The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Forest Floor Final Update

This month's theme is the "Forest Floor".

For those of you unfamiliar with The Printed Fabric Bee, we are a group of 12 surface design enthusiasts. Each month, one member is designated the Queen. The Queen gets to select a theme and colors for her fabric collection and the rest of the members get to work. The result is an original and eclectic collection of fabrics. And since we like to spread the fun around, each month we put together a collection of 6" square versions of the fabric that you can win!

This month's Queen Bee was Carol R. Eaton and her theme was the Forest Floor.

I decided that I wanted to work with one of my favorite kitchen resists...confectioners' sugar syrup! I love the rich, velvety marks that this resist makes. I have a great microwave recipe for this resist in my new book, Fabric Printing at Home.

I also decided that I wanted to do two layers of brayer rubbings using the resist and one of my favorite print blocks...a hot glue on cardboard block.

I slipped a hot glue block under the fabric and rolled a layer of the sugar syrup over the fabric to pick up the designs.

After the sugar syrup resist dried, I painted washes of fabric paint over the resist. After heat setting the paint, I washed out the resist and repeated the whole process with a different hot glue block design.

With the background complete, I printed with a carved Speedy Carve block with images of dandelion leaves.

See the first image in this post for the final result.

And here is the six-inch fabric square that you can win.

Here are all the fabrics (so far) that are in the giveaway this month...what a great collection!

Carol will be choosing a giveaway winner on March 15th. You can enter by either leaving a comment on Carol's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog under the Forest Floor 6" square giveaway mosaic. Good luck!

Visit other Bee members' blogs and find out how they created their fabrics!
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula

Stitching Early Spring

Outside-- It's in the teens and we still have several inches of crusty snow.

Inside-- I've been stitching on Early Spring (working title).  I printed this design about a year ago for Carol Eaton's turn as queen of The Printed Fabric Bee. It just so happens to be her turn again...I have some interesting ideas that I plan to work on over the next few days.

It's bright and sunny today...a real difference from the last few days. I decided to take a photo of the strong sun on the piece.

I've mostly been stitching at night. I find it soothing and centering. There's been a lot of great things going on...blog tours, book signings and teaching classes...but...it's important for me to find a bit of quiet time.

I almost have the backing/border sewn down. Next I'll be stitching a bit on the border. I haven't decided if I want to do some subtle stitching around the flowers...more like an echo. What do you think?

Day #5: Fabric Printing at Home Blog Tour

Today is Day #5 of the Fabric Printing at Home Blog Tour. Thank you all so much for your sweet comments! I've had a great time putting this all together and am so lucky to have thirteen VERY artistic friends helping me out!

The Tour heads to Carol R. Eaton's blog today. I had the pleasure of meeting Carol last year at a SAQA conference in Virginia...she is a delight and a very talented artist. Her forte is gorgeous hand-dyed fabric...especially ice and snow dyeing (and since she lives in Connecticut there's been a great deal of the latter going on!).

Carol R. Eaton is a surface design artist who has been creating original, one-of-a-kind fabrics for the past 10 years. Inspired by the natural world her designs are filled with warm colors, balance and an unexpected variety of textures. Eaton’s work is made using only the highest quality fabric and incorporates unusual techniques such as dyeing with ice, manipulating dyes and the use of decolorants. Each art cloth in the collection is signed by the artist.

Stop by Carol's blog today and leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Fabric Printing at Home. AND Carol is also giving away 4 fat quarters of her hand-dyed fabric...how great is that!?

TIP: Using Folded and Cut Paper as a Design Tool

I love the graphic look of folded and cut paper designs. They are also so easy to make. Use them as a jumping off point for designing stencils and carved print blocks.

When I'm using folded and cut paper as a design tool, I usually either make paper cuts that are the specific dimensions of a print block (e.g. Speedy Carve) or use shaped templates such as a margarine top or the inside diameter of a tape roll (see below).

