Transferring My Photocopies to Cloth

Today I played with some of my photos–laser printer copies of my photos–and attempted to transfer the images to cloth.  This has great possibilities.

Image Transfer Workshop: Mixed-Media Techniques for Successful Transfers  By Darlene Olivia McElroy

This is the source of the information that led to today’s experiments.  I used digital photos of my own that were printed on plain paper with a laser printer.  Laser printer is important because this works with the toner, not the ink in an inkjet printer.  You need a spray can of Krylon Crystal Clear (under $7 at Michaels), some cotton fabric which has been prewashed to remove any sizing, a wooden spoon or old credit card.  Then you just need a playful spirit.

The technique was for black and white images, so I took my scan of my Owl #5 to Dilworth Packing Company to make a copy.  I followed the instructions and got nothing on my cloth.  I cannot explain that, but it turns out that the technique which has you saturate the photocopy with the acrylic sealer has a great effect on the paper.  This is the back of the plain piece of printer paper after the saturation.  The whole thing is translucent and has a great look to it.

But back to the cloth thing.  I decided to try some photos Steve had printed for me but they were all in color.  Well, “in for a penny, in for a pound” . . .

This is the first attempt.  McElroy explains some common problems about getting good images in her book, so I blame this on being a newbie.  But…..I used a twill (diagonal) weave cotton for this and the texture on the cloth showed I wasn’t getting full contact.  I then tried printing it to a piece of white cardstock lying nearby.  Again I got a twill effect–the other half of the transfer that didn’t go on the cloth.  Eureka and Thomas Edison.  I discovered twill fabric doesn’t work.

Try number three was another color photocopy, a bike burial ground in Australia.  This time I used cotton knit.  An aside:  I’m really playing with this to see if I can make cute appliques to cover food stains on my Tshirts.   A much better transfer yet still not strong color.  I also think this photo is too busy.

Number 4 is a watercolor pencil mandala assigned in a former art class.  I sprayed the heck out of this one.  I also used plain weave cotton–an old baby sheet to be exact.  This was my best impression.  I could add permanent ink to this to make a washable applique and put it on something.  Plus I would get the fun of coloring it all over again.

Best of all is how the photocopy looks now.

I still have some other transfer techniques to try.

In the mean time I started a new bigger watercolor painting.

This is the beginning.  The blue tape is to keep the paper clean and provide a nice border to the finished painting.  This is an activity I found on line from the Learning Center on Susie Short’s website.  She even provides a traceable sketch to get you painting without worrying about drawing.  I love hydrangeas, especially blue ones.  Oh, you didn’t realize this was a picture of a hydrangea.  That’s because I got so rushed and excited laying on this first bit of color and then trying to fix it that it is really a blob.  Except for the leaves.  I have the start of some great leaves.

Check out that top one.  See the lines/veins.  Those are not drawn in.  They are carved into the paper with a stylus and then painted over again.  The second coat of paint seeps down in the depression of the veins and therefore dries darker than the surface color.  Isn’t that cool?

Later I’ll show you how I’m learning to draw watercolor tree trunks with a credit card.  I just love clever.

More later–

First ATC Swap

Cindy Angiel is an artist. She has spent a large amount of time and energy encouraging and teaching others of us to make art and have fun. I don’t know how she does it.

She started the Linedrawing Forum– see button in right hand column. I joined it fairly early on and have been amazed at its growth. There you will find instruction, inspiration, shared resources, many freebies shared by members of the community just for the fun of it. You will also find challenges and swaps to enter if you wish.

The latest swap from Cindy deals with Serendipity Colored backgrounds. These are my kind of backgrounds. You just throw, drip, spatter, whatever paints of several colors onto a piece of paper and let them do their thing. If you don’t like what you see, throw different paint. No skill or talent required. Try to harness your inner four year old. Use it any way you want. Cindy made us a video.  Here’s one I made today with watercolor.

Cindy asked us to cut Artist Trading Cards (2.5×3.5″) from it and decorate it with repeated pattern drawings, aka Tangles, letting the color guide us. Then we were to create a set of five cards to send to her. We will each receive five cards created by another artist. Cindy made us a video.

