Milkweed No. 2 is headed to Australia
Thursday, February 4th, 2016I’m delighted to share that my most recent art quilt, Milkweed No. 2, has been selected to be in Brenda Gael Smith’s current exhibit, A Matter of Time, and is en route to Australia! Brenda is giving us all sneak peeks at the artworks in her blogpost series called “Just a Moment” here.
![Milkweed No. 2 has been juried into A Matter of Time and will be touring in Australia, New Zealand, and possibly points beyond in the coming two years. I'm thrilled---just wish I could fit inside the envelope and travel with it!](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SASmith.Full_.jpg)
Milkweed No. 2 has been juried into A Matter of Time and will be touring in Australia, New Zealand, and possibly points beyond in the coming two years. I’m thrilled—just wish I could fit inside the envelope and travel with it! Click to view a little larger.
Apparently I mostly forgot to take in progress photos (!!!) while I was making Milkweed No. 2, so I will share one or two in progress shots from the making off Milkweed No. 1 (which I have not yet shared in public…stay tuned for that in a few weeks) in this and in a second post about my process.
As usual, I began with an idea (more like an obsession with milkweed pods) and dyeing fabric. I had plenty of batiks and some of my own hand-dyes but needed more for the sky. I decided to dye some cotton duck for the backing, as well.
I use the cotton duck as a stabilizer. It helps reduce shrinkage and the artwork hangs beautifully, although it isn’t as easy to handle under the needle as a lightweight fabric. It is worth the trade-off! I wrote an article about my process for Machine Quilting Unlimited and blogged about that here.
![The top side of the cotton, is on the left. The right side shows where the dye pooled on the bottom (cloth was dyed flat on a surface).](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MilkweedDuckSideBySide600©.jpg)
The top side of the cotton, is on the left. The right side shows where the dye pooled on the bottom (cloth was dyed flat on a surface).
Next, using Mistyfuse (by far the softest hand, easiest to use, never “ages out”) adhesive / fusible web, I prepare my fabrics for collaging. My video workshop (here on my site and available as a download here from Interweave) shows this part of the process, plus a lot more. Anyway, I use my “stash” of fused pieces, but always end up adding more bits for a given piece.
![Sorry about the shadow on the left---here I've got fabrics out for fusing and am sorting them into colors using carry-out dish lids (that I've been using for at least the past 7 years! that restaurant has been out of business for eons)](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DSC00208-1024x683.jpg)
Sorry about the shadow on the left—here I’ve got fabrics out for fusing and am sorting them into colors using carry-out dish lids (that I’ve been using for at least the past 7 years! that restaurant has been out of business for eons)
Next, I start the fusing process. In this shot, I’m working on the sky for Milkweed No. 1 (larger, landscape orientation), but I used exactly the same process on this piece.
![Working on the sun-glow in the sky. This is totally a collage process. I tend to cut chunks to go into the various trays, then use as is or submit while collaging.](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_6339.jpg)
Working on the sun-glow in the sky. This is totally a collage process. I tend to cut chunks to go into the various trays, then use as is or submit while collaging. The drawing you see is a piece of paper underneath my non-stick ginormous press sheet with my sketch. I ordered this one from Valerie Hearder in Canada, but Mistyfuse now sells the Holy Cow Goddess sheet which is 36×48 inches. Really helps with my process–I just cover the entire “big board” and get to work.
I then did a bit of surface design including stenciling and screen-printing using thermofax screens (details in my next post). Finally, I quilted my piece. Aren’t the colors just glorious? And yes, bright purple works in a seed pod!
![A second detail shot that shows some of the sky--I just love those days where there is a bright glowing spot in the sky where the sun is behind the clouds.](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MilkweedDetailA600©_6704.jpg)
A second detail shot that shows some of the sky–I just love those days where there is a bright glowing spot in the sky where the sun is behind the clouds.
I’ll be back in a few days with more on the processes using paint! Remember, visit A Matter of Time here and the “Just a Moment” previews blogposts about the various artists and artworks here.