Basic Fabric Printing

Steps
1
Choose your image and make adjustments.
2
Set up page- file>page set up.
3
Choose your printer- you will need to do this again in printer window.
4
Choose page size of your finished print.
5
Go to file>print and printer dialogue window pops up.
6
Be sure to check fit to scale box.
7
Print and you're ready to print again.

I have been printing on fabric for a number of years now. I first just used my small document printer- a Epson 60 model. I used to use bubble jet and found it was way too much work and not that effective. I now use prepared fabrics- just Google inkjet fabrics and you will find lots with different price points. I print fabric with a Epson 2400. It works very well and the Ultrabright inks on prepared fabric is just about water proof. I tested by soaking printed fabric in a glass of water. It was fine. The printer never gives me trouble except with slippery surfaces like glossy canvas. I need to help that along by lightly pushing it into the printer as it starts to feed, taping the edges or trimming the right corner feeding edge. Just cut your fabric to size and print!
Lately I have started to experiment with Ink Aid and soon Golden's Digital Grounds. The advantages to these are the ability to print on just about anything that will fit in your printer. The thickness should be listed in your printer spec's, found on the website or manual. Mine prints to the width of a flat penny. You can make a gizz-mo that is as thick and test your substrates for fit.
Everything you do will be your teacher, just try.

Silk Organza- I simply use the regular paper setting on my Epson 2400. However, I do slightly increase the Saturation or Intensify hue in Photoshop.
This slightly increases the color, which looks a little too much while in Photoshop, but when printed on the silk organza comes out just fine. Since this action is not directed at the printer, there is no ink pooling. There is some bleed though, but that is to be expected when working with sheer materials of all kinds.
I often use the paper substrates in collage. Quilting Arts offers a DVD with that goes over my Holographic Memories technique.

Art and Meaning

This dialogue has been around the block a few times, here and in the 'art' world. 

For me, I get excited by figuring out different ways to present my techniques and photographs. Often, without my deliberate attempts my meaning comes though. When I TRY to do this, I often fail. Creation is a dialogue between what I do when I'm art making and the response to that act. I call this being in the 'flow'. Part of my artist’s statement and my teaching is about just this thing- about letting go and dancing with the materials. When this happens the art becomes the

 meaning. The sum is more than the parts. 

Capturing Moments 2009

After that, the viewer will bring their dialogue into the 'picture'. Their interpretation becomes part

of the piece. Their meaning adds to the final result. 

Art has meaning in the act of creation and in the viewing of said art.

That said, The connection with Nature and the spiritual experiences therein are very special. The confirmation given though shared experiences always reaffirms that connection and makes one want more. So out for a walk I will go, to see the rocks smiling and to feel the trees embrace.

Sensing Winters Peace

Sensing Winters Peace,

Follow, into a time of rest.

Renew, and bring light

into the dark spaces.

Sing loudly.

 Peace for those with Good Will!

Happy Holidays!

Winter Tree, a construction

Playing with Photoshop

One of my favorite late night activities is playing with Photoshop. I love to messaround with my photographs, some of my work, some images of nature (my favorite subject). These are photographs of an experiment with gelatin printing. I love the texture that can be achieved with this technique. For this piece, I used a hand cut stencil of a ancient Goddess figure. In Photoshop, I used the paint bucket to add color. Just click on the tool and a selection of colors pop up. Then click on the photo and the color drops in. In Adjustments, I changed the hue using the slider. This is always fun, almost like magic. For the last image I flipped the image horizontally, so the Goddess is facing left. To do this just go to image, rotate. There are many wonderful and cool things to do with your images in photoshop. Just be sure to make a copy of your photo before you play so you don't lose it and experiment, press buttons!
 

Listening to Yourself

                                                           open windows 1997
How many times I hear

the soft whispering of new-

try this, or what if..

'No, no one is doing that!'

I think.

'Thats because you should do it!'

my muse smirks.

Stuffed to the Gills 1989

There have been many times when I started or tried a new technique, only to abandon it. Later, and sometimes years later- it became trendy! For example, back in the 80's I did several pieces that were totally free applique- free edge applique. I was told children love my work. This was not taken seriously. It's taken so many years and even now I find it hard to let go and let myself try unusual approaches- even in this era of free experimentation. So my artistic goal this year, well one, will be to do just that and see where it leads. GO FOR IT!