I have been creating these serendipitous pages for awhile and drawing whatever I see in the chaos, so this seemed perfect for my first swap. Cindy’s vast following is very talented, but not at all judgmental. This should be as non-threatening as it gets. Hah!

I picked my paper, cut my cards and began. I was too worried about messing up to just start as the tangle community encourages. I actually traced out the color patterns and tried out various patterns. One at a time I drew the cards, then I mounted them all on a solid card stock piece. Finally I created the label to attach to the back. Help is in the video above.

An aside—-I have had this box of labels since the Stone Age. I went to the Avery site to get a template but couldn’t find one. Do you think it is possible I am the only person who still has a box of VHS Cassette labels?

You’ve been looking at the ATCs I am sending for the swap.

This one was a lucky accident, no,  more an example of faking it to fix it.  I misspelled Darkness on the original.  Yeah.  I loved the way the paint created the woman’s profile and wasn’t willing to give up on it.  I finally just cut that corner of the card away and mounted the card on the black background.  Then I wrote the beginning of the quote in white ink.  Like it even better.

I’m including an extra one for Cindy, our swap host.  This one is from a different background.

Then I made some more cards. The small size makes them quick to do, so finishing satisfaction is really high, unlike my recent knitting.  I’ll show them later.

Then I made some envelopes. I used an envelope template provided by Cindy for her next swap, Mail Art.

If you can write your name, you can make this art. It’s great for kids as well. Give it a go. Several of us in my knit group come early to share our tangling beforehand.

More later–

Ho, ho, a project or two

Tis the season to make things.  When is it not?

Joanne Sharpe teaches online and other lettering classes.  I took her Letter Love 101 class and had a blast.  She is such a good teacher; she makes you believe.  She is generously offering a free class called Five Golden Letterings which is a great intro to her.  Click the link and explore her offering.  Even the kiddies can do this.  Here’s my first projects.

Joanne is a big proponent of using your own handwriting to make letter art–even if you think it isn’t pretty, she’ll change your mind.

Decided the Wingspan I was making for Felicia was ugly, so frogged it and then bought new yarn.  Mostly Noro Kagagashi (?).  This one I am liking.

Received the promised CD from Jane Davies.  You know how picky I am about the teaching quality of artists from whom I’ll take classes.  Well, Jane hits it out of the park.  She shows how to do many techniques:  glazing, texturing, spritzing and blotting, mono-printing, spattering, painting with the brayer, resists, and a bunch more.  I wish I could show you some samples of her work, but they are on the CD.  So, instead, I’ll show you what I did after I watched it.

This was my first one.  I used metallic acrylic paints, the copper is $$, but the others are cheapos.  I worked on deli paper that I begged Jessica to give me when we ate at Lebowski’s Friday.  The stencil images were created by placing them under the paper and using the brayer to apply the paint.  Fun and you don’t have to wash the stencils.

This one was done on drawing paper.  I used a brush to apply the paint and then added a touch with the brayer.  When dry I used bubble wrap to stamp it.  I brayered out a thin coat of acrylic on my piece of glass and used the bubble wrap like you would a regular rubber stamp.

These were done on tissue paper.  You can see the brayer work.  I also spritzed some liquid watercolor on the left one (blue), used a dauber to get the yellow, and a leafy foam stamp to finish up.  The one of the right stand as is with such hot color.

I was getting tired of the bright colors, so I went to Michaels.

More tissue paper with stamps and texture.

What happens next?  The last part of the CD teaches how to do some great paper collage.  I may try that, but collage has never worked out well for me.  Jane’s process may change that.  I will cut it and tear it and just use it to make other kinds of art.

Actually you can see a lot of Jane’s work on her website.  Go to the Gallery and look at the slidesshows.  Amazing.

This was so much fun.  You could make art or wrap packages—which are their own brand of art.  Use what you have and give it a go.

More later–

Chalk, Wingspan details, Art in the back of the Subaru

A work in chalk at Charlotte Yarn–fun.

