April Tart Lesson: Metal Tags

This month's Tart lesson will have you repurposing countertop sample tiles into art quilt embellishments. We have included a variety of items for you to use to decorate the tiles: metal tape, rhinestones, wire, wire mesh, silver paper, paper doily and a metal wax finish. The idea is to go crazy covering these little tiles and then use them in an art piece in some form or fashion. Samples of the metal tags the four of us made one morning are pictured below to help get you started. Have fun!

March Tart Lesson: Pantry Dyeing

Susan's small sample shows the variety of materials that can be dyed with everyday "dyes" that might be found in your pantry. Using coloring agents found around the house to color trims or embellishments can be easy and allows you to add interest to an art piece without much effort.

In this month's kit are a number of materials for you to dye. Each will yield its own special color depending on the type of dye you use so it will be worth experimenting with each type of material. Besides what is in the kit, try using wood, buttons, plastic pearls, handmade paper, batting, laces, pompoms, cotton doilies. We did not include any setting agent or fixative so be aware of the colorfastness of your results.

The "dyes" included in your kit are coffee, red zinger tea, paprika, tumeric, and two colors of Kool-aid. You will mix the contents of each dye with 1 cup boiling water. Add the material to be dyed. Depending on the amount of fabric, you may need to add more dye and water. Saturation of color will depend on the amount of dye used - again a part of your experimentation. The fabrics will dye better if there is enough water for them to "swim". Soak the materials for 30 minutes, remove from the dye water, and let dry completely.

You may get a more intense color if you simmer your materials in a pan over heat for 30 minutes. The Kool-aid will dye protein fibers such as wool or silk, but only stain vegetable fibers. The colors on wool or silk will be more permanent.

Tumeric yields a vibrant yellow color.

The following pictures show our results for the different dyes. Paprika gives a rusty brown.

Instant coffee gives a light brown.

Red Zinger tea gives a mauve.

Tumeric gives a golden yellow.

And depending on the color of the Kool-aid, the dyed materials will be bright and clear. Use only unsweetened Kool-aid. Theses samples were dyed with cherry and lime.

February Tart Lesson: Embossing Bamboo Batting

Who says batting has to be used only as the middle of a quilt sandwich? This month's Tart lesson will have you texturing and coloring bamboo batting to use on the surface of an art quilt. Sue Anne used a floral texture plate to emboss a piece of bamboo batting. In this sample she used dye and Lumiere to color it, then quilted and beaded it. This is piece with textue and interest.

The materials you will use include bamboo batting, a texture plate, textile medium, dye and paint. It is important to use what seems to be the wrong side of the batting in order to get a good impression. This side will have flecks of bamboo and a rougher look and it will be placed next to the texture plate. The side you don't use is clearer in color and smoother. The texture plate in the kit isdesigned for rubbing so it is heat sensitive. However, with a careful hand you can use it in this application by not overheating the batting when you make the impression. Mix the textile medium with water 1:1 and fill the mini-mister. Spritz the "wrong" side of the batting until the batting is moist; do not saturate.

Lay the texture plate onto a protected hard surface. Cover it with the wet side of the batting and cover with a piece of parchment paper. Using an iron set on cotton, press firmly for about 2 seconds. Use a little pressure in order to get a good impression. Try other textures such as a metal grids, or rubber stamps, or wooden print plates, or a heavy doily, or found objects. Be aware of the heat issue.

Let the batting dry completely.

Now you can color the batting. Mix the dye with water to the saturation of your choice and spritz or brush the color onto the batting. You may also use paint that has been diluted. The amount of color you use will be your choice. The depressions will be more visible if you do not oversaturate the batting.

When the paint has dried, you may apply highlights of a second color such as Lumiere. Use a dry brush application to just hit the high areas.

Adding color to the textile medium and water mixture will eliminate a step in this process. Once embossed and colored, the bamboo batting can become a wonderful textured background.

January's Tart Lesson: Gelatin Plate Printing and Reverse Applique

This month we are giving you the materials and instructions for two lessons: gelatin plate printing and reverse applique. The sample above was completed by Susan and Sue Anne. Sue Anne made the fabric print and Susan reverse hand-appliqued the black top and finished the little quilt. The painted design in the print shows through in an interesting way.

Dissolve the gelatin in water in a pan on top of the stove. Pour it into a bowl or plate where it will cool in the refrigerator. When cool, unmold it unto your work surface and get ready to print.

With the textile paints, squeeze out a design directly onto the gelatin. Lay the PFD fabric over the paint and press lightly from the center out. Carefully lift the fabric from the gelatin and allow to dry completely. You may want to cut your fabric in smaller, workable pieces. You may print successive prints but each will be lighter as you remove some paint from the gelatin each time you print. More paint can be added as necessary. However, no two prints will be exactly the same.

When the print has dried completely, heat set the paint with your protected iron. You can add more paint to the surface without affecting the original print. Below, I painted a wash of textile paint mixed with water over the first print to color the white background.

The gelatin plate can be used over and over. Wash the surface carefully with a wet sponge or paper towel.

Experiment with various designs and textures. The softness of the gelatin plate will allow you to get some depth in your prints. Use different tools to remove paint or lay a resist over the plate before adding paint. Here, I used a paint brush to make random circles, followed with "drips" directly from the paint bottle.

Here's the orginal print, followed by the same print with a blue wash over the background.

Below is an example of giving my print some texture. I used a large-tooth comb to make a narrow grid. It is followed by my first printing, then my second printing. Notice how much paint was removed with the first print.

When you are done printing, clean the gelatin plate and save in the refrigerator. It should keep for quite awhile. NEVER, put the gelatin plate down the drain. Throw it away when you are through with it.

Reverse applique is a technique where instead of sewing a motif to the top of a background, you are cutting away the top layer to reveal another fabric beneath. In this lesson, we have given you black cotton for the layer you cut away and you will use your printed fabric for the layer beneath. Reverse applique can be done either by hand or by fusing. We recommend fusing if you are new to this technique or if your design has very small cut-outs.

Draw your design onto the non-shiny surface of freezer paper. Remind yourself about the areas that will be cut out by marking the area with an X.

Cut out along the drawn lines and discard the inner shape and keep the larger piece.

Iron a piece of fusible web to the wrong side of the black fabric. Leave the paper on for the time being. Iron the freezer paper pattern to the front side of the black fabric.

Use the chalk to mark the edges of your cutout. For large areas, the chalk just needs to run along the edge. Remember, you will be discarding the inside shape.

Carefully, remove the freezer paper from the front and the fusible web paper from the back.

With sharp scissors, cut out the design along the chalked edge. If you were reverse appliqueing by hand, you would leave a small seam allowance. Once you have removed the black fabric from inside your chalk lines, press it to your printed fabric.

You are now ready to layer the piece with batting and a backing and machine quilted around the design edges. You can either use a straight stitch or satin stitch or buttonhole stitch. You might even use embroidery floss to add a textured edge. Complete a whole cloth quilt or incorporated this technique into a larger design. Doesn't it remind you of grade school where we colored a background sheet of paper and then painted it with black paint and scratched away a design. Have fun!