Wednesday, February 16, 2011

a Commission Phase III

Today I decided to highlite the glass bead and pumice gel accents that had thoughly dried with silver oil stick. I like this technique and use it often. It's hard to resist adding a little color but I think it makes the added textured medium stand out like sparkling water. 

  
     I silkscreened a few waves from a thermal fax silkscreen I made from a detail of the original photo. Just a few squeegees to carry the wave action softly into the borders. I used a mix of antique gold and metallic paint from Pro Chem. The colors mixed here and there into a great olive. Just the touch of green I needed!
     I decided the right side of the bordered piece needed more accent. I had painted some scrim earlier with the dregs of the paint brush- I always 'clean' my brush on a scrap cloth, hand-wipe or something rather than washing all of that wonderful paint into the drain. So I had some already to use. I cut into it and moved it around and applied with gel medium. I added the bits I cut out too and an overlay of more textured medium, to which I applied more silver oil stick. 

      Perfect. Now to let this all dry before I can mount it. I work on the backing that I painted the other day. I use HTC brand poly/rayon medium weight stabilizer for my Holographic Images backing material. It can take the abuse of ink jet transfer, paint and stretching and most importantly, will not tear as easily as a paper backing will. Unfortunately, I need to piece it as it doesn't come wide enough.
After, I carefully position the inkjet transfer (printed in mirror image) on the backing to line up with the transparent organza section. I iron it on and peel. I really like the way the painted backing allows the transfer to blend in.
All set to mount.
I use 3/4" Dick Blick's or Fredrix artist stretcher bars for mounting. These bars are a good quality and I've used them for a number of years.
Reference- https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-standard-stretcher-bars/
or
https://www.dickblick.com/products/fredrix-standard-stretcher-bars/
After I assemble the bars, tap corners dull, I'm ready to mount. I stretch the piece by centering and stapling with a staple gun and J21 size staples.
Starting to staple on opposite sides, I check often to see if I need to change the position- which I do a couple times. I use a standard staple remover to remove staples in order to do this.


My son gave me this gismo for the Holidays. I think they used to use it to moisten stamps. I get my fingers wet which gives me a better grip on the cloth when stretching it.

 Finishing up the corners and I'm ready to back it and glue it down.

6 comments:

tess stieben said...

In previous posting you mention ironing the pigment printed fabric, does any pigment adhere to the iron in this process? I have been doing a few pigment pieces on which I coated them with the gel after allowing them to set overnight. I have never tried to iron them. Does the iron set pigments to the fabric?
I love your work, you are inspiring!

Wen said...

Teresa- I'm a little confused- I have printed fabric using an inkjet printer that uses Ultrachrome inks- not pigment and painted fabric that uses color that is pigment mixed with a binder, as all acrylics are.
In any case, I ron both fabrics in the process of sewing, flattening seams etc. After this is complete, than I will add mediums. However, you can iron sections with medium on them and if you have 2 surfaces you use the iron to bond them.

Judy Warner said...

I just found your series of posts, Wen. Thanks for documenting this. It is very instructive to see how you create your beautiful works. Your client should be very satisfied.

layers said...

amazing-- ripples of water can look so calming and so serene- sunlit and inspiring work.

tess stieben said...

I was thinking that your printer was pigment jet rather than an inkjet printer. The printer I use uses pigments rather than dyes. so I guess my question did not quite fit your media. Oh well its all fun and experimenting to find out what works and what doesn't. Thank you for the information. Hugs!

Cris Winters said...

I found your series on this commission via one of your "You might like..." images, after 4 years! It's such a great explanation of your holographic process that I'll specifically bookmark it.

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