preassembled with a combination of hand dyed and batik fabrics.  

 

There weren't a lot of process photos for that project...so I decided to construct a quick fused motif this afternoon...and make a tag.  It's been a while since I've made a tag....and I do love this little ringed gallery of quick little art pieces using whatever I have on hand at the moment.

With the latest tag beside me for color inspiration and flow....I created a fused fabric motif of a pinwheel design.  

I was determined to just pull from my vast supply of small scraps...and started with one triangle.  I didn't want to overthink it....I just added one triangle at a time using a variety of colors and fabrics.

I kept adding.....

....and adding.... 

...until I worked my way around the circle.

Once it was cool....I could peel it off the release paper and as one whole unit/motif. Rather than cutting it round...I left the uneven ends.

Although I auditioned a couple of centers....I ended up not loving my choice.  

In hindsight I should have paid more attention to how the the center came together so I wouldn't have needed one at all.

I was able to peel the purple off....but then I really had to cover up the mess I made. 

I'm not sure I love it...but I'm going with the glass half full again...and celebrating finally getting a lesson in on motifs!  Cheers!

All my tags can be seen here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search/label/tag%20project

What If?

There were two words that Wendy Solganik mentioned several times in the introductory lessons of her Watercolor for Relaxation class that have resonated with me:  What if

What if I really do add a little mud to all my colors?

What if I lean into stencils as a starting off point for design as Wendy suggested?

What if I resize the stencils?

What if I introduce fused fabric into my pieces?

Acrylic paint is permanent. You can paint over it and collage onto it it with no worry about smearing.  But that's not true for watercolor.  I've played around with fusing fabric onto watercolor....but what if  I wanted to collage some gelli print papers on my watercolor? Other than a glue stick....how could I easily adhere fragile papers to the piece without smearing the paint? 

Fusible webbing...that's how! 

I'm calling this lesson #5 for this fusing 101 series....motifs are going to have to wait.  Today it's about fusing paper.  I've done it before...but it just dawned on me I should do it again. 

This how a page in my watercolor journal ended up today. 

I already can see how I could improve on this mixture of watercolor and a gelli print.  ButI think as far as an experiment goes...it was farily successful.

.

It started with a tracing of a stencil that I watercolored with blues and greens. It was a late night watercolor job...and not all that great.

I spread the stencil design out because I knew I wanted things in between so I needed to leave room.

I tucked in a few more columns of the stencil design here and there and filled them in with a very light value wash.  

I forgot to take a photo of that stage....but I did take this one showing the stencil I used.

Next I ironed fusible webbing on the back of a gelli print where I had used the same stencil. It worked like a dream. 

When the fusible was cool...I took the release paper off and cut out some of the columns and ironed them onto the piece.  Easy peasy!

The gelli print is actually on tissue....

so you can barely feel the transition from the watercolor paper.  It's almost like it's painted on. WAY easier than a glue stick!

This particular what if journey is going to have a few more chapters....

I'm quite smitten

Words!

"Do not wait until you have skill to start your project. Your project will teach you the skill." Jen Herchenroeder (as seen on Jane Monteith's Instagram page)

As I was heading in to visit Margie this morning something caught my eye in the big pine tree.  I saw it from a long way off....and I was intrigued. The closer I got I was sure it was some kind of necklace....but an odd linked necklace. And how in the world did it get up there?

But when I finally got close enough...I realized it was breakfast for the birds....Cheerios strung onto pipe cleaners!  Clever!

  

This was the first morning in a while I walked outside with Paul.  It's just been too darn cold.  

But it felt good to be out...and we visited the hackmatack tree....and those sweet little pine cones are still hanging on.

I love this tree....and can't wait to watch the needles appear in the spring.

I had a little lightbulb moment with on of my circle paintings. I knew it needed something...but was a little baffled. But there was some nearby collage ephemera that included book pages that gave me an idea.  Words!  That's what it needed.  

