A while back, I blogged about preserving leaves with glycerin and freezing for later printing (as in during winter when there are no leaves on the trees), here.  I was fortunate to be able to demonstrate leaf printing at Open Studios, part of the Make It University section of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, on Wednesday evening.  I’d like to share here what I did, and include some written directions for those who were able to stop by my table and who surf in to my blog.

Since the MIU is about mixed media, I decided I had best do something mixed media, even though that is SO not me….   When Deborah flew up to Maine and we all got together (see the post here), Hannah gave us all Ikea mirrors–the cool square ones with the wide wooden frames.  I decided I’d do a mixed media thing, since that is what Hannah loves, and do some leaf printing on paper as well as cloth.  I then used some papers from a journal kit Deborah made and gave us all one Christmas, then added a milagro Kate brought back from a trip to the southwest a couple of years ago.  Finally, I asked Kathy for some of her dyed cheesecloth–I wanted to add something that was from each of the five of us. The result is above! I LOVE IT!

Late note:  after writing this post but before taking the picture, I remembered the sea glass and shells we collected this summer with Hannah down at a beach / cove not too far from her house.  I decided to add some to the bottom of the mirror and love the addition (I used K6000 glue…the stuff that I think could hold up a roof).  I also like the reflection of my camera and hands!

Here is what the leaves look like soaking in glycerin… I use about a one part glycerin to four parts water solution, but I’m really slapdash about it… I pour the glycerin into the lasagna pan,  add enough water that I’ll fit all the leaves.  If the water feels watery and not slippery like glycerin, I add more of the latter.  Very scientific.  Ahem.  The green leaves are fresh; the brown ones were collected brown about 4 years ago…they’ve been in the freezer all this time and still work for printing!

To do your own leaf printing, first you need your supplies:

•    Textile paints
•    Fabric or paper for printing
•    Sponge roller
•    Soft rubber brayer
•    8×10 glass, edges taped or plastic page protector as a palette
•    Sponge paintbrush
•    Leaves, clean and dry
•    Paper towels, parchment or other paper
•    Plastic to cover surface
•    Lightly padded surface/worktable

The last time I dyed fabric, I used paper towels to mop up some of the mess.  They were so lovely I couldn’t toss them.  Then it occured to me to use them in my leaf printing and get a two-fer!

How-to:
•    Squeeze or pour paint onto glass

•    Roll sponge roller to create an even coating
•    Place leaf bottom-side-up on clean / dry plastic and coat with paint; use sponge roller or paintbrush (as you can see, I didn’t do that…I just squished everything onto the glass)
•    Lift leaf and place paint-side-down onto cloth or paper

•    Cover with parchment or other paper–I used the dye-soaked paper towels!
•    Roll over leaf with soft rubber brayer (seen at left in photo above) OR press with hands
•    Remove cover sheet and carefully lift up leaf (the gold thing is the leaf with paint on it)
•    Allow paint to dry and heat-set or cure according to paint manufacturer’s instructionsThe amount of pressure applied with a roller versus your hands differs.  A brayer will produce a finer, lighter print.  If the contrast between paint and cloth/paper is too subtle, add more paint or try pressing the leaf onto the surface with your hands.

Hope you like!  Thanks to Barbara Delaney and Pokey Bolton at Quilting Arts for  the opportunity to participate in Open Studios, and to Cate Prato for inviting me to submit some ideas for the Embellishments newsletter. Click here to sign up for the free newsletter.

Hi all…have been working like a mad hatter this week, and HOPING to find an online link to the current QA Embellishments on-line, but not having much luck….that luck just changed…. this is what the top of the newsletter looks like…

To see my article for them, click here!

Not long ago I shared some leaf printing…well in the October 6 issue, #104, this online newsletter featured my tips on how to preserve leaves for printing later…like in mid-winter when there are no leaves (but time to do the printing).

Since the newsletter is still current, I won’t duplicate the information here at this point….  In the meantime, if you’d like to subscribe to the QA newsletter, click here.

I’m actually in the process of quilting the fabric pictured… it is the LAST project I am making for my book / manuscript…. a collective HOORAY please….. at least the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t quite so dim!   Back in a few days I hope, Cheers, Sarah

Creativity is like bunnies.  All you need is two and a little bit of time, and then you have LOTS, it just takes (ahem) practice.  Even in the few buildings and spaces of the top of Mount Washington and the observatory, I found lots of inspiration.  There is an OLD building half dug into the rocky top of the mountain that used to be an old hotel.  Inside were these gems….

An old lamp:

Wouldn’t that scrollwork and fill-pattern be wonderful in an applique or a quilting design?

And the woodstove…the top:

and the front…what a design!:

Then there are the converging lines of the observatory rooftop / pavers, with the guys at the railing:

Then there’s that cairn of rocks….

Repeating lines in the stairs:

And the stairs from the parking area up to the observatory from the side:

A grate over that stream by the entrance (with part of my shadow):

The screen in the Japanese (!!!) restaurant in Gorham:

Repeat after me:  harmony, rhythm, repetition….  and again but in circles:

I love that photo…the contrast of the red and black, the dark of the background/ceiling, the lines in the lanterns, the round shapes….

