In the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of striking up a friendship with Don Mettler, an experienced and talented needlework artist who has been making non-traditional quilts for more than 25 years. For the most part, he worked in commercial fabrics - but these days he's doing surface design and mixed media and having a blast!
Don is experimenting these days with gel glue - applying it directly to the fabric as a resist. I use Elmer's (or CVS's) blue gel glue but Don says he can't find the blue gel in Arizona and is using the clear gel glue instead. Hmmm..I've never seen clear gel glue. Maybe it depends on the part of the country you live in. Anyway, last night's email brought me a picture of his most recent pieces. This very graphic stripe was done with glue applied to the fabric.
My brother was here for two weeks while we worked on making a small dent in my mother's apartment.
It was a treat to spend quiet time with Jon - he makes me laugh and we can be happy and comfortable just sharing space, having cocktails at the end of the grueling day and sitting and reading on the deck till it got dark. Here is Jon, relaxing with a book. I put mine down long enough to take this picture.
Here we are with my mother, who was so happy to see her son! My nephew Harry took this picture and amazingly, got a smile out of my mother. She usually hates having her picture taken.
I also finished requilting my piece, Strata, which really needed better stitching than I gave it when I first made it a couple of years ago. Right now it is on my design wall being blocked (you can see the piins) and I am much happier with the stitching.
Tell me about your series -- are they intended or unintended? I'm putting together a lecture on working in a series and while nobody agrees on the definition of a series, I'd like to explore it. So let me hear from you!
4 comments:
Nice family picture! You are fortunate to have both your Mom and your brother in your life! And I loved the comments about glue resist. I have tried both the blue and the clear gel glue... seems that the clear is a little more fluid than the blue. I am anxious to try it on a screen, so will add that to my 'to-do' list!
Great family picture -- so wonderful you could all be together! Love Strata, especially the hot flashes of red and the cool pastel surprises amidst the green field. Love, love, love!
My series are both intentional and unintentional. I had curiosity about a chair shape and that's turned into a deliberate exploration; however, pictures of hands sometimes seem to be the best way to express what I have to say, so these pieces have unintentionally become a series.
Isn't it the best thing in the world to have loving family connections? Good luck with the clearing out of your mom's apartment.
I never intended to work in a series, but found myself doing so after I discovered deconstructed screen printing. It's been a great way to flesh out some of my design ideas, having a repetitive motif in several pieces.
I have to agree with Judy - the clear gel doesn't hold it's line/shape as well as the blue gel. We discovered this in a workshop I was doing with school age kids. You can do very intricate designs with the blue gel. I imagine the same thing would hsppen eiyh screens.
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