October Tart Kit: Positive/Negative Stenciling with Paintstiks

 
In this month's kit we are borrowing a lesson from Shelley Stokes of Cedar Canyon Textiles. She has developed patterns and designs for positive/negative stenciling using Shiva Paintstiks. Before you begin, you will need to choose a pattern from the sheet included in your kit which Shelley graciously allowed us to use. It must be enlarged to a 4" square. To do this, use a copier to enlarge at 133% and then again by 200%.

      

Once you have your pair of blocks enlarged to 4" make 5-6 copies so that you can put them together to form a large piece. As you can see the blocks are equal and opposite and will fit together in an alternate pattern, forming a secondary design.

You must pre-shrink the freezer paper before you make your stencil. Take it to your ironing board and press it on a lint-free surface, lift it, and press again. Cut each freezer paper sheet into an 8" square. Draw two sets of parallel lines 2" from the outside edges, forming a 4" box in the center. Trace each pattern in the two boxes. Be sure to mark the areas that will be cut out. Cut out the marked areas without cutting into the margins.

The fabric in the kit is a hand-dyed cotton and needs no pre-washing, just a light ironing. You will need to create registration marks on your fabric in order to place your stencils in the correct positions. Use an iron or chalk marker to mark multiple 4" squares. Position your first stencil in the correct position and press to adhere the freezer paper stencil. The Paintstik has a film covering the paint and needs to be removed. You can do that by twisting it off with a paper towel or cutting it away with a small kitchen knife. Rub the paint onto the waxy side of the left over freezer paper and load your brush.

With your brush at a ninety degree angle and with a circular motion, add paint to the fabric. Start with a light layer and gradually add paint until you have the intensity you desire.

Carefully remove the stencil. Position the second freezer paper stencil in its correct place on the fabric, matching the edges and registration marks. Cover your first painting with parchment paper and iron the second freezer paper pattern to the fabric. Add paint as before. Continue stenciling by alternating each pattern piece until you have filled your fabric with squares. As you can see, each pattern matches the other along the sides.

This stenciled fabric can now become your background. You can alter the fabric by painting it in a graduated color, adding the single color of paintstik over the top. Or you can stencil each pattern onto squares cut from different fabrics. You can also make your own patterns. See Cedar Canyon Textiles for Shelley's blog on learning that technique.

September's Tart Kit: White on White

Even though this lesson is titled "White on White", we will be using many variations of white and beige materials. The idea behind this kit is a chance for you to build some hand embroidery skills and work with a composition that does not use color as one of its design elements. We want you to create a piece that is interesting because of the texture, pattern and value contrasts.

The kit contents contain a variety of threads, yarns, and fabrics. Add other textures from your stash to give yourself enough materials to be inspired. Think about dimension and pattern, contrast and focal point. How will your piece be interesting and draw the viewer in without using color?

Use basic embroidery stitches or teach yourself some new ones. We have included a couple of websites that will give you lessons on embroidery as well as our own stitch glossary:

www.needlenthread.com/video or

www.needlecrafter.com/stitches

If you want, use your machine to complement your handwork.

For design composition inspiration, learn about zentangles - a purposeful way of doodling. You can find great information at www.zentangle.com.

One of the threads in your kit is a polyester metallic blending filiament. It can be used with one of your other threads to add just a bit of sparkle to your embroidery. Susan used it in the leaf stitch of the flower petals.

For those of you who love handstitching this lesson will be a treat! For those of you who don't, you may find that even a little bit of embroidery on your art quilt will be enough to add texture and dimension in a way your machine stitching cannot. Have fun!

August Tart Kit: Sun Printing with Grids

Sue used craft foam for printing a grid onto her fabric. She blended two paints to give the two-toned color to her piece. With this month's kit, you will take advantage of the summer sun and print on PFD fabric using Setacolor. This is a transparent paint and works terrific to create silhouettes on fabric. The technique is very easy, so to give you a challenge we want you to work with grids - the fencing included in the kit to print with or in your composition's design.

You will be painting the diluted Setacolor onto wet fabric which you have laid on a hard surface. Unless your surface is already in the sun, it will need to be portable in order for you to move the fabric outdoors to the sun.

Diluting your Setacolor will determine the intensity of the color. The photo below shows two greens with different dilutions. Add water to get the value you prefer.

Once the fabric is colored and still wet, lay your fencing on top and put it all into the sun. The fencing must touch the cloth in order to get a defined line. You may need to soften the plastic in order for it to lay flat.

Once the paint has dried, remove the fencing to see your gridded silhouettes. Heat set the paint with your protected iron.

As you will observe, the area open to the sun stays dark, while the area covered by the grids fades to a lighter color.

We have included craft foam if you want to make your own grids. In the photo following, squares were cut from the foam and placed on the fabric. When the fabric dried and the squares were removed, the results look a little like bright windows.

The reverse image could be made by cutting the foam into this shape.

Try printing with other grids such as rug canvas, plastic needlepoint canvas, screening, other interesting fencing materials or cut your own grids as Sue did with her sample at the top of the page.

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.