Ink-tensity

I know that I promised earlier to post about this...so...spurred on by the reminder in this blog post...

I took a class earlier this month at Central Sewing, in the use of InkTense (R) pencils.  Edmonton artist Ginette Guevremont was the instructor.  I promised to post about it...and at last...

There were about a dozen of us in the class -- just the right size for lots of sharing and feedback, and personal as well as group instruction.  :-)  We ranged in skill and experience from artists who draw on fabric to never-tried-this-before.

I had no preconceived ideas about the class; I registered because I wanted some hands-on instruction in the blending of colours with these pencils.  Hitherto, I'd tried them out and failed rather miserably...the photo here looks better than the 'real life' piece...

So.

Ginette began by introducing us to her work, largely done with pre-printed fabric which she'd found at IKEA...some of which is no longer available (sigh).  Each of us was invited to take a sample, and I went for the piece with fruit and veggies.

Using these, we practiced colouring in the shapes, then sampling with the 'outliner' pencil, and then with a different -- liquid -- resist, both of which are designed to prevent 'bleeding' when the pencil-coloured areas are gone over with a wet brush:

Samples 1 & 2: 1) InkTense pencil with outline pencil
resist; 2) leaves done with Tsukineko inks

Sample with Jacquard liquid resist on the edges

Then we moved into playing with Crayola and/or Sharpie fabric markers, and learned how to handle 'bleeds' to create shadows to good effect:

It's worth noting that a "marker" creates a very distinct line/shape and doesn't allow the blending that can be created by these soft-tipped pencils.

A key point: unlike colouring or drawing with pencils on paper, where one might want a sharp tip, InkTense (R) pencils are meant to be used with a softer, more rounded tip for best "colouration" results.

As for colouring in pre-printed shapes...this was all well and good, but I left colouring books behind many years ago.  I wanted to play differently.  And we did!

We moved into "rubbing" on plates (also used with Shiva (R) Paintstiks).  Here, I used a couple of different pencils to rub a design on batik fabric.

I then surrounded the floral with a stencilled design, which you can see in blue (swirls) above.  I also played with the stencil and a marker...very sharp and clear against that background...

But I valued more this idea of creating a 'controlled wash' -- that is, a 'wash' of colour on a background done in this fashion:

1. Select the desired background fabric;
2. Secure it to a firm surface (such as foam core);
3. Colour it using the side(s) of an InkTense (R) pencil;
4. Using a wide brush, wash water over the coloured area to create colour on colour:

Et voila...the beginnings of a sunset sky...or an early dawn...without dyeing wads of fabric!

Thanks to Ginette and Central Sewing for providing this class.  It was fun, interesting and  useful.

And there you have it!  Give it a go, eh?

Travelling with Pie

This weekend marks Thanksgiving in Canada, and I'm going up to Edmonton to spend it with my kids, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law and her family.  She and her mom are doing the turkey etc.; I'm bringing pie.

Therein lies the rub: logistics.  I was hoping to assemble two pies in my DD's kitchen, but she's in the midst of a Serious Kitchen Make-over and has no counters!

So.  I made one pie here -- Saskatoon (think 'wild blueberries' if you're not on the Canadian Prairies, Alaska, or the Western/North Central U.S.) -- and froze it.  All well and good.
BUT...the second pie has to be pumpkin (grin) because it's Thanksgiving!  Well.  I've never had experience freezing a pumpkin pie.  Indeed, it's not recommended.

So.  This morning I made the pastry.  I'll freeze it too, and thaw in time to make the pie on Sunday after church.  Bless C's mom, she has a turkey roaster, so The Bird will have its own personal roasting space and I can use the oven for the pie.

