Fabric Book of 2019 Stitch Meditations-Part 3 and Done!

Ok, so I'm calling this book done, at least for now! This is the 3rd, and last, post about this book or this set of stitch meditations. See the other two previous posts for the beginnings.

All of the sewing is done by hand with no perfect expectations, hoops, or rulers, which accounts for the wonkiness and sheer pleasure! The book is about 71/2" x 8", has 23 meditations total, uses recycled fabrics, has 14 double pages, including both covers, and the stitching is intuitive. I just followed the needle around the scraps!

The left page margins have been marked and three slits cut for binding, and several torn fabric strips, lace, ribbons, etc., gathered for ties.

I bound it first with a few strips of laces, etc., attaching them to a safety pin and pulling them through the cut slits and tying them in double knots. Wasn't happy with it, as it seemed to overpower the book, but let it sit for a while.

I tried in vain to print my information on a piece of linen torn from an old blouse. My printer wasn't having it and made a mess, so I wrote the info on another piece of linen and temporarily attached it to the inside front cover. 

I'm not going to show all the pages, because I've already shared the meditations several times in previous posts, but here are a couple of shots of the book open to pages.

I took another piece of linen with failed print on it and attached it to the inside back cover, making a pocket and adding a little interest.

The back of the book with the first binding, which I still didn't like.

I tried adding a brighter colored ribbon, but it still didn't sit well with me.

So I pulled the strips out and rebound it with torn fabric strips tied in bows. Now it fits! I like it much better, and this is how it will stay, simply shabby.

The back cover is still really plain, and I may change that sometime down the road, but, for now, it is what it is. Sometimes less is more.

I have pushed on trying to finish this book this week to the point that it was getting tedious and on my nerves, which takes the fun out of it, so I'm stopping where I'm happy with it and moving on. I have a book full of my meditations to reflect back on when I choose and that's enough. I'm proud of myself for not letting myself get distracted onto something else until it was finished and proud of what I've accomplished, but my paint brushes and stitching are calling to me. Color me happy! 😊

22nd Stitch Meditation and First One of the Year! Southern Belle

I actually pinned this piece together in December 2019, but didn't stitch it until this week, as I've been stitching on the fabric book the last several days, so I'm going to count it as 2019, and it's going on the front cover of the book.

It's about 4-5" square, and I used embroidery thread on recycled scraps from two of my blouses, a jacket, and a tea dyed scrap off a bed skirt. The little vintage hand crocheted lady I found among my mom's things, where she had cut it off the bottom of a worn towel. I'm thinking it may have been crocheted by her older sister, but mama could have done it. You know, way back when, people used handwork to decorate the linens and towels. I have many things that I, my mom, aunts, and grannies made, using our various stitching talents. They hold many beloved memories for me. 💟

I don't use a hoop, but stitch freehand and intuitively, because I'm not trying for perfection, but a stress reliever and a mind occupier, because I'm a worrier. I try so hard not to be, but I am. 😟

Anyway, this piece will be attached to the front cover of the book, and I tried this morning to find an idea of how to bind the pages together online, but had no luck, so I guess I'll just have to wing it, and do it intuitively. We'll see what happens! 😀

Original Art Necklaces and Keychains

I hope you all had a happy Christmas and family/friend time, and I hope you made some cherished memories to think about in the years ahead. I know we did!

I decided to try something new for small Christmas gifts for family and some friends this year! I experimented with printing some of my original art from this year on regular printer paper with the thumbnail setting. It printed a whole bunch onto one page, all about an inch square or rectangle, which could then be cut into one inch round or square shapes (thinking about inchies).

Then I went to Pinterest looking for ideas and found some jewelry made from original art that I really liked, so I went to Etsy and found some kits for necklaces and key rings which included everything I needed, including Diamond Glaze glue, glass cabochons, chains, and all the metal trays and key ring parts.

I practiced by making myself a necklace and hubby a key ring, using a monoprint of the furbaby we used to have, and still miss every day, and one of my crow quirky doodles.

They turned out ok. The only thing is on the round trays, the bail is turned the wrong way and I didn't have any jump rings to match, so I improvised by threading the chain though itself and the bail so the pendent would hang flat when wearing it, instead of flopping around with the back showing as much of the time as the front.

So, I picked out some photos of my art and printed off thumbnails of them onto good matte photo paper and sprayed them with a sealer. They turned out great! Next, I looked up a tutorial online showing how to work with the cabochons and assemble the pieces so that the prints didn't smear or stick where I didn't want them to, or peel off. 

Above is how the pieces looked after I cut, glued, and trimmed to fit. I ordered a one inch round hole punch specifically to cut the round ones, but I misplaced it and wound up cutting them with scissors. Hard to get a good photo with the glass domes. Assembling them on wax paper helps keep them from sticking to things you don't want them to!

After they were dry, I glued them into the metal trays, wiping as much excess glue off as I could. Glue and I do not get along well, and it was kind of messy. I wondered about sealing the back of the paper before gluing them into the tray, but didn't. I just added some extra glue to allow for the absorption into the paper. I later learned that by not sealing the tray and the paper separately, before gluing them together, the metal can oxidize and leave a bluish tint on the picture. Anyway, I didn't do that, but I can't see any bluish tint on these, so, hopefully they'll be ok.