I happen to have some pre-fused text fabric...so I cut a few more circles and ironed them on here and there.  Game changer! It seemed to unify the piece without being overbearing.  I think this one is done. And now I'll think of some way to improve the other one.  

Fusing 101 lesson #4: Fusing Words and Images 

I'm going to save motifs lesson until tomorrow....because today it's all about words!

There are all kinds of ways to print on fabric....but if you use fusible webbing you end up with fabric that works like an iron on patch. And that can come in handy. 

This afternoon I added fusible webbing to some bleached muslin.  I trimmed up three sides leaving the bottom edge making it easier to peel the paper off later.  

The release paper gave the fabric enough stability to glide right through my printer.  

WITH THE PAPER STILL ON......I placed the fabric in my paper tray with the fabric side down...and it printed like a dream!  

I pressed it with a hot iron (with a pressing cloth) to set the ink.  Now I have a whole sheet of JOY tags....and a few labels to iron on the back of projects.

I have ironed one of these little joy tags on several projects...including every one of my 12 Folt Bolt projects.  This December piece has not only a little printed joy....

but also a printed image of a bottle.  Nearly the whole piece is fused.

 

Here's the page I printed onto fabric.  I found an image of an old bottle...and printed it in a couple sizes.

You can print anything on fabric! And sometimes WORDS are a game changer.  Especially the word JOY!

Always Learning

The boat didn't take long....and I was pretty excited to get it connected to the bottom.  

It's always better when you can shore up the borders....pun intended. The bottom of the boat IS along a waterline after all.

It's simple things like a good pun and assembling a boat that put a little spring in my step on any given day.

I was compelled to trace and "CREATE" this painting a couple days ago. I dropped in color or water drops to create some texture in the letters.  Not sure I love it...but I do kind of like it.

I have no idea what I'll do with the rest of the page....but an idea will present itself at some point.  There's no rush.

Fusing 101 Lesson #3: Tracing

General fusing note: Most commercial fabrics...and this would include batiks...have chemicals in them making them harder to fuse. Prewashing probably helps with that. For what art I do I generally don't had any trouble....and when I'm working on an art quilt I often top stitch anyway.  But even the commercial fabrics seem to fuse to paper pretty well for me so I've never been too worried.  And they seem to adhere to paper pretty well.  If anything pulls up....the glue can always be reactivated by ironing the piece down again.

Hand dyed fabric is the BEST for fusing because it doesn't have chemicals.

Now onto tracing:

When the release paper is fused on the back of your fabric....you can draw or trace anything you want and cut it out.  You just have to remember that it will be in reverse when you turn it over.  For many things that doesn't matter like leaves and hearts. If you're using a stencil...just can just trace it backwards on the release paper...so it's right side up on the front.  

When we made this banner back in 2015 as a going away present for Dana, at Hancock Church, we traced the letters on release paper while it was on the back of the black fabric making sure to place the letter stencils backwards. We could arrange the stencils however we wanted to get the most out of the fabric.

I made a little JOY today...to show how to do a small project with different fabrics. This little fabric joy is ready to fuse to anything I want.

I traced the stencils backwards on the release paper....and ironed them on the back of the pre-fused fabric.  Anytime you iron fabric onto the release paper (or parchment) you reactivate the glue...but it's not permanent. It can easily be pulled off.  Then all I had to do was cut them out.

Here's another way....when it's hard to trace it in reverse. 

I wanted to overlay a few more flowers on this watercolor piece.  I found some fabric that has both the purples and the corals that I thought would work well.

I traced the flower from my watercolor onto a piece of release paper with a sharpie. (I was going to cut it from the opposite side...so a pencil wasn't dark enough) Then I fused it sharpie side down on the back so it would be oriented the right way from the front.  I hope it makes sense.  And at this point.....I hope you're only reading this if you have interest. 

