I’ve mounted a number of pieces on either painted canvas or fabric stretched over artist’s stretcher bars.  When I posted my piece for SAQA@20 recently, a friend asked if I could share how with her.  I decided it might be a good idea to share with EVERYone, so here goes.  Here is the SAQA@20 piece:

Bird of Paradise full shot

For this piece I purchased a primed canvas at my local art supply store (and how heavenly is it to LIVE near an art store…a real one, not a chain…. glorious!).

Here’s what I wrote to Debby, chatty and all:

1. Buy canvas.  I take the finished (or nearly so) piece with me to the store to eyeball the right dimensions.  Make sure you leave enough space on edges that you can sew through canvas, not wood frame (otherwise it is E6000 glue time, and yes, I have done that too!) Canvas is usually primed (painted white).
2. Mark the location of your work that will be mounted.  I placed mine, measured to make sure it was square/level and equidistant from the sides.  With a pencil, reach underneath the artwork and sketch a line, maybe an inch inside the edges of the piece.
3. Find tissue paper-I actually happened to have a fairly old, tatty piece of acid-free tissue so used that, but I would just use plain old tissue paper if I had it.  Tear tissue into bits and “glue” to the surface, wrinkling and scrunching as desired.  I used Golden Mat Medium, but a Gel Medium or Mod Podge would work too as the “glue” with a sponge paintbrush.  The tissue will likely tear a bit–that’s OK.  I did NOT extend the tissue far under the location of the artwork… I went to about the pencil line.  Allow to dry–overnight if possible.
4. Paint.  I used a blue paint first, and it was WAY too blue.  You may need a brush (not sponge) brush to get into some of the tissue crevices.  Allow to dry to the touch.  Oh yeah… I happen to have on hand Golden Fluid Acrylics (available at www.dickblick.com) so I used those.  You could also use craft acrylics, but the pigment load per   ounce (or whatever measure you want) isn’t as much…in other words, there isn’t as much pigment.  You get better coverage and durability with artist acrylics, but they aren’t necessary (my Cappuccino series that are on the square canvases…check in the For Sale tab… were painted with craft acrylics).
5. Paint a second layer of same color if you don’t want the white of the canvas to show through.
6. As I mentioned, mine was way too blue, so using a sponge paintbrush, I added some green, which made it too green.  By the way, I tested on the area that would be under the artwork so if it was awful and I couldn’t clean it off, I wouldn’t ruin the canvas.  Then I took a wadded up paper towel and swiped.  For this one, I kept the swiping vertical, but it could be fun to do every which way, too.  That lifted some of the green, and thinned other parts of the green, which was kinda cool.
7. It still wasn’t quite right.  Did the same thing using Raw Umber (or was it Raw Sienna?), a dark earthy brown.  I applied less paint, almost a dry-brush technique dusting the color here and there, then paper-toweling.
8. Oh…sewing it on.  Once everything is dry, I position the artwork, again measuring for level/equidistant.  I spear the corners with pins (and more on the sides if the piece is large).  Using a sturdy needle threaded with a double strand of thread that matches the outside edge of the quilt, I stitch about every inch or so.  Some artists may only do the corners, but I don’t trust cloth not to move.  On the bottom I’ll do maybe every two inches.  A thimble REALLY helps as the canvas is tough.  I have heard that some folks will sew felt to the back of the quilted art, then use maxi-hold glue.  I’ve done that, but don’t really like doing it.
9. Finish the back.  Black dust-cover stuff (what is underneath upholstered chairs) works great on the backs.  I staple gun that (or whatever) to clean-finish the back, and hammer one of those picture hangers to the center top… I call them alligator hangers…straight across the top, downward facing triangles/teeth on the bottom.
10. Turn around, admire and enjoy.  Hope for a quick sale!

Really fancy eh???

I suppose I should have applied a varnish to the top.  I KNOW I should have with the craft acrylics since they are starting to scuff a bit on the edges.  I think I shall apply Glad Press N Seal to the top of the quilted parts, then use a spray varnish (Matte or Satin) for those pieces to protect the paint.  Maybe on this one too.

Some alternatives:

Buy a canvas the same size as your piece.  Paint the edges.  Sew felt (black would be best) to the back of your quilt.  Glue it using permanent glue to the canvas.  By using felt, you can later change your mind and remove the quilt from the canvas if you feel like it.

