Tea for two: Art and me

So who is Art and why did he get invited to Tuesday Tea, hosted by Kimmie (other participants are listed on her sidebar)? Let's begin with the tea.

Today I'm in the studio,



drinking Red Rose English Breakfast tea, a product that was originally sold only in Canada, although beginning in the 1970s, it became readily available in supermarkets in the US. It is a "fair trade tea." Red rose tea comes in a bag and I fixed two portions. One is in my carafe, the other in a plastic container. Both were sun tea and are now quite dark. You can see the ice cubes are melting, so we had better pour that tea.

I chose this tea for its lovely red color.

I used two tea bags for the carafe, and it made it the perfect strength for my taste. I like really strong tea!

The other tea is for art. This tea is the perfect color to dye paper. You can see how it changes the color of the page, even after only one minute in the tea bath. I left the tea bags in the pitcher, too. When I'm finished dyeing the paper, I will remove the bags, allow them to dry, and remove the spent tea leaves to my compost pile. The tea bag itself has a lovely rose embossed on it. Not sure you can see it, but it will be evident once the bag has dried.

So to make the perfect tea for art, you will need some strong, dark tea. Your reward? Beside having tea with Kimmie and the girls, you will have some beautifully aged paper and tea bags to sew into your art projects.

While visiting the T gals today, be sure to sign up for Patty's 1213th post giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment, and anyone, anywhere in the world is welcome to put their name in Mr. Magpie's hat. Patty (like I) believes giving is unconditional!

Since some of you may not know much about Red Rose Tea, today's blog is Red Rose Tea's web site. You can learn the history of the tea, tea in general, and the Red Rose Tea company. And it was an easy pick because the blog is quite informative.

Handshakes: part 2

Back on August 14, I showed the scanned images of this spread that opens to reveal several handshakes. Scanned images are great for resolution, but not for showing the overall view.

Here is the page and insert to refresh your memory, or to bring you up to speed if you are new to my blog.

This is the inside insert and page that is attached to the left side of the book. These are magazine images and the background is painted deli paper.

Again, left side of book page and right side of book page. I used blue glaze mixed with gesso for the background on the right.

This shows the inserted page and how it fits in the book. I am still working on the page on the reverse of the right side. When completed, this will be a six page spread of "handshakes." It seems to be a popular theme in business and trade magazines.

A couple of days ago, I was honored with a blog award by Giovanna (GiGi) who lives in Queensland, Australia. Now those of you who know me, know I need a sign on my sidebar that reads No Award Zone, or something like that. But I was so impressed with Giovanna's gracious message in response to my declining the award, I simply had to check out her blog, called She's Got Issues. And I found my nominated self in good company, along with Seth Apter (my hero), Claudine Hellmuth (who I want to make simple collages like), Alisa Burke (who paints like nobody else), and Vivian Bonder, my blog pick for February 12, among others. If I were a scrapbooker, I would want to make art just like Giovanna. Her style of art is gorgeous and I can learn so much from her incredible layouts. Of course, to make things interesting, she occasionally throws in some mixed media art that has nothing to do with scrapbooking. So please visit Giovanna today. I know you will like her blog as much as I do.

Silent Sunday: Roundabouts

Silent Sunday's blog

Today's blog is all about roundabouts. In fact the name of the site is Roundabouts USA. Although not limited to the US, most of the gallery photos are from the United States.

I should probably keep my opinions to myself on this touchy subject because I have read the literature and the statistics. However, those statistics don't seem to include poorly designed roundabouts. From what I've experienced, the key to a functional roundabout is a large enough diameter to handle the traffic flow and allow for easy entry and exit of traffic. The roundabouts in Wichita (as opposed to ones I've traversed quite easily in cities in Mexico) are restricted to one lane of traffic, causing traffic flow problems rather than reducing traffic flow. It seems they are purposely built to make intersections slow, rather than more efficient. Gotta admit, the ones in Wichita are well landscaped and have adequate safety walls. Have a great Sunday everyone.

