Welcome To Lutradur.

Welcome to May and Playing with Lutradur….

I am very excited and a bit nervous to be guest hosting on such a great blog. I have enjoyed following the adventures of all the artists! This month probably won’t be a “finished product showing” month.  But this month I hope to take you with me through my experiments with working with Lutradur. 

I don’t know why I became so interested in playing with this product. I can’t remember seeing it and saying “oh cool I want to play with that”. Probably my first time seeing how to use Lutradur was watching a clip on YouTube from Interweave of Leslie Riley from Quilting Arts on Lutradur. The things I saw interested me so much that I bought the DVD. Then that led to a package of Lutradur. Then came her book to read… which led to offering to do a program night for my Fibre Arts Guild. Nothing gets you to know how to do something than having to prepare it to teach to others. Out came the supplies … things I had in the house from other projects. I started a binder with my experiments using the methods and ideas Leslie used in her book and her DVD.

Having your own binder of experiments reminds you of what worked or didn't. What you need to create one is blank pages and a sharpie or other permanent marker and a way to secure your work to the pages. So you could use a journal,binder or scrapbook. One guest has used her lutradur samples in a very clever way... wait until you see.  I use a binder so I can take things out and move them around. I also use page protectors so I can easily slip items in and to protect them. 

So now I have continued to play with Lutradur. I still haven’t covered all the techniques from the book. So shout out and send me an email or a comment with something you have tried as we go through the month. 

When I offered and accepted to do the blog for the month I wondered what I had agreed to and did not want to tell my husband. It was not because he is mean but because I often over extend myself. But he has encouraged me to play in the basement because he knows that creating and learning makes me happy. So now you know bit about me. I am curious, love learning, into new ideas and volunteer. I love to sew and have since I was a child. I knit and embroider/cross stitch and bead. I learned to quilt 30 years ago. Making some quilts for friends and then not again for some years as my children grew. Now I love to quilt, do fibre and mixed media art.

I have found working with Lutradur such an interesting experience as it is a very versatile product. It’s translucent and woven property can make a urethral look. Its strong durable structure can add stability to a project. It can also be made into a container or vessel. It is easy to sew with a regular sewing machine or with hand sewing. It takes colour well. It can be printed on and more.

I have asked some friends from my small group – Robynne, Karen and Al -to contribute some pieces from the samples they made on a play day at my house. A fun way to try new things we play off of each others knowledge. 

I have asked my blogging friend Elle to join in with a project she is working on. On her blog she plays with a lot of journal techniques. I am not so good with a journal.

A member of the group I did the workshop for Judy  just emailed me with her samples she made from the workshop and further experiments. 

And I asked Leslie Riley if she would answer some questions on Lutradur and she graciously said “Yes”! She has some great comments and pictures. 

And sometime this month we will be giving away a digital copy of Leslie’s book on Lutradur via C & T publishing.

So today think about following along for the month. Send me your questions, thoughts and pictures on what you have made. Since I have only been a casual blogger before now this month is a leap of faith for me. So join me in the journey of exploring Lutradur.

Join in the adventure….

Jo

Just to note that the material and things that I am presenting has been largely based on the work and book of Leslie Riley author of Fabulous Fabric Art with Lutradur. C&T Publishing c.2009

Other people have also influenced my experiments and will be noted.

A bibliography or resource list I will place on my blog in the next few days that I compiled so far of books, DVD’s and sites.

What’s up next?  Properties of Lutradur and then gather your colouring 
 tools and supplies. Then for the next few posts we will be looking at putting colour on our Lutradur.