Remi has bought so many new yarns that contain some of that magic fiber–silk. I love my wool blended with some of this luxury. While listing some of the desirable qualities, we had a discussion about the spelling of the word drapable, drapeable, or drape-able. The only one my word processor recognizes is the one I decided to use—-drape-able. No matter how you spell it, it makes you look sexy.

Wingspan Front

Had some questions about the yarns and the techniques I used in my Wingspan. The main yarn is the Noro Yuzen which may be discontinued. It is a wool blend DK. The panel on the right is a simple intarsia technique using grey Manos (which has a bit of silk) and a teal Cascade 220 Superwash. I started the panel with the grey, then I tied on the teal at row 3 and knit 2 stitches. Each RS row I added two more teal stitches until the panel was finished.

The Noro Yuzen had been hanging around for quite a while and had been tried in other projects. The last one was a mitered checked piece that I frogged. Therefore, only three of the five Yuzen patterns were a continuous knit. The other two were put together out of 8 yard bits. I spit joined the ends and placed the colors wherever I pleased.

Therefore, I tell you that this is an awesome stash buster. I used both DK and worsted yarns willy nilly with excellent results. Size 8 needle. Cast on 90 sts as written. Do not overthink your knitting.

I have also been doing so neat striping on my current Wingspan, where I work 6 rows in one color, and then 2 rows in a real eye popper. I am still figuring out the best place to make the color change and will share it when I post this next one. And this one is knit on chunky yarn and some worsted on US 10 needles.

I didn’t want a scarf, so both of these are shawls to shawlettes. The beauty of this pattern is that it works in any yarn.

 

 

 

Greenway Leaves

This may indicate obsession. I was driving by the greenway when I was compelled to park and go gather leaves. I have leaves at home. But I needed these leaves. Whatever. Then I went to Michaels, an everyday event when I have coupons. Next was the dentist, but I had an hour to kill. I didn’t want to eat or shop. Finally I raised the hatchback on my Outback and climbed in. With the warm sun on my back and my feet propped on the door opening, I sketched the leaves. Yep, still sitting in the Michael’s parking lot at lunchtime. Lots of traffic. I’ll bet they thought I was a serious artist. I know I was a content one. Maybe just a little bent.

And then I did this. I need to make put it in one of the side columns of the blog. Or maybe I’ll use it to update the title graphic.

More later– You are making things, aren’t you? Don’t make me come to your home to chastize.

More Prizes

This is a tool that will allow you to transfer any image to almost any project.  These are iron on sheets.  I can take a family picture or any picture I can print from the net and place it in any project.  I’ve read about this and seen great examples, but I’ve never tried it.  I think Lesley’s gift may open up a whole new world of stuff for me.

Click on the picture and read what she says and look at the gorgeous work just on the package. Yes, I should have taken the stuff out of the plastic envelop.  Sometimes we have to learn by screwing up.  Check out her website.

This is a fabric postcard by Kristen  LaFlamme.  It is exquisite.  Such a small piece of art using so many different fabrics, balanced perfectly.  The handwork is so simple and yet so effective. I am constantly overworking or over-embellishing.  I can learn a lot from looking at Kristen’s work.  This will be framed for the den where it will receive great honor.

Since this qualifies as Mail Art, the reverse side is appropriately designed and signed.  This piece has a very thin, flat batting which makes it interesting to touch.  The satin stitch edge is so well done.  I have messed up many of them so am grateful to see what can be done.

As usual, even the package was a treat.  She mailed it in a very strong, but clear, envelop; the label was decorated and address in a beautiful handscript; even the stamp was beautiful and matched the art piece.  Saving it all for who knows what.

These are quilting patterns from Desiree Habicht.  (Yeah, the plastic issue in photographs rears its head again.)  The one on the left is a very cleverly designed bag that will be quite useful for a person who has as many projects as I do.  I really love that jack o’lantern.

