Monday, June 25, 2012

Summer of Color: Baseball Nut

According to Kristin at Twinkle, Twinkle, our hostess for this summer event, this week's ice cream color is Baseball Nut. Of course, I'd never heard of it, so had to take Kristin's description of it as my cue. Per her blog post, Baseball Nut is:

"A smooth, vanilla flavored ice cream swirled with a black raspberry ribbon and loaded with cashews"
-Baskin Robbins

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell much from the photo, other than it looked really yummy. So I decided to improvise using the colors I thought might come together if I had to mix black raspberry with bits of pink, off white, and beige.

Once again I decided to make a quiltlet, but this time I had to actually design the fabric colors. What better way than to create a few monoprints. I realize I don't have one of those fabulous Gelli Plates like the one I first read about on Marilyn Rock's blog, or saw another recently at Corrine's Sparkle Days Studio blog. So, like with most of the art I create, I improvised!


Materials (from back left clockwise):

Paper to cover painted fabric (so brayer would not get paint on it)
Beige glaze
Paint (copper, metallic pink, purple, all acrylic)
Fabric (I am using some new and some old which is parts of an old sheet; does NOT have to be prepared for dyeing)
Acrylic plate (alternative is glass from a picture frame, but be sure to cover the edges and corners)
Two brayers, your choice, but one must be hard rubber


Cut or tear your fabric into usable pieces. I cut a small slit at one end, then tore the fabric the rest of the way. It is my preferred method for sizing fabric.


Lay down a small amount of each of the colors you have chosen for the project.


Using a brayer, roll the colors out onto the plate. Don't try to overmix them. Allow the colors to mix on their own. When you have the paint on the plate, you may want to cut a piece of wax paper in a pleasing shape (I cut a heart) and lay on top of some of the paint. This creates a mask. Use a knitting needle or bamboo skewer to write words, create swirls, or make marks in the paint.


Lay your fabric front side down onto the paint covered plate. Lay a sheet of paper on top of the fabric. Use a clean brayer to roll over the paper in order to get a good monoprint. I had already removed the paper by the time I took this photo.


When you are sure of a good print, remove the paper, and flip the fabric over onto a dry area of your craft surface. Allow to dry in a spot where leakage from the back side will not be a problem.



Possibly the best place to dry these pieces is on a clothes line. I'm SO lucky to have one, but I had a hard time getting a clean shot because the wind was gusting at over 40 mph that day. I decided it didn't matter that you had trouble seeing the finished pieces I made, since I made several more than just the ones for the Baseball Nut quiltlet. You will just have to wait on their reveal until I use the rest of them.


Here the front of the quiltlet took on a decidedly lavender and beige feel, even after I sewed around the hearts. Be aware I have no feed dogs and no way to perform free-motion stitching. It's a "move and twist the fabric as I go" sort of motion. The ribbon of "black raspberry" was added to emphasize the theme.

I'm not sure I like how the butterfly came through on the heart in the inset, because I don't seem to stamp well on fabric when using stamping ink.


This is the back side of the quiltlet. I'm trying to make my quiltlets with the thought of tying the two sides together.

The size of this piece is about 7.5 inches X 12 inches and 2 inch hanging tabs the same color as the heart inset on the front.

Now that you have my take on Baseball Nut, I'm off to see what others have come up with for this latest color combination. I hope you'll join me.

__________________



46 thoughtful remarks:

Virginia said...

Oh that's lovely what a great way of printing on fabric - the colours look lush!

...the yorkshire fox... said...

...oh Elizabeth I do loVe your postings, your step-by-step is genius & the end result is a super take on Twinkle's Baseball Nut...loVe it...have a super day...Mel :)

Tammy said...

I love that you experiment with everything you do! That's what makes it creative and fun. Have a great week. Tammy

Mandy said...

REALLY ENJOYED SEEING HOW YOU MADE THIS...A GREAT RESULT TOO...OH AND YEAH...NO FREE MOTION...WHAT A BUMMER...BUT IT LOOKS REALLY EFFFECTIVE ANYWAY...IT WOULD HAVE SPOILT IT IF IT WAS SUPER NEAT...IT'S VERY GRUNGY...LOVE!!!XXX

Netty said...

Loving your painting on fabric in SOC colors. Annette x

BJ said...

Always amazed at your adventurousness in art Elizabeth. I think my little desk in the corner of my carpeted bedroom precludes any kind of messiness! BJ

Tracey FK said...

wow that is simply amazing... and such a wonderful result... worth braving the clothes line... ours was back to wind tunnel proportions today as well so I feel your pain and you did great to get the pic that you did... you are approaching these colours with such creativity... very inspiring...xx

Diana Taylor said...

