Variety of Techniques - Week 8

And I'm back.....

There had been this idea rattling around in my brain and I wanted to give it a try.  The technique itself is not new. Soy wax resist.  But I wanted to use it in a new way...for me at least. I had this geode looking effect in my head.

I have done soy wax before with stamps and brushing it on but then I just dyed the whole fabric and
it was cool but not as controlled as I've been thinking about.  I have done silk scarves with soy wax resist the same way...mostly with stamps.

Now I wanted to be able to use paint and have more control over where the color went.

I started with a piece of my own hand-dyed cotton. Got out my soy wax and used a tjanting with the larger opening to apply the wax to the fabric in circles of various sizes.

Then I got the paints that I wanted to use. A creamy pale yellow-green and a brighter yellow.

I diluted them a good bit and painted first the pale yellow-green around the wax circle. At first I was making the circle more exact and quickly abandoned that for a more organic look.  When that paint was still wet, I painted the brighter yellow (again well diluted) aroung the wax edges in a thinner line.

Now I am not well known for having a TON of patience so when the paint was still a bit damp, I put the fabric between sheets of clean newsprint paper (the kind used for packing, not the kind with print on it). I ironed the piece between the paper several times until I got the effect I was looking for!!

The next question to test out is how it will respond if I let the paint dry totally. But that is a play day for the future!

I did this test on a small bit of fabric, apx 6" X 8". But I like what I ended up with well enough to plan on doing a larger bit of fabric soon!

Thanks for waiting the extra day! 

This is my last post for this session. Thanks for tuning in and thanks for all your feedback!!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 8 (mystery revealed)

Wow! Several of you got this one! Great job!

Yes, it is shibori painted hand-dyed fabric.

For those of you who might not know how to do that, here is a quick description.

Take fabric ( in this case a hand-dyed fabric but depending on what look you are going for, even commercial fabrics will work.)  Tape it to a round object. I have several sizes of PVC pipe for shibori. This is done on the largest circumferencce one.

Wrap the fabric with twine.  The space between the twine on the pole can vary...again according to the look you want.  For the water fabric I space the twine a bit farther apart.

Then scrunch the fabric together toward the end of the pipe. Just slide it down...being very careful NOT to slide it all the way off!  Been there...done that....very frustrating!  LOL!!

When it is scrunched together just paint the edges. Did not have a photo of the blue water piece of the mystery (blue paint) but this is another one where I wanted "surf" so used white paint.

For larger pieces of fabric you might need to re-wrap the fabric to cover the whole piece.

Let the paint dry. Unwrap the twine. Iron and here is the results.  Water and then the "surf" piece.

Previously I had also used this technique to make a more aspen looking forest. For this one I used two colors. After the first color (in this case black) is dried and ironed, begin the process from the beginning and use the second color.

Here is another piece I just finished in which I wanted to get the same forest feel but small trees in summer.

Well, there it is!!

And now the big news.....THE WINNER of the blue water painted shibori piece!!

And the winner is.....

JANE HARTFIELD!!

Congratulations, Jane! Just send me your mailing address and I will mail the fabric to you.

Here is my e-mail address...    Kelly@KellyLHendrickson.com

Thanks again all of you who played!!

See you on Wednesday!!

\

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Mystery Technique - Week 7

Ok.....just when I think life is running smoothly....it goes off the rails!  Then I have the sinking feeling that "WAIT!  What if these ARE the rails!!"  Scary thought.

Anyway, off the rails or on, life went wildly whirling yesterday and have caused a delay in the arrival of this week's mystery technique.

So, to make it short and sweet...

Here it is

This turned out to be one of my favorite methods to make "water" fabric! Can you see it?

Usual rules apply. Enter your guesses in the comment section below. The winner will be drawn from all correct guesses. If no correct guesses....the winner will be drawn from all those who entered. And don't forget...all those who enter these mystery contests will be intered in a drawing for our new e-book at the end of February!