Once I've traced and cut out the shapes, it's time to fold them before cutting out the details. 

I usually cut freehand using small sharp scissors. I love the thrill of opening up the folded and cut paper to reveal an unexpected design!

Next, I glue these designs to black paper. The contrast enables me to see how the design would look printed as a stencil or print block. From there I can trace and transfer the design to the final stencil or print block material. Chapter 5: Recycled and Repurposed in Fabric Printing at Home shows you how to turn these bold, graphic designs into stencils.

Here is a fabric I designed using stencils. I call it, Nanny's Flower Garden in honor of my grandmother. You can see that I used a number of folded and cut paper designs as a basis for the stencils.

Today's giveaway is a pair of Non-Stick Fiskars scissors. Use them to cut intricate paper designs. Leave a comment for a chance to win. I will choose a winner at 11:00 PM Eastern USA time. Check tomorrow's post to see if you are the winner. Your comment also enters you in the final drawing on February 15 for a free copy of Fabric Printing at Home: Quick and Easy Fabric Design Using Fresh Produce and Found Objects. 

And now for the winner of yesterday's giveaway (two Detailer Writers)....congratulations to Sue Andrus! Please email me with your contact information (threadborn@cox.net) so I can send off your prize.

Tomorrow, the Tour stops at Judy Gula's blog. Judy owns Artistic Artifacts...a fiber and mixed media artist's dream shop! I drool over the hand-dyed threads and beautiful batik fabrics every time I visit!
 
Be sure to visit all the stops on the Tour:
February 2: Lisa Chin
February 3: Lynn Krawczyk
February 4: Jane Davila

February 5: Carol R. Eaton

February 6: Judy Gula

February 7: Susan Purney Mark

February 8: Teri Lucas

February 9: Jennifer Coyne Qudeen

February 10: Deborah Boschert

February 11: Lynda Heines

February 12: Cheryl Sleboda

February 13: Terri Stegmiller

February 14: Jackie Lams

 

Stitch Centering

The next few weeks are going to be very full and a little crazy!

I have my first book signing on January 30th followed by a two-day workshop (all at Artistic Artifacts).

February 1st will be the start of my two week blog tour. Thirteen of my fiber-artist friends have graciously agreed to join me as we give away 14 copies of Fabric Printing at Home. I'll have more to add later...but be sure to stop by February 1-14 for tips and projects!

So...it felt great to sit down and get centered with a bit of hand stitching.

I made this flower fabric when I worked on Carol R. Eaton's Woodlands fabric for The Printed Fabric Bee. I liked the design so much that I made two additional pieces...one for my Mom (who just had it framed) and one for myself. I decided to add a backing fabric and am doing a bit of hand stitching on the flower motifs...just a little to add a bit of emphasis. I'm looking forward to completing it.

Right now, working on some small projects and completing them is so satisfying. I'll post a photo when it's all stitched up.

Around the World Blog Hop!

 I was recently asked to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop by fiber artist and fabric dyer extraordinaire, Carol R. Eaton.

A selection of beautiful hand dyed fabrics by Carol R. Eaton.

I first "met" Carol as part of The Printed Fabric Bee. The Bee is an online group of surface design enthusiasts who design and print fabrics for one another throughout the year. I then had the opportunity to meet Carol in person at the SAQA conference earlier this year. What a delight! I also got to ooo and ahh over her scrumptious hand dyed fabrics. And of course, I had to buy some! You can learn more about Carol and her techniques on her Around the World Blog Hop post from last week.


As part of this blog hop, I was asked to answer some questions:
1. What am I working on?
At the moment, I'm designing, painting and printing several fat quarter fabrics for a pre-order giveaway for my upcoming book, Fabric Printing at Home. I'm using techniques I cover in the book to create the fabrics including: printing with fruits and veggies, found object printing, stenciling with kitchen materials and resist techniques. I'm also working on the next issue of my online newsletter, Julie B Booth Surface Design News (see the right-hand column to sign up...it's free!) where I'll set out the guidelines for the giveaway as well as include a "how-to" project featuring the steps I used to create one of the fabrics (seen here).

