I am working on a series of tiny quilts using photo images transferred to cloth. I have experimented with many brands of pre-treated cloth and like using the Electric Quilt lawn fabric sheets because so far, they are the most colorfast. To print on the cloth, I am using an HP ink jet photo printer with Vivatar inks. You have to print the fabric sheets and then let the inks cure/set for a few days, then soak in warm water briefly. I use a very mild soap, Dr. Bronner's, to wash the final pieces.
As many textile makers I know, I have a huge fabric stash. Currently, it fills two large shelving units in my studio. Late last year, my daughter had a baby boy, so last summer I started making baby quilts while she was pregnant. I completed four of them and really enjoyed the whole process. I have completed two full sized quilts in my lifetime, but have decided to focus right now on small pieces which average 12" x 12". Done is beautiful!
I find that I have the most design ideas while I am in the process of working, in the flow of things. I do not usually work out my ideas on paper, but prefer to work directly with the cloth. That being said, I have started a new sketch book and have been working out some simple line drawings for future projects.
Pulling the fabrics off the shelves and putting the colors and patterns together is the most fun part of the process for me. The first small quilts I designed this year worked around a series of images taken in Maine last summer of tidal pools. I gathered the fabrics that worked with the colors and shapes in the images, strip pieced the fabrics and then framed the tidal pool images with blocks of the the combined fabrics. I will post images of the completed pieces soon.
After the tidal pool series, I started working with images of ornamental kale and cabbages (you can see one of the images below) from the pots on my front porch. This project sent me directly to two fabric stores after I discovered that I had almost no pink fabric. (I thought I hated pink actually) Fully stocked now with many values and hues of pink/magenta/purple, I went to work on this series. Currently I have one piece complete and have now printed multiple kale images and will continue with this series.
Two more tiny quilts are complete using an image of a display of persimmons (please see image below) that I photographed on a 2006 trip to China. I found a small produce market only a few streets away from our hotel and the persimmons photo has turned out to be one of my favorite images from the whole trip. The orange color is so intense! The price marked in Chinese is 2.7 luin. One US dollar at the time equaled 8 luin.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
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