See you here Monday with the reveal of the technique and the announcement of the winner. Have an amazing weekend you guys!!

Off and running now....trying to catch that off the rails train!!  Or......not.........

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 6

So far in these sessions we have added all kinds of techniques to fabrics and at various stages.

Today, We are doing some subtraction.

Yep....discharge!

There are some products on the market which will remove color from fabric. And at least one that will remove the color and leave another!

But today we are going old school....bleach.

I've removed color from fabric using bleach with a bleach pen, bleach gel, etc.

This following is a combination of clamping and bleaching.

Safety Warning:  This process requires a well ventilated area!! Bleach fumes are not pleasant and not healthy!  If you can't get a ventilated area, you should wear a respirator mask with the appropriate filters.

Here is a photo of one of the pieces of hand-dyed fabric I did a while ago.  LOTS of clothespins and different types of clothespins.  I don't have this piece any longer but I liked how it shows up the pins on the red background.

Here is the same use of clothespins on a Kona black with bleach.  Love the pattern it produces.

This piece was folded like an accordion and clamped with Twixit clips.  The ones sold in various sizes for closing all kinds of bags and packages (think bread, chips, nuts, etc.)

All these discharge pieces were submerged in bleach for a certain amount of time (it is all relative to the effect you want really) Just remember....it will probably keep discharging just a bit more when you decide it is ready.  It is too far before you know it! In other words, you don't want to walk off and leave it unwatched. All these pieces were also submerged in an anti-chlor solution immediately after the beach bath.  Then rinsed several times, then washed, rinsed and ironed.  It is very important to use the anti-chlorine step to stop the bleach and more rinsing doesn't hurt at all either.

Doing this project made me want to try all kinds of other "clamps"!  What about large paper clips/ or rows of varying sizes of those black binder clips?  Or even those big clamps with the plastic tips...takes Andre the Giant to open them but it would make a cool effect!  Talk about a resist!!

I hope these inspire you to try other types of "clamps" and see what creative images you can acquire!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 6 (mystery revealed)

As usual....I was so intrigued by all the guesses on this technique.  I'm keeping a list of some ideas that I want to try or tweak or some to just dream about!

This mystery technique is very easy to do. The hardest part is the prep...the waiting....the patience!!!
NOT one of my virtues by the way!

But the first time I discovered this technique was quite by accident. Serendipity....my favorite muse!
I'm sure all of us who dye our own fabric have had this happen

DRIED SODA ASH DYEING

OK...so you put your fabric in the soda ash solution to soak.  Then...Life happens and you totally forget it is there!  One day...several weeks later (or months even) you go to get your container to soak
some fabric in soda ash only to discover your forgotten previous fabric!!!

 it is very hard and dry.

(this is the siide view of the VERY stiff fabric standing on its own)

WHAT DO YOU DO???

Easy answer...you put it AS IS in a container, mix a procion dye solution and pour it over the very dried soda ash fabric.  Batch as usual.  Then wash, rinse and iron...again as usual.

And this is what you get.  Here is the result of the fabric above and another one that I did in another color.  (neither of these is the fabric in the mystery but I didn't have photos of that particular one)

I loved it so much I have since done it on purpose several times. But warning.....it takes a LONG TIME for the soda ash to dry completely.   When it is totally dry, the soda ash acts as a resist and the crystaline structure of the dried soda ash creates amazing valleys where the dye has bled into the areas in a rather feathery manner!

Now for the drawing results!  And the winner is........

SILKWORKS922

Just send me your mailing address.  E-mail me at      Kelly@KellyLHendrickson.com
and I will get the fabric right out to you!  Congratulations!!

I'll be back on Wednesday with another technique! Hope to see you then!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Mystery Technique - Week 5

Oh my.....the end of another week already.

Sorry for the later post. Picasa and I have been having some serious "discussions" about my photos. Don't you just love arguing with you computer????  At least this time I finally won the argument!!

OK....so on with the show.