She also sent some of her own fabrics.  This western motif panel would make a great children’s quilt.  And since I am still quite a child, and I wore a Dale Evans’ cowgirl outfit at age 6, I think this is for me.  If you enlarge this photo, you will see a cowgirl in purple (my color!) riding with the guys.

These are the coordinating patterns she included.  There is another good look at that cowgirl.  They are so wonderful to feel, such soft colors and soft cotton.  But, as I am learning, just sending the prize is not enough for these artists.

Check out how she packaged this.  It is just a sturdy, ordinary plastic bag but it keeps everything together and clean.  Then she punched a hole in the bag above the Zip closure and tied a bow in it.  How clever and how easy. Tied up with the bow is her business card which on the back . . .

is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) like piece.  Sorry about the blur.  Mediocre photographer.

Best of all for me was this card.  This is a 5X7 ish card which is handpainted in watercolor with some ink.  This is what I aspire to.  I see several lessons for me in this and this will also hang in the den.  I love this card.  And ever since it arrived, I have seen all the pumpkins, gourds, winter squash just jumping out at me from the decorative displays.  I almost stole one from the hotel this weekend.  Saner heads prevailed.  I will definitely be following Desiree’s work.

This is a picture of the little extras from some of the earlier prizes.  The pen is there to cover the discount code on my 25% off slip.  I didn’t think Kari wanted that on the web.  She is the one who addressed the envelop.  Want to make someone feel really special.  Decorate the mail you send them.  Here lettering is awesome.  I hope she teaches a class online.

This is the ephemera from Laura Cater-Woods.  Bits and pieces.  I love bits and pieces.  I knew the yarns, but the two fabrics are different for me.  The back of metallic bits plus all the threads will be great for spinning art yarn as well as embroidery and maybe even just sticking it on an art journal page. The leaf is lovely.  I love leaves and will applique this somewhere special.  This makes me want to make cuffs again.  Well, why not?

Laura’s ephemera came with a beautiful notecard featuring one of her fiber works.  Do check her site and see her work.  It is so good.

This piece came from Terry Grant.  Again the wonder of how powerful a small work can be.  This one is about 5×5″.  Steve had a fit over this one.  He loves modern, minimalist things.  The machine quilting is deceptively hard to do, but she makes it look easy.  The flow of it really controls how you look at the work.

Terry, too, enclosed a handmade card.  On it she apologized that this was not the glass coaster which she had promised.  HA!  As if I would ever let someone sit a glass on even a glass enclosed piece of her work.  The orange tones will work so well in the den.  I may have to charge an entrance fee to the den because these wonderful artists are creating a gallery in my home.  Terry also has a drawing blog here.

Since all of these prizes come from The Sketchbook Challenge group on flickr, I thought I would add in my own little bit that goes up next.

Imaginary animals a la Carla Sonheim.

So much fun. You make blogs on your paper, and then you find the animal hiding in the blog. I am slopping paint in every sketchbook. Try it. Check out her book on drawing imaginary animals.

More later–

Prizes are arriving

Sue’s book is amazing, but I already knew that. She also included a Strathmore Visual Journal. I’ve decided to use it to copy or work in the style of the artists in The Sketchbook Challenge. I think I’ll learn a lot that way. She also included this adorable little notebook which I bet she made. It is a bit smaller than a business card and has a hook so you can attach it to your purse or whatever. Perfect for jotting down ideas on the go.

Sue also included a card made from here work which I will frame—if I can keep Evan’s hands off it.  He really loved this.  The boy has great taste and he’s only 7.

These are the 8.5 X 11 inch stamps from the Backporch Artessa ( I love that name.). I am a poor stamper, so they don’t show their best, but I will get better now that I have these. I’m thinking to use the bead string stamp to make some notecards similar to this; I can just add a card with the sentiment.

This is Jane Lafazio’s video.  I already own it so I will have the chance to share this with someone who needs some inspiration.  This video showed me that I can draw.  Can make art.  She is a fabulous teacher and cheerleader.

Jane also included a card made from her work for me to frame.  I had seen pieces of this from her sketchbook.  I love how she brought several techniques together for this product.

