A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Last Post for May and Lutradur

Last Post for May and Lutradur.


This is my last post for May.  The month has gone by fast. I hope you have learned something new about Lutradur or about any of the techniques or tips presented.
Putting wonder under on Lutradur to make a cut out transfer.

For June I hope it is sunny so that I can practice the Sun Printing lessons coming up.

I leave you with one last hint or comment from Leslie Riley.

My final question to her was

Jo: As an artist, writer and busy art coach do you have any thoughts how important it is or if it is to your art practice to explore different ideas like this blog presents?  

Leslie: I have always said that it’s important to explore EVERYTHING. It is in the doing, the playing, that the AHa! moments arise. Your biggest insight may be that you don’t like the material or techniques, and that’s OK! But you may find that it fires off little idea sparks for something else or a new way to use or do something. You never know where inspiration is going to come from.

What is most important is that you PLAY. Approaching new materials and techniques with a ‘what-if’ or ‘let’s play’ state of mind takes the pressure to succeed and excel off and allows for some pretty fantastic results.

This sounds like good advice…
Leslie blog and newsletter inspires this artistic spirit as well.
This blog promotes this view point as well.

There is so much more to share so if you want to see more I will try to share it on my blog. 


Like angelina on lutradur.


The winner Leslie’s e-book will be announced tomorrow and I will try to get in touch with you. If I can't get in touch with that person then I will draw another name. 
This will inspire the what-if in anyone.
The winner of the package of Lutradur supplies and goodies will be pulled the same way. 
And I am sure they will have a few things to play with.
So it is off off to play with things old and new… hummmm Sun printing June’s topic sounds good.  

I also want to share with you what my friend Al did for me. 
He took a picture with one of my relatives on it printed on Lutradur and made this pillow for me... 


Very cute and now is not only a reminder of my family member but will grace my house as well. Great idea for a gift. I love what he has done with the fabric around it. Kind of a crazy patch scrunching. 


Jo
thesewinggeek


Felting the centre of the flowers.



Colour Vie a screen printing product and Lutradur....

It was really interesting working with the Colour Vie pigments on the Lutradur. The pigments look great. I was surprised by how thin it is. Tried to do my texturizing using found objects, but I think the Lutradur was just a bit too thin for that. Below are the samples I came up with. In the screen printed Lutradur I was using an old screen from a musical (The Producers) I was working on. That was the summer I printed a lot of money:).


Painted with Colour Vie pigments, then stencilled with Colour Vie metallic pigment


Painted with Colour Vie pigments, then stencilled with Colour Vie metallic gold pigment.



Block printed and painted with Colour Vie pigments



Block printed and painted with Colour Vie pigments



Screen printed and painted with Colour Vie pigments. One piece was then distressed using a heat gun.

Hope this works for you!

Take care and enjoy our sudden summer weather!

Gunnel

Gunnel Hag
Colour Vie

Gunnel has a great product for using with fabric to screen print and colour with. She is a wealth of information on printing having worked in Toronto, Ontario Canada's Theater scene.

Thank you Gunnel for sharing.

Jo Vandermey
thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca



Friday, May 30, 2014

Transfers... Other ways... on Lutradur

Two more ways to transfer images onto Lutradur.

One is with Matte Medium and the other is with Rub on Transfers.

I have used Golden Matte Medium. Leslie Riley shows in her DVD how the process works. First you have to select the pictures or graphics you want to transfer. Then you print it onto Ink Jet Transparencies for over head projectors.

You have to remember if you are using words or a design where direction matters you need to mirror image your picture before you print.

I decided to print a page of graphics that I might use and some words.

The trick is to apply the right amount of matte medium. It is kind of like Goldilocks - not to much/not to little.
Apply a coating of matte medium over the Lutradur.

You lay the rough side of the transparency on the matte medium surface and burnish it with your tool of choose. I was using a Popsicle stick from the rub on transfers I have.