Here is the mystery technique for today.  As usual, post all guesses in the comment section below. The winner will be drawn randomly from all correct answers.  No correct answers - the winner will be drawn from all of the comments.

Ready?

Here it is......

I am looking forward to all your creative guesses!!

I'll see you back here on Monday to reveal the mystery technique.  Until then....

Have a WONDERFUL and creative weekend!!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 4

Several years ago I was taking an online art journal class/challenge for a whole month. In that session we learned many techniques to make different looks on paper.

One of the techniques we learned was to create a look of peeling paint. I LOVED the results. And true to our studio motto...."What if we did this on fabric????"

To be quite honest I wasn't expecting much but since I had done some soy wax techniques I had hopes that it would turn out like I saw it in my head.

So here it is....

Peeling Paint Technique

I started with a piece of hand-dyed red fabric (I'm partial to delapidated peeling red barns). On this piece of fabric I used a VERY old house paint brush (I even cut some bits out of it to make it even more irregular) and applied regular everyday valesine in light brush strokes.

The next step is to paint over the whole piece of fabric with another color. Paint right over the vaseline and everything.  I diluted acrylic paint just a bit for this process.

Now on other mediums like paper and wood, etc, you just wipe off the paint with I think a baby wipe if I remember correctly.  Obviously that would not work for fabric. But since I was used to soy wax removal, I was hoping it would accomplish the task of taking off the vaseline resist.

I used packing paper which leaves no print or anything behind. I placed a piece of paper on BOTH sides of the fabric and ironed it. I repeated this process with new paper until the vaseline had been

absorbed into the paper and out of the fabric.

Here is the ironing mid-process.

And here is the completed process with all the vaseline removed. (NOTE: After all is said and done, if there is just a small amount of vaseline residue, you CAN wash it to completely remove it all)

I LOVED how it turned out! Looks just like the side of a very old red barn to me!!

I have another project I want to use this technique on that came to mind. If I get it done before the end of February, I'll post the results!

That's it for me today!

I'll see you next week!!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 4

As many of you know, Wil Opio Oguta and I get together once every year to experiment in the studio. On one of the trips we attended a local art exposition in the Minneapolis Arts District. At that time we saw a beautiful artistic effect done on paper/canvas. Further inquiry revealed that the technique used was gunpowder. Of course, our first reaction the minute we left the showroom was “What if we used gunpowder on fabric?”  After much research and experimentation, and tons of fun, we decided to write a book to share this textile surface technique. That book is now completed and ready to present to the world!

We could think of no better place to reveal this technique that on the FIRE blog! Knowing this is not a “commercial” blog, we asked permission to present the technique, give away our e-book as a prize and after that to just let you know our website to find out how to acquire your copy. At the moment the website is not operational, but you can contact us, if you are interested in the book. It will be mentioned only in the posts this week when we reveal the technique and at the end when we give away the e-book as a prize. We want to thank the FIRE group for granting us this limited opportunity and in return give our assurance that after February, any discussion and contact regarding our book will be handled on our website.

Now to show you the culmination of our adventure in what else….setting something on fire!

SURFACE DESIGN WITH GUNPOWDER

Safety might be the first thought that come to your mind. Actually, we as adventurous textile artists work with chemicals and techniques all the time that require at least a common sense adherence to rules to keep us safe and unharmed. This technique is no different and no more dangerous than any of these other concepts that we have learned to embrace and enjoy.  Follow the safety rules and you should have no problem.  We haven’t burned anything down yet!  Although the word is gunpowder, there is no BANG or anything….just one second of WHOOSH and it is all over. Believe me, the results are worth it!

Supplies are simple except for the gunpowder. However, we found it available at most large sporting goods stores and many gun shops. Admittedly….we did get a few strange looks when we started asking for it.  They weren’t quite sure what to make of us. They asked us what we wanted it for and when we told them we are artists the response was always “Oh!”  Like that explains everything!  LOL!!

The rest of the supplies are probably something you have around your house already.

