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.

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