You burnish lightly and try not to move the transparency. If you move the transparency you can blur the image. Too much medium and the image will blur. A blurred image is not necessarily a bad thing. It is nice to have a selection of images done so you can pull it our of your tool box when creating.

Here some of the words blurred because I had to much medium on the sheet.

Here is the whole sheet I did.
The column on the left blurred because of too much matte medium but the cups on the right are great.


I added the words to this piece of Lutradur with a fish put on with TAP. 
The other picture of the boy fishing is a rub on transfer like the kind you use in scrap booking. 

It was cut out and laid on the Lutradur. Then it was burnished on with a Popsicle stick. 

I have in mind to make a card for my dad for fathers day with this. The picture reminds me of one of my dad as a boy. 


I made this to make a card for for a special friend. The "postcard" is a rub on transfer... and the words tool the flower was made from painted lutradur, cut out flower and a heat gun used to melt and mold the petals. A few beads sew the flower down.

Transfers are a great thing to have in your tool box. A quick card or a more complex project transferring is fun to do.


Jo Vandermey
thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Elle Guest Post for Lutradur

Elle has been hard at work all month. I really appreciate all the work she has put into helping me with this months postings. 

This was suppose to be posted by me yesterday but I was at work, my parents for dinner, then the dance recital of my niece and great nieces. And then crashed into bed.

She has done a fabulous job. And I love her sense of humour.... Check out her blog. Elle

Well, Light My Fire..... 
According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, it is National Barbecue Month. 

Can you imagine your mother's reaction to "Mother, may I set it on fire?"!

My mother was away somewhere but had left steaks out for supper.  My brother and I were on supper detail and managed to set fire to the steaks on the stove top.  Both my parents were Girl Guide and Scout leaders so being under their influence we were prepared  (!!!) and poured  a box of baking soda over the flames and the steak. :(  My Dad was not impressed and pointed out just putting the lid on would have saved our supper! hmm!

This week I have been playing with fire!  Precautions in place.

First I warmed up by using fiery colours.

I sprayed Dragon Fruit Pink Maya Mist onto Lutradur through a stencil.

Then I used Cadmium Red Deep Hue Liquitex Acrylic Color which I rolled onto Lutradur through the same stencil with a foam brush. 
The ink spreads through the webbing and produces a softer look than the lightly rolled acrylic which produces the sharper image.  It should be noted that the paint can act as a resist.

To warm things up,  I heated up layers.

I sandwiched some bling between two pieces of  Lutradur which I sandwiched between a silicone sheet and ironed away!

It stuck but mainly to the bottom one! 


 I distressed it with a heat tool and learned that I like to have the lacy effect done from the back as the added bling isn't distorted as much and the holes happen quicker.

 Then I spread bling, threads and bits of coloured Lutradur between two sheets of wonder under and ironed away again.

Peeling it off was interesting but it came off and I thought it was great.

But as I was experimenting with the Lutradur,  I placed it on a piece of dark Lutradur, along side a bit of net and then some white Lutradur.  I covered the top side with some fine net.  I fused it again.

Then I distressed it with the heat tool.
 
Next  I began to cut away edges from the earlier acrylic sample with the soldering tool.  Good idea but I need a better image as forgot about the properties of a stencil!. :o

These feathers were fast and had great edges!  Feathering was quick and easy!

What would happen if I brushed the edges with a real flame?  A slow steady pass through the flame is great for aging or texture as Lutradur doesn't tear.  There is less melted residue of the fibres and the edge is crisp and even clean.   But don't get too complacent.

It can and does sometimes flare up.  I'm not sure why.  I didn't notice too much difference between painted and unpainted Lutradur.   I didn't feel anxious; nor did my heart beat unduly.  I would do it again for an old, yellow, aged effect.

Things are heating up finally here on the farm.  The trees are more than just a hazy green and the dandelions are in full bloom.  I must confess my attention is wandering from setting creative fires to planting breath taking blossoms.   I have mislaid key photos and my photos from my photo paper is scratching in a worrisome way.  I did play a bit with my next page but it is far from being done.

