Further Adventures of Paint on Fabric

I wrote about my first attempt to use acrylic paint on fabric which I learned after read Deborah Boschert’s book , Art Quilt Collage (C&T Publishing, 2016) about a month ago.  I had used a toilet paper roll, folded in different shapes and dipped in acrylic paint to make designs on a piece of fabric.  I had so much fun, I decided to see what other items I could use to ‘paint’ with. 

Since I had everything set up int the kitchen, I looked around there to see what I could find.  I had some plastic wrap so I cut a little piece off the roll and scrunched it up to give it some texture.

Plastic wrap

I dipped it in the paint and started stamping it on the fabric.  What I found was that the surface of the plastic wrap even scrunched up held a lot of paint.  And what I got when I stamped it was just a thick blob of paint.  Not a good thing to have.   It took a while for the paint to reduce and when there was very little paint on the foil it gave it a whispy look to the stamping (look toward the bottom of the picture).  I liked that look but a lot of paint was used to get to that point.

Plastic wrap painting

If I use plastic wrap again, I will use a cloth to stamp first and get most of the paint off before I put it on whatever I am creating.

The next item I tried was scrunched up aluminum foil.

Aluminum Foil

This had some what of the same effect as the plastic wrap.  But as I continued to stamp it (without putting it back in the paint) the more of a scattered looking design was produced. I liked that.

Foil painting

The third thing I tried was a prescription medicine bottle.  I liked the smaller circle it created as compared to the circle of the toilet paper roll. 

medicine bottle

This was fun to use because I could make designs with interlocking circles.  And just think of the designs if you interlocked different size circles from different size bottles or ends of thread spools (I thought of the spools after I had cleaned and put everything away).

Plastic fork

The last thing I tried was a plastic fork from a take out order (the fork hadn’t been used). When I get take out I usually bring it home and use my own utensils and not the plastic ones.  So I had some of these. 

Fork painting

This gave an interesting parallel design that I thought was fun.  I stamped it in different directions just to make a pattern.  Now with this, since the fork is curved, you have to rock it a bit on the fabric to get all the paint off.  And depending on the pressure you use on the fork, determines the width of the lines.

I am definitely going to see how I can add paint to my art quilts.  I might stamp it first and then use the fabric, rather than stamping after the quilt is made.  If I didn’t like how the paint looked, I would be very disappointed.  But it is fun to do this paint/stamping.  Almost like doing finger painting as a kid.

©2019- Cheryl Fillion

Clutter

My house is cluttered.  Not really dirty but just cluttered.  I have piles or boxes or bags with projects in them everywhere. A friend once came to my house and while looking around my living room, I said “Welcome to the Heartfully Cheryl Manufacturing Center”.  I wanted her to know there was a reason for all the clutter (and why she couldn’t sit on my couch) and it wasn’t that I wasn’t a good housekeeper.

I am one of those people who have several different projects going on at once.  In fact behind me right now. laying across my sewing machine. is a pair of slacks I am about to finish but I also need to get this blog written.  Usually I don’t mind the clutter and I am able to move from project to project.  But once in a while, I just have to straighten up.

I read all these articles and blogs about how cleaning up the clutter helps calm the nerves and helps focus the mind.  I can see how that would be.  There are times when I am looking for a particular tool and can’t find it where it usually is because it is stored with a project where it is being used.  And I do spend (or maybe waste) time hunting for it.

I read in these articles that cleaning the clutter helps allow in new things.  Not sure I need anything new but I get the point.  So once in a while I go through my projects and supplies and see if there is anything I need to discard.

One of the things I do with my fabric is sort out the scraps.  To me that is anything smaller than a fat quarter(an 18 x 22 inch of fabric).  These scraps I cut into various sized squares; anything from 2” to 6”.  I then put them in boxes dedicated to the individual size square.  This has become useful when doing a project that requires a certain size. I have the squares cut and ready to use.  Or if I just need a scrap of some green for an appliquéd leaf I go to my box of squares and usually find what I need.  I don’t have to sort through yards of fabric.

Another thing I have started to do is dedicated a certain amount of time cleaning one area of my work room.  I can do anything for 15 or 30 minutes and it usually takes a big chunk out of my clutter. 

So you might be asking what I do with the clutter I am eliminating.  I usually see if someone else wants it.  At our Fiber Artist group we have a monthly raffle.  Bring something you are no longer going to use and put it on the table.  If someone wants it they will buy a raffle ticket and maybe win it.  The money goes into our general fund.  The one problem with that is while you are getting rid of your clutter, you might end up winning someone else’s clutter. 

Another thing I do is donate it.  Our guild has a section of our quilt show set aside for basically a garage sale.  You as a member donate fabric, books, tools, even some handmade items to the guild and they sell it during the show bringing in money to get the type of programs the members want.

Now if you don’t have a fiber artist raffle or quilt show garage sale, why not donate your clutter to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.  The money from their thrift stores help run their programs.  Or if it is general crafts items, donate it to a school or day care for the children to use.  It helps their budget. 

