Technique of the Week #32 – Electroluminescent Wire
Project Hours: 5 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 4 hours
To say that I love the electronic convergence of tech and textile is an understatement. I don’t just love it, I LURVE it. Love love love it.
So when I saw fashion students using electroluminescent wire in garments, I just HAD to try it. EL Wire is readily available on the internet, and if you saw my little video with Pokey Bolton, you know I found some by typing it into the almighty Google machine to locate some.
That piece was in my gallery show and some other places, but it was really my trial piece. I didn’t know what to do with it, how to get it to stay in shape, etc. i have perfected it now, and while I can’t give away all my secrets (yet) on how to do it, I know you’re all smart folks and can come up with some amazing designs of your own.
Sticking with my octo theme for the year, this little bugger is done with 3 feet of El Wire, and it’s an 8 inch piece. Almost all of the time was spent on shaping and sewing down the wire. It’s a flexible tube, not unlike your iPod cord. So take a look at that cord and imagine bending it into tight corners, etc and you will see the dilemma here.
But, oh, when it’s done, it sure looks pretty all lit up. The swirled background gives him an eye in shadow when he’s lit up.
Technique of the Week #27 – Stuffed Dimensional Appliques
Project Hours: 4 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 3 hours
I love the work of Kathy York. She is a quilt artist who can think “outside the box” dimensionally. She’s got two rather “famous” works that have seen publication and exhibition that are dimensional. The first is Little Fish in a Big City, and th esecond is called Synchronized Swimming. You can see them here at her website.
I’m not Kathy York, and I’m not going to make a bajillion little fishes to put on my weekly quiltlet. But I wanted to get a sense of HOW to apply this idea to a quilt surface, and I came up with this stuffed tentacle. I drew a pattern, added about a third of an inch to each side because I knew stuffing it would draw it upwards, and then sewed the fabric tentacle. I added yo-yos for suckers. Pretty cool technique, sewing it down was easy using a variation of a blind hem stitch. The edge of the background quilt is not wonky, but scanning this stuffed sucker was…
I’m amazed that the cephalopod theme continues strongly so far this year! It’s a fun theme.
Technique of the Week #25 – Screenprinting with Mask Ease
Project Hours: 4 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 3 hours
The product for this technique is called Mask Ease by Scratch-Art. This stuff is a vinyl mask that you apply to a prepared screen for screenprinting, and it acts as your resist so you can screen through it. I have some pictures of the process this time, to explain better.
I did not have a screen around, so I used some sheer cotton fabric and a wood embroidery hoop that cost me 99 cents. I wrapped the inner hoop with floral tape to make it sticky and pulled my fabric tight and put glue around the edges once I was sure it was taut. I then used the circle of the hoop to make my pattern.
I drew my cuttlefish onto the yellow vinyl surface. He’s going to be reversed in print, so keep that in mind.
Then you cut the vinyl with an X-Acto knife to expose your lines. I followed the Mask Ease Instructions from here, adhering it to my screen and printing as usual.
One other note is that this needs to be used with good thick print paste or ink, as the large open surfaces can get runny onto fabric. I’m still not a good screenprinter and I had several runny attempts before I thickened up my print paste.
I do like this little guy. I wanted him to be a little bigger to fill the space of the quilt a little better, so I think next time I will add borders or get an actual screen for screenprinting or a bigger embroidery hoop. (It is a cheap alternative)
Technique of the Week #24 – Scratch-A-Print Screenprinting
Project Hours: 3 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 2 hours
Technique of the Week #23 – Multi-part printing or Faux Screenprinting
Project Hours: 5 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 4 hours
This week’s technique is from this month’s issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. Melanie Testa had hinted that this technique was something she helped test for a friend, and turns out that friend is her road-trip roommate from CREATE, Patricia Gaignat. I had the pleasure of meeting her at CREATE as well.
I am not going to give away how this was done because you should really get the magazine and give it a try, but I will say that I did this with sticky-backed fun foam and fabric paint. The fun foam was cut into my multi part print, and then mounted onto clear template plastic to help me align the pieces. I varied from the magazine only in using fabric paint on fabric (not paper) and the mounting on plastic.
This technique is so much easier than I had thought when Melly was showing her results way way back at IQA Chicago in April. I could not fathom how to line us the pieces, until I realized you could do so on acetate or plastic.
This little Octo is one of the first for me to have his legs cross over one another, something that made this project a little tougher.
I didn’t do that good of a job registering my plates, but there’s next time, and I have the plates forever. They wash up nicely. This would be great for ATCs.