New Work Wednesday

Here's some new pieces I've been working on lately

Mixed Media Pumpkin Brooches/Pins




Fabric Boxes



Mixed Media Jewelry



©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

New Work Wednesday

In celebration of the autumn season and the beginnings of cool weather, I have created some new items in seasonal motifs and colors.

Girlfriend Brooches/Pins











Greeting Cards









Fabric Box





©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Art Quilt - Deco Study #2

I want to start posting more of my original design contemporary art quilts, like I did last week. I haven't really taken the time to do this in the past and I would really like to share some of my favorite pieces with you.  Today I am focusing on my small art quilt Deco Study #2.

I love the art deco period and wanted to play around with some of the design elements in my art quilts.  I decided to make a few small pieces before tackling a larger wall hanging to get some experience working with the motifs.  One of the results was this 12 inch x 12 inch art quilt.

The materials used in this art quilt include hand-dyed cottons, commercial cottons and silks. I started by collaging the design motifs onto a background of richly-colored hand-dyed cotton. Once I was satisfied with the design, I satin stitched the edges of each piece with rayon thread. The way I built up the circle collages gives the quilt top a slightly three-dimensional effect. The collaged top was layered with Warm and Natural cotton batting and a commercial cotton backing fabric and then free-motion machine quilted with rayon threads. (I don't own or use a "quilting machine".  All my quilting is done with my older Bernina® 1090 machine.)  Since I allowed the design elements to "break out" of the confines of the square quilt, I wanted to retain that organic feel and did a simple zigzag stitch around the edges to finish the piece.

Have you used fiber art in your home decorating?  If not, then you should definitely try it!  Art quilts can be used on the wall, framed or unframed, just like any other artwork. But art quilt have a tactile, textural quality that most other types of wall art don't have.  I use contemporary art quilts (some framed and some unframed) all over my house and they give that extra punch of color that your walls sometimes need. They also look super when grouped with other types of artwork.


One thing to note, however; fiber art should not be hung in direct sunlight unless protected by UV filtering glass.

I will devote a future blog post to different methods of displaying this unique and fun type of art.  Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions about art quilts or how to display them, please leave me a comment.  I'll be sure to get back with an answer!

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Ginko

I haven't blogged about any of the wall art I have made recently so I thought it was time to remedy that. The fiber art group I belong to in Lafayette (FibR) decided to do a series of 12" x 12" challenges similar in vein to the Twelve by Twelve International Art Quilt Challenge. We ran three different challenges with the following themes:

• rust and gold
• blue and purple (with Tyvek™)
• neutral with one color plus texture

Other than these restrictions, and the fact that the finished piece should be 12" x 12", we could do anything we wanted in any medium.

This is my piece for the rust and gold challenge.

I started with a piece of canvas that I had gessoed then painted, splattered and stamped with acrylic paints.  Then I cut up the painted canvas and pieced it with  rust-colored hand-dyed cotton and golden-colored silk fabrics.  I embellished the top with hand-dyed cheesecloth for added texture and used some Shiva sticks to add rubbings of ginko leaves.  The rubbings didn't show up as much as I wanted so I cut and appliqued metallic silk organza ginko leaves over the rubbings. 

I layered the quilt with batting and backing fabric and machine quilted it using various motifs.

Then I used Sulky Solvy™ to machine stitch a large yarn and thread ginko leaf and machine stitched it to the center of the quilt top.

I zigzagged chenille yarn to the edges of the quilt to finish it.

This piece was part of FibR's recent show at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation entitled "Botanica".  The show ran from May 13 to June 17 at the Wells Center in Lafayette, IN.  Ginko is now at Gallery 510 in Decatur, Illinois in their consignment shop where I have some of my art pieces.

Until next time, keep on creating in your little corner of the world!

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

ACEO Artist Trading Card - Dots #10

In a previous post, I showed pictures of some ACEO artist trading cards that I was making. Here is one of the finished ACEOs.

This ACEO is made from over-dyed upholstery fabric and hand-dyed and commercial cotton fabrics. I embellished the front of the card with decorative stitching and hand-dyed cheesecloth for texture. The circle collages are made from commercial cotton, hand-dyed cotton, and silk fabrics machine appliqued to the front. Peltex is sandwiched between the front and the backing fabric to make the card sturdy. I couched yarn over the raw edges to finish the card and give more texture. The card is hand beaded with glass beads.

These cards are so much fun to make. They can be very useful for trying out new ideas before committing to a larger wall hanging.

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Artist Trading Cards (ACEOs) in Progress

Spiral

Dottin' Around #5

I'm working on some new artist trading cards (also known as ACEOs) and I thought I would share some in-progress photos with you.

An artist trading card (or ATC) is a small work of art the size of a baseball trading card or playing card (2.5" x 3.5"). These works of art are either originals or limited edition numbered series. They were originally created by artists for trading only; however, artists later realized that they would also be a great, inexpensive way for others to begin their own art collection. So the idea of ACEOs was born. ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals. ACEOs are now being made and sold by artists all over the world.

The in-progress cards shown below (as well as the finished ones above) began as a large (~12" x 12") background of various hand-dyed cotton and over-dyed upholstery fabrics fused to a piece of Peltex^TM to give the card thickness and support. I then used decorative machine stitches to stitch the fabrics down and start to give the background some texture. I often add couched yarns to the background as well. I then added more background texture through the addition of hand-dyed cheesecloth fused down with painted fusible webbing. Sometimes netting (or tulle) is used over part or all of the background surface.

Once the background is complete, I start working with my focal images. The cards in progress are from my "Deco Dots" series. I added various sizes and colors of fabric circles, partial circles and rings to achieve the look I wanted. I also sometimes add other decorative fabric pieces (such as the wavy cut strips shown) or various decorative trims.

The next step will be embellishing the cards.  More on that to come . . .

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Flavor for Mixed Media. I won!

Just got an email from Mary Beth Shaw. Apparently I won a copy of her new book, Flavor for Mixed Media: A Feast of Techniques for Texture, Color and Layers, in a giveaway on Judy Wise's blog! I'm so excited! I can't wait to sink my teeth into it and see what I can create!!! Woot!

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)