Painted velvet with foil

I played with some velvet, wonder under, and foils a couple weeks ago. I thought I would experiment some more with these.  I decided to use Lumiere paints to stamp circles onto my black velvet.

It took a lot of paint on the stamp for it to stamp well on the velvet. 

I had some leftover painted wonder under circles from my last piece, as well as some long strips.

I ironed these onto the velvet and then partially foiled them.  The Lumiere paints look very muted next to the shiny foils.  I think it looks flat and uninteresting, but I will add some fabrics and see if it can be improved.

Closeup.

Master bedroom renovation

We finally are getting the final touches done in the renovated basement rooms.

Here is our completed master bedroom.

Here is the room before. It really doesn't look much different in these photos, but a lot of work was done. I liked the original paint color, so it is pretty much the same color as before. Most of the original walls had pressboard paneling on them. We had that removed and had it replaced with drywall. We got rid of the ceiling fan, and replaced the flooring, base, and crown trim.

Here you can see that the existing room (beyond, as seen from the basement entryway) was not completely finished. I don't know why this area was not finished.  We actually moved the door to the bedroom to this location. The door was originally down the hall.

After the pressboard was removed.

New drywall.

There is a walk-in closet at one end. Since we moved the entry door, we have to move the entry to the closet as well.

The basement rooms had textured wallpaper on the ceiling. It was in decent shape and we were not up to the task of removing it, nor did we want to replace the drywall on all the ceilings, so in the bedroom (and entryway) we just repainted the ceilings. You can see how the white really makes a difference. Also the previous paint was a bit shiny, and now it is matte.

We replaced the blond laminate floor with click lock vinyl. If water ever gets in the basement, these could be removed, dried off, and reinstalled. Pergo type floors are ruined if they get wet. The only down side is there is no padding under it, so it is rather hard and you can feel the variances in the concrete floor underneath. We also put frosted cling film on the windows, so we have privacy without blocking out the light.

Stenciled felt coasters, art experiment

Art Experiment is a a series of posts using supplies which I own but have rarely (or never) used. Failure or success is not important, it is trying something different and seeing what can come from it.  There are three goals: try something new, use something in my supply stash, and have fun/experiment in the studio.

Finished coasters!

Over a year ago, I was experimenting with using Decolourant on felted recycled wool sweaters.  It didn't go very well. When I rinsed the fabrics after ironing, I could barely see any difference.  I went to a sewing expo and bought some Catch & Release (a product to remove color, which I believe is designed for wool but says it works on cotton too), and some wool felt that a vendor had for sale. The vendor was Crawford Designs and they make the Catch & Release product. These supplies have been sitting in my box of felt ever since (which I believe was last February).


My glass/metal coasters have been falling apart, so I decided to make some new ones.  I took out my wool felt, Catch & Release, some paint, and a stencil with different leaves on it.

I applied the Catch & Release directly to the felt using a makeup sponge to pounce it through the stencil.  After it had dried, I decided to do another layer of stenciling with paint mixed in to the Catch & Release. (If I do this again, I will do the colored ones first, as it was hard to tell where the clear ones were when I was adding the colored ones).  

After these were dry, I ironed the felt.  The clear Catch & Release did a fabulous job at removing the color.  The ones with the paint mixed in look like they were painted on, not like the original color was removed and replaced. I rinsed them with cool water per the directions.

I do like the way the fabrics turned out. I know the last time I tested the Catch & Release on recycled wool sweaters, it did not really work. This was probably because of the type of dye that is used in the sweaters. The dye in the wool felt I bought worked great with the Catch & Release product.

Just FYI, the Catch & Release product is pretty stinky.  It smells like those bathroom disinfectant sprays that add a floral scent, but the chemical smell is still there too. It smells when you apply it and it smells when you iron it, it just downright smells. And I don't have a great sense of smell so it is pretty potent if I am commenting on it. That said, I will use it again and cope with the smell.

After they were rinsed and dried,  I cut 4" squares from the felt.  I sandwiched some foam material between the layers (to help make the coasters somewhat impervious to liquids), stitched around the edges with a straight stitch a 1/4" from the edge, and did some free motion stitching around the leaves. Now I have some lovely coasters!

 
Here is my free-motion stitching on the front (I could use a bit more practice)

Here is the back side. I like the contrast on the back between the printed leaves and the stitched outlines.

I am glad to have new coasters, but am also excited to have this project finished. I started this before Thanksgiving, and between the holidays, traveling, and home renovation projects, they have been sitting on my sewing table half-finished for over a month. Hurrah, onto the next!