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
For the past four years, I've focused on using my kitchen as my resource for materials to make print blocks, stencils, rubbing plates and resists.I continue to be inspired by all the different ways I can use common household materials to design complex textures, patterns and designs on fabric. I guess that using these materials in unique ways is my signature. My continuing explorations led me to write my book, Fabric Printing at Home- a whole book of playing and experimenting with kitchen materials to create unique fabric designs!

3. Why do I create what I do?
I find designing fabrics inspiring-- the colors, textures, repetition of design elements and of course, layering all of it together! When everything falls into place and the fabric sings, it is truly satisfying!

I also love to teach and find that designing classes and explaining/writing about techniques is an art in itself. I love to joke that I design classes that I want to take! Right now, I'm extremely excited about two classes I've designed and am teaching: Fabric Painting, Printing, and Stitching to Tell a Story with Cloth (aka Story Cloth) and Patching, Stitching, Weaving: Creating Healing Cloth where students use mending and applique techniques to create a cloth with a healing message.

4. How does my creating process work? 
I find that I work best when I have a combination of time to play/experiment with materials and a deadline.  Most of the time, I like to have some sort of  goal in mind. It may be as simple as, how many ways can I print with a particular material or  how can I manipulate the material to turn it into something with which I can print, stencil, rub or resist? I keep a notebook and jot down notes and draw thumbnail sketches that act as starting points and also to record what I've learned during the process. A good session in the studio starts full of "what ifs" and ends with some of those questions answered (and generates new questions as well!).


Now I have the pleasure of introducing you to two other artists whose work I admire. Here is a brief introduction. You'll be hearing more from Lisa on Friday, October 24...so don't forget to check out her blog!

Lisa McGarry
Lisa McGarry is one of my online friends. I met her when she decided to join in on my and Jennifer's monthly colorful Searching for Roy G Biv blog hops. I soon came to look forward to her posts...full of gorgeous photos of her adopted home city of Florence. Along the way, she's impressed and inspired me with her thoughtful paper art works and books. She's also made me drool on more than one occasion with her yummy recipes and photos of ingredients and the final product (YUM!). Here's Lisa's description of herself and her work:

Lisa McGarry is an American artist and writer who has been living in Florence for the last ten years. She finds the experience of space and place to be endlessly fascinating, and much of her work is inspired by architecture, cities, travel and design of any kind. Her favorite “materials" are words, paper and paint, and she spends a lot of time looking at the world through her camera lens.

Visit Lisa's blog: http://arzigogolare.blogspot.com

Jennifer Coyne Qudeen
Jennifer is my good buddy! I met her while we were both in fiber galleries at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. When we were first introduced (by our mutual friend Pam Sullivan...an amazing fiber artist in her own right...but blogless!), Jennifer was a basket maker. Her organic and colorful reed baskets soon gave way to woven wall art and experiments with rusty found components. Needless to say, rust won out in the end...and I'm oh so happy about that! Jennifer is a magician with rust and more recently, tea bags. Here's how Jennifer describes herself:

Jennifer Coyne Qudeen is a mark maker, storyteller, surface design explorer, tea drinker, rust junkie and thorough believer in asking what if? And in discovering the answer. 

Jennifer couldn't commit to joining in on this blog hop this time but I hope you will stop by her blog for a visit: http://jennifercoynequdeen.blogspot.com

P.S.: For those of you still interested in playing along with the Search for Roy G Biv this month, I'll continue to update that post through Saturday midnight Eastern USA time!

The Printed Fabric Bee: Art Nouveau Collection Giveaway

It's the beginning of the month and time for another fabric giveaway from The Printed Fabric Bee. This month's queen bee was Jackie Lams and she asked us to interpret the theme, Art Nouveau.