Taking a breath

I spent most of my day doing things other than art, but I managed to get a few elements made for my teal color swap. Yes, I'm still working on it. And right now, I am taking a breath, trying to slow a bit with less external demands on my time.

I thought all these colors would compliment teal nicely. Of course, it would help if I really knew what color teal is. I began by painting a few sheets of ink jet labels with Twinkling H2Os. I really love the sparkle of these, although they never show in photos or scans.

So, what did I make? The labels were too narrow to use my new scallop circle punch, so I grabbed my bird punch and went to town. I made a few and realized the tails weren't coming out of the punch. And right after I gave good ole Martha (Stewart) a thumb up. To correct the problem, I folded two of the labels together with the backing toward the outside. Then I punched and had no problem. I concluded the punch was catching on the sticky back and not letting go. By doubling the layers, I kept the problem to a minimum. You can see I have already punched quite a few acceptable birds. I have also shown the remains of my punching two labels at a time. Such a waste of good H2Os, but it can't be helped.

So that you wouldn't forget this is an art blog, I also thought I would bring a piece back that I made previously. The one above I call "Anatomically Correct." I made it using a magazine image and vinyl stickers and placed everything on top of a dyed paper towel.

A word about tomorrow's Silent Sunday post. I was inspired by a post written by Bea at Dog in the Hole Studio a week or so ago. I would like to thank her for the inspiration behind tomorrow's post. I will be out all day today, so I'll catch up with everyone on Monday. Have a great weekend, dear friends and supporters.

Want to see some drop dead gorgeous art? You're going to love Lambsworld, the art of Linda who lives in Washington (State) in the US. She has a great eye for composition and is my blog pick of the day. As I scrolled from page to page, I kept admiring her art. Linda participates in a lot of swaps, so maybe one of these days I'll get up the nerve to ask her to swap with me. I especially fell in love with her chipboard houses with a bird theme. Of course she called them Bird Houses. Please check out Linda's art today at Lambsworld. You won't be sorry.

My little helper

How about a few of the "out takes" from yesterday's tutorial.

As I was preparing to set up the tutorial I made yesterday, I did a bit of "behind the scenes" prep work. I began by washing the table and stacking the chairs out of camera range. Then I removed the umbrella from the table and looked up to see my little helper had already staked out his spot in order to oversee the project.

Of course it didn't take long and the desire to preen and clean replaced the desire to supervise. Thankfully it was still relatively cool when I started, so all went well. However, it didn't take long for the sun to rise in the sky, especially as I completed the first project, which included all that wax linen thread wrapping and unwrapping.

Although I hadn't noticed when Bleubeard left his perch on the chairs, as I was unwrapping the thread from the first project, I felt a stirring under my feet. He would never have wakened, had I not started tugging on the thread that had landed on his body.

Once again, my little helper was ready to become part of the action

and had a bit of playtime himself as I gathered the thread from under the table.

Apparently that was enough of an indignity (or exercise), because it wasn't long till he was back on his throne overseeing the project.

To answer a few of the questions I got from yesterday, the fabric I used was 100% cotton, not a cotton blend. However, that should make no difference. Remember, this is PAINT, not dye. The paint soaks into and penetrates the fibers. Any fabric, natural or synthetic, should work for this and I will try using some different fabrics in the days ahead.

I tried wetting a piece of the same cotton bed sheet, then spraying the fabric. The paint balled up and "sat" on top of the fabric. It took forever to seep into the fabric and never really penetrated like it was supposed to. Although I didn't take a photo of the finished piece after it dried, it had a mottled look and you could tell the paint color had been diluted. This may be a look you want for special effects, but wetting your fabric before spraying the paint is not the way to go.

To be honest with everyone, I wrote a tutorial, not a product review. That would have been a completely different post!

Today I'm featuring something off the beaten path, a bit like this post. The Bird Ecology Study Group is a bird group of the Nature Society located in Singapore. The study group (BESG) was founded in September. 2005. They study and photograph native birds and their breeding and other habits. Their blog, written by their members, has some gorgeous bird photos and some interesting information and videos. I hope you will check out the Bird Ecology Study Group's blog today.