In preparation, I've assembled this Travelling Pie Kit:

Ingredients:
Trusty Old Cookbook
Packet of sugar and spices
Can of evaporated milk
Can of unseasoned pumpkin
Bottle of faux vanilla extract
Ball of (frozen) pastry

Tomorrow I'll pack up the Kit and the frozen Saskatoon pie in a box lined with paper and nestled with ice packs...and head out! (I don't own a cooler.  Tried to buy one at the hardware in town yesterday -- they don't make 'em wide enough front-to-back to accommodate a pie plate.)

I have a pit-stop on the way to my DD's home, where I'll be staying.  The stop: a 4-hour class in using InkTense (R) pencils, offered by Central Sewing (South store).  I've muddled along long enough with these -- and with my watercolour pencils -- to know I need some hands-on instruction, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Today?  The forecast is for a high of 20+ C, so it's the perfect day to do the Fall Cleaning of the Car Interior; to check the vents on my roof and 'goop' them if needed; and to maybe do a wee bit of fabric painting -- some skies for my new minis.  

As the 14-day trend is for reasonable temps and mainly sunshine, I'll leave clearing the garden for now.  I hate to put away the Outdoor Studio...especially when I can still stitch there in the sunshine, or use it for photos of finished objects, like this one, which went off in the mail Wednesday...

M's Comfort Shawl
Pattern: "Zilver" by Lisa Mutch
Yarn: Peruvian Pure Alpaca from elann.com (discontinued)

M's Comfort Shawl - close-up

Now...I'm linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and will join you there in a break in the action later today!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers; I'm thankful to have you all (both Canadians and those who want to be) in my life!

Summer School 2013 -- Part IV: Playing with Paint

The weather this week's been glorious, so I've been spending a good part of each day outside on my back stoop, playing with textile paints, and sampling for at least two projects.

The theme of 15 x 15's next challenge is "Time", and I've been toying with the quote, "To everything there is a season", from Ecclesiastes 3:1 and onward.  In keeping with my love of trees -- especially aspen -- I had in mind to do a piece that shows a single branch through the four seasons.  I managed to find a small piece with leaves in the woods where I take my regular constitutionals, and brought it home with me to study (no trees were harmed in the making of these samples!)

I filled several pages in my sketchbook with sketches and rubbings, and even took a photocopy of the branch, seen at left below:

(L) - (R): photocopy in sketchbook,
traced outline of photocopy,
thread sketch on quilt sandwich, black on white

First I made several quilted samples -- the black thread serving as my 'ink' drawing against a white background.

Then I played with different sources of textile paints to colour in the branch and the background.  My vision was to have the background move from white (or very very pale blue) of a wintry sky to deeper blue of an autumn sky, such as I see here where I live in Central Alberta.

For the first sample I used Derwent InkTense Pencils, of which I have only six: green, yellow, red, purple, black and blue.  This meant I turned to my supply of General's Kimberly watercolour pencils (which I usually use with paper) for brown.  :-)

I liked the effect for the leaves and stem but using the edge of the blue pencil on an already quilt-sandwiched piece didn't bring smooth results for the sky.

For the second, I moved to my new Tsukineko mini-workstation's supply of all-purpose inks and "Fantastix" applicators.  I bought this through Quilting Arts when they were having a sale.  I ordered the "Back to Basics" set but was sent the "Colors in Bloom" set by mistake -- a mistake that QA discovered before I did, and for which they offered a further discount off my purchase.  I went with it -- I can always buy more colours if I so choose!  :-)

Another limited palette, so help was needed from my textile paint and a bit of acrylic mixed with textile medium.  I liked the control of the flow of the 'Fantastix' and got a smoother result on the background, but still not quite what I wanted.

I knew I needed to blend colours to get different shades for the leaves, as my supply of pencils and inks limited me to a real spring green.  So...for the third sample I turned to a combination of Jacquard Textile Paints and acrylic craft paint, mixed with a teeny bit of Jo Sonja's Textile Medium to give it more fluidity and a better 'hand' for stitching:

I liked the over-all results of this sample better -- including the shading in the sky.