Then fellow North Carolinian Lyric Kinard sent her beading DVD.  This is all about embellishment.  You can see a sample of it at the Interweave Press store.  They are the folks who publish Interweave Knits and my new favorite mag Cloth, Paper, Scissors.  Lyric creates all kinds of fiber art, as well as teaching and writing.

Lyric also sent a card suitable for framing.  Can you tell a whole wall is art is developing here?  The combo of music and dragonfly is so very fitting.  Of course, the purple is perfect.  How did she do those gossamer like wings?

Wednesday I received stamps from Pam Carriker.  These really excite me.  The middle one is Desdemona.  As a former English teacher, I love that.  I can see so many ways to combine these images with words that move me.

My practice stamping wasn’t half bad.  I put them on lots of different papers.  Huge possibilites here.  

The card that Pam sent with her prize has the same romantic, historic quality of the stamps she designed.  The art wall grows as does my gratitude for this opportunity.

Pam also sent her Liquid Graphite which I will show you when I do some sketching with it.

Thanks for bearing with me as I skitter and twirl through all these art prizes.  I am also knitting.  A finished project in the next post.   Promise.

More later–

New App–Paper Camera

While writing thank you notes for my prizes, I discovered this new app on Lyric Kinard’s blog. It is called Paper Camera. My main purpose in getting it is to help me with seeing color value, but . . . it is so much fun!!!!!

Here are some examples. The pictures of me were taken from the app; Jake’s pics were imported and edited.
Halloween art

Photo was taken from app in sketch mode

This is taken in the neon color mode.

After importing this to the app, I tweaked the contrast to give me darker values.

If you scrapbook, you can use this Granny’s something mode to create a vintage look.

This aqua color mode will help me cheate the watercolor process a bit.

I do own Photoshop and use it often, but this costs $.99 and can be put on your smartphone or tablet.

Just another toy for my old age.

More later–

I won, I won, I won . . .

And I didn’t even know I had entered.

Today I posted this watercolor assignment from an online class I am taking on the Flickr group The Sketchbook Challenge.

I just received this email from Sue Bleiweiss, artist and author of the book The Sketchbook Challenge on which the flickr group and a blog is based. She and a huge group of very talented artists are sending me an amazing gift of their work and their favorite supplies. Check it out.

Then take the time to look at some of these folks’ work. Most have written wonderful books, and Jane Lafazio’s workshop From Art Journaling to Art has changed my life. She’s the one who made me realize I could sketch and paint a little something that others would recognize and like. Hoping to do a workshop in person with her next year.

Most teach and their techniques cross the boundaries of all art and craft. Traci Bunkers designed the cutest knit hat I have ever seen. The hat and Traci were featured in Handpaint Country by XRX (Knitters magazine folks) in 2002. Last year I bought her book The Art Journal Workshop which answered a lot of questions about all those products that Golden sells to do stuff to your art.

Sue’s book, The Sketchbook Challenge, is a feast of techniques you can do on fiber and paper and anything else. There are short articles from many of the donors to the prize and you can hear there voices as you read the articles. These guys feel about sharing their art the way the knitting community does about sharing their craft.

This book is at the Char-Meck library here in Charlotte. I know because one of their copies is sitting beside me right now. I promise to return it tomorrow, because my own copy is on its way.

Can you tell I am excited?

More later–

Freedom Park

The high is in the low 80s and it feels marvelous.  This is sitting outside under a nice tree weather, so we went to the park.  The point on the near left is a small island with a bandshell and a gorgeous willow tree.  That was our destination.

It was a beautiful day.

When we arrived, we met Elena.  She is from Russia and had come to the park on her way to her first radiation treatment following a lumpectomy.  She came by bus and then by bike.  We talked about language, how we had been taught about each other’s country, about faith (She is a Seventh Day Adventist) and about family.  She is visiting her son and his family here and it was here the lump in her breast had been discovered.  Health costs being what they are and her without insurance, the surgery created a great problem.  Her fellow Adventists here in Charlotte had arranged everything for her and she was incredibly grateful.  I tried to draw her after she left us.  She really is much nicer looking; I loved her Ballentine hat and the polka dot shirt she wore.  My art goal that day was to draw very rapidly in preparation for my travel sketches.

