I’ve been playing around with creating my own collage papers for a while…I like that it’s unique and individualistic; no need to use someone else’s idea for a creative motif. Recently I swapped out paper for fabric to explore more possibilities. I’m itching to meld both paper and fabric together into some sort of textile 3-D composition…don’t know what that might look like but experimenting seems like a good way to figure it out.
Along that vein, I’m taking a workshop in May from quilter/textile artist Denyse Schmidt. Though it is technically a workshop focusing on quilt appliques, I plan to tweak things and explore quilting and designs in a smaller context than an entire quilt. There’s a list of supplies and materials that I need to bring along…and though I have an interesting collection of fabrics from my hoard to sustain me, I wanted a little bit more. It didn’t make sense to me to purchase ready made fabric with someone else’s designs. I have been printing up fabric with my own images from Spoonflower (a print on demand company) extensively over the years so I ordered yardage in a couple of my designs that blended well together.
But then I thought…why not print my own fabric? Something simple and graphic…I pulled out a length of muslin, a piece of kraft paper for practice, a bottle of black gesso, a few miscellaneous objects…and went to work.
string wrapped around a block, empty plastic tape roll, metal cap were all considered…
After a few duds, I discovered that the metal screw top from a wine bottle gave me the perfect size of a circle with the most delicate line. It took a bit of practice to get an image without too much paint as well as lining up the circles in some order…but I told myself that these imperfections are evidence that this fabric was not commercially printed!
The practice print pieces are finding their way into my latest round of Scrap Fabric Banners. I’ve been enjoying finding new ways to create with what I already have, whether it be paper, fabric, found objects, leftover wire, buttons and everything else. The more I work on creating new banners, the more mixed media they become! The response to these banners has been interesting…it seems like people don’t quite know what they are. Whatever you want to call them - inspirational pendants, fabric flags, textile compositions -there are three banners currently in my website shop but I plan to add more in the near future.
Meanwhile, I’ll be playing with paint and fabric…and sewing…and making collages and concocting anything else that catches my attention because stay curious is my motto.