Simply Spray Fabric Paint: a tutorial

I recently applied for, and was awarded free Simply Spray Fabric Paint through Totally Tutorials, a great blog hosted by Dotty, that pairs sellers with persons like myself who are willing to write a tutorial in exchange for using their merchandise. I want to thank Dotty for all the hard work she does in the blogging community and for providing this unique opportunity. That means I get to try out some new-to-me products, while having fun experimenting. In exchange for the fabric paint, I will present four projects today. Feel free to double click on the images.

Supplies (Clockwise from upper left):
Plastic container for wrapping fabric (I ended up not using it)
Simply Spray Soft Fabric Paint
Masks
Scissors
Low tack masking tape
Wax linen thread (left over from a previous project)
Rubber bands
Coffee (not necessary for the tutorial, but necessary for me)
Bed sheet (muslin or any white fabric could be substituted)
PVC Pipe
Scrap fabric for wiping up fabric paint
Something to cover your work surface
Not shown: ruler

Before I began, I removed the spray paint from their containers. You can see the blue safety tab is still on some of the cans in the first photo above. I read the back of the containers and learned the paint is non-toxic and non-flammable. It is the only aerosol spray paint that can make that claim. Although I'm a "cool color" person and would have liked to see some green in the mix, I certainly can't complain with the nice selection I received.

In order to create this tutorial, I had to have fabric. My fabric for the first three projects was well-used white bed sheets I bought at the thrift store. I did not have to pre-wash these, but if you have purchased new fabric (sometimes called yardage) that is not labeled "prepared for dyeing" (PFD) or "ready to dye" (RTD), you should wash and dry it before you begin. Although you are technically not dyeing the fabric, removing the sizing, starches, and other finishes will provide a surface that will better accept the paint.

I began by snipping a piece of fabric at the 9 1/4" (0.2286 m) mark on the ruler. I then tore the fabric the entire length of the sheet. I found the middle of the strips, snipped, and tore each length approximately in half. Although the lengths varied, the widths of all these panels will be 9 1/4".

The first project is shibori dyeing. It is a modified arashi shibori. For this I used PVC pipe, low tack masking tape, and wax linen thread. I began by wrapping the fabric around a length of 1.5" (0.0381 m) PVC pipe. I held the fabric in place using low tack masking tape.

Once secure, I wrapped the wax linen thread around the fabric, which is wrapped around the circumference of the pipe.

After I had wrapped a manageable length, I pushed it tight against the taped end of the pipe.

It doesn't matter if the string is wrapped precisely or not. All you have to concern yourself with is keeping the string tight around the pipe. If it loosens, unwind and re-wrap.

Continue wrapping and pushing toward the taped end until you have reached the end of the fabric. Secure the fabric using the thread.

Although I did all my wrapping first, I will continue with this specific shibori technique.

Remove the blue protective tip on the top of the spray can and shake, shake, shake. Shake some more. Just like spray paint, you must be sure the fabric paint is well stirred. The little ball inside acts like a stirrer, just like spray paint. When you have shaken the can sufficiently, practice spraying a bit of paint onto your scrap clean-up fabric (or a piece of cardboard). It will help you decide how much trigger pressure you will need.

Now you can spray your first color. I chose cranberry. Pick up the pipe at the untaped end and turn as you spray, hopefully assuring even coverage.

As you can see, I used several colors for this first piece. I had read on the package that the colors were supposed to blend well, and I was hoping that would happen here. The colors I used for this are blue jay, deep purple, bright pink, and cranberry.

It took practically no time at all for the fabric paint to dry. However, after unwrapping the waxed linen thread, I was surprised the paint had not penetrated the folds better. I'm usually heavy handed with spray paint, but it appears I could have added more paint to this project.

For the second project, I used another PVC pipe, rubber bands, and a piece of fabric I folded in the center. For this technique, known as traditional arashi shibori, you begin by wrapping the fabric at least once around the pipe, keeping the folded edge at a 45 degree angle to the PVC pipe. It is important to always maintain this angle so you get the desired shibori effect. The patterns are always on a diagonal in traditional arashi shibori.