I did notice that the sharpie transferred a bit to the back of the fabric with the heat...but since this is my cutting line...it didn't seem to matter.  But you only need to tack it well enough to hold for cutting. Using just the tip of your iron you can touch it in a couple key places and possibly avoid any transfer at all.

   

I decided to cut the stem separately and tuck it under the flower. I used my rotary cutter to cut a skinny strip...and fused it on first.

Using a pressing cloth over and under I ironed the flower in place.

I used paper under the piece because I had a few overhanging petals and I didn't want to fuse them to my wool pressing mat.  I wanted the flowers offset a bit so the coral paint would be like a shadow and I wanted plenty of petal to work with. I trimmed it up after.  

There are a few things I would have done differently...but I like it well enough. 

The leaves at the bottom should have been smaller...and I think the long stem on the right and maybe even the flower are a little dark. I think a contrasting lighter stem would have been nice. 

The flower on the lower left is not over a watercolor flower...and I do like that look the best.  Next time I do something like this I'll leave more white space so I can place these random fabric flowers in their own space.  

Always learning.

Last tip for today:

Beware of little scraps and bits of fusible fabric.  If the release paper is off...and you iron over them.....they WILL stick to something!  Been there done that!

I do save small scraps...but not this small.  You never know when you're going to need a center for a flower...or a dot for and i.

Every piece of pre-fused fabric is precious.  

Tomorrow I'll talk about building a motif.

Building a Boat!

I'm going to build a boat!  Not really....but I am going sort of assemble one.

I really thought this was a puzzle I would do from top to bottom. But I got bogged down there in the middle and I needed a change of scenery.  

So I slid it all the way up on my table and tucked it under my lamp and birds...and put the rest of the border together.  

And now....I'm going to build that big boat at the bottom!

Before I finished breakfast....I gathered most of the pieces supplies for the boat so I'd be ready to start building next time I sat down. 

Prep is important when you're building anything!

Fusing 101 lesson #2

Once the fabric has fusible on the back it's generally pretty clear which side has the glue. You can usually see it...and feel it. On some fabrics you really have to look closely once you take the paper off.  It's important that you pay attention to this...you always want to fuse the pieces GLUE SIDE DOWN! 

If you don't....it will stick to your iron and make a mess.  I've done it many times!  BUT...if you do end up with glue on your iron there's a solution.  While the iron is HOT....scrub it with a used dry dryer sheet.  Yes...you heard that right...it smokes a bit...but cleans up the iron nicely. Just be sure to protect your hand with a glove or a rag. 

To avoid the possibility of a sticky iron....I always use a pressing cloth...usually the release paper that I peeled off the fabric. I just learned from Elle that kitchen parchment paper works well too....and that makes perfect sense and most of us have it in our cupboard.  If I inadvertently have a piece going the wrong way....it will stick to the release paper or the parchment and you can peel it right off and refuse it.   

I had another polka dot painting that was marginally successful...but I knew I could improve it with fabric like I did for the denim dots.  

I have a lot of fun bright colorful fabric and I was certain I would go that route.  But then I found this batik which was both vibrant and muted...and it even had dots! It would tone down this very bright watercolor piece. Note to self: add more mud to the paint.

It's pretty easy to cut the circles freehand....no tracing needed. I often cut strips and curvy shapes with with my rotary cutter. Tomorrow I'll share some tips on using the release paper to trace shapes and letters....but there's so much you can do freehand.

I arranged the dots glue side down and pressed them with my small iron.  It's possible to lightly tack down a fusible piece with the tip of your iron so you can audition it and still pull it up and make adjustments as needed.    

Once your happy...give it a good press with the pressing cloth and a hot dry iron. It only takes a few seconds on paper....and just a little longer on fabric.

 I ended up cutting this piece into two 4 x 6 pieces...and added just a few more fused dots here and there. They may not be done...but it's where they're landing for now. The fabric dots look better in person....they're not as dark as they look in this photo.