I let them dry for two or three days before cleaning the dried glue off the glass and assembling them into necklaces and key rings, which I gave as gifts. I really wanted to add some beads to them, but ran out of time. The recipients seem to like them though, which made me happy!

Included are some of my painted quirky doodle sketches, a digital painting, a couple of class paintings, gelli plate prints, monoprints, and mixed-media mostly done in open media acrylics. The findings are copper, brass (or antique gold), silver, and antique silver. I ordered the kits with equal numbers of the four colors this time, but next time I will choose which colors, because most of the colors in my art really looked better in the silver. I also want some bigger plates to do original watercolor paintings for. We'll see how that goes.

Now ready to make another batch with the kits I have left! And this time I will seal everything before gluing together. The first tutorial left that part out. I found the second tutorial after I had already finished. Hopefully these will be okay, at least until they get tired of them!

A fun project and a way to share my art, since I don't sell any of it, at least not yet! Also fun to learn new things! And I actually finished these! I have a whole stack of works in progress to finish from years back. I love starting new projects, but am never quite sure how to finish them right away, so I move on to something else. Just the quirky way I work!

Keep doing the things you love! It helps make your world, and mine, a better place!😊

Gelli Plate Layering Experiment

I saw a new, to me, technique for layering prints on the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Facebook group page, so I gave it a try. Mine failed miserably, but I was able to salvage them by adding a few details after they were pulled. I used Golden Open and Fluid Acrylics and a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" Gelli arts plate.

This was the first one I tried on a Speedball printmaking paper scrap. I layered fluid green-gold on the plate, let it dry, layered turquoise over it and let dry, layered yellow and let dry, then layered titan buff open media and let set a few minutes, laid my paper on and burnished. It was supposed to pull all 4 layers up together, however mine only lifted the T buff layer, so I laid titanium white down on top of the other three layers and spritzed with a little water to help re-wet the other three layers and let it set a few minutes, then laid the paper down and burnished and let set until almost dry. When I pulled it up, the paint layers came off, but only picked up the shapes seen in the print on a white background. It reminded me of trees reflected in water, so I added a bit of a blue gelato gel stick to the white areas and a bit of water soluble pencil to define between the land and water reflections. The dots came from me lifting up some of the excess paint with a napkin on one of the layers. Not the print I was after, a keeper nonetheless. 😊

This is the second one I tried on regular printer paper, because that's what was handy and I was experimenting. It's also the first of three pulls. I layered the same fluid colors, in the same order and allowing to dry between layers, as the print of the trees above. The top, and last layer of open media paint is titan buff. I spritzed with a little water, laid the paper down and burnished and let set for a few minutes before pulling the print. Again, not the print I was after, but a good background print, so I applied gold metallic open media paint to a duck feather and stamped it onto the print after the print was dry. Not a bad save!

This is the second of three pulls. After pulling the print above, I spritzed a bit more water onto the paint layers and pulled the print, which was also a good background print. I let it dry, applied open media titanium white to the duck feather and stamped it onto the print. I LOVE feathers and I like this print, so another save!

The third of three pulls, which lifted barely any paint and left a lot of white paper, so I stamped the duck feather, which I had lifted paint from the second print with, into the negative space. I may add a bit of detail into the top of the feather at some point, but I kind of like it like it is. The feather didn't lift enough paint from the other print for it to show, which is why I stamped the second one with a paint laden feather.

I thought I was following the suggestions on layering the paint before pulling a print, but obviously, I goofed up somewhere. I think I prefer pulling one layer at a time, using a register, although, sometimes I fail to let the prints dry long enough between layers. But that's ok. Even it gets a bit muddy looking, I can always let it dry and add another layer, or a stamp, or a stencil, or use it to collage, so it's all good. They can't all be frameable and gallery worthy, but they all have character!

The gelli print adventures continue...

Mini Gelli Print WIP

This week's mini gelli plate printing session, using mostly my finger to apply the paint, on scraps of paper left from printing and rice papers. These are about playing card size 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and are still works in progress for the most part.  I used my finger, my handmade button stamp, and white duck feathers that I found while decluttering.

New and/or Failed Gelli Prints and a Button Stamp

Another gelli print session with my 6" x 6" plate, using Open Media Acrylics on Speedball printmaking paper. I played with a crow feather, wild turkey feather, a silk flower, a roller, a brush, my finger, and a homemade button stamp (buttons glued onto a cd case). Most are still works in progress, as I will add details at some point. Fun stuff!

One of the failed ones from the last session that I added a pile of buttons to...

Another failed one from the previous session that I added another layer of paint to...

The third fail from the previous bunch that I also added a couple more layers of paint to. The photo is blurred. It actually looks much better in reality...

This one is a monotype where I finger painted the plate and printed the seascape. This one and the rest are new this session...

I call this a button stamp, but actually it works better to put the paint on the buttons and lay the paper on top and press down good. The brown print was a fail from another session, so I stamped black buttons, which I didn't like, so I stamped white, titan buff, and gold on top, for a pile of buttons. The other one is a gelli print, where I applied the paint in stripes with a brush, then gold buttons over.

Have you tried gelli plate printing yet? Keep learning new things! It's good for you! <3

Help! I Can't Stop Printing! More Gelli Prints! :D

G Open Media Acrylics, Speedball print paper, found objects, The more I make, the more ideas I have and the more I want to make! Most of these are works in progress, and four magazine transfer fails, which weren't complete failures...

Fun Stuff! Hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend! :)