and then we set it on fire... well really we melted it... Lutradur

And then we set it on fire… well maybe not but playing with heat tools…

This title is what attracted me to read this blog in the first place. It is a cool title.

Today is the day we look at heating Lutradur.

Tools needed a heat gun like the type used in embossing ink for stamping, a soldering iron or a tool like the Creative Hollow heat tool. I have a “Martha Stewart” heat tool. (It was the right price)

++++Do not use a heat gun like the type to strip paint. This is not safe and too strong of a heat.

Safety notes:

-Lutradur is a polyester product so use your heat tools in a well-ventilated area. To be safer use a mask or respirator designed for fumes.

-Have tools on hand like a skewer, awl, tweezers, or other tool to hold the Lutradur in place.

-Use the tools on a heat protected area. An ironing board, glass pane, cookie sheet. Do not do on top of your table unprotected.

-Know where your fire extinguisher is (preferable close by) or a pan of water beside you.

-Use your Teflon ironing sheet. Use for protection of your surface or as a shield.

Before you see my examples let’s take a moment to have some hints from Leslie Riley www.leslieriley.com

This is a picture Leslie sent me to show how she has used heat tools to cut Lutradur. See her heat tool in the right upper corner of the picture?

Hints from Leslie….

Jo: If you could name just one technique as your favourite what would it be? And why? 

Leslie: I still love what attracted me initially, burning organic edges. I love the magic and power behind taking the heat tool to the edge of a piece of Lutradur.

Jo:  The blog that we are writing for is …and then we set it on fire… what is your best story on using a heat tool or soldering tool and having it burn a bit too much. Could you use your “mistake” and turn it into something interesting?

Leslie: In my early days of transferring images, I read that applying a solvent to a magazine image of those early color copies and then heating it would create a good color transfer. So I iron the paper that I had painted with solvent. Big mistake. Solvents are combustible. A small fire ensured on my ironing board. Fortunately I was able to put it out quickly.

                                       

Other than that, the only other heat tool story is placing my hot tool onto a plastic table while teaching and burning/melting a hole into the table. Obviously I stress proper use and resting places for your heat tool. A tall heavy empty jar is a great place to put a hot tool while you are working.

Now into heating. We have our area set up so we are safe….

Lutradur will melt to nothing if you apply to much heat to it. Like anything else you need to practice with the tools you have to get effects that you want. If you heat an area to hot you may burn more than you expect. But this can be a creative opportunity or as I like to say a creative design change.

First we will use the Stamping Embossing Gun to “Lace” our Lutradur.

When you use the heat gun let it warm up first. If you put it over your Lutradur when your first turn it on you will not get the heat the same as when you have it on for a minute. Start out moving the heat gun over the area you want to “lace”. (Leslie calls this technique lacing) 

The farther away from the surface the slower the Lutradur will melt. If you move the heat gun closer to the fabric the rate of melting will increase. So if you are new to heating keep the gun higher. Also the rate you move the gun around the surface will also slow the rate of melting. If you want greater lacing as opposed to melted holes than move the gun around in small circles and hold it higher above the fabric.

This is a skill that is easy to do but hard to control.

Let’s look at some pieces I have laced.

This is the piece of black Lutradur that I used the Golden Glass bead medium through a stencil. I decided I wanted to create a ethereal city … and I might achieve this with lacing.

I decide to quit lacing when I got to this point.

This piece

Was stamped then laced…

Sometimes the material you colour with will act as a resist to melting… or at least the resist area won’t melt as quickly. Acrylic paint can act as a resist but also the bead gel medium did so in the above picture.

My friend and fellow Fabrigo Robynne wanted to try to do lacing. So we pulled out the heat gun and started running it. We used my Teflon sheet to shield areas she didn’t want to get to much heat on. She wanted to burn the edges of the Lutradur but had already sew it to her piece.

Robynne Cole  SAQA  and Fabrigos. Portion of a work in progress

The hole is an “oops…” but it has caused her to re think the piece and add a 3 d embellishment to cover over some of the hole.

Robynne Cole  SAQA  and Fabrigos. Portion of a work in progress

In another part of her piece the shielding worked and the edges of the Lutradur was given the slight organic laced look she was going for as opposed to a crisp even cut edge.

I love this look!

My friend Karen from Fabrigos also make a picture from Lutradur. She used my ship picture, free motion stitching and used lacing to get a really amazing look. I can only show you a peek of it now.

Lutradur stitched onto fabric and laced. Karen Sirianni SAQA and Fabrigos work in progress.