Had some trouble with this one. I spent hours on Pinterest looking at images. In the end, I decided to do a piece that emphasized lines reminiscent of the period. I also decided to use the painting and resist techniques covered in Issue #18 of Julie B Booth Surface Design News. I go into more depth about the technique in the newsletter but you can get the gist of it here.

First, I ironed torn strips of freezer paper onto the fabric.

I then painted the uncovered areas of the fabric, alternating colors. I made sure I painted along the edges of the freezer paper so that the paint would flow and mix underneath the paper.

I drew designs with blue school glue gel and let them dry.

I ironed on another set of torn freezer paper strips, covering and exposing different areas of the fabric.

Another round of painting.

I wasn't totally happy with the result, so I mixed up a color that was a bit bluer and painted a few areas to better blend the colors.

Here is the finished 12" square and the 6" square for the giveaway.

To have a chance at the complete collection leave a comment on either Jackie Lams' blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog. The winner will be announced on May 17th. Good luck!

And one more thing...
Two other members of The Printed Fabric Bee were in town (Alexandria, VA just west of DC) for the SAQA conference. I had the chance to meet Carol Eaton and (after too many years!) see Lesley Riley (mentor and friend). We had a great evening along with some other SAQA members and friends (including Judy Gula of Artistic Artifacts and quilt artist, Christine Adams). Lots of laughing and sharing. I got to see Carol's AMAZING fabrics in person (and of course had to buy a couple of yummy yards!). Hope some day we can get the whole Bee together!

Into the Woods (with The Printed Fabric Bee)

Yesterday afternoon I locked myself in the studio...I was determined to get Carol Eaton's woodlands fabric done!

I decided to go in a different direction than my original plan. I'd been working on Carol's fabric over the weekend and it was just not jelling (or is it gelling? blue glue gel joke :)) I was working with layers of blue glue gel and paint but it was just too much and not reminding me of woodlands of ANY kind.

I stepped back and went simple. I painted a light brown background and then pulled out one of my favorite texture blocks made out of broken spaghetti.

I printed with white paint to represent this unending winter.

Next, I used two stencils cut from freezer paper. I originally used these stencils for printing a theme fabric about my grandmother's garden. I chose what I considered to be early spring colors.

I added a few painted details.

Above is the final fabric. I rather like it!

Six-inch giveaway fabric

If you'd like a six-inch square of this fabric along with eight other lovely woodland-themed fabrics, don't forget to go to either Carol R. Eaton's or The Printed Fabric Bee's blog and leave a comment. The drawing is April 12th.

Woodlands-Inspired Fabric Giveaway from The Printed Fabric Bee

Another fabulous fabric giveaway from The Printed Fabric Bee! Our queen for the month was Carol R. Eaton and she asked that we create 12" x 12" fabrics with a woodland theme.

You may notice that my fabric is "missing in action". I've had some false starts but hope to have my design up in the next day or so.

In the meantime, leave a comment at our NEW blog or on Carol's blog. She'll be randomly choosing the winner's name on April 12....Good luck!

Blue Spirals Making an Appearance!

Carol's blue spirals

It's my month as Queen of The Printed Fabric Bee. I requested the theme of blue spirals for my fabrics. Fabrics from Hive members, Carol Eaton and Lynda Heines arrived the other day and they are just gorgeous! Here is a sneak peak...

Carol's blue spirals

Lynda's blue spirals

For those of you who are curious about The Printed Fabric Bee, here is a post about it.

If you'd like to know more about how Carol created her fabric, she has a wonderful post about it here.

I mentioned to the Hive that I love fabrics from all over the world so Lynda designed one based on Kente cloth. Isn't it lovely?

Lynda's blue spirals inspired by Kente cloth

Guess what? You will have a chance to win 6" squares of all the fabrics I receive this month! Look for info about the drawing here and at The Printed Fabric Bee in the next week or so.

I can't wait to see what arrives in the mail today!