ATC Details

I’m pretty new to ATC swaps on a large scale, so I keep forgetting that it seems to be the custom to describe in some detail how the ATCs are made. So, to embellish on any earlier post, I’m providing more information about how these ATCs for a swap were made.

The background is Tyvek that I painted with Golden quinacridone colors; I love those acrylics because they are translucent, but heavily pigmented for beautiful color.

The birds started with watercolor paper that I had previously painted with fabric dyes.

I stamped the birds with a clear Versamark stamp pad, then embossed them with ultra-thick embossing powder. I sprayed Adirondack color wash sprays onto the paper, then laid newsprint over the top and ironed the paper until the embossing powder was absorbed. The strips along the side were created the same way, but one set of leaves was stamped with green acrylic paint, embossed, then ironed to remove the embossing powder.

(Btw, I have an article on eHow with detailed instructions and pics of the above process; if you visit and read the article, please be sure to rate it!)

I added details to the birds with Micron pens. Then I glued the birds and the strips onto the Tyvek, then glued the whole thing to illustration board so that it would be sturdy.

I wanted to dip the edges into ink and embossing powder, but I completely forgot that Tyvek MELTS with heat, so when I started heating the embossing powder, the Tyvek started pulling away from the edges. I decided instead use a Krylon gold-leafing pen to color the edges.

Productivity is Spelled T-I-R-E-D

Here’s my latest screen printing project; this one discharges a piece of previously-dyed fabric. I cut a stencil from a transparency, then used that for the print and SoftScrub with bleach to discharge the dye:

And, here’s another (very un-fractal-like) spiral; the pieces are fused on, but I haven’t done any stitching or quilting yet:

My plan now is to scrounge up some leftovers for lunch, then rest for the remainder of the day!

Weekly Square #6

Whew, I managed to get caught up on the weekly squares, and it’s not even the end of the week yet!

I decided not to use the piece I showed yesterday; I think I will mount that on a canvas or frame it (or both), as blog commenters suggested.

Instead, I fused spirals cut out of shibori-dyed fabric onto a painted background, stitched them with metallic thread, and added some little acrylic paint triangles and dots.

Influences for this week’s 6x6” square: Lily Kerns QU class, Fractal Fragments (she’s focusing on spirals this week as a common fractal pattern; beyond that, I couldn’t tell you what’s happening, because fractals apparently make my brain dissolve, so I’m avoiding them); working with painted/screen printed fabric (the background started as a screen print that didn’t work out so well, so I covered it with Setacolor paints); and doodling, which I’ve been doing a lot lately.

My daughter had her birthday a couple of days ago. It was nice; we made her dinner, had a cake, gave her a digital camera (which she's been hinting about and even outright ASKING for forever), and sang "Happy Birthday."

It hit me today that she's 28.

How is it possible that I have a daughter who is 28 years old?

Happy Birthday, hon, and just to let you know, you can keep getting older, but I've decided not to. We'll reevaluate the situation when you catch up with me.

Dilemma

This piece was intended to be this week’s 6x6 weekly square, but I am SO enamored with it that I’m not sure I’m going to use it for that (I’m thinking it might get lost in all those other squares). It started as one of my screen-printed prints, then I added some DynaFlo paint to it, then screened the text over the top of it.

I’m not sure why I love it so much, but I do!

Making Messes

I’ve had screen-printing materials for a long time; in fact, I bought them back when I was working with glass, because my intention was to screen print enamels onto the glass.

Alas, I was scared off by not really understanding how to create images. All the instructions I found had to do with treating the screen with something then exposing it to bright light for so long with some type of really dark line drawing taped to it then . . . that’s about where I typically gave up and went to find something else to do (I have the same issue with the airbrush, which sits neat and clean in its nice little box, just waiting to be used).

So, I decided to take Lyric Kinard’s Screen Printing class at QU. I’ve taken a painting class online with Lyric, and I really like the information and ideas she shares. So far, the class is a lot of fun, and I’m relieved to finally be using my screen-printing stuff.

Here are a couple of prints using a newspaper stencil:

And some using freezer paper stencils that I cut a design into:

And some using masking tape (printed over some less-than-successful previous prints):

And some using a stencil cut from Con-tac Paper:

As you can tell, I’m still trying to get all the particulars down—how hard to press, how many passes to make, how to make sure I have enough paint on the screen.

And finally, my favorites. I cheated and skipped ahead to next week’s lesson, which uses thermofax screens. I had ordered these from Lyric and from Marcy Tilton. When they arrived, I couldn’t resist trying at least one on my own, so I used the “French 1920s Letter” from Marcy:

I have discovered that screen printing is really messy—actually, the process itself is not too bad, but geez! washing all that paint out of the screens! I panicked when I thought the red paint might permanently stain the porcelain bathtub.

Cleaning up the thermofax screens was MUCH neater. Of course, they don’t typically cover as much fabric as a larger screen, and they are MUCH more expensive than masking tape and newspaper, so I’ll have to show a little restraint, or at least hide the credit card statements :-)