Yes it is an outdoor procedure, but I happen to know from experience (even up here in the frozen tundra) that it can be done outside even in the winter!  You just do it really quickly!

After setting it on fire, the next part is to turn your amazing surface designed fabrics into wonderful works of art! You have already seen one of mine perhaps.  It is entitled Beautiful Boundary and was inspired by the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef under the water was created by gunpowder on previously sunprinted dupioni silk.

We have the book ready if you are interested. Please contact either Wil or myself and we will give you the particulars.  We are in process of setting up the website but it is not quite ready for publication as yet.

Kelly@KellyLHendrickson.com

wil@wilopiooguta.com

In the meantime, everyone posting a guess on the Friday Mystery techniques will be entered in a drawing at the end of February for a free download of the e-book!

We hope you are intrigued and excited about giving this technique a try.

REVEAL OF WINNER FROM FRIDAY

Since no one guessed the technique, and I loved all the ideas, I just put all the names in a hat and picked one!  And the winner is........

SUZTATS!!!

Please send me your mailing information and I will mail out the overlapping leaves to you!

Send the information to    Kelly@KellyLHendrickson.com

Thanks you guys for playing! And I hope this technique intrigued you!

Variety of Techniques - Mystery Technique 3

Ahhhhhh it is Friday again already!!

And our mystery technique for this Friday is below.

Post your guess in the comments below this post and the winner will be drawn from the correct answers....or if no correct answers...then the most creative guess will win!  Subjective I know but
hey.

So are you ready to give this one a whirl???

Here it is....

I anxiously await your creative guesses!!  The winner will be announced on Monday along with the technique explanation.  See you then!!

Have an amazing weekend!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 2

Today I have two other credit card marks to show you.

The base piece is a snow-dyed piece I did a couple of years ago. This is all that is left of that particular piece of fabric.  As you can see, it already has a directional look to it.

I wanted a subtle look to the surface design so I chose colors that are already in the piece. A blue, green and yellow.

Before I show you the finished piece, I thought it would be interesting to see what the pallete looks like after this process.

For this look, I tooke the long edge of the card and cut it through all three colors to mingle them. Put the edge of the card on the fabric, draw it straight down and then sweep it out to one side.  Then I took the corner of a card, dabbed just the flat of the corner in the paints (all three colors again) and made a mark at the end of the straight line.

Here is the completed surface design.

As I was working in the photo editing bit for this, I noticed that each direction I turned this piece gave it a different look (at least to me).  I named each of them (yes....I know....it is a sickness I think... seemingly with no known cure)

Clockwise from the top left:  Dandelion Drift, In Flight, Ascent and Trumpet Fanfare.

Someday I know this piece will find its way, at just the right moment, into a work either as a whole background or as a bit of accent.

I have used cards before and have a couple of pieces that might also inspire you. One is white plaster on fabric (r). This one is quilted (which I did before applying the plaster). It is a 12" X 12" art quilt. The other is printing ink on watercolor paper (l).  On both I made the white dots with white paint on the end of an artist paint brush.  In the left one, I also used a black Pigma Pen to make black dots. The art quilt is titled "Directions". The paper piece is titled:  "Decisions, Decisions"

I hope you enjoyed playing with credit cards (and other varieties of cards) this week! There are other marks you can make I'm sure.  Grab fabric, paint, cards and let the creativity begin!!!

And be sure to be here on Friday for the second Mystery Technique Contest!  Wil has the floor for this one. You won't want to miss it!!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Week 2

Yep....the holidays are over.....

The first credit card bill has yet to arrive BUT....you KNOW what you did!!!

Suddenly all those people advising you to cut up your credit cards seem to be wise beyond their
years!!

BUT WAIT!!!! DON'T cut them up!!!

I have a MUCH better idea!

Let's "paint" fabric with them!!  (The added value is that you can't use them in a credit machine again!!!)

