Katherine Sands: Using Unusual Materials

An inspirational article by my guest blogger – Katherine Sands

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Using Unusual Materials

I was raised by grandparents who grew up during the great depression.  We made do with what we had and we didn’t throw anything away!  I still have trouble throwing things away.  Watch me save those hard plastic tags on potato and onion bags; I know someday I will come up with a use for them!

With the current economic conditions we face, quilters are looking to use what is in their stash.  A recent exhibit at the Illinois State Museum shop gave me an opportunity.  The exhibit was called Repurposed, Renewed, Reborn.  Each participant was to use items they already had and not purchase anything new. I went a step further and actually used re-cycled items in my entries.

A little bit of history: I save and paint old pieces of fusible web.  You know how the glue eventually comes apart from the release paper?  Well, I don’t throw it away; I paint it.  Used dryer sheets don’t leave my house for the landfill; I paint and stamp on those too and use them in my art.  Both of these items are perfect for creating layers and dabs of colors.

Used dryer sheets painted with acrylic paints.

If you paint  fusible web while on its paper, you get nice textural marks on the fusible that are also useful. It can be painted with or without its paper.

As soon as I heard about the upcoming exhibit, I knew what I was going to do.  I had an old tattered quilt that I picked up somewhere, thinking I might restore it (not).  It was  hand quilted and had blocks like wagon wheels.  I cut sections of 4 blocks to experiment with.

The first step was to paint a coat of white artist’s gesso on the quilt.  Gesso prepares the surface for painting and helps the paint stay on the surface of the cloth rather than sinking in to it.  The other thing I like about using gesso is that it gives a whitewashed effect, which is what I wanted; I wanted to tone down the darker colors since I was going to collage on top of it.  I wanted the blocks and the colors to just be faintly seen.  Also, you will notice that on a pre-quilted piece, the gesso doesn’t completely cover, but leaves the areas around the stitching in their original colors.  You could brush the gesso down into the stitching and cover it, but that is not the look I wanted.

The next step was to add a piece of a yellow sheer fabric and to start adding the painted fusible web.  I also cut a painted dryer sheet to echo the shapes in the blocks and fused it to the quilt. I really fell in love with the way the painted web melted onto the quilt, adding random dabs of color, and compressing the stitched areas.  Be sure to always use a pressing sheet or a piece of release paper when heating  fusible with an iron.

It felt like I was actually “painting” when I ironed the fusible to the quilt. I kept adding the fusible to areas where I wanted the color to be. (It’s the orange color in the photo.) There’s another aspect of  painted fusible that can be used in an artistic way: it provides a fusible surface to fuse other things to, such as threads, dryer sheets, etc. You are only limited by your imagination!

The edges of the dryer sheet looked too “hard” after I applied it, but, not to worry, I  added some more fusible to soften them and blend it better into the overall look.  Another thing I used on this piece was a section of a gold onion bag.  I always buy the sweet onions at my store because they come in a  gold colored mesh bag that makes cool texture when heated and fused to my art.  White dryer sheets with circles stamped on them seem to melt into the surface and the only thing visible after fusing is the painted circles.  Some hand stitching added with two colors of perle cotton helps move the eye around the piece.

“Surface Matters” – 19″x 19″

(See my etsy shop at www.mywildflowerdesigns.etsy.com to purchase a complete set of painted dryer sheets.)

About Katherine

Katherine has been quilting since 1994 and doing surface design on cloth since 2001, continually adding more techniques to her experience. Working from home, she maintains a website at www.mywildflowerdesigns.com and www.katherinesands.com. She blogs on her Art Journal at www.katherinesands.wordpress.com. She teaches dyeing, discharge dyeing, dye painting, machine quilting and other surface design techniques. She is an Illinois Artisan and arts council member and regularly displays work in the Illinois State Museum shop as well as arts council venues and other galleries. She is a member of the Surface Design Association (SDA), Professional Art Quilters (PAQA) and Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA).