Copper Jewelry

Working with copper wire! I love how copper feels, how it patinas, how easy it is to shape and texture. Amazing what can be done with supplies bought at a hardware store!

Silk noil made into paper with starch.

This piece was made the same way as below with more fibers embedded into the silk. My mom is a survivor of breast cancer and I hope to make a wall quilt with this piece in her honor. I think anything pourus could be added in these fibers. Such as flower petals, very thin leaves, feathers, other fibers, angelina, maybe wool fibers?

Silk noil made into paper with starch

I don't like this piece but maybe there is hope for it yet. I think this silk is some sort of waste silk fiber. It was dense as I pulled it apart. It has the texture of cotton candy. I used spray starch for this piece. I layered the fibers on tulle. I added in the yarn and placed fiber over some of it starched and ironed it. I was amazed how flat it turned out and how much it feels like paper.

Silk paper with elmers glue.

This technique used 1/2 elmers glue and 1/2 water mixed together. I layered the silk on freezer paper, mixed the glue & water together and poured over the fibers. It became a sticky mess. Imagine that. I put another piece of freezer wrap slick side on top of the fibers and grabbed my brayer and rolled over the fibers and glue. I peeled back the freezer paper and let the fibers dry overnight. In this experiment I used way to much glue. I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I am thinking I will use this piece on light colored fabric to keep the glue from showing so much. The back of the piece is slick looking but the front is beautiful. Maybe a great background for ATC's?

Spray starch silk fusion.

This sample was done with spray starch. Layer your silk on parchment paper. Just moisten the silk with spray starch and iron on silk setting. Turn your piece over and starch the other side repeat until you have enough starch in the fibers to hold it together. Talk about simple and beautiful!!!

My try at silk fusion.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge images. I have had so much fun playing with silk fibers this week. I have tried so many different mediums and I am excited to share my experiments with you! This was my first trial. I layered silk fibers on a window screen, covered the screen with tulle netting (to keep the fibers in place). Put it in the sink and poured pre-mixed dish soap and water over the fibers. (the dish soap lets the fibers soak up the water) Once completely wet I dropped textile medium onto the fibers and massaged it in. I let it air dry and a beautiful soft shiny piece of fabric emerged! I really like this method. Fast, easy and almost instant results!

Beaded Wall Art

During the beading class I took I started this piece. I drew out my images onto timtex and started beading. The beaded piece is about 2" by 3". I first outlined the images, the heart and scroll work and just started filling in with different beads. I sewed it onto a quilted piece of fabric. Put on the binding and made the hearts. I beaded along the edges of the hearts for interest. The fibers surrounding the beaded piece is yarn wrapped around a pipe cleaner. Yep simple as that. I just glue down the fibers and start wrapping them around the pipe cleaner. Sometimes using contrasting colors such as a black pipe cleaner and pink yarn would really show up!