A couple of weeks ago Wendy (Emmelines Place) asked if I was the same Lynda from C&G Machine Knitting at Harlow College with Jane & Jane. After getting back to Wendy and having a chat I decided to google for the Janes, and I struck lucky with one of them! It was great catching up and I intend to go visit the Jane that still lives in the UK some time soon. Wendy and I both agreed that the two Janes were the best tutors ever. If it wasn’t for them I never would have gone on to do what I do now. They were brilliant. If anyone else is looking in from back then, get in touch, I’d love to hear from you. Especially Sue, Barbara, Paula, & Debbie Diggle to name a few. :)
Hankering back after those ‘good old days’, I decided to get the knitting machine out. Took me forever to set it up, then I had to revise on the technique I wanted to use.
I wanted to do some double bed ‘quilting’ and slot in pieces of the glitzy fabrics on polythene I made last week. I used a purple coloured enamelled copper wire with a rayon thread. The wire seems to knit easier on the double bed along with a machine embroidery thread.
And this is what I came up with.
Yes, exactly what I thought! I had intended to incorporate beads and coiled wires but stopped here. I just don’t seem to be able to do ‘pretty’ at the moment.
But all was not lost. *LOL* I slapped on a patchy coat of Metallic Iron paint, I wanted to still be able to see the glitzy fabrics here and there, and then the Rust Activator. And this is what it looked like an hour into the rusting process.It will rust even more than this in the next day or two, so I’ll show it again later. Still not great, but this sort of thing appeals much more - well to me at least:)
The technique I used to knit the vessel was one I used a few years back for this panel.There are eight panels altogether, two different colour ways, but I can’t lay my hands on the second one at the moment. They were going to be put together to make the base of two vessels both standing about 2 foot high. The insides are space dyed silk velvet, the inspiration for the colours taken from photographs of lava flow. My Mentor in the group I was in at the time made some very disparaging remarks along the lines of knitted wire being done to death, so I never completed them.
And yet I see that the Opus advert for their degree show has a wonderful knitted wire piece in it. Makes you wonder sometimes. :)
This weekend I spent rust dyeing for a swap I am in with the DyeHard Surfacing group. These are the fabrics ‘cooking’ in the sun yesterday. Yes, I do like a glass of wine or three.And because the weather has been so hot they were ready to be rinsed out today. I won’t make you brain dead with loads of photos, nothing new anyway, but just wanted to show these.
I seem to get some really good results using cotton velvet and once rinsed through it still comes up really soft.The back looks just as good as the front.I also tried this fabric. I think it must be polyester as the soldering iron slices through it really easy. It’s a really soft fabric with a feel of suede about it. I had a blouse some time ago made from Tencel, and this fabric feels very much like it.
These photos show the back and front of two of the pieces.I thought I would also give some Lutradur a go and see what happened. When I unwrapped them they looked really good so I took some photos just in case – these were taken outside.
The first one is Heavyweight Lutradur and the second is Lightweight Lutradur.And this is what they looked like after rinsing through – still pretty good, but next time I won’t bother to rinse them. They will go well with the rusted Tyvek paper.While I was at it, although I said I wouldn’t, I decided to do some more Caustic Soda/Ferrous Sulphate dyeing. I didn’t want to waste 50 teabags this time, so I thought I would give the fabrics a quick dip in Potassium Permanganate – but after searching high and low for about an hour I gave up and soaked the fabric in a watery mix of Walnut Ink – and it worked. The fabrics came out a tea stained colour.
I tried a piece of the polyester fabric above and the colours were really gorgeous – unfortunately I didn’t take a photo and of course, once rinsed through it just looks a rusty colour now. I shall try this one again though.
I also coloured some nappy liners, which didn’t need to be rinsed through:A couple of the pieces of cotton canvas looked really good too. They both looked pretty similar to this one.Close ups.But when I rinsed one of them through it then looked like this.This fabric really needs rinsing as apart from having a strange odour it’s still very gritty and dusty and even when dry you get rusty fingers. But I wanted to try and keep the colours. I had already tried Polymer Medium and found this had some sort of reaction with the chemicals so thought I would have a go at waxing it.
But of course, I run out of the Beeswax granules from Art Van Go after the first coat so had to resort to another product which says it is Beeswax but it turned everything yellow!
So although it hasn’t turned out quite how I would have liked it’s still a technique worth pursuing.Last on the list for the weekend (apart from the Calendar Girls card & the painted quilt for Doreen K – I haven’t forgotten you) are the metallic surfaces I promised myself I would do a couple or so of each week. Hadn’t got time for much so decided to resort to good old brown paper.
This first one is brown wrapping paper painted with black acrylic paint, metallic wax crayons were grated over the top and then ironed. I had coated my original one with Acrylic Wax but wanted this one to look shiny so gave it a coat of Polymer Medium.The brown paper in this one is painted with black drawing ink and metallic wax crayons were also grated over the top and ironed. I rubbed the melted wax while it was still warm to make it spread out. This one hasn’t had a top coat of anything put on.Now I must away, there’s a (huge) pile of ironing that’s been calling my name all weekend :)