Here is the list of supplies....very simple

Fabric
Paint
Credit, Gift, Dinner Club (etc.) cards
Tape

That's it and you're ready.  Take a deep breath and let the panic of debt fall away for just a minute.

For this technique it is a good idea to tape your fabric down so that it is very stable.
I am using a piece of white PFD for this first part so you can better see the different elements.

Next the paint. I just used some very basic acrylic paints but glittery and marbly ones would be way cool as well.

Then get out your cards of whatever type you have around. You know those fake ones they send you in the mail???? Those work as well!

Now the fun begins. Just take the side of your card and draw it through the paint like a knife through butter. Then make your mark!  I started using the card like a paint brush, making swirls switching from one side of the card to the other is an "S" move. Also made some that were more closed circles.

Noticed as I was doing these that the wave of the cardboard was showing through. No problem for me! I liked it actually but just a note to be aware of the surface to which you tape your fabric...depending on the look you are wanting to create.

Next I took the cards, cut them through the paint and used the card like a "stamp". I chose to keep going with the swirl look and make "rays" with the red paint.

Then I took the corner of the card, dipped in the paint and made dots with it.

Finally, I tooke the side of the card again and cut through the paint. I Swept the card in one direction to make a kind of feathered look.

The final piece, which acquired the name "In A Spin" is ready!

On Wednesday, I'll be using the card on an already snow-dyed piece so you can see what it is like to combine the techniques.


NOW.....(drum roll)....the winner of the Mystery Technique 1!!!

Just a quick note:  It was appropriately mentioned that awarding the first correct answer in a group so wide spread as this did not afford everyone an equal chance.  Correct. So, wanting to be fair to all, the winner will now be chosen from all the correct answers.

The prize is the piece of frabic in the mystery!!

The technique is pounded fabric!!  If you are interested in this technique, I did a mini presentation on the FIRE blog April 28-30, 2014.  All the instructions are in those three days.  Happy Pounding!
For this piece I did use some Lumiere paint I had left over from a project which is why there is the metallic bit in the fabric.

Now for the winner!!!

PAM  HARRIS !!!!!

Pam if you can send me your mailing information (kelly@KellyLHendrickson.com) I will get the piece of pounded fabric out to you right away.

That's it for today all of you! See you on Wednesday for some more credit card fun!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques - Mystery Technique 1

Ready???

Here we go!

Each Friday we will be posting a photo of a particular technique.  Your adventure is to guess
what technique we used to create these pieces. Enter your guess in the comment section below the photo.

The first correct entry will be the winner!!
The weekly winner and the reveal of the technique will be the following Monday

Every guess will be entered in the final drawing at the end of February.  The prize you ask????
I'll share more about that next week because it has to do with a particular technique we will be
presenting at that time.

MYSTERY  WEEK  ONE

So I'll see you Monday with the reveal of the technique and announcement of this week's winner!!

Kelly Hendrickson

Variety of Techniques Combined - some old and some new! - Week 1

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR!!

A new year begins...a year of discovery...a year of experimentation...a year of FIRE!!!!!

Since so many of you might still be partying or resting up from the holidays, I will make the first post just an introduction to the months of January and February.

This summer, when Wil was visiting, we thought up a plan to do this "tag-team" approach. The reason is that we have been working together on something very exciting and new which we will be
telling you about in a few days! We requested this format and had it approved to introduce this new
thing to our most adventurous and daring friends at FIRE!  Where else after all??? More about that later.

We were thinking that so many of the techniques on FIRE are so much fun and so exciting...how much fun would it be to combine them and so a series on surface design using more than one technique! Some have done bits of this as examples on their presentations. This will just be a whole two months of combining techniques and see where they take us!

So we will be spending these two months switching off weeks. Wil is going to be doing the first installment Wednesday, January 4. I will be posting a Mystery Technique on Friday, January 6. After that, we will be doing techniques on Monday and Wednesday. Then on Friday there will be a Mystery Technique. This will be a contest where the idea is to guess what the technique is...or what tools were used. The answer will be revealed on the following Monday. And there WILL be a prize!