Use artists stretcher bars, cover with batting and coordinating fabric, as I did with Birch Pond and a number of other pieces (check the for sale gallery… the Cloud crane, Tree Branch Moon and maybe some others are done this way):

Birch Pond, on blue batik over stretcher bars

If there is anything that is confusing…just ask! OK…NOW it’s done.  I think…

Well, two weeks have nearly evaporated since we last met, this time at Hannah’s house.  The drive down the snow peninsula toward Harpswell was beautiful… I love looking at the frozen salt water inlets, the ice heaved and shattered and piles like boulders…. We shared this and that, all of us seeming to relish a bit of a breather in our too-hectic lives.  Hannah been to a HUGE crafters and mixed media convention in California….. I think it is CHA or something like that, but check Hannah’s blog for pics… in the late January posts.

Kate has lately been seriously taken with rag rugs, including this beauty in my favorite colors….I have a feeling Kathy and Hannah are going to be following in her needlesteps…. (the needle by the way is a modified-by-kate-into-a-needle toothbrush…it has to be one of the old fashioned brushes with the hole at the end)

Kate's rag rug

Then Kathy shared what she has been doing…making mushrooms:

Kath's mushrooms and tin

and working on a project for our “round robin” of books.  When we first started meeting OMG four YEARS ago, we decided rather than do a round robin quilt, we’d do books, and make pages for each other.  Since Hannah joined us about two-plus years ago, we’ve kept talking about doing another round, and getting Hannah in on the act.  This is one of Kath’s pages in progress:

Hannah had made a ton of stuff for holiday craft sales…here she is with some of the very few items left:

Hannah and critter-friend

and how this panda excaped being bought is beyond me, he’s ADORABLE:

Hannah's Panda

I had a project (at long last!) to share, but alas can’t blog about it as I have submitted it to a magazine for possible publication. DRAT!  Stay tuned….sigh….

And of course there was food…thankfully, someone stood in for Deborah and reminded me to take pictures.  Deborah…we miss you!!!!!!!  Wish there were a job back here in Maine for hubby that could get you back from Texas!

Finally, here is Hannah’s new kitten, about 8-9 months (?) old…what a perfect cat-cat!

Kitten

This year marks the 20th anniversary of SAQA, the Studio Art Quilt Associates.  They put out a call for entries from members a while back for small pieces for a traveling show.  They will all be matted with an 8×8 opening, so finished size had to be 9×9 or a bit larger (with the excess hidden under the mat, and used for mounting).  Since I make TONS of thread changes in a piece, even one that small, I decided to make two almost the same, send one to SAQA and prepare the other for sale.  I did take a photo of the SAQA one, but managed to delete it accidentally, but here is a photo of the 9×9 piece I kept (which is nearly identical).

Bird of Paradise block

It is made from my hand-dyes, commercial batiks, thread, yarn (edge-finish), and prismacolor pencil (there wasn’t enough contrast between the “spear” of the flower and the background, so light green pencil to the rescue…I hope).

I wanted to try something for this that I had done on smaller pieces…mount it on a painted/mixed media canvas.  I had some teal cloth out on the work table, tossed the piece on it, and it looked great.  So I  used mat medium to adhere acid-free tissue paper to the canvas, then painted the canvas the same teal color.  Bleah. It definitely didn’t work the same way. I added some green.

Bird on Blue canvas

Still needed more, so more paint to the rescue.  After checking with Frayed Edge Kathy D., we agreed it needed way more green.   In the end, it needed green and raw umber.  I painted the colors on, then swiped with a paper towel.

Here is the finished piece.  It will be for sale directly from  my website for a few weeks, then I’ll take it over to the Ducktrap Gallery that has my work here in Camden, Maine:

Bird of Paradise full shot

And here are two detail photos that show the texture of the canvas, which I rather like:

and:

Bird, detail 2

Amazing…. after two years working on the book and assorted family crises, I get to make art!  I’m looking forward to MORE!

After years of hinting to me that her customers would love a landscape class, I finally agreed to teach one at Maine-ly Sewing (www.mainelysewing.com) in Nobleboro, Maine.  (Contact the store to sign up, etc.)   The class will be Saturday, Feb. 28th, from 10-4 !