A Challenge

As some of you know, my day job is for an agricultural company which means that at this branch its just me and 15 males, and I don’t think that any of them understand what it is that drives me to do what I do - mind you a lot of other females don't either! If I tell them I sew, I get asked to turn up trousers: if I say I embroider, they think I mean cross stitch charts and if I call myself an artist I get asked ‘can you draw then?’ As for mixed-media , I never mention that word – they just wouldn’t have a clue!
A couple of weeks ago I came across some packaging that I hadn’t seen before:
Its recycled corrugated cardboard. I picked it up to have a closer look, purely out of interest, when a big laugh went up ‘Bet you can’t make a pot (vessel) out of that’ Ho! Ho! Ho!
Always ripe for a challenge I thought I would show them, and this is what I came up with.
In this first drunken piece I wrapped cotton thread around some of the cardboard and then dunked it, first in Mustard Procion Dye then in Indigo Procion Dye.In this one I used acrylic paints – you know the colours by now – with a wash of Iridescent Gold over the top and when dry I wrapped a fancy knitting yarn around the cardboard in places. The lining is polyester velvet.And in this ‘quilt’ I pulped the cardboard to make sheets of paper:which I then covered with Coarse Pumice Gel:and acrylic paints, then wrapped each piece with some rusted wire:before attaching the pieces to this painted quilt I had previously dyed using the Caustic Soda method. I found a piece of scrim I had rust dyed and dipped it in watered down PVA glue before laying it on top of the quilt. If you remember, the ‘rust’ went a bit strange when I put on a layer of Polymer medium which the scrim covers up a treat. I then painted over the top of the scrim with a wash of acrylic paints.And this is the finished piece. Wonky photo, had to stand on the table to take it as nothing on the back to hang it up by. Close ups. :)For this piece I wanted to use some of the Tyvek rusted paper so the recycled cardboard paper was really just an afterthought.
I worked freehand machine embroidery in a circular motion to attach the Tyvek to a piece of rusted cotton velvet.I then used the heat gun to zap the Tyvek in places.Close ups.I painted the cardboard paper, stitched a piece of Tyvek on top and burnt through with a soldering iron before attaching them to the base fabric.And this is a cut off view of the finished piece – cut off because I haven’t finished the edges!Not bad for a days work, and were they impressed? What do you think? *LOL*

On one of the sheets of paper I made from the cardboard I laid down cotton threads and brushed on some Coarse Pumice Gel before coating all over with white emulsion paint. I then brushed on a layer of Black Quink Ink and used acrylic paint (Transparent Oxides) on the Gel surface. Bleach was then brushed over the top.
As a whole, the piece doesn’t look very exciting but sections of it, in the photos below, certainly show promise which I may be able to incorporate into other pieces of work.The same goes for the following pieces. They were leftovers from the fabric I created for the WOW article – Elizabethan Dressels. I used the soldering iron first and then I thought I would slosh some paint on to see what effect I came up with.Metallic Surfaces
This one I found also goes back some time – not a very good sample I’m afraid, the camera won’t show how glitzy it really looks.
It was worked on a sheet of plastic called ‘Texturite’. The blurb says:the material is firm and translucent. Specially treated to prevent tearing and puckering. Washable in cool water. Can be used with or without a hoop. Doesn’t stick to the needle or machine plate and will not blunt machine needles. Does not need to be dissolved away.For some reason I don’t think this technique ever really took off – maybe it coincided with the thicker water soluble becoming available as, if I recall, back then they were really flimsy – if you sneezed they would disintegrate.
I have googled without success for this product. I can’t seem to find a plastic that is the same thickness. If anyone knows if it is still available I would love to know. And would also love to be reminded of the lady who launched this – I know she made some terrific jewellery and beads using this method.
All you do is chop up snippets of glittery fabrics, silks, chiffons or metallics, then FME over the top. You can then add beads or handstitching. Simple but very effective. I took this photograph in the sun, (yes it did appear for a short while yesterday) hoping it would show the fabrics better.Close ups.I then laid a piece of fine black net on top and worked rows of straight stitch in a gold thread. I’m going to make something from this piece, will show & tell next week. I feel like I'm just about 'rusted & sludged' out and feel the need to make something colourful or glitzy for a change.
You know what its like when you’re doing something, you start wondering ‘what if’. I wondered what would happen if I used the same technique on Tyvek then heated it slowly from the back. I was hoping for a nice scrunchy texture.And this is what I got. Its a really nice surface and is still quite pliable and could be stitched into easily.I then tried another piece and this time I zapped it to within an inch of its life. I think I prefer the previous one.I do hope you enjoy some of the bits I put on this blog and they inspire you to ‘take it further’. In case you are interested Carol and I, under the auspices of Fibre in-Form, will be launching some online classes shortly showing you simple techniques for creating textured surfaces using mixed media, fabric and thread – I will keep you updated.