One last technique for any worried about fire hazards.  I doubt pulling a needle through Lutradur will create enough friction to cause a fire.  I want to do a camping page if I can find the missing images. Of course I could fill in the blanks with feathers and foliage.   Adding a few bits of texture to leaves that I cut out with scissors makes my heart really beat faster!  Now this is a technique I am looking forward to sitting and playing with while my Rooster barbecues the steaks!  Gee, I hope he doesn't set them on fire!!!

 Thanks once again Elle for playing along.

Jo
thesewinggeek.blogspot.ca

Time to Tap...

Time to TAP…


No it is not a tap dancing lesson even though I really wanted a set of those shoes as a kid…

Today we are going to explore TAP or more correctly Transfer Artist Paper on Lutradur.

Tap is a product that Leslie Riley introduced to the world. Leslie has worked with transferring images onto fabric and other surfaces for years. In the words from her bio she explains, “In an ongoing effort to find the best ways for quilters and mixed media artists to get permanent photos on fabric, Lesley introduced Transfer Artist Paper™, named the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) 2011 Most Innovative new product.”
TAP 5 Sheet Pack
Image from Leslie Riley's web shop page. 
One of my questions to Leslie was about TAP

Jo:  Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) – “Create With Transfer Artist Paper” is another book you have written. And you have another book “Creative Image Transfer – Any Artist, Any Style, Any Surface: 16 New-Mixed Media Projects Using TAP -Transfer Artist Paper coming out in September. You use the TAP product for transferring images to Lutradur. Can you share your top tips to use TAP to transfer images?
                A cover shot of Leslie Riley’s new book

Leslie: Transferring images onto Lutradur with TAP is easy-peasy and practically fool proof (user error is the fool part.) It’s as simple as printing (or drawing) your image (in reverse) onto TAP and ironing it onto Lutradur. My top tips would be:

Lutradur and TAP are both polymers/plastics, so when they are heated together they like to stay together. You should always peel TAP from any surface when hot but with Lutradur it may resist, so carefully and slowly peel. If you see an areas where you missed ironing you can always lay the TAP back down and re-iron before you completely remove the TAP from the Lutradur.

Yes, Lutradur is heat-reactive, but if you keep your iron moving continuously over the entire transfer area, it will not react to the iron heat.

Since Lutradur is translucent, what you transfer will be visible on the reverse side as well. Use that to your advantage!

Leslie also shared some images of her work with TAP.



And




Let see some of the images that I have used to transfer on to Lutradur with TAP and basically if you follow Lesley’s directions it works that easily. 

Load the TAP into your ink jet printer (do not use laser printers)

Choose a picture.

Print it

Iron it on to the Lutradur according to instructions.... 

Dover copy right free designs. TAP on Lutradur.

These would make a great start on for a special card, post card, artist trading card, or for a wall hanging. 






Here is the berries above fussy cut out and the tap ironed on. I started outlining with markers and plan to stitch on it. 

 More dover designs.... The fish I plan to use on a quilt scene for my nephew.


I put some TAP fish on the Lutradur I coloured earlier. Some stitching and maybe a few beads on the fish eyes???? I have highlighted some of the fishes fins in black. 


This picture doesn’t show up as well on the black Lutradur. It could be the print colours.

Our old car picture going through the tree circa 19?? On Lutradur with Tap.


Tap is an easy way to transfer to the Lutradur. The image is crisp and clear. Remember you must use the mirror image on you picture before you print. Because the design will be reversed. 

There are other transfer methods to Lutradur and I will cover two more in my next post.

We are nearing the end of our time with the month of May. I do have more things I have experimented with and will continue to do so. So a few more posts and then I am back to my blog which I really hope becomes a place where I show my experiments. I know now how much work goes into regular blog posts.

I thought at the beginning I would go through all of the ways to use Lutradur and show you finished mixed examples. I think the using of my samples will have to wait for my own blog. Lol


Jo
thesewinggeek


Remember to leave a comment and you could win Leslie’s e book on Lutradur.

Or

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 just 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.






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.)