                                                               purple connections 1988

Leaves

Wind swirls madly,

a mass of color,

challenging me to fly.

Fly like the leaves 

or just delight. 

Frosted leaves

Holographic Images-

Multi-level Surface Design/Mixed Media. Original digital image, printed twice for holographic effects. Silk noil, organza, fabrics’ hand dyed, sun printed, painted, or stamped.

38”Wx20”H 

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather

While I love taking photographs and working them into various pieces of my art, my friend Pat Watts takes wonderful photographs of birds. And my husband is a birdwatcher. So for a gift for him, we collaborated. Pat supplied the photo and I worked it up into a holographic image, an innovative technique I am known for. ( Published in Quilting arts Magazine a couple years ago) It's an eastern phoebe.

The piece is mounted on stretcher bars to allow space for the printed silk organza to create a 3-D image. The fabric frame is painted and sun printer silk noil or raw silk. I went for a soft and sutdle effect, allowing the bird's quirky expression to come forward. I believe the gift was a success.

October Newsletter

October Newsletter Contemporary Art in Fiber

Things are happening fast this fall! When did the leaves change?

Paradise City Exhibit in Northampton Ma was a great success. What a great area.

Picture postcard of Fall in New England.

I am so excited that 2 of my pieces Roots and Tree, a silk organza collage have been juried into the Pen and Brush Gallery's Home is Where the Art Is A Fine Craft and Folk Art Exhibition.

The opening isThursday, October 29th, 4:00 pm: - 7:00pm at the Pen and Brush. between 5th Ave. and University Place Subways: L,N,Q,R,W,4, 5,6 (Union Square) Buses: M1, M3, M6


 I heard from 2010 NICHE Awards competition, and my piece entitled “Pause” has been chosen as a finalist in the category of Fiber: Surface Design! This is the Rosen Shows Fine Craft Shows. They also publish American Style magazine!

Thanks to Jill Rumoshosky Werner, I have pictures of 2 of my pieces at the Wichita National All Media Craft Exhibition 2009, in Wichita Kansas, Pause and I came Singing. They are on my blog, http://fiberartgoddess.blogspot.com. It is a real pleasure to see part of the show this way. Thanks Jill.

Also, a small photo of Pause was accepted into Eye of the Quilter exhibit in Houston. This is a wonderful piece of fiber photography, a new series that I am exploring. I call it Digital Fiber.

Another piece, Trees Seen, Forest Remembered, is traveling though 2010. It is an impressive schedule.

Winter Tree and Rooted in Matter will be installed at the New Bridge on the Charles Hebrew Senior Life Center, Dedham, MA permanent collection this winter.

Please join me in Boston at the Seaport World Trade Center, for the 23^rd annual Christmas Festival, Nov 6,7,and 8^th, booth 534.

I am so excited and fortunate to be able to make and share my art.

Thank you all for your support!

All the Best and have a terrific Fall,

Wen

Photo Kudo's

Thanks to Jill Rumoshosky Werner, I have pictures of 2 of my pieces at the Wichita National All Media Craft Exhibition 2009, in Wichita Kansas. It is a real pleasure to see part of the show this way. Thanks again Jill. ( Pause is large one in center.)

Also, a small photo of Pause was accepted into Eye of the Quilter exhibit in Houston. Thanks Cheryl! (from the quilt art yahoo group) for the link.

 here

Mine is very bottom right. 

Pause was created digitally with several pictures and an overlay of painted fabric.

see it here

Creations Shared

I love it when folks send me photos of work they have done after taking a workshop with me or buying my fabric. I recently received an email with a photo of a book covered using my hand created cloth. The hand made book resembles ancient leather. 

I met him at my booth during the recent Paradise City show in Northampton MA. He graciously agreed to let me share his book with my blog readers. I invite more such creations to be published here. Thank You John!

Trees to Poles

Taking photos has been an interest since I first laid my hands on a camera. I have shared some from time to time. Many influence my art viva composition, pattern and design. While others become the subject of work. They can be the entire piece or added with silkscreen or collage. And now one can take photos into Photoshop and do amazing things. A new way to create in the 21st century! For this work, called Trees To Poles, I used almost all these techniques. I layered these two photos, below, in Photoshop and used them as my Holographic Image insert. I collaged additional photo elements with painted and pieced fabric.  String was embedded in the layers, which was highlighted with paint sticks afterwards. The piece was finished with stitching.