After Elena left, we settled in for our nature experience.

Bella’s major concern was these strange beings that floated on the water and made highly annoying sounds.  If they were close, she was watching.

Jake was more interested in the people and dogs walking along the path across the pond from us.  You can see the metal stake to which their tethers are tied.  They had lots of roaming room but still managed to get caught up on the bench behind us several times.

I sketched both of the dogs.  Bella with her muddy nose insisted on sitting on my plastic tote bag.  She is not about getting dirty and was glad when I cleaned her nose.  Jake is so hard to capture because he is so dark and his face is a hairy blur most of the time. Solved that problem by drawing him from the back.

I also drew a rather bad watercolor of the pond.  I had a bunch of problems with it, the colors, the depth perception, etc., and didn’t solve them, but learned some things that don’t work.  Sometimes that is good enough.  I took pictures to revisit the scene later.

On the way out we looked over the new Charlotte Bicycles.

One sign indicated that you can take a bike for 30 minutes for free.  If you look at the map, you can ride all over the city switching bikes at each location and spend no money at all.  Clever idea—not mine—it was on a poster from the city.  The bikes have nice baskets so you can run an errand while you exercise.  Brisbane had just started a program like this when we were in Australia and it was well received.  I hope this one works out well for Charlotte.

I took new portrait pics of the dogs while we were there.  Notice that Jake, “the dog with the teeth,” is now “the dog with the TOOTH.”  We assume he broke the big fang sliding into the front door in an attempt to get at the mailman and tear his liver out.  That’s how he lost several of the small teeth in front.  Anyway, I discovered him with the tooth hanging.  He didn’t ever seem to be in pain from it.  It broke off cleanly.  He finally licked it completely off and I found it in the floor.  Steve saved it to show to Evan as little boys like that kind of thing. . .so he says. Tooth or no tooth, he’s still my adorable Jake.  Portraits are in the right sidebar.

I’m off to a soccer game and another beautiful fall day.  More later . . .

Reflecting on my time management

Computers eat up so much of my time. It’s all about possibilities. I could do this or that or that . . . .

But when you are reading about something, you aren’t doing it–or anything else for that matter. I don’t mean reading for a purpose, I just mean looking (surfing, Pinterest, Flickr, etc.) at what you “could” make or do. And I’m also talking about losing four hours in an ADD zone-like trance. Don’t get me wrong– it’s fun, but it isn’t productive. Fortunately I don’t have the responsibility of a daily job anymore. I guess I just have a big case of Protestant work ethic guilt.

I did paint today, and yesterday.

Yesterday it was a still life of a lemon. The purpose was to do it with a color system and observe the effects. I chose Violet and Lemon yellow. I put the lemon on a white plate and sat that on a piece of violet batik. I had to paint shadows on the white plate. White! Did you know that white isn’t really just white in a painting?

I added the palest grey and a bit of super pale violet. I have no idea why.  I also drew in the lines with a pen because I just like that kind of thing.

I worked hard and learned a lot, but I don’t really like the painting. I have to remind myself that it isn’t about the product, it’s about the learning.

So today I learned to make texture with salt. Yep, table salt. I painted a very wet watercolor and sprinkled salt on it–Steve’s favorite spice. The trick is to sprinkle it on the paint at the magic moment–I haven’t quite learned when that is. But I had some success and a lot of fun.

I think what I’m looking to accomplish is to be able to create witty little pictures that make some point about life–The kind that make people smile and nod their heads. Hmmmmmmmm.

Speaking of life—football is back, and I have two fantasy teams. Looks like the knitting will pick up. It’s the only thing I can do while watching the games without spilling stuff or making a big mess. I added several inches to my Spectra project last night while watching my man Peyton show his stuff. Games are on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday. Heck, I might actually complete a project.

I hope you’re having as much fun as I am.

More later–