July's Tart Kit: Fused Collage

In the Tart kit for July, we have gathered items for a quick fused collage. If you choose, there doesn't have to be much sewing. In fact, the piece could just be matted and framed. This exercise will give you an opportunity to practice composition and design.

You will be layering your collage elements onto a piece of hand painted cotton. Press out the wrinkles and lay the background on your protected ironing board.

Split the piece of Misty Fuse into two equal pieces. Cover the background with one piece. Misty Fuse is a wonderful fusible that allows you to fuse open-weave fabrics without obscuring the transparency.

Position the cheesecloth, Angelina, ribbons and the picture which you have isolated and cut out on top of the Misty Fuse. You can add any other elements as your eye demands.

When you are finished arranging, lay the second piece of Misty Fuse over the collage.

And finally, lay either piece of tulle over the Misty Fuse. With your iron protected with the freezer paper, press your piece to fuse the elements together. Embellish with the gemstones and any other stitching you desire. This piece can be quilted with binding or matted and framed.

June's Tart Kit: Stacked Silk

Sue Anne created this little piece with three of the four stacked silks. Once the silk has been painted and heat set it can be cut up and used in your art piece.

Before you begin, the piece of raw silk will need to be rinsed and dried before you apply the Dyn-a-flow. This allows the paint to flow better. See the example below.

In this lesson you will stack the four different types of silk into one pile. It doesn't matter which piece is on top. You may want to experiment with placing different silks in different orders. It is important that you use a fair amount of paint in order for it to soak through to the last silk on the bottom. We found that we were more successful when we allowed the tip of the Dyn-a-flow bottle to touch the silk itself during the application. Each layer will take the paint a little differently with the top layer having more "white" space than the successive layers.

Leave the silk in its stack until it dries and then heat set it with your iron. Once set, it is ready to be used.

Of course, each piece of silk may be painted with the Dyn-a-flow separately. However, there is more serendipity in letting the paint do its thing in the stack!

May's Tart Kit: Molding Paste

This month's kit includes a lesson for using light molding paste on fabric. The  following photos will show you a variety of ways to use it to provide texture to the surface of your art quilt. The paste can be applied directly to the quilt or you can can create an applique on another fabric which you would cut out and sew onto the surface of your quilt. The paste can be colored before application with any acrylic paint or painted after it has dried. Experiment with color and values.

Molding paste has been used by artists for years on canvas to add texture to a painting. It is light as air and will spread easily with a palette knife or your finger. Once dried, you can sew through it easily. It remains flexible and add very little weight to your quilt.

Using a stencil is an easy way to apply a motif. Generally, your paste will be as thick as the stencil, but you can play around with adding more paste before removing the stencil. Try cutting your own motif in the blank stencil plastic included in your kit.

Use the palatte knife, fork or other tools to create ridges and shapes.

Try the damp sea sponge to apply the molding paste.

While the paste is wet, press beads, yarns, shells, or other small items onto the surface. Add texture with bubble wrap or netting.

Add a second color, or thin the paste and apply to a motif in the fabric by brush.

After you have finished with your design, let the molding paste dry completely. The time it takes will depend upon how thick it has been applied. Sew it in place if you have created an applique or add thread details. 

Sue's dahlia was shaped on a piece of muslin with the white molding paste. Once dry, she painted it the beautiful blue and once that was dry, she cut it out to use as an applique. It was stitched onto her sandwiched quilt to create the petal detail.

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.