A woolly textile picture

I recently gave a talk at a lovely knitting group about textile art. Inspired by this I had a go at making a textile piece using my vary limited knitting and crochet skills. I started at the top of the piece because I knew I wanted the sky to appear smooth and it would allow me to set the size of the finished article. I used the tension guide on the blue wool to work out how many stitches I would need to cast on for the size I wanted to make. I knitted a few rows and luckily my tension was the same so I could keep going.

I knitted the sky and the first layer of hills. I changed wool and needles and continued down the background using rib to make the appearance of rows of crops. Some sections were crocheted instead. For each new section of knitting I cast on stitches through the previous layer so the whole thing was all one piece. I used casting on or off here and there to make uneven edges to each block. Some of the wool was textured, like the pale green which is knitted. Later on I used little pieces of wool to stitch the details like trees, sheep, grass and hedges. When it was all finished I blocked it and then put it in this frame I made.

The  way I framed this is easy and something I have used before for textiles. After you have made the frame it is easy to use a few stitches through the canvas layer to hold your textile in place.  You can put your name and signature on the back too. My knitted piece was heavy so it is stitched all around the edge to hold it inside the frame.

 I start with an artist canvas. I turn the canvas over and use the back so I make sure my artwork will fit into the space on the back.  You can use any depth of frame but deep frames will suit bulky work better.

To cover the staples and edges of the canvas on the back and make it look neater I usually glue some thick card over the sides, back and down onto the canvas as there can be a gap between the canvas and the wooden frame. This hides the staples best but if you press hard they will be visible.

Next I like to cover the card with a decorative finish. I used texture paste on this sample. When I use a paste or gel I use it thickly to hide the edge of the cardboard on the canvas and the staples. Sometimes I use the paste all over the canvas layer too if it will be visible. When it is dry the whole frame can then be painted with acrylics in any colors you wish.

Another choice of finish is to cover the thick card with torn pieces of tissue paper. Like the texture paste this can be painted when dry or if you use colored tissue you wouldn't need to paint it. I don't usually put the tissue over texture paste (it's a waste!) like this sample where I changed my mind on the finish I wanted. 

Both the texture paste and tissue paper finish can be highlighted using metallic waxes like rub'n'buff or Viva Inka Gold.

On the frame above, I didn't use the card and just covered the edge of the frame with glued fabric. I glued the fabric to the sides and then covered the back and tucked it into the gap between the canvas and wood. 

This frame was covered with coarse texture gel or sand gel and painted black. It has been sprayed with green mica spray when dry. I painted the inside of the frame white to make a border between the black frame and the black textile. From a distance it gives the appearance of a matted picture.

 This is an old artwork where I used a deep frame for my mixed media work. I glued on chipboard scrolls from the scrapbooking industry and then painted the whole frame with a thick coat of gesso. Before the gesso dried I used a heat gun to make bubbles in it. It was later painted with metallic paints and wax.

The whole piece.

This is the first time I used the back of a frame for my artwork. It was simply covered with book paper and then tissue paper. You can still see the staples and folds of the canvas so that is why I started covering them up with card. Sometimes you may want to leave them exposed. The choice is yours.

Adding texture to textiles

I have a new video about adding texture to your textile work. If you want to see it larger on YouTube click on this link: artygirl2010 video.

The technique is quite simple using any art mediums you have. You can add colour or other items to the gels and pastes then spread them on your fabrics using a palette knife or brush. I used both natural and synthetic fibers and they both worked, some colour reacted differently on the fabrics and mediums. I did a lot of experimenting with the different mediums I own. I did a sample of each of the things I tried, noting down what they were. I then hand stitched, machine stitched and machine stitched with metallic thread on each of the samples so I could get an idea of how hard they were to stitch into. I also did a blue stripe of fabric paint and another stripe of turquoise acrylic paint to see how it handled the colour.

As mentioned in the video I am putting photos here of all the samples I shared. Click on each photo if you want to see a close up photo.
 

Teabag paper

Tyvek melted with a heat gun

Dress pattern and sand texture

Dress pattern reverse

Lutrador with stencilled texture paste melted with heat gun.

Some of the other samples I shared in the video are these ones where I added Dylusions Turquoise spray to the mediums before I spread them on the fabric.

