Piece "D" - Painting on Fabric

Fabric Painting

Why Paint on Fabric?

A.      Why Paint

a.       Self expression

b.      Another layer in fibre art

c.       Create colour combinations that are precisely what you need

d.      Puts visual texture exactly where you want it.

e.      Can use it for shading

f.        Convenient compared to dye

B.      Why fabric

a.       Express differently than on paper of canvas

b.      Can sew fabric afterwards

c.       Becomes washable with proper treatment i.e. heat setting

d.      Can stand alone or use for background or cut in pieces

C.      “Negatives” compared to dye

a.       Doesn’t bond to fabric the way dyes do

b.      Can end up rubbing off

c.       Can create sewing problems

d.      Can turn hard on the surface

e.      Need a fabric medium to create a bond (either already in at the manufacturer or added later.)

Applying the Paint

A.      Equipment

a.       Spread with brushes, foam, sponges, trowels, putty knives, spatulas, pencils, fingers, squeeze bottles

b.      Spray with airbrush, spray bottles

c.       Splatter, splash, dribble, flicker with toothbrush, brushes, squeeze bottle

d.      Monoprinting with gels, glass or plastic

e.      Stamping with stamps, foam, sponges, kitchen or office objects, leaves, etc

f.        Screen for screen-printing

B.      Resists

a.       Wax, stencils, packing tape, glue, painters tape, salt, flour, corn starch, oatmeal, rice

b.      Sun printing

Paint Brands

Different brands have different levels of colour saturation, different consistencies, different viscosity, and different adherence to the fabric. See Chart

Some require formatting for fabric. Some require additives or watering down with water or extenders or glazes.

 

Paint Types

A.      Acrylic Paints (sits on the surface)

B.      Watercolour paint and watercolour pencils

C.      Inks  - both in liquid form or solid

Transparency or Opacity

Transparent 

a.       Allows the cloth or undercoat to show through.

b.      Lighter transparent colours are usually applied first, followed by darker one to allow them to combine visually.

c.       Add white paint to increase opacity

d.      Complimentary colours become muddy where they overlay

Opaque

a.       Does not allow fabric or previous colours to show through

b.      Adding water lessens opacity

c.       Adding white lightens the colour but not the opacity

Note: Water allows the paint to spread on a fabric – thin paint will diffuse more readily than thick paint. Once the paint is dry its water content (viscosity) will no longer be a factor as only the colour is left. The more you have thinned it and therefore the further you have spread it the less colour will be left.

Paint thinned with water or applied to wet fabric will migrate easily. If two colours are wet when they meet, they will blend. Dry between applications if you don’t want them to blend.

Exception: Water colour pencils will blend if they become wet again.

Heat Setting

                Heat setting should be done in a well ventilated area because some noxious chemicals are released when heat is first applied. All fabric paints need to set and stabilize before washing. See chart.

Heat speeds up the process. Possible ways, depending on fabric and product include dryer, oven or iron.

Refer to Val’s article in the November newsletter to remove any residual chemicals or extra paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Fabric Types – things to consider

A.      Any type of fabric or blend will take paint

B.      White fabric will result in truer colours if transparent

C.      Natural or off white will give a yellowish cast

D.      Solid colours or prints will give different effects

E.       Thread count – a dense surface allows the paint to stay in place – good for a nice crisp stencil, while a less dense will allow the paint to migrate easier for blending or shading.

 

F.       Surface treatments prevent paint from being immediately absorbed. Consider whether to launder first depending on effects desired. Whether to iron first. Whether to have wet or dry.

Painting Surfaces

A.      Paint over hard smooth surface. (plastic or absorbent)

B.      Paint over surface with shape either soft or hard for effect

C.      Paint over air (as in a frame)

Hint:  A surface with a light padding is best for stamping.

 

 

Piece "G" - Modern/Buttons

History of Buttons

The first known button used about 5000 years ago, was made of shell. Buttons were originally used as a single embellishment or decoration on a closure, not in straight rows as we know today. Bone, horn, bronze, wood or woven leather were used to adorn the closure which was often knotted, pinned or buckled into place, but the button was still more decorative than functional. Functional button holes developed in the 1200’s.

The ornament became more prominent in the Middle Ages with closer fitting clothes – used to accentuate design and body lines. They attached via shank, leaving the front face free for decoration, carving, polishing and painting. A button-maker’s guild was first established in France in 1250. A sign of wealth, a button could sometimes be used to pay off a debt by plucking it from one’s attire.

After the Renaissance “habitat” buttons developed with dried flowers, hair cuttings or insects under glass. Miniature painting of elaborate scenes was common. Political buttons started to be used at George Washington’s presidential inauguration.  Box-like buttons have commonly been used to smuggle drugs, hide jewels, and contain miniature compasses.

Poorer folks made buttons for the wealthy, pouring molten lead or pewter into button moulds. Once set they could be covered in fabric or other embellishments. Circa 1800, with the Industrial Revolution, the button moulder’s laborious task became automated - steel dies were engraved into the shape of the day’s fashion, coverings were stamped out and 4 holes and a countersunk recess were stamped into the button centre giving us the typical profile we know of for a man’s dress shirt.

With the proliferation of buttons made by machines, even more were used to adorn clothing. They became smaller and spaced closer together spawning the need for buttonhooks in the 1850’s to aid in the closing of buttons through tight openings or loops. China, glass, vegetable ivory, celluloid, bakelite, and lucite materials were all used as button making developed from the early 1800s through the early 1900’s. Go to https://hobbylark.com/collecting/Vintage-Button-Guide-Ways-to-Indentify-Antique-Buttons to help identify vintage buttons.