Best art/experiments of 2014

This week I have been looking at some blogs that re-cap their favorite projects of the year and I thought it was a great idea.  Then I got somewhat depressed because I didn't feel like I have been very productive this year. 

I figured I could find at least a few projects to highlight, and went through my blog posts for this year. Looking through my posts actually made me feel like I had accomplished a lot, especially since we moved to a different state this summer and we have been spending a lot of time on home renovation projects. So here are my highlights...

Here are my favorite experiments from 2014:

Marbling on fabric

Sunprinting with branches and leaves

Sunprinting on interfacing with stencils

Painting over a quilt

Textile art (inspired by the Cas Holmes class I took in the spring)

Here are my favorite finished projects from 2014:

Fabric/paper collage

 

 

 

Coral art quilt

Storage box with gelli prints

Gelli printing

These are just the best examples of these techniques and art pieces. I really enjoyed gelli printing this year and have a home decor project lined up for a gelli printed collage.  I also would like to complete a lot of my unfinished projects in 2015 as well.  The basement renovation should be complete around the end of January and then I can move into my studio space and unpack all my supplies. We also will be done with home renovations for a while, so I hope to have more time for making art as well.

Wishing you all a great New Year!

Bathroom Remodel

We finally finished remodeling the main floor bathroom.  I never would have thought this project would take three months. But the results are fantastic!

Here are some "before" pictures. There are a lot of things that had to change. First, this is a huge room, but the tub and toilet are so close to each other. There is no way to hang up the shower handle either.   Then there is the lovely embossed wallpaper, not just on the walls, but on the ceiling too. There is the oak paneling and linoleum floor that needs to go.  And again, huge room, but tiny pedestal sink.  Say goodbye to it all.

 Oh, and don't forget the peacock wall sconces!

We remove the paneling and wall paper, and discover the drywall (that was installed on top of the plaster walls) was never taped and finished. And they had so many screws in it, it looked like Swiss cheese.

We had to tape, patch, and sand so the walls could be painted.

Then we could finally paint. The tub sat in the dining room for about three weeks while plumbing was moved and the floor was tiled (not by us).

Here is the final result. The tub has been moved, lights replaced, and finishes updated. We still need to get an oval shower rod for the tub, and hang some art, but even without those things, it looks smashing!

Foiling on Velvet

I have watched this Angie Hughes' YouTube video many times, where she foils on velvet  (skip to 12:50 for the start of the demo part)  and I recently added to my colored foil collection so I am finally giving it a try. I am not going to describe each step, as the video goes into a lot of detail. (Things like, always cover the whole project with parchment paper when ironing, and using a "craft" iron so you don't ruin your good one, are important points).

In the US, the Bond-a-web that is mentioned in the video is called Wonder Under. I can usually find a small cut of it (1/3 yard or so) in the clearance bin at Joanns every time I go. I decided to paint one side of my Wonder Under, which is something from one of Kim Thittichai's books. I used watered down Lumiere paints. Here is a picture of the painted Wonder Under. The backing paper crinkles due to the watery paint.

I used black velvet that I bought at a estate sale. I am unsure of it's fiber content; it doesn't look or feel like polyester, but I haven't given it a burn test. I ironed the painted Wonder Under to the velvet, after I had cut out some circle and wave shapes, and removed the paper backing just from the circles.

I sprinkled on large silver glitter and fine green glitter to the circles, covered it with parchment paper and ironed it so they would stick to the Wonder Under.

I then removed the backing paper on the lower portion.

The painted wonder under looks lovely, but I am going to add some foil.

I tried to use punchinella/sequin waste to create patterns in the foil, like Angie did, but I think my iron was too hot as I had a hard time removing the sequin waste. It was ironed to the Wonder Under in places. I think in general I was using too hot of an iron for the foiling. I had a difficult time removing the foil carrier sheet in places as well. I also think since I had painted the Wonder Under, it did not adhere as strongly to the velvet, and pulled up in places when I was pulling the foil carrier sheet off. I did iron some more painted Wonder Under over some of the holes and it blended in with the original layer pretty well. For the remaining exposed velvet in the upper portion, I will probably paint with Lumiere paints.

You can see the blue circles where I used sequin waste as a resist when foiling.

On the pink section in the middle, I used magenta glitter and pink foil. I did iron on some black glitter next to some of the circles, which you can see in this picture.

I think I am done adding foil at this point. Angie often adds a layer of colored or black sheer fabric over the top, which may look nice on this since it is pretty bright and gaudy.  I am thinking of cutting it up and using it in another project, where I think the bright colors would look great. I will be experimenting more with this technique as I still have quite a bit of foil, and already have some painted Wonder Under as well.