The Great Painted Fusible Web Experiment

-- or Activity #8 in the C&G!

The assignment: paint a piece(s) of fusible web on the glue side.  When dry, cut out a favourite shape or two, place glue-side (painted side) down on fabric; press; cool.  Peel the paper back et voila!


Simple, right? Not so much!

I had a bit of Wonder Under (R) and a roll of Trans-Web, which is slightly heavier.  I decided to try a bit of both.  The first go 'round, I painted a piece of each with a blend of dilute Stewart Gill True Colour Fabric Paint (T10 True Green) and DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Craft Paint (just a touch of "Glorious Gold" for glitz).  The former was one of the goodies in my pouch from the SAQA Visioning Conference in Denver in May 2011; the latter I've had for a while -- I likely bought it at the local Michael's.

I confess I was a bit heavy-handed with the paints, and it took a while for both fusible products to dry.  Once they were dry, however, I noticed that the Trans-Web seemed to adhere better to the fabric -- but without the wonderful textured surface provided by the Wonder Under.

Activity 8 (no matter what the sketchbook says!

Above you see a sample that actually 'took'.  The others I tossed because I couldn't get either to stick well with a larger shape, or with overlapping shapes.  Even the Trans-Web just peeled off -- in one plastic piece!

I tried again, this time with Wonder Under only, as I was determined to get the texture so tantalizingly promised in the class materials.  This time I used Jacquard Textile Color in 120-Brown, and again the DecoArt "Glorious Gold" ('cause I just love a bit o' gleam and glitz!).  I continued to use some tone-on-tone fairly neutral fabric -- with very mixed results!

Won't Stick #1

Won't Stick #2

Just like cotton candy floss!!

I had to ask myself, "What's the common denominator here?" The answer: the fabric!  So...I tried it on a piece of blue commercial cotton (using both the green- and the brown-painted fusible web) and on a piece of hand-rusted muslin:

Now that's better!

However, I still wondered...all of the fabrics were cotton.  What was it about that first piece, used for so many failed samples?  

It came to me (as these things so often do), in the middle of the night.  AHA!  The blue cotton and the muslin had both been washed, per my usual practice when I get a new (or new-to-me) piece of fabric.  But...had I forgotten to wash the tone-on-tone fabric to which little was sticking?

I checked it out this morning and sure enough -- no sign that the rough and tumble of the laundry equipment had ever connected with that fabric.  So...I washed a piece and tried again:

TA DA!!

Needless to say, now I'm out of Wonder Under!  Good thing I'll be in Red Deer tomorrow...

Treasure Trove I

You never know what you're going to find on a walk. There's a track not far from my house that has, for the second spring in a row, birthed wonderful Rusty Things from beneath its dark black dust -- things I can use to create rusty designs on fabric. What a great haul!

Treasure Trove II

In mid-March, I was the lucky winner of the Grand Draw Prize over at 3 Creative Studios, where I'd gone to play with the Technique of the Month -- painting scrunched fabric. I'd posted a photo on their forum, and lo and behold! My name was drawn for the top goodie basket. Whoo hoo!

The package from Sue, Vicki and Terri arrived in the mail yesterday: a hand-made journal, hand-dyed fabric, ribbons and trims, and a packet of assorted buttons in co-ordinating colours -- all accompanied by a handmade greeting card. What fun I'm going to have with this!

Thank you to the 3 Creative Studios gals for your generosity and inspiring projects!