Begin Again

There is vitality, a life-force, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through another medium. It will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is…It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

Martha Graham

Time alone is needed to allow thoughts to flow. Time spend making art is good. It is not wasted.

Art feeds soul. Soul feeds art.

Can't Resist?- Freezer Paper

An eazy peazy resist technique using freezer paper. Cut your freezer paper into any shape or design you want. A design hint-  Use both the positive and the negative cut out to create an easy but interesting motif.  Iron the freezer paper onto the surface of your item. 

Tape or pin your fabric, t-shirt or whatever to a printing surface. I use a table covered in a firm batting, and cloth. Then I cover that with plastic. Using a natural sponge, dab paint around the freezer paper as desired. (You could use a form brush too.) Do not saturate or it will steep under the freezer paper. Use acrylic paint or textile paint 0r they both work fine. (Another hint- if your t-shirt is light colored, slip another cloth in between front and back to catch any excess paper that might leak though. The cloth can be the start of your next project.)
Allow the paint to dry, and peel the freezer paper off.  Done! 
The paper is reusable for several more processes. You can rotate the pattern and do it again. Outline in another color using a fine tipped bottle. What ever you can think of.  Enjoy!

I usually passive set mine, allowing it to dry a couple days before washing. Textile paints will need an additional heat setting with a hot iron.
Photographs courtesy of Theresa Redmond

Reaching

This piece evolved from a old piece of canvas I painted on a lark. The acrylic already present on the canvas  worked as a resist. ( 0r was it gel medium ?) I printed a image of a swamp tree, at an upward angle, onto silk organza. This was adhered with medium. I added highlights of oil stick to the raised textured area and finished it with stretcher bar mounting. 

This is a simpler piece yet one gets a sense of composition.

Let me know what you think.

September 2009 News

It was a busy summer. Preparing and showing at the League of New Hampshire’s Sunapee Fair, Newberry NH in August, can be a lot of work. The Fair was up in attendance and sales this year. Always a good thing for an artist. Winter Tree and Rooted in Matter will be in New Bridge on the Charles Hebrew Senior Life Center, Dedham, MA as part of their permanent collection.

Ripples Triptych, a commission by Dana Farber Institute, Boston MA was finally completed for their new building. I’m waiting to hear when the opening will be!

A October Event coming up fairly soon is the Paradise City Exhibit 10/10-12 Northampton MA  http://www.paradisecityarts.com/october/homeoct.html

I am working hard to finish several new pieces for this popular show. A couple pieces are the result of experimentation. Coming from the inspirations of summer.

Upcoming is a new workshop concept called Studio Pops. It is an open studio workshop where students spontaneously decide the topic. Please contact me if you are interested and we can coordinate a time. Cost $30.00- 10-1 and 2-5

As always I am available for regular workshops, which you can find on my website, or email me -wenreddy@yahoo.com

I just joined a professional artists online network and they featured my work! Take a peek-   http://professionalfineartnetwork.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

 I spent some time painting fabric and reviewing my artist journal. I have some great ideas for new work. Continuing to post inspirations and work progress on my blog.

Nest exhibited at 2009 National Small ART Works, Groton, NY, received Honorable Mention and sold!

Studio Art Quilt Association’s exhibits

Blurred Boundaries Closer, 3 Weird Sisters, Ocean Roar

Trees Seen, Forest Remembered, SAQA’s 2009 exhibit SAQA@20: Art and Excellence. Multiple Venues until 2010

Bubble of Time, ARTQUILTS transitions, Semans Galleries at the Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC

Angels Do Listen, SAQA Auction/ sold

Surface Design Association’s news

A Thousand Wishes, Surface Design Association’s Members Show

Perception Published, Surface Design Association’s Journal, Exposure

 All the Best 

 

Breaking Free

Breaking Free

‘The Day is yours.” My husband quips.

I am unburdened at the moment from worrying thoughts, loved one’s dilemma’s, even my usual mad dog push, push, push.

“Relax, I say. “ How is it I feel like I’m sitting upon a rockin

g lid under which boils my tempestuous creative drive.

Sometimes I feel like a spinning top with an arm extending out every so often to tweak an art piece, paint fabric, create a digital collage, and come up with yet another way to display fiber art to a curious public.

Ideas whirl though my head.

