Mediums, Gels and Extenders .....oh my!

If you stop by here occasionally, then you know that I very much enjoy experimenting with paints as well as inks. Most of the time the paints/inks are not used straight from the bottle, they have to be mixed with something to help them flow across the fabric easier. I decided to make myself a little sample piece as reference to see what happens to the fabric when each of these products are added to paint and then applied to fabric. Here is what I did. I took 2 pallets, one for SetaColor transparent paint and the other for FW acrylic inks.(also transparent) I have a number of gels, mediums,and extenders....each with its own viscosity.

On each pallet, I mixed my colour (paint or ink) with roughly equal amounts of each of the products you see in the photo.
On fabric, I drew decent sized circles and labeled them. One row is the SetaColor paint mixture and the other is the inks. The first circle in each row is the paint or ink straight from the bottle, so you can see the true colour. I used colours that looked  fairly close to each other......Vermillon in the paint and Scarlet in the ink. The colour intensity will depend on the ratio you use when mixing the paints or inks with the mediums.

The hand of the fabric changes very little with any of these products, you may notice a different "feel" if you pass your hand across the painted surface, but the fabric itself is still very pliable and easily stitched.
In case you can not read the labels in the photo.....I used....Clear Aloe Vera gel (find it at the drugstore....has to be the clear stuff) there is an acrylic glazing liquid by Golden, a Floating Medium by Folk Art, Colourless Extender by Jacquard and Lightening Medium by Pebeo.

I seem to have fallen behind in The Creative Prompt Project once again.....the current  word was Present, my response is this quick paper cut.

Designing like a Kid!

As I grow as an Artist, I always try to remember not to take it all too seriously, when it ceases to be fun, I know I will no longer enjoy it.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the extreme pleasure of taking a workshop conducted by Kathy K Wylie. Kathy is an award winning quilter, designer, teacher and the author of the book, Sewflakes, Papercut Applique Quilts.....now most of you know that I generally refer to my time spent in my sewing room as "playtime", Kathy's workshop led me to even more ways to "play" with design.

I really LOVE pieces that at first look, may appear to be simply pleasing designs, shapes, colours BUT upon closer inspection reveals more. Kathy's method is a wonderful take on the old paper snowflake we all did as kids, but Kathy takes it to a whole other level, not only does she show you how to create the initial design but guides you through the process of going from paper to fabric.

This piece that I teased you with last week is as a result of that workshop. Did you notice that is is made up entirely of insects?If you have been stopping by my blog for any length of time, you may remember my involvement with the Creative Prompt Project. I used to do a doodle each week in response to the "prompt"word posted...........did it for about a year and a half and guess I just got bored with the doodling. Not certain why I stopped, perhaps I no longer found it challenging. BUT I think making these papercut snowflakes will be a challenge and so much FUN!!! So I am going to get back to playing along.......using papercut designs instead of doodles....here are my responses to the most recent prompts.
#126 was Pumpkin.........the pumpkins are obvious, but look closely, do you see the vines, leaves, blossoms, seeds and even a whacky Jack O'Lantern face?
#127 is Ghost. Doesn't look like much before it gets unfolded does it?

Big and little ghosts, float amid the gravemarkers and funky trees all radiating out from a little tiny spider web.
Want to learn how to do this yourself? grab a copy of Kathy's book. click on the image below to find out how to get yours.

Okay, enough of this ......gotta go play!