It all goes to prove that there are ideas for quilts, applique, piecing and quilting design EVERYWHERE…. once you get into the habit of actually SEEING what is there, instead of passively looking and absorbing, you can find inspiration all over the place…. the creativity breeds like bunnies….. the trick of course is weeding out the good ideas from the bad, but that’s another blogpost entirely!

On a warm summer Sunday, I made my way from the Tsongas Arena, site of the Lowell Quilt Festival, to the Whistler Museum of Art.  The museum is normally closed on Sundays, but the gallery with the art quilt exhibit was open (the rest of the museum wasn’t…rats!) for quilt lovers to stop and savor the work.  This wall is what greeted you… I enjoyed the interlaced sheer panels and the shadows cast on the wall.  If my photos are in order, this piece is called Microdctyom Stechellianum by Nancy Crasco. (Note:  photos in this post are clickable for a larger view.)

January Blooms by B. Sullivan, above,  is one of the most eye-catching pieces in the show.  The weekend I saw the exhibit, local floral arrangers had constructed pieces to go with the artwork…what a cool idea!   A detail photo reveals the modest and effective use of beads to enhance the floral print fabric:

Hibiscus is another piece playing with color overlays and sheer fabrics; this piece by Margaret Anderson won the Whistler Award (one of two awards given when I was there…the viewer’s choice was still underway).

One of my favorite pieces (and the one that got MY viewer’s choice vote!) was Wen Redmond’s Winter Tree.  She has printed photos onto fabric.  The center panel–the darkest, small part in the center– is sheer, and the surface piece is affixed to stretcher bars.  A second printed photo is behind, attached to the back side of the presser bars, so you get this cool window / show-through effect.  Wen had an article a winter or two ago in Quilting Arts magazine that I believe discussed this process, but I didn’t quite “get” it then…It’s hard to see the depth in photos. I’ll have to go back and look for the article now that I’ve seen one of these pieces in the real:

Bozena  Wojtaszek of Poland received a Juror’s Choice for her piece, My Way.  In my quest for art quilts with effective beading, this one is definitely a good one…. I’ve only seen one of Bozena’s pieces in the cloth before; I’m so glad she went to the expense to send this all the way from Poland to be in this exhibit!

a corner detail:

and a detail from the center…. I love the fabrics, the threadwork, the beads….

And one last piece, The Good Earth by Nancy Schlegel, shows how effective large stitching and beads can be in creating texture:

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Lowell, Massachusetts, seems to be a very art-friendly town and, given it’s history as a mill-town (lots of textile mills in upper New England in the late 1800s), quite open to the idea of art quilts.  The Brush is an artists’ co-operative and gallery.  Each year when the Lowell Quilt Festival happens, various venues around town have art quilt exhibits or related shows.  The Brush, along with the Whistler Museum of Art (as in James McNeil Whistler, most famous for his painting of his mother….), are two of the venues art quilters want to be in!  (Note:  photos in this post are clickable … you can right click to view larger in a window/tab.)  This quilt is Sod Wall I, by Elfa Jonsdottir of Worcester, Mass.  I’m not usually partial to this abstracted style of quilting, but I thought the use of the hand-dyed fabrics and color was particularly effective.

I got to meet Debbie Bein, Elaine and Mary from Toronto, all from the QuiltArt list, and to my great surprise and pleasure, my near-neighbor Carrie Hedstrom.  Carrie is a young mom of FIVE (ages 7 to two months…youngest was in a baby sling for the opening reception!)…how she finds time for art is beyond me, let alone time to get the entries done and sent in on time!  Somehow, I managed to miss taking a photo of them (I had just gotten out of class and RACED from Chelmsford, where the classes were held, to Lowell, where the show and galleries are, to be there before the reception ended!) or of Carrie.  But I did get this shot of the wall where Carrie’s quilt was hung, on the far left, and one that I think is Frieda Anderson’s on the far right:

Update:  Rosemary’s piece is titled “Sheer Floral.”  And, it is indeed Frieda’s work on the right, titled “SunSet Pines.”

I’ve only met Rosemary Claus-Gray online, but I love her work.  Sometimes it is abstract, but this representational piece in sheer fabrics is just glorious:

If you look closely at the photo, you can see the stretcher bars shadowing through the sheer fabrics!

I neglected to take a photo of the label on these two pieces… if anyone knows who made them, please let me know!   I love the use of thread in the satin stitching:

(Update:  the piece above, thanks to Cyndee who spotted an article in the Lowell newspaper, is Sun Moon Stars by Therese Bliss….thanks Cyndee!)

I’m giving a lecture on beading and embellishments on quilts, so I’m on the hunt for examples to use in my lectures.  I’ve photo’s the labels on all these pieces so I can contact the makers and ask permission to include the photos in my slide show…..  alas, this overall photo of Rachel B. Cochran‘s Imperial Palace didn’t turn out sharp:

but the detail photo did–I’m in love with her hand-dyes:

Margarete Steinhauer of Scituate, MA, created The Cork Oaks; she is a plant and environmental scientist, and was inspired by a piece of commercial dye-painted fabric.

In several days, I’ll share the quilts at the Whistler!  Cheers, Sarah