It seems that with their association of dressing and undressing, opening and closing clothing near private parts of the body, their accentuation of body lines, buttons have become the subject of double entendre in everyday language. “Pressing one’s buttons”, “He’s all buttoned up”. On electrical devices, flat faced buttons are used to complete a circuit and Steve Jobs said the buttons on Apple’s touchscreens look so good “you’ll want to lick them”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is Modern Quilting?  (From Modern Quilt Guild website)

 

Quote: "Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colours and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space and alternate grid work. "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.

Modern quilting has existed in many forms for much of the 20th century. It wasn't until the 2000's that quilts with a modern aesthetic began to appear in greater numbers and quilters began to describe themselves as modern.

A defining event occurred in 1998 when Martha Stewart Living featured Denyse Schmidt, calling  her quilts a "chic, modernist aesthetic". For many quilters in the early days of the movement, this was a key inspirational moment.

The growth of the movement was facilitated by four factors: the cultural shift of quality design being recognized by the general public, affordable digital cameras, the changing fabric industry and the rise of social media.

In 2002, the Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the publication of Yoshiko Jinzenji's book Quilt Artistry, further provided inspiration to a small but devoted group of modernist minded quilters.

Two influential books were published in 2005, Denyse Schmidt Quilts and the Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. The first online quilt alongs were established on blogs around these two books and awareness continued to increase in the online world.

The Flickr group Fresh Modern Quilts, established in 2008, provided the first online centralized social media venue for quilters in the movement. With that flickr group and many active blogs, the online world of modern quilting took off like wildfire.

In 2009 Alissa Haight Carlton and Latifah Saafir founded the Modern Quilt Guild giving the online community a chance to form in person connections with other modern quilters.

 

 

Piece "B" - Collage and Lettering

At our last meeting Brigitte and Elizabeth gave a wonderful presentation on the techniques of collage and lettering.  These two techniques are now to be used on your "B" pieces for this year's project that was initially discussed here.

Collage

The word “collage” comes from the French “coller” meaning to glue.  Used primarily in the visual arts, the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms or bits, creating a whole new piece. Collages may include some or all of the following items

1. magazine and newspaper clippings
2. ribbons
3. bits of colored or handmade papers
4. portions of other artwork or texts
5. photographs and other found objects.

Techniques of collage were first used around 200 BC in China with the invention of paper and later in the 10th century by Japanese calligraphers.

It appeared again in Medieval Europe during the 13th and 16th centuries where religious images, icons and coats of arms had gemstones and other precious metals added to create a new piece.

An 18th century example of collage art can be found in the work of Mary Delany.

The term collage was coined by both George Braque and Pablo Piccaso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.  

According to Wikipedia,  "in the Guggenheim Museum’s online article about collage, Braque took up the concept of collage itself before Picasso, applying it to charcoal drawings. Picasso adopted collage immediately after (and was perhaps indeed the first to use collage in paintings, as opposed to drawings):

"It was Braque who purchased a roll of simulated oak-grain wallpaper and began cutting out pieces of the paper and attaching them to his charcoal drawings. Picasso immediately began to make his own experiments in the new medium."

Surrealist artists have made extensive use of collage.  Cubomania is a type of collage in which an image is cut into squares and then reassembled automatically or at random."

Collage made from photographs, or parts of photographs, is called photomontage. Photomontage is the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. 

Richard Hamilton, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?  1956, collage, (one of the earliest works to be considered Pop Art)

In textiles

Given the definition of collage, one could easily argue that applique and crazy quilt construction are collages.  Some well-known textile artists that use collage in their work include Rosemary Eichorn, Judith Baker Montano, Elly Sienkiewicz, Susan Carlson, and Deborah Boschert, to name just a few. 

Unlike sewing clothing, or quilts from a specific pattern where your creativity is limited to choosing and combining colours and prints of your fabrics, collage gives you unlimited flexibility.  You won’t be restricted to one simple-shaped piece.  You will have the flexibility of choosing not only prints and colours, but also specific motifs from a variety of sources.  "No design has an edge too tightly curved, too pointy, or too complex to use; a host of subject matter is printed on fabric that can be used."

Finding inspiration for a collage begins with an idea.  This idea may reflect your interests, a particular piece of fabric that says jungles, a big life event, or even a personal challenge like working with a colour you don’t usually work with.  There are plenty of textiles with specific themes that can provide inspiration for a collage.  Details found in nature such as lichen on rocks can provide ideas for stitching texture patterns on a collage.

Mandy Patullo in her book Textile Collage describes collage in this way:

Fabric collage is a kind of patchwork but without having to follow a pattern, and a kind of applique without the templates.

In Collage + Cloth = Quilt, Judi Warrten Blaydon states:  “…collage can be a quick way to assess color, value contrasts, texture, scale, content, composition, …Seeing the collage allows you to make revisions and adjustments…"

How to Collage

a) Iron fusible webbing onto the fabric(s). Cut out the pieces. Lay the bits out onto your background. Use an iron to fuse them into place.

b) Cut out the pieces of fabric and lay them out onto the backing (batting, muslin or fabric of choice). Baste the pieces on or glue them on with a tiny dab of Elmer's washable glue. Quilt all over the piece to permanently attach the fabric pieces.

 Lettering

The possibilities are endless. You can:

1. cut out letters from fabric and fuse it to a project
2. use a stencil to paint letters onto a project 
3. use beads to create letters
4. stitch letters by hand or with a sewing machine
5. draw letters and glue (or couch) braids or wool over them
6. print on fabric/ribbon with ink for fabrics, permanent felt pens, calligraphy pens or a brush
7. use brads to make letters
8. attach buttons in the shape of letters or use buttons with letters on them
9. use fabric  pieced alphabets (see Quilters Connection magazine - Summer 2016)