Birch Pond, Summer

As usual, I figured why make one quilt when you can make two…. So I made the fusible applique quilt two ways, autumn and summer.  I am so pleased with the results that I think I’ll do the four seasons, write it up as a pattern and sell it…let me know what you think?   The pattern is actually quite easy, finishes about 22×25 inches (depending on your border and your final composition of the scene…there is definitely fudge-room here!).  PS–photos are clickable for a slightly larger view.

I did easy quilting so that beginning quilters and machine quilters won’t feel intimidated…I PROMISE, it really is easy to do the quilting on these patterns even when you are new to it!  Here is a detail photo:

Initially I did the autumn version… I just love the glorious colors of Maine in Fall.  However, given that Fall is behind us, and it has been winter for quite a while, Marge and I decided to use the Summer version (hope is eternal!  It WILL come again!) to advertise the class.  But, I wanted students to see that they can make the quilt in many ways.  Frankly, I kinda think it would be fun to do it another time in totally wild colors, like plum and turquoise and mango and lime…. wouldn’t that be a hoot?  Anyway, here is a more realistic, autumnal version:

And a detail of the Autumn version; note that I did the leaf canopy two different ways… in summer I used the twist-and-chop way to cut chunks, for autumn I used the slice it into confetti method!

Hope you like the quilts, and hope to see some of you in class!

Birch Pond, Autumn, detail

Yesterday I had a grand time!  It was my first chance to get to Augusta (Maine) for the quarterly statewide meeting of the Pine Tree Quilt Guild.  Better yet, I was the featured speaker, and debuted my lecture on Journal Quilts and Journals for Quilters.  The lady who invited me to speak said I should plan on 100-150 attendees, so I brought 150 handouts… and we ran out!   So I am going to post the contents of my handout here, at the end of this message.  Feel free to select and copy that section to print out at home!

Also, I realized I have never added my 2007 and 2008 journal quilts to my website, so I have done that today, too.  I have shared these journal quilts on the blog before, but here they are again.  The first quilt is Windows of Hope, picturing a little girl in the rubble of bombed out Tokyo circa 1946:

I’ll add the detail photos to the galleries along with technique information, otherwise this blogpost will be miles too long! (addendum:  I realized I never blogged about my 2008 journal quilts…eeek!  So I’ll do that in the next week or two….)  The next journal is Ancient Earth, which didn’t make it in to the juried 2008 Journal quilt exhibit, but I love it nonetheless.

And finally, Aslan’s Song, also made for (but didn’t get in) to the 2008 Journal quilt exhibit.  Details about the title and techniques are in the gallery section.   Click on the title for the link.

Last but not least, here is the handout from the Journal Quilts lecture:

The Journal Quilts and Journaling for Quilters
with Sarah Ann Smith

Websites:

www.quiltart.com
www.sarahansmith.com
www.quiltingarts.com
www.dickblick.com
www.mariaelkins.com
www.beadjournalproject.com

Books:
•    Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project, Karey Patterson Bresenhan
•    Art Quilt Workbook, Jane Davila and Elin Waterston
•    The Decorated Page, and The Decorated Journal, Gwen Diehn
•    Journal Revolution, Rise up and Create, Woods and Dinino
•    Quilters Playtime, Dianne Hire
•    Thinking Outside the Box, Sandi Cummings
•    Quilting Arts magazine
•    Cloth Paper Scissors magazine

Ideas for journal quilts and journals:

•    Beautiful things
•    What have you collected?
•    Things that make me mad!
•    Places you’d like to go / see / visit
•    Good smells
•    Favorite foods
•    Quilts I’d make if I had the skills and time
•    Song titles/lines/phrases
•    Quotations
•    Make 100 stamps
•    Flowers
•    Groceries
•    If I looked in your closet, what colors would I see?
•    Favorite clothes/shoes you had
•    Who inspires you?
•    Tell me something good that happened to you today!
•    Cut  fabric swatches and write why you like them
•    Pictures from a  magazine ..why do you like them?

•    Focus on….

Line Circles Numbers Letters Leaves Colors…..
Bugs you love/hate (or animals, or birds)
Maps…your home, your town, your mind, an imaginary planet….
Favorite books
Hubcaps, or how to fill a circle….
Artists you admire (Matisse!  Van Gogh!)
Your friends’ best qualities

What you need to journal:      a notebook, a pen or pencil, and an eraser!  Awake helps, too…
Optional:  glue stick, camera, pens, watercolors, waterbrush

Be Inspired!  Journal, quilt, and make art!!!!