The "Mess" Progresses...

I thought I'd share the progress of the mess of strings and fiber from my previous post. I am doing this purely to explore technique and see what happens. It is going to end up as ATCs. Nothing terribly exciting, just a good learning experience. So...the step you saw in my last post was a smattering of selveges and threads and the skinny little pieces of fabric you get when you square a piece up. I layed them down on top of some cheesecloth and sandwhiched it all between Sulky Solvy (water-soluable film) and machine quilted (free motion) the whole thing as much as I could stand it. I used up odd color bobbins and ends of old thread spools. Used up quite a bit, which was nice. Then I rinsed the solvy out and let it dry, and pressed it flat - that is the piece you already saw. Above is the same piece with a coat of gesso.

Once the gesso dried, I used some leftover emulsion house paint (a small sample that I've had for a while) and coated the whole thing as best I could. That's the reddish color. While I like the color, it was very thick and dried rather plastic-y so I think I would opt for textile paint next time. Still, it was good to start using up some stuff! After that dried I added a wash of a gold Golden Acrylic (will have to get the color name and edit the post later...). Then a very watered down wash of gesso to tone it all down a bit, and finally I dabbed some watered down Lumiere (Halo Blue Gold) around the piece. I loved this effect. The blue tended to wander into the crevices and the gold tended to stay on top, but it still blended. I was going for a rusty effect. Not sure I exactly accomplished that, but it's still interesting.

I was surprised that the most interesting parts were the areas that were thin, with just the cheesecloth and maybe a yarn or two exposed, so that you could see through it. I may do this again with the goal of achieving that effect.

It's been a fun process and a good opportunity to use up some stuff that would normally go in the trash. I'll post the ATCs when they're done.

Thanks for stopping by!