“Focus.” Says one of my mentors, “Only this moooment”.

“This Moment- and this and this!” I respond!

This day, a bubble in the weeks of planned activities. This day, a day of my own, without focus, direction, or plans. A chasm to be filled at my discretion. What joy!

I walk though my studio gathering items intuitively. My art jour

nal, a pile of snipped out images of art and other stuff from magazines I buy to expose my yearning for beauty. My glue stick and pen.

These journals mirror to me what I like, what inspires me, provide a directional compass.

Outside into the glorious sun coolly lit in the first hints of Autumn. I sit and begin to turn pages. I see notes from years past, re-pasted in each new journal. Journals handmade, sewn with curses and love. I just turn the rich pages- absorbing, reminding, revisiting.

 And the magic happens. 

In Company of the Muses

I can get thrilled to bits on viewing arrangements of objects in an artful way. On a recent trip to Japan to visit one son, Patrick,  whilst (don't you love that word) with my eldest son, Jon-  I saw beauty everywhere. Japan, being a relatively small country, treasures the space it has. I will share a few images here and later on in the year as well. These will perhaps spark a new viewpoint. 

I hope you enjoy them as I have!

Time for SAQA's Auction

SAQA 2009 Benefit Auction 
This year's Benefit Auction will start Thursday, September 10th at 2:00 Eastern.  SAQA has already received 214 donated artworks and more are on the way.  All the artwork is 12" x 12".  You can see them on the SAQA website.

http://www.saqa.com/newsebulletins/Squares09_1.aspx  
Mine is on the first page. It's called Angels will Listen.

Fall Workshop and Events in NH, ME & MA areas

Would love to meet you at 

September

As part of Wen’s Fabric Transformations Workshop Series, she will offer the ever-popular Fabric Painting and Innovative Stamping Workshops at Exeter Fine Crafts on September 18 and 19.

AND

Thermal Facts Workshop

Thermal Fax screens are detailed silk screens made form B&W photographs, or drawings. Any image you can think of! Your own photographs can be converted into silk screens!

An artistic compliment to your photographic fiber art.

Suggestions of Communication

In Boats They Fled 2007 full & detailI enjoy adding text to my work. I have quilted an entire poem on the front of a piece. It's not meant to be read. It becomes texture, something to be felt. Sometimes I use photo transfers, or thermal fax silkscreens of interesting writing or symbols to add metallic letters. I developed an automatic writing I dubbed 'wenscript' for lack of a better name. It involves writing with acrylic ink, paint or just stitching. I simply just start to write and keep going, without making any effort to make 'words', making a suggestion of communication.

Conception 2007

for examples, also see posts on March 30, April 21, October 1. 2008, March 5,7 2009

My Window

 

I love using my photographs in my fiber work.  I print them on a variety of surfaces and fabric, make them into Thermal fax silkscreens ( see posts Jan 12 09, Dec 10 08 for details ) or work them into new images in photoshop. Inspiration can be generated by walks at the beach or in my woods, travels, driving in the car, just about anywhere.

My bedroom window faces east, waking me with wonderful surprises. I have used images taken there in a number of pieces and will continue. I thought I would share, from time to time, some of the photographs that inspire me, whether or not they end up in work. 

My Window, a silk organza piece. Sunrise and Raindrops.

Piecing in the Flow

For many years I taught an intuitive piecing workshop. The focus of the workshop was to teach direct cutting into fabric without prior thought, ruler or pattern. Piecing was taught using a really simple curved piecing method. Assembling fabrics that worked together with a few for contast was a key design clue.  Once you got into the act of cutting and piecing, you begin to loose your 'decider' self and proceed from your basic instincts of color and design, thus creating flow. When I first started this, curved piecing was a relatively new idea. 

Postings showing more of this work from 2/15/09, Blast from the Past, 4/20/09, Batting Average- a short history of batting, 12/4/08 Colors on the Brain  and Piecing in the Flow Workshop At Portsmouth Fabric Co. 3/9/08 which describes the workshop.                                 

Poem below from the early 80's.                                                                   

Tree (2003)

IN THE FLOW                   

I go to my table
Filled with my thoughts and my cloth palette.

Cutting through the fabric,
layers in my mind. 

Opening me,

possibilities,

Spirit finds me! Flow!
Standing back,
I see a new thing.
Collaboration!