See if a friend just starting out in crafts like quilting could use your scraps.  I gave some of my 6” squares to a friend who just wanted to make a scrap quilt but didn’t have a lot of money to buy yards of fabric.  Or maybe give it to a mother with young children who need some crafts to keep them busy during the summer.  When I started to do the kid’s crafts at the farmers market, I asked my quilt guild for empty thread spools for a project and the guild members not only gave me spools but any other craft supplies they had but didn’t want to help out with the crafts I was planning.  I didn’t have to buy anything that first year of crafts.

So whether you are cleaning out your clutter for peace of mind, to bring in new things or to keep your house off one of those hoarding television shows you see on cable TV, there are places to send your items other than the city dump.  And who knows maybe in cleaning out your work room (or your Manufacturing Center), you may find a special treasure you forgot you had under all that clutter (like a couch. haha). 

©2019 - Cheryl Fillion

 

Spool knitted snakes

One of the popular items I sell at craft shows are my spool knitted snakes.  Kids love them (and some adults too).  They are easy to create and just take a small amount of yarn, 2 googly eyes, a little glue, a darning needle or plastic yarn needle  and, of course, your spool  knitter.


I make my snakes about 6 inches long.  This, with the spool knitter I use, takes about 4 yards of yarn.  Knit the length either by following the instructions with your knitter or from my Spool Knitting Tutorial. Once you have the length of a snake you want, tie of the end and remove it from the knitter. 

spoolknitted coil

You will have a little tail of yarn on each end and you will want to hide those.  Thread the yarn into the darning needle or plastic yarn needle and just slip it between the weaves of the coil.  Trim off the excess. Remember to do both sides

hiding the tails

I like my snakes to have a little tongue.  So I cut about 4 inches of red yarn and knot one end.  Thread the other end on your needle and from what you want as the bottom of your snake, thread it through coming out at the end of the coil. If you can give it a little tug, the knot might hide inside the coil.  If you end up pulling out the tongue, just try it again. Sometimes it helps to poke it further in the coil with the tip of the needle.



adding the tongue

hiding the knot



Once you have the tongue in place, turn the snake so the top of it shows, and add two dops of glue to where you want the eyes and add the eyes.  I like the googly eyes but you could add beads or tiny pompoms.

added eyes

 

Speaking of pompoms, if you don’t like the look of the tongue, you can always add a little pompom where you think its nose should be.  Those make really cute snakes (or I call them worms).

snake (or worm) with a pompom nose

This is a great project for kids on a snowy or rainy day.  You can also make a bunch and use them as party favors.  They are simple and fun.  I really like making them.

 

© 2019- Cheryl Fillion

Do What Makes You Come Alive

When I began doing research to open my Etsy shop, I got a lot of advice about what to sell, what to do and how to do it.   But the best advice I ever got actually came in a quote.  Howard Thurman (a minister known to have influenced Martin Luther King Jr) said.  “Don’t worry about what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and do that.  Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”  That quote made me come alive.  If I was going to open an online shop, I probably should open one that excites me; that gives me pleasure; that makes me come alive.

If you are going to do something creative whether it is starting a business or a piece of art, do something that makes you come alive.   In business it is good to follow the trends.  Trends tend to show what people are interested in buying.  But you can also have too much of one trend.  If you have one shop that specializes in tote bags because bags are the ‘in’ thing, that shop will make money.  But if you have 2 or 3 shops selling bags, the sales are going to be less for each individual shop.

And what if some of those shop owners don’t really like selling tote bags, they are just following the trend of tote bags. That shop owner is not really going to be excited about his or her inventory. And customers tend to sense that.   The same is true in anything we do.  Are we doing it because it is the ‘in’ thing or are we doing it because we can’t stop thinking about whatever ‘it’ is? 

It is OK to do trendy things but don’t keep doing it if it isn’t giving you pleasure. What is the point in that?  A couple of years ago I tried improvisational quilting (in this case sewing random pieces of fabric together without realy knowing what the end product will look like.  One style of improv is the traditional crazy quilt block.). Now I often make things up as I create so I thought this would be the best class for me.  Oh was I wrong.  I like to have an idea of what things will look like in the end.    And at least the way this improv quilting was being taught didn’t do that.

So even though a lot of quilters in my guild were interested in it and talked a lot about improv quilting, I didn’t stick with it.  I didn’t even finish the project I started in the class.  It didn’t make me come alive.  It actually gave me a headache (haha). 

If you are going to spend your time doing something for business or creatively, do something that has you smiling all the time. Do something you can’t stop thinking about or keeps you up at night with ideas swirling in your head (I say that only because I was up early this morning writing ideas down for this blog.)

If you are doing what makes you come alive, you are then a role model for others to do what makes them come alive.  And then they in turn might influence others.   And as Rev. Thurman said “what the world needs are people who have come alive.”   So start giving the world what it needs and do something that makes you come alive.  

©2019-Cheryl Fillion