What a great quilt - I love it - and so interesting to follow your artistic process - thanks so much for sharing

Valerie-Jael said...

Wow, what a lot of work! It looks really good, great ideas, and love the colours. Valerie

Giggles said...

Wow interesting process!! Thank you for sharing....looks fun and turned out really great!!

Hugs Giggles

helena said...

fabulous piece and so interesting to see how you created it

JansArtyJunk said...

Oh...this is amazing Elizabeth..you did a fantastic job with this weeks colours!! very clever and creative..Jan x

Shahrul Niza said...

OHH I love your yummy fabric! So clever. Looks fun to make :). Great tutorial too. TFS!

Diane said...

I really love what you're doing here Elizabeth--very organic--my favorite favorite way to make art and one that I have trouble doing.

Deepa Gopal said...

This really is an amazing post...to see so much variety & technique around is so much fun! Love your arty piece...great hues:)

Ritu Dua said...

I am sure you had a lot of fun doing this...lovely!

Halle said...

Pretty colors. Good job sewing the heart shapes!!

Darla said...

Never heard of the ice cream but I do like the art.

Darla

carol l mckenna said...

Wonderfully creative fabric art ~ ~ thanks, ^_^ (A Creative Harbor)

Caz said...

I love this!! The colours came out really nice!

Å olanje na domu-Waldorf said...

This looks like so much fun! :) Thanks for sharing. :)

sugar Creek said...

Yes that does look like fun! Love it!

WrightStuff said...

Very clever indeed my friend!

Marja's Stamp Addiction en Marja's Creativity said...

Absolutely gorgeous art work. Beautiful fabric creation.
Lovely greet
Marja

Fars Datter said...

I like this a lot! It reminds me of some of the quilt-art my late grandmother did. Thank you for sharing the process also! :)

Rita said...

I've never worked on fabric with paint. This is delicious! :):)

SandeeNC said...

I liked the free sewn heart. you did a good job. I think this is a fun technique, looking forward to seeing what you do with the pieces! Hoping you don't get blown away! waving hi from the hills of North Carolina :)

Anonymous said...

What a great idea Elizabeth, why not, monoprint is monoprint and you could do it on any surface that's smooth. These came out fantastic. Baseball nut, hmmmm, that's a new one to me but it sure sounds tasty. Nothing with cashews can ever be bad. Thanks for the shout out. xox

Kristin said...

xo!

Jo Murray said...

Clever... I'll have to try this.

K J D said...

Inspiring!

Carolyn Dube said...

Beautiful quilt!!! I love your sense of "let's see what happens" also known as improve!

Healing Woman said...

Marbleized colors are great. Everything is so random looking and ice creamy. Beautiful little quilt!

Tracy said...

Love the way you've used a textured fabric so the leaves show through the printing.

Annie Claxton said...

Absolutely gorgeous and really interesting to read about how you work too

Jenny said...

Just gorgeous... loved seeing your process... and the beautiful effects of the paint onto the fabric... a truly stunning result...

Hugs
Jenny x

~*~Patty S said...

Blackberry and cashews!
why haven't I heard of that flavor
You are amazing E ... it is great to see how you start and finish ... thanks as always for sharing your creative process.
Wonderful!
oxo

Margaret said...

Superb piece of work, like Patty I love to see the development of your canvas, you are our painterly Queen! Mx

Terri Corona said...

Your pieces are always so unique, and I love how you show the steps. This turned out great - I don't even own a sewing machine, but I know enough to know how difficult that edging you do must be! It adds so much...

Joanna said...

This was really interesting to read through and to see the pictures. Great creativity and the results are super :o)

See you next week at SOC!

Unknown said...

I DO love your quiltlets- each one is so beautiful! I think the butterfly turned out well- it's obviously a print and if it were "perfect"; I don't think it would be as effective.
Sorry I'm so late making the rounds; I'm just beginning to get caught up!
Hugs,
Stephanie

Unknown said...

Wow, that was so much fun to go through and see the whole process. Thank you for sharing all of that. It looks like a great amount of fun to do!
xo
lynn

Kathy said...

Thanks so much for showing the process.. love it.. think it turned out fabulous..this looks like so much fun!! the butterfly is lovely too...

Georgie Horn said...

Look at you creating your own fabric. Amazing! Come by for a visit!
http://georgie-hornpuddinnpie.blogspot.com/2012/06/freaking-friday-fantabulous-giveaway.html

Kezzy said...

Wow gorgeous, I have to ask, what is the make of the yummy salmon colour pink it's really yummy Kerry xxx

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