So until Wednesday....take some time to breathe, shake off the cobwebs of the old year and break through to new beginnings and transitions. I can hardly wait to begin this adventure with all of you!

Kelly Hendrickson

Background Check - Bonus Post 2 - ?????????????

A few years ago, Wil and I were at an art show in the art district of Minneapolis. While there we saw some amazing art on paper. We talked to the artist and on the way home were wondering…

“What would happen if …. We did that same technique on fabric?????”

Well, there was nothing to do but try it out. And we LOVED the results! We have been working on this technique for a couple of years...testing, tweaking, learning. And now we are ready to share it with you guys! It is a fun and exciting surface design we have not really seen done on fabric before.

In the months of January and February of 2017, Wil and I will be tag team presenting several posts on complex surface designs. During that time, we will be revealing this technique. I’m SOOOO hoping you will be joining us for those two months. There will be some mysteries each week, some prizes and, of course, the presentation of this new technique.

Are you looking forward to it yet??????

Just to give you another boost…here is a piece I did with the background using this technique. If you guess what it is….shhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don’t spoil the surprise for others, OK?

SANDS  OF  TIME

Kelly L Hendrickson

Thanks for joining me in this journey through the varied world of backgrounds! 

SEE  YOU  IN  JANUARY/FEBRUARY!!!

Background Check - Bonus Post 1 - PARTING THOUGHTS

Our time is now almost over.

I hope you have been inspired, excited or just entertained!

Just a couple of other thoughts and examples of some backgrounds that didn't make a whole post.

1) Use untraditional fabric

Here is a small piece I did that has a background of purple velvet. (Good thing I didn't paint on it! YIKES!!)

Deep Purple Sea

Different untraditional background fabrics can give a new interest, texture and depth to a piece. I have often wondered about using burlap sometime.  Hmmmmmmmmm

2) Use parts of fabrics to create parts of a background.

In this piece I was using all batiks. One batik in my stash had an overall pine twig print. Needing pine trees for this background, I took just one twig, cut it out (an art quilt form of fussy cutting?) and the twig became a whole tree.

Sky Gazer

Sky Gazer - detail

A lot of batiks and perhaps other commercial fabrics have bits that can be used for other purposes than their original intention! 

Only one more post and it is one you won't want to miss!!! So be sure to be back here on Wednesday to see the finale and to get a taste of something to come in Jan/Feb on FIRE!!!

Kelly L Hendrickson

Background Check - Week 4 - PHOTO

It seems to me that so many art quilters I meet also love photography. Personally I have a HUGE collection of random photos of all kinds of things. I use them for inspiration mostly. But I wanted to integrate a photo even more into my art as an experiment.

A couple of years ago I was creating pieces in the theme of Earth. I chose to depict 4 amazing natural wonders. One of those was the Giant Sequoias in California. We had taken some trips while in California and I LOVE the way the trees look in a morning mist. THAT is want I wanted to show. The tall giants peacefully standing in the forest, the trees in the distance fading into a mere shadow. In the distance they turn into a more gray scale background. But how to do that was the question...to make them distant and fading yet discernable.

I had previously printed a photo onto silk organza and loved the ethereal effect. If I printed the trees in black and white on the silk organza it just might work!

It took a couple of prints to cover the space I needed. Here is how it turned out. In the close-up you can see the photo on silk organza.

And here is the final piece.

GIANTS  IN  THE  MIST

Because of the misty look I wanted, I printed the photo in black and white. But depending on the photo and what you want to do with it....color could work just as well! Take a stroll through your own photos and you just might see something that will inspire a new piece of art!

Now yes, I know it has been four weeks. BUT...I'm lucky enough to have a long month!!! Be SURE to come back on Monday. There will be a surprise and an announcement!  Then on Wednesday I'll just close off the month with a few miscellaneous thoughts on backgrounds.

Kelly L Hendrickson