Tie one end of the fabric using a rubber band. Smooth the fabric again and check to make sure it is still at an angle to the pipe's edge. Continue wrapping until you reach the end of the pipe, then push the fabric toward the rubber band. Keep wrapping until all the fabric is wrapped and scrunched. Secure the second end with another rubber band.

For this project, I chose cranberry and black, hoping to get a nice maroon where the two colors mixed.

I sprayed, then remembered to lay my clean-up fabric under the piece. No sense wasting any of the paint.

Next I sprayed black, then more cranberry,

ending with black.


When the fabric was dry, I thought it looked rather dull and lifeless, so I decided to spray it again, this time using only the cranberry. I also thought by adding more paint, it would better reach the folded layer.

This is how the piece turned out. For some reason, the fabric paint didn't seep through to the second layer and it didn't make it to one end of the fabric. Although the diagonal designs are barely evident, you can see the interesting colors that came out of mixing only cranberry and black.

For the third technique, I began with one corner of a short length of fabric (bed sheet) and twisted until I was happy with the results. This is a modified tie-dye technique.

I tied the two ends together using a single rubber band, but you could use anything to tie the two ends together. Be sure you don't allow the fabric to untwist while tying it off.

I sprayed deep purple as my first color,

then sprayed blue jay for the second color, overlapping a bit as I sprayed.

I turned it over and sprayed even more colors until all the colors (deep purple, lavender, poppy red, bright pink, blue jay, and cranberry) except black had been used.

Although the design is not quite as exciting, I got decent coverage. I felt I got a bit heavy with the blue jay and bright pink, though.

Here are the three completed pieces flapping in the breeze,

and here they are from a different angle. Note how high the sun is now in the sky.

As mentioned previously, all the above used a type of shibori dyeing (with Simply Spray Fabric Paint). Shibori fabric is unique in that its patterns have soft, blurred edges. This is in sharp contrast to the precise edges created by resistance dyeing using stencils or masks.

For my final project, I used a child's tee that I purchased at the thrift store. I thought many people would like to know how the Simply Spray Fabric Paint worked on tee shirt material using masks.

To begin, be sure you protect the back of your project. Although I will be cutting my tee into pieces to be used for book covers, I still practiced safe measures. You could insert a piece of cardboard between the front and back to protect the back, but I folded my wipe-up fabric and placed it between the layers. Again, no sense in wasting paint.

Next, I added self adhesive masks. Similar to stencils, masks cover material (fabric, paper, etc.), while stencils expose material (design areas).

Begin by spraying your fabric paint off the piece and work your way onto the fabric. End off the fabric, also. Use your clean up fabric laid on a piece of cardboard for this.

I sprayed three times, but probably should have only sprayed once. First, I got too much paint which seeped under the mask in spots. Second, I continued the spray process, which caused the paint to leave drips. By continuing the spraying, I'm sure I also failed to put even pressure on the nozzle, something I believe I must work on if I am going to work with masks and stencils.

You can see how the paint crept under the masks, even though I thought I had them secured well.

Not to be deterred, I tried again, this time spraying only once on the back side of the tee. You can see how fine the spray is and also how I still got drips. This reinforces the fact that I need more practice using the aerosol sprayer, which is, in my opinion, much harder to use and control, than spray paint. Unlike spray paint, Simply Spray Fabric Paint leaves the fabric feeling soft and pliable.

One of the best things about these four projects is, I still have more Simply Spray Fabric Paint to play with, which means I will be experimenting more in the weeks to come. Because it got too hot outside to continue, I had to store my paint. Simply Spray Fabric Paint recommends you store it upside down with the nozzle submerged in water if you can't use the contents in one setting. I found that rather inconvenient, but certainly don't want to clog the nozzles.

I hope this tutorial gave you a few ideas for how you can use this Simply Spray Fabric Paint in less conventional ways than tie-dye (which is also a shibori technique).

Of course, my blog pick of the day is Simply Spray Fabric Paint. You will find all kinds of information there about this paint. Thanks Simply Spray Fabric Paint for your confidence in me. I appreciate it.