Here are my first attempts at making 2" pink squares for the Pink Artist doll challenge by Monica Magness.
The pictures were from magazines and I used fusible hem-webbing to capture the image. I wet and rubbed off the paper and then fused the design to gingham. I then used fabric markers and Sharpies and a gold gel pen to color in the images and shade the edges a bit to blend them into the fabric.
The words were clipped from some law texts I'd rescued from the trash heap. The other trims and threads were things I had hanging around.
I backed them with the same prequilted fabric I used for the TIF piece. It provides a nice body to them and isn't too thick.
Last week I printed out two pages of faces for an experiment with a variety of small faces on each page. I coated one page with acrylic gel medium from Golden. I layered several thin coats, letting it dry in between. Then I let it dry for about 24 hours. I soaked it in cool water and rubbed off the paper from the back. The dried gel stretches so you need to be careful to work on a smooth, flat surface and mostly in a gentle circular motion to keep it from stretching too much. When it dried, I could see spots where I'd missed paper bits so I wet it again and rubbed some more.
The images are embedded in the clear gel. I know I can use the medium to glue them onto paper or fabric. I'm not sure how the gel will hold up to stitching. I plan to cut them apart and use them in projects as yet unknown (maybe some more pink squares).
I learned this technique back in the 70s in college. I made a collage from magazine photos, trimming them carefully to avoid overlap (so there was no glue on the back of the paper). I coated my collage with the medium and built up several layers. After removing the paper, I used this as a negative to make a photo-etched plate and then printed my etchings.
The second half of my experiment was to take the second page of images and iron on Wonder-Under, then remove the paper. It wasn't a failure in that I learned what doesn't work. The Wonder-Under was just too light and fell apart when I tried to remove the paper.
I've seen this someplace on the Internet and Bond-a-Web was recommended, which appears to be the same as Wonder-Under. Of course I can't find the site now! I know the technique works from using it with the hem tape and the hem tape was a lot heavier than the Wonder-Under.
I have since learned there's a heavy-duty Wonder-Under that would likely be better. Since I already have the regular, I plan to experiment by layering a few sheets together.
I want to get this to work because I like the aged and worn look the fusible gave to the images. The gel images are exactly like the photos. So I'm off to experiment some more.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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