To use the soldering iron or the creative heat tool…

Some hints of caution…

- make sure you have a place for your soldering iron to rest when not in use. If the tool does not have a reliable stand (like mine) use Leslie’s tip and use an old glass jar. Ineke Berlyn in her DVD with colouricious.com on Lutradur use a clay garden pot with a hole in the bottom. The pot is upside down and she puts the tool into the hole. I am sure there are more great suggestions out there. Just make sure the tool is stable when you do not have it in your hand.

-My tool also has to be completely cool to change tips. Don’t touch the hot tips!

So with your heat proof surface ready try some lacing with your soldering iron/heat tool.

I use my portable ironing board with my glass plate on top. I want to also try this with a cookie sheet sometime.

These are the tips that come with my Martha Stewart Heat Tool. I choose to use the one in the front of the picture. I tried to take pictures of me actually doing the work but I could do the camera and the heat tool. I am sure there is a way.

When the tool was hot enough ( a few minutes at best) I took my tweezers and held on to the lutradur and put the tip to where I wanted to have the Lutradur melt. I wanted to accent the white spaces that were left in the stamping.

Below I did a wavy line to take off a piece of the lutradur that was not coloured.

Here is the piece below all finished. I can imagine it in apiece with leaves, or part of a post card or other card…. Somehting in my box of tricks to use when inspiration hits.

In the picture above I traced out leaves form mylar templates. I made the templates my self from taking leaves from my garden. I scanned the real leaves into my  computer. I printed the page out and traced images. In some cases I enlarged or shrunk the size of leaf so I could have multiple sizes. I use the templates when I cut out leaves from fabric for 3 d  stitched leaves in my pieces.

Below is  the traced leaves. I used a sharpie pen and free handed leaf veins.

Here is a picture of the finished leaf. Very translucent. Reminiscent of the broken down leaves of late fall.

This is a leaf that I made from the molding paste and a stencil. I melted some of the leaf veins and used scissors to cut around the leaf. On the right back ground this will provides great texture and dimension to the piece.

Using the embossing heat tool gives you wonderful looks. The soldering iron/heat tool gives you a more subtle effect and more control over your melting.  So far I have not set anything on fire. But melting things is addictive!

I have been really enjoying our time together.

I still have many more things I would like to show you. If I don’t get it all posted this week I will continue on my own blog… monitoring my experiments with all the wonderful techniques out there. I am really thankful for all the artists who have shared with me. And the graciousness of them to let me show their work.

I hope you have enjoyed this month as much as I have… a few more technique’s to go but there is lots more in Leslie's book and the other books an DVD’s that are out there. People continue to amaze me at what they come up with.

Jo

http://thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca

Remember to win an e copy of Leslie Riley’s book from C &T publishing. Comment on this blog post or any post from this series of Lurtadur posts.

And as a Bonus Prize of Lutradur samples and goodies from me do one of three things.

·        Having a tip that you have shared on the days topic

·        Tell me you have tried something as a result of this month’s post tips and what it was

·        If you have gone to my blog and become a follower.

(I don't want to coherence any one in becoming a follower of my blog so you can skip that one if you want to .... no pressure.)

Printing on Fabric... Printing on Lutradur Fabric.

 Printing on Fabric ...Printing on Lutradur

Printing on actual fabric is not hard. It is the same principle as printing on Lutradur.  You can buy pre treated fabric on carrier sheets from many sources. Check your local shop first. I have never tried the pre treated sheets. Maybe you can comment on your experiences.


I usually do my own fabric a muslin or white cotton. I pre treat with Bubble Jet Set (see earlier post)  Then I  iron it to a carrier sheet.

What I wanted to tell you about with this is I like to print my picture on fabric and on a separate piece of Lutradur. Then I layer them. Up close there really is no advantage but when you stand back your eye makes it seem a bit 3 d. I think this is really cool.

My original picture

My picture printed on colour washed lutradur

My picture printed on fabric

The picture printed on fabric and layered with the Lutradur.
I like the effect and it appears 3 d when you stand back.

Fabric printed with our Mr. Snook

Mr Snook layered with Light Lutradur

Mr Snook layered with coloured Lutradur. 

Try the layered look.

Jo
thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca

Give Away.

All people who leave a comment on the and then we set it on fire blog in the Month of May is entered into the Give Away of Leslie's e-book 

Leslie Riley's e-book to be given away by C & T publishing

You get one entry for making a comment. (please make sure I can contact you via that comment) 

Bonus Prize

But in order to win what I call the Bonus prize 

 you have to work harder... 

You can only be entered into the Bonus Prize by

1. Having a tip that you have shared on a posts topic.

2. Tell me you have tried something as a result of this May’s posts on Lutradur and what it was.

3. Become a follower on my blog.

(I don't want to coherence any one in becoming a follower of my blog so you can skip that one if you want to .... no pressure.)