I decided to apply what I knew about the shading to make samples for the other project on which I'm working: the completion of a hanging, made from a pattern, for a quilting acquaintance.

The kit features poppies, which she really loves;  when she saw it made up she bought it, and a variety of fabrics with which to complete it.  Getting it home, she began to read the instructions -- and therein lies the rub.  Right off the bat, the pattern called for painting some shading along the bottom and up one side of the background fabric.  She panicked and put it away -- until she ran into me at the Central Alberta quilt show in early April.

The pattern is designed in Canada and available through Quilters Haven in Moose Jaw, which had a booth at the show, so we were able to see samples in both red and blue "up close and personal".  I volunteered to take it on for her, and she delivered it to me one afternoon in July, when she and some quilting friends made a day trip to Lacombe and met me there.  She's chosen the red version, and with the selection of fabrics she's given me, I'm sure it will turn out well.

The background is already subtly patterned -- its a pastel green from the 'Fossil Fern' collection by Benartex.  Judging from the Benartex colour chart for this line, I think it's the "Silver Sage" colour way.  I wondered what adding a 'black-green' wash (per the pattern) would add to it.  Fortunately, I had enough of the fabric that I could lop off a couple of small pieces for samples.  Having already played with graduating the shades in a background (above), I suspected it would work best if the fabric were quite wet -- and flat (without the batting!!)

Sparing you the photos of the samples, here's how the background has turned out:

It looks even more subtle in reality, and the placement of the flowers and leaves of the pattern will make all the difference.

So...back to "To Everything..."...and the creation of a painted background before adding the thread sketch.  Here's the small sample, painted with diluted Jacquard Textile Color in "Sky Blue" (what else?!): 

Still rather intense, but the sample is 1/2 the size of the finished piece.  What would it look like with the branch stitched on it?  Going for the gusto, I included all 4 seasons...

...and I rather like it, but really, the sky is still too intense.

And then it hit me -- at 4: 30 a.m., of course, waking me from a sound sleep:

• try Procion dye;
• put it on very wet fabric;
• use a pipette;
• start at one corner and let it bleed downward.

There I was at 6 a.m. mixing dye, prepping fabric in soda ash (to get large enough pieces)...et voila!!  Subtlety and shading drying in the early sun.  

Now to carefully sketch on the branches...quilt and paint them, and the leaves...using...a combination of most of the above, of course!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network, eh?  See you there!

P.S. In case you missed it, HERE's the blog post by Ali George re: my piece in the SAQA Trunk Show "C", on show Down Under right now.  Ali's been doing floor talks about it -- and a handful of others -- in the context of the full exhibit at several Australian venues.  It's very cool to "see" a piece through someone else's eyes.  I'm thrilled!

I Nearly Blew It

My mother never met a cliche she didn't like.  :-)  Every once in awhile she had occasion to observe, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

Well.

For me, today, TRTH was very nearly paved with good InkTensions!  

It began very innocently.  I worked on "Sentinels, putting in the power lines and fence wire, and most of the prairie grasses poking through the snow.  Then, checking in with the original photograph, I noticed the shadows:

See?  There are shadows cast by the front pole and the fence posts.  If you look closely, you'll notice they're...um...blue.  Not quite as blue as the sky, but definitely blue.  Hmmm.

How to include them?

I said to myself, I said, "Self, why not quilt the shapes in the snow and colour them in ever-so-lightly with your blue InkTense pencil?"

I tried a wee bit on a scrap of the white fabric left from the snow piecing.  I wet it after colouring, and knew I'd have to do it very lightly and gently.

Oy vey.

It wasn't horrible, really -- it just didn't go with the stark lines in my piece -- all rough edges and angles, and there were these soft, slightly runny shadows.

What to do?  Some of 'em had started to dry -- meaning they would be there permanently!

I washed it -- soaked it, really, in a tub of hot water with Synthrapol...to see if it would fade the stuff.  It did, but not enough to make me happy.