 This first photo is the leftover bits of medium I spread onto scrap fabric and sprayed during the video. You can see the variety of colours that showed up. I also rubbed a very small amount of copper wax in a few areas to highlight the texture.

 This is another sample from the video where the colour was mixed into the mediums first. I have since sprayed turquoise mica spray on some squares. I also painted copper acrylic paint on the back of the corner squares so it would not colour the texture on the front of those sections. The lower middle textures have metallic wax rubbed onto the texture.

This is the fiber paste sample I made during the video with copper acrylic painted on the reverse side when it had dried. I did all of these small pieces so I could cut them up for a larger project.

In this trial layout I have used all of the above samples including the larger leftovers piece. I used a lettering stencil to trace and cut out the letters from the leftover piece. As I started to embellish and stitch each square for my piece I did change the layout many times until I was happy with how it looked.

The finished piece has a lot of hand stitching, beads, stones and jewelry findings. It was for my textile group's colour challenge.

Art Journal Basics - What is Gesso?

Today in my basics series I am talking about gesso and other mediums.  

Gesso: As a painter my first encounters with gesso were in preparing canvas to paint on. It is the white base that has already been applied when you buy a ready to paint canvas. Usually it is an acrylic binder with chalk added but it can be made of other similar things. It is used to seal and prime the page or canvas. Gesso stops the colors from one page in a journal going through to the next one if you apply it evenly over the page before you begin. It can also be used to cover something that you don't want seen, like when you use an old book as a base and need to cover the writing.

There is a wide range of difference in qualities between manufacturers of gesso. Some gessos are very fine and others very chalky. The gloss levels can be different too and this affects how they work on the page.  A chalky gesso will mean you can generally use any medium on top but glossy ones are harder to work on with waxy mediums like pencil. You need to experiment with gesso to find the one that you like best.

Liquitex gesso is very fine and fluid so it spreads easily with a paint brush or makes a very thin layer when spread with a credit card. It dries to a nice matte finish so is great as a base for colored pencils or any type of paint. It is the one I use the most.
The Derivan (an aussie company) is a thick gesso that has similar properties to the Liquitex but won't spread as easily with a brush.
The Mont Marte (another aussie brand) gesso I have here is almost empty. It is the cheapest gesso I have bought and also thick like the Derivan. It works just as well as the more expensive brands except that it dries with a slightly glossy finish. It doesn't like pencils on top but if I do a background of matte acrylic paint then I can use pencils on top of that.

Some of the other ways I have used gesso on a page are:
(you can click on the photos to go to the blog post about the technique)

1. Preparing paper that is not art paper.

2. Heating it to make a bubbled texture

3. Using it as a resist. Glossy gessos are best for this technique

4. Creating texture on a page

more texture

Clear gesso is a transparent binder with a more gritty substance added. When it dries the surface feels like fine sandpaper. It is great to use over a surface that other mediums won't stick too. If you have used glossy paints then a coat of clear gesso will allow pencils to work on them or soft pastels and chalk. I don't use it often.

Gel Mediums are another great product. They can be used as glue, for adding texture or changing the surface texture to either matte or glossy. It usually tells you on the bottle if it is matte or glossy. Some gel mediums have different additives like fiber, pumice, grit to create textured backgrounds. My favorite medium is the Liquitex matte medium because it goes on with a paint brush very smoothly and when it dries I can use anything on top like pencils or paint. I use it to glue papers to my page and if any leaks out the side or gets on top of the paper it doesn't matter because it won't show.

Thicker mediums can be used like the thicker gesso to add texture through a stencil or with a palette knife. Glossy gel medium doesn't color as easily as matte and can be used as a resist in areas that you don't want colored. Glossy medium also gives you a little time to wipe paint away if you want to create a distressed look because the paints take longer to dry over them. The main disadvantage of glossy mediums is that they can be easily seen on a page if you use them as glue. For a beginner journaler I would recommend getting a matte medium to start with.

A page that has gel medium on top

Modeling paste or texture paste/gel are another interesting product to experiment with. They stay in the shape you apply them as they dry, so if you push it through a stencil it will create a raised surface. Applying it with a palette knife looks a bit like a rough plaster. The Liquitex brand modeling paste I pictured here is extremely light on the page and doesn't add weight. It is great for journals. Different brands dry with a different finish, some can be quite glossy. Golden modeling paste is smoother than the Liquitex but a little heavier so I use it more on canvases. I used texture paste in the previous post.