So you can enter for Leslie's book by commenting any comment... (one entry per name) 

Or by doing #1, #2, and/or #3 for the Bonus Prize. 

Sharing a fellow artists work - Lutradur samples

Over a year ago now I gave a workshop for the Burlington Fibre Artists. They are a great group. I am not a member this year... needed to scale back a bit .... but they are really the people who set me off on this journey.

I asked the group if they had anything to share and Judy Makinson sent me a group of pictures that she had done with the samples that evening.

Judy is a member of the Burlington Fibre Artists, the Group of Eight  fibre artists and has her own blog judymakinson.blogspot.ca  and has exhibited in many shows including her groups own shows and Fibre Content

Judy response to my e mail request was as follows,   "I don’t know if you still need them or not.  Most of them were done in the class that you taught at the BAC.  The last couple were done on my own.  Spanish Doors is a group of door photos taken while I was in Spain.  The photos were printed onto Lutradur then heat distressed, then mounted on a quilted background.  Pear Season is thread painted and uses Lutradur for the pear leaves.  The Lutradur was painted using acrylic paints.  Leaf shapes were cut out and distressed with a heat gun, then sewn to the background.  Good luck with the blog!  I’ll be tuned in."

Enjoy the show of Judy's work... and note the clever way she has put the experimental pieces together.

 And here are the all the samples together. A great idea to have the grommets put in and hang them on a binder ring. 

Can you tell what techniques Judy used on the pieces. 

Jo 

thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca

Printing on Lutradur Part 2

Printing on Lutradur… Part 2

For three weekends in a row I have been on the road. Either the family cottage readying it for the summer or family reunion.

So while I thought I was super organized the month took a turn. No internet and no time to write… but this weekend even though I have had no internet I have been working to get the samples I have made into blog posts. So there might be a flurry of posts. There is just so much to share. When I picked up Leslie Riley’s book I did not think it would spark such a sense of play and creativity for me.

On to printing.

I had fun choosing pictures to print. I did a couple of series with Lutradur in black and white and in colour.

I tried different weights and sheets and cutting down yardage to put though the printer.

I coloured a few pieces of Lutradur to make a back wash and ran that through the printer.

I do not have a fancy printer. It is an HP which a I bought a couple of years ago to keep printing costs down for my whole family…school projects, information, moms learning habit… etc.

I have read elsewhere about Leslie’s statement that pigment inks last longer than dye inks. That is one thing I would have to investigate with my printer and ink manufacturer. So I can’t comment on brands of printers or inks.

What I can say is that I have had no problem with anything I have put through my printer when it comes to Lutradur.

With that being said when I use Lutradur from yardage or Lutradur that is coloured from yardage I do make sure that it is on a carrier sheet. What is a carrier sheet? A carrier sheet is something that is meant to attach to material so that the fabric can move through the printer.

Some people use full sheet labels. I use either freezer paper cut to a standard sheet of paper size, freezer paper commercially in standard sheet paper size or a product called Jonny Sews Stabilizer.

When you use the Jonny Sews Stabilzer  jonnyseww.com or Freezer paper the technique is the same. 

You cut the fabric in this case Lutradur to slightly smaller than the standard sheet of paper size first than iron on the freezer paper 

or as below you iron the freezer paper (Jonny Sews Stabilizer) on the Lutradur and then cut it to the size of the paper. I have used both ways with no problems.

 

Coloured sheet of Lutradur layed on a sheet of freezer paper. Put a Teflon protection sheet over top to prevent a mess on your iron and to protect the Lutradur from melting.

 Iron on a cotton setting until the freezer paper holds.

OOPs I forgot the protection sheet.

Flip the whole thing over and iron for about 30 seconds to make sure the paper is adhered. Now it is ready for the printer…

Or if you ironed the freezer paper onto the Lutradur while it was still in yardage form. Simply line up your ruler on the edge of the freezer paper and cut to size.

Once you have your Lutradur ready to go into the printer… either the plain sheets from the package or the yardage cut to size and adhered to a carrier sheet take them up to your printer and you are ready to print.

Choose a photo you want to print.

When you send it to your printer make sure the printer is set to best colour or best black and white. If you printer has special instructions for special papers follow your printers instructions.

I just put the Lutradur sheets in my printer and sent the command to print.

Printers can be particular so your just have to see what works.

Here is a series of the same picture on Lutradur.

Picture on light weight Lutradur that was lightly covered before printing with seta colour wash of yellow and green.

Light weight Lutradur run through printer.

Heavy weight Lutradur printed.

Same pictures. Same settings on the computer sent to the printer. Different looks.

