Working with Sheers: Report from 21 July

Ten members met up on Sunday to explore the delights of working with sheer fabrics. I gave a short demo of using the soldering iron, then everyone either tried out their own ideas or continued working on pieces from earlier meetings. Here are a few examples by:

Julie

Helen

Lis

3D from Lis

Leah

Liz

Taster for next Sunday's meeting

I've been experimenting with using a soldering iron with fine nylon organzas for next week's meeting and having great fun. So I thought I'd share photos of a couple of pieces to give you a flavour of what can be done.

First, here is a Journal Quilt I've made using the soldering iron to cut and join pieces of fabric.

And here is a sample of mark-making using nylon organza and felt.

Other techniques, including some which don't use a soldering iron, will be demonstrated at the meeting. See you there!

More on paper lamination

Following on from our June meeting, when Leah demonstrated paper lamination, Glenda has sent in some photos of her own experiments in using paper lamination. She writes:

'I used two weights of paper to laminate onto a piece of high quality polyester organza: coloured tissue paper including black and denser pale cartridge paper. The medium was quick and easy to apply using a small silkscreen

 

I arranged the paper in alternating strips. I was testing to see how the different weights would stick. Both adhered really well but the medium only adhered to a thin top layer of the cartridge and most of it had to be scraped away. The tissue paper leaked colour in the wetting process. The black was a particular problem as the dye dirtied the surrounding pale paper.

 

The medium is very effective in transferring fine drawn lines from the cartridge paper. It can therefore be used to transfer drawn designs if they are drawn in a permanent ink.

 

The piece is also very dramatic when hung before a window. It becomes translucent. It would be a useful medium for blinds.

 

Large pieces can be built-up quickly and there is a satisfying crispness to the fabric, I used rather dull paper and would like to experiment with more interesting papers.'

Here is the full piece and a detail.

Thanks, Glenda, for sharing these photos.

July meeting - Working with sheers

At the next meeting on 21 July I will be demonstrating a few techniques using sheer fabrics. Here is one of my samples.

Some techniques will combine layers of sheers with stitching and others (as above) will make use of heat tools. If you wish to try these techniques you will need to bring:

Background fabrics, such as felt, velvet or another fabric to provide a reasonably firm base. This could be something 'ugly' that can 'improved' using layers of sheers.

Sheer fabrics. I'll mainly be using nylon organzas, but you may wish to bring other fine fabrics, including laminated images like those Leah was demonstrating at the last meeting.

Either sewing machine or hand stitching equipment and suitable threads.

If you have one, a hot air tool and/or soldering iron, plus a heatproof surface. A metal ruler may also be useful. Don't worry if you don't have these as you will still be able to try the techniques if you wish.

If you plan to use heat tools, be aware that these will melt synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, polyester and acrylic, but have less effect on natural fibres, such as cotton, silk or viscose. So it's best to use the latter for stitching, but the fabrics can be from either group.

Alternatively, you can bring your own work to do.

As usual, please let Leah know if you are coming to the meeting and don't forget something for lunch!

Paper lamination - Report from Sunday's meeting

Leah demonstrated paper lamination at last Sunday's meeting. This is an image transfer technique using matt gel medium to glue paper to fabric. After drying, surplus paper is removed by soaking the fabric in water and rubbing the paper away.

Different effects are possible. If gel medium is applied across the whole surface, then most of the image will transfer (depending on the evenness of the medium application and how much you distress the image when removing the paper). Here is some work in progress.

Alternatively, apply gel medium to only some areas, which means that all the paper will be removed where there was no medium. Leah used a silk screen to apply the medium (if you try this, remember to clean the medium off the screen straight away as it can ruin your screen if allowed to dry). For the following piece she used a screen with stripes masked out.

Here is Leah demonstrating paper removal. 

This is what it looked like when dry and you can see the effect of broken images on the paper.

An interesting technique. Thanks Leah for introducing us to it.

Next month I'll be demonstrating some uses for sheer fabrics. Look out for further details and a requirements list which will be posted here in the next week.

Examples from recent meetings

Here are a few examples of fabric from recent meetings.

Printing from April's meeting. These are some of Helen's pieces before rinsing.

Discharging from April's meeting. This is Leah's and started out as a piece of breakdown printing.

Disperse dyeing from May's meeting. This is Leah's too.

If other members would like to see their work on this blog, please could they either send me some photos or bring the work along to a meeting.

June meeting - Paper lamination

At our next meeting on Sunday 16 June, Leah will be running a workshop on paper lamination. This is a method of transferring images or text to a sheer fabric. She will also show how to use paper lamination to make stencils.

Here is an example in which Leah has used paper lamination to transfer images.

If you want to do the workshop you will need to bring -

Sheer fabric – polyester voile is a good place to start - it can take lots of scrubbing and is ideal for making paper lamination stencils. You can use any sheer (except nylon) - you can use white or coloured depending on what you're trying to achieve. 

Matte medium - both Liquitex and Golden Matte Medium are suitable. Leah will bring some, but if you've got some of your own you might want to bring it along. 

Papers and imagery - you can use sheets of newspaper or sheets of cheap printer paper to make simple stencils. However you'll also need to collect some images to transfer. Paper lamination is a very inexact process so think in terms of colour and texture rather than sharp images. Newspaper is the easiest paper to work with so collect interesting images or just work with sections of text. Collect plenty and tear them out rather than cut. You can also use laser printed / copied images if you want to work with one of your own photographs or with something you've found in a book / magazine. Glossy paper from magazines won't work. Nor will stuff printed onto photo paper. Most inkjet printers use ink which will bleed into the matte medium so are unsuitable. 

Other stuff - 

Print board with drop cloth 

Sheet of heavy plastic for scrubbing unused paper off (plastic coated table cloth will do) 

Ball headed pins to pin fabric down 

If you have one - Silk Screen + cheap 2 inch masking tape + squeegee.
Freezer paper + cutting board + craft knife to make masks for your silk screen (you could make something before the meeting but remember to think about negative space if you're going to make a stencil). 
Or thermofaxes if you have them.

Other ways of applying the matte medium - brushes, credit card, textured rollers etc. 

Couple of plastic pots / containers + plastic spoons 

Parchment paper 

Bucket

For examples of how paper lamination can be used have a look at

http://www.parallelstextiles.com/index.html

http://www.christinechester.com/gallery.html

Usual arrangements for lunch.