Glues I like to use are varied. I used to use mod podge a lot but not so much these days. It tends to stick to itself if you use it on opposite pages. Sometimes I go over a page with wax if that happens but I try only to use it as a base layer these days. That is why I now use the matte medium as a glue because it doesn't make pages stick together. Another glue I like is UHU stick glue. It doesn't make the paper buckle. Yes paste is the same as the stick glue but in a tub so you can apply it with a credit card. I recently found it online and am impressed so far. A little really does go a long way and it covers so quickly.

Art journal pages...watercolor and mixed media

 I am sharing some of the watercolours that I have done in my journal each month this year. I got the idea from Gina Rossi Armfield's No excuses art journaling book.

This was June. I used some of the suggestions from Gina's book to decide what to draw and added some seasonal images of my own.

July was a cold month here in Australia so I drew some of the flowers that were blooming then.

August was warmer than usual so we saw the arrival of lots of flowers. It was difficult to limit myself to only a few.

I had a little fun with the springtime animal sketching in September.

A DLP page with the prompt about seeing clearly. I used the quote "...one can only see clearly with the heart. Anything that is essential is invisible to the eyes" to inspire my page. I gessoed and used pan pastels for colour. I added detail with coloured pencils.

Another DLP page inspired by the prompt "If you are going to be weird be confident about it". I glued patterned tissue paper to the page and sprayed it with ink. The characters are painted with acrylics. It was a lot of fun to mess about with the girl and cat.

An abstract page

The word I used for my DLP page was ink. The prompt was 'before the ink dries' and I was going to try and do something with that but my ink was drying before I had time to do anything with it.

I coated my page with gesso first and let it dry. This journal I am using is like blotting paper and any wet media goes straight through to the next page if I don't gesso first. I took out 3 bottles of Dr PH Martins Bombay india ink to use (teal, brown and yellow). I used a paint brush to randomly apply some swishes of the yellow ink first. Uh oh...it was a lot brighter than I thought so I tried to use water to mute it but it was already dry and permanent. Next I put the teal right on top of the yellow and added a few brown swishes too. I sprayed water on top and tilted the page so everything would run together. While it was wet I flicked on a few brown dots too and then left it to dry. The next day I tried to find an image in the ink but all I could see was a few butterflies. I did them and then started outlining the painted shapes. After that I filled in some areas with doodles and added white pen doodles too. It is not my usual style but it was great fun to do.

Textured gesso and stamping.

The prompt for this week at DLP was to ride your own unique spirit so I chose spirit as my inspiration. The challenge was to make a custom element so I decided to do a textured background.

I started by laying a stencil over my page and scraping thick gesso over it. You could use texture paste if you wanted to.

After I removed the stencil I used the palette knife to apply more gesso across the bottom and pressed the stencil into it so I would get a slightly different look.

 I used a heat gun while the gesso was wet to make bubbles. Where the gesso is thin you will get smaller bubbles. Here you can see the large bubbles in the thicker areas of gesso. Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area. You do not want to inhale the fumes from the heated gesso. I usually do it near an open window or outside.

At this stage only the top layer of gesso has dried so when you let it cool and then press the bubbles down you get a more textured effect. I then usually let the gesso dry for 10 minutes before continuing. 

Next I used acrylic paint to color the page. I used aqua and white for the top and blended that into a bronze metallic paint at the bottom.

The metallic paint wasn't very shiny so I added some copper colored Viva Inka-gold over the textured area. It doesn't show up in the photo well but it makes the texture stand out more. 

I used bubble wrap to apply green paint to the background for visual interest. I stamped dandelions using stazon ink.

The stamped flower stems were too small so I used a brown sharpie to make them longer. Notice how I didn't make all  the stems reach the bottom of the page. I also wanted the flower centers to be darker so I used the marker for that too. If your stamping doesn't come out dark enough it is ok to go over it with markers. You are in control of your journal. 

I wrote the quote on tracing paper first to make sure it would fit into the space I wanted then used a copper pen to add it to my page. This whole page only took me just over 1 hour to do. It is very typical of my style of clean backgrounds and colors I love.