I figured, what do I have to lose?  I'm going to have to cover up those "shadows".  So I threw it in the drier and had a think.

While I thought, I cut out some more green 3 1/2" squares and made some more four-patches for Easy Street (somehow, I was short on these and didn't have enough to make the last 3 blocks).

When that was done, I scoured the stack of fabric I'd used for "Sentinels" in the first place, and decided "Okay; if it's going to be a primitive interpretation, then why not have shadows as blue as the sky?"  I found some of the sky fabric, and fused Steam-a-Seam 2 onto it.  Then I proceed to cut out shadow shapes and stick them onto the piece.  So far they're only stuck there; I haven't done the final pressing to secure them. And there are shadowy shapes below the grasses next to the fence on the far right that I don't quite know how to include, so they're not there (yet).   However, I did take this photo:

And y'know?  I rather like it.  As Peggy wrote today on her "Playing with Texture" blog, there's value in a photograph.  Even standing back from the piece in my sewing room, I wasn't sure.  But the photo gives me hope.  There's still a bit more prairie grass to stitch in, so I won't do the final straightening-up and binding till that's done, but it's just about finished.

Lesson learned: sometimes a sample isn't really a sample; it's just an excuse for one.  Never let your hurry to do something get in the way of a proper trial!

And to think I nearly blew it.

P.S. Linking this up to The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday...

"It's Just a Sample"

I've been working on Activities 4 and 5 of my C&G program (Module 7) this week -- experimenting with stitches for the edges of fused shapes, thinking about thread weight and colour, work by hand or by machine...etc.  Having chosen to go with the second composition, I began to put it together.

First, I fused down the shapes.  Then I began to stitch.  Assignment 4 requires that we use blanket stitch, and that we first explore what our machine can do in this area.  Here's my wee sample from my Husqvarna Lily:

I find I'm partial to the default stitch length (0.4), but slightly larger width -- a 3.0 or 3.5 instead of the default (2.0).

So...then, what colour of thread?  I wanted to keep it subtle, but didn't have enough of the right colour to match the shapes I was going to stitch down (the rectangles -- a turquoise would have matched)...so I went with what I had that matched the background instead: a deep pink Gutermann 100% polyester from my stash (the shops around here sell a lot of Gutermann.  I've been a fan of both Mettler Silk Finish and Sulky (poly, metallic, and "Blendables"), but can't always get them at my LQ Shops.)  The weight isn't marked on the spool, but I think from the look of it, it's 40 or 50 wt.  Here's my sample with satin stitch around the rectangles, FMQ to highlight the leaves on the right, and FMQ leaves in a motif at the bottom.

The next stitch to play with?  Blanket stitch.  First I tried it around the negative bottle shape (left rectangle), again in the Gutermann pink, and it essentially disappeared into the background.  It was also tricky to do a negative shape by machine.  I decided I'd try hand-stitching around the edge of the other bottle:

For this I decided to continue to match the background colour, and found some hand-dyed floss from Gentle Art threads in my stash, in the colour 'Pomegranate', left over from some long-ago project.  I found this worked quite nicely to give it definition without being 'in your face', so to speak.  

Next, the quilting.  At first I was loathe to do much -- afraid of detracting from the motifs.  I began, however, with free-motion in curvy lines to echo the leaves on the right border.  Getting into the process, I hit on the idea to use the rectangles as a quilting shape, so created what I call 'random rectangles' over most of the rest of the background -- dense from the top most of the way down, but sparser as I drew closer to the quilted leaf designs on the bottom.

Then what?  Those little leaf shapes look very bland now!  I decided to experiment with my red InkTense pencil, and this is how it turned out:

Now they look very red, don't they?  I have no purple, but there is a blue pencil in the set, so I think I'm going to gather my nerve and over-colour, just to see what happens.  It might even be terrific!  And if not...well, as teacher Anna Hergert so often says, "It's just a sample".  :-)