You can play with the colours you paint on the Lutradur. You can play with the effects that you do on your pictures on your camera. Printing is a very quite and fun way to make a interesting visual texture.

You can print colour pictures…

Printed Lutradur with carrier paper... See how the Lutradur is porous and ink is transferred to the paper.

Or you can print coloured pictures on coloured Lutradur…

That  was a shot of tulips in my garden taken with me down at ground level shooting it towards the tree that is in the centre of this little garden. With seta paints I did the bottom half of the Lutradur in a mix of green and yellow. The top half I painted with a wash of rose pink. I didn't know how it would turn out but I love it.

This shot was from the Niagara Falls Parkway Greenhouses in Niagara Falls, Canada

Hope you try printing on Lutradur.

Next post will be on printing on fabric, printing on Lutradur and then layering the two for a neat look.

Jo

http://thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca

Give Away Reminder. 
All people who leave a comment on the and then we set it on fire blog in the Month of May is entered into the Give Away of Leslie's e-book 

Leslie Riley's e-book to be given away by C & T publishing

You get one entry for making a comment. (please make sure I can contact you via that comment) 

Bonus Prize

But in order to win what I call the Bonus prize you have to work harder... 

You can only be entered into the Bonus Prize by

1. Having a tip that you have shared on a posts topic.

2. Tell me you have tried something as a result of this May’s posts on Lutradur and what it was.

3. Become a follower on my blog.

(I don't want to coherence any one in becoming a follower of my blog so you can skip that one if you want to .... no pressure.)

So you can enter for Leslie's book by commenting any comment... (one entry per name) 

Or by doing #1, #2, and/or #3 for the Bonus Prize entry. That means you have three chances to win a package of cool Lutradur supplies.

Anyone who has commented or given me a tip etc before now is already entered... just fair. 

Thanks for reading this far! 

Jo

thesewinggeek

Printing on Lutradur...

Printing.... 

Wow what a month this has been .... I have had so much planned for you and I am only on printing.... 

Well here goes! 

Running Lutradur straight through an Ink Jet Printer.


Lutradur goes through your home printer like a dream. I have done it with sheets purchased and with cutting my own sheets from the yardage. 

An old picture from our families albums printed onto Lutradur...

 This picture was of a ship that was in Toronto Harbour, Ontario Canada in around 1905. It was a replica of Christoper Coloumbus Ship according to the caption. I printed it onto Lutrudur and mistakenly ran it through the printer twice but the print was interrupted. It shows how you can get a darker image on your print by running the piece through twice. 

In order to insure a good crisp print that lasts you have to treat the Lutradur. You can do this several ways.  

Note: Bubble Jet set and Pym II will not change the hand or fiber look of the Lutradur but  Matte Medium and Gesso will.

You can use Bubble Jet Set like you would with fabric. The Bubble Jet Set will help keep the colour to fade. See Carol Bryer Fallart-Gentry website for tips on how to use this product. 

 You can also go to the manufacturers’ website.  C Jenkins Company Note: I was thrown off when I went to this link because the Jenkins seem to be operating a restaurant as well now so they have their business on the same web page but there is still lots of good info if you go to the left hand side of the web page. 

You may also spray with a protectorant  Pym II (Preserve Your Memories) (see book for details) to keep the colour from fading. Or as a alternative you can use a product from Krylon which I have which sayes it is a UV protectorant.

 

 In turn you may use a soft gel matte medium painted onto the surface of the lutradur and then left to dry. The matte medium can be also applied after printing to protect the surface. The matte medium will decrease the amount of transparency of the Lutradur. I have used Golden Matte Medium 

Painting a layer of Gesso on the lutradur before running it through the printer (and letting it dry thoroughly) will provide a different look for the print. The Gesso will allow for a different texture for you print.

Leslie's Tip
lesleyriley.com

Jo:  I really seem to enjoy printing with my printer on Lutradur. I have tried both putting a matte medium on and bubble jet set. Since I am new to this is there any one way that the printing is more stable… longer lasting colour then another?

Leslie:  In this case, it’s not the Bubble Jet or the Matte Medium that matters, it’s your printer inks. Pigment based inks will last longer than dye based. The matte medium will give you better and brighter color because the medium seals the fiber and spaces in between so you get a clearer image than you would with Bubble Jet Set which will help hold the printer ink, but is also absorbed into the fibers dulling it down and does nothing to help retain the ink in the “holey” part of the Lutradur. TAP is the perfect solution for images on Lutradur.

I am splitting this up into two posts because I have limited internet this weekend. So I am posting this now and will have a bunch of posts to go this week. 

Thanks for your patience! 

Jo