Tyvek & Metallic Surfaces

Firstly, apologies to all those who left comments last week and I didn't get chance to respond.
I am very appreciative of all comments left and do like to reply but last week was a nightmare. Work is manic at the moment, and thanks to some idiot who downloaded a bug onto his PC which caused a crash and posed a threat to our computer system we have now been banned from using the internet for personal use at any time. So what with that and stressful stuff on the home front its been one of those weeks :)
Enough about that though, here's what I have managed to fit in this weekend.
Tyvek Paper
I seem to be obsessed with this Tyvek 100 gms paper. Its amazing the effects you can get using different colouring media on the surface and of course, there is the added bonus that you can then burn it or manipulate it with heat. (Which I will get around to eventually!)
I had made up a procion dye batch of Mustard and Indigo for another project and decided to use the leftover dye on Tyvek. (I realise that for years I have pronounced the Ty as tiv (as in ‘with’) whereas just lately I have heard others refer to it, obviously correctly, as tievek – Hilda Ogden and her ‘muriel’ spring to mind, remember that?)
I just dipped them in the dyebath and left them to dry on the lawn – that would be on the bit I’ve already killed off with the caustic soda dyeing. :)
These are the results. They all seem to have that ‘rusty’ look about them.With these ones I sprayed them with ‘Flash with Bleach’ as they were drying.And of course, I took 101 close up photos.Once they were dry I painted some of them over with Transparent Red Iron Oxide and some with the yellow variety.I also applied the same paints, quite thickly, on the back of the sheets. Photos on the right are before painting and on the left are after.With this one I used acrylic paints again and rubbed them back between layers.The top photo is the original, followed by Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, rubbed back, then Transparent Red Iron Oxide and finally rubbed back again.
These ones had plain water splashed on them.The effects are endless. I think I have lots of undiscovered mileage in these Tyvek sheets yet – good job I’ve got an ample supply.

Metallic Surfaces
Only had time for a couple this week. Both very simple and both now ready for stitch or beading. If you do attempt either of these make sure to work in a well ventilated room. Also if you take them further and use machine stitch keep an eye on your needle as after a while you tend to get a build up of wax which will affect the stitching if not wiped off regularly.
I’ve made my samples into postcards with the technique on the back for easy reference.In the first one the base fabric is stretchy velvet (polyester velvet/panne velvet). A fabulous fabric to use as the soldering iron just slices straight through it.You can use it as is, in which case use masking tape to hold it down to a heatproof surface to stop it from moving, or you can back it with felt, not acrylic felt though as the soldering iron will go right through that too. Or better still use a piece of cotton fabric which gives it a slightly firmer feel and won’t be affected by the soldering iron.
Next thing to do is grate metallic wax crayons on the top.Cover with a piece of baking parchment and use a hot iron to melt the wax.
Then stamp all over with a soldering iron/woodburning tool. This merges the colours of the wax together rather than have them sitting on the surface in big blobs.The next sample uses Pelmet Vilene, old blanket and stretchy velvet fused together with Bondaweb.Then a layer of black Gossamer Fuse/Misty Fuse/ Fuse FX is ironed over the top. In my original samples none of these products were available then so I used painted Bondaweb.Slice through the velvet with the soldering iron. Don’t worry if you go all the way through.The whole surface is then covered with Treasure Gold. If you didn’t want to use Treasure Gold you could always put a contrasting fabric between the velvet and the Pelmet Vilene so that when you sliced with the soldering iron you would get shards of a different colour peeking through the surface.This piece, also from some time ago, was created in the same way. Once burned through it was painted with Metallic Paint and when dry a coat of Rust Activator was painted on top.And of course, I couldn’t resist painting over the top of this piece.

I will leave you with this WIP piece and will explain all - and take a better photograph hopefully, next week.