What came next: Wheat Paste Resist

In last week’s post I was exploring surface design with painted patterns, enjoying an unusual palette. I ended by writing that I thought I’d add a wheat paste resist.  So I did.

At the end of this post, I’ll get to the issue of WHY?

Just a bit about resists: there are lots of kinds of resists. I am not the inventor of any of them. Beeswax, soy wax, glue, tempera paint, wheat paste and paste from other kitchen supplies can all be used as ways to block out paint or dye. Some will also create a batik-like crackle effect.

I like the crackle. So, I am using wheat paste. (Secret recipe to make wheat paste at end of post) Like this:

POUR

SPREAD

NOW DO SOMETHING ELSE Now you have find something else to do for at least 24 hours. The paste has to dry till it’s stiff and crunchy. We had a few good hours of sun this afternoon so I set mine outdoors to let the sun do its work.

CRACK. I don’t actually scrunch up the fabric. That makes the dried paste just fall off in chunks. I try to work from the back – using my fingers or a big wooden spoon, and push the fabric till it makes a lot of all-over hairline cracks.

PAINT: PUT IT ON  Your goal is to get paint down into all the little cracks to make an image on your fabric.

Today I used my favorite big natural sponge. Sometimes I use a large paintbrush, and I have used a paint-covered brayer.

You will only be able to see the results of some of what you are doing at this stage. It’s a walk-by-faith part of the process.

DO SOMETHING ELSE AGAIN Maybe a few hours, till paint is completely dry.

Then you dunk the fabric in water to let the wheat paste soften up so you can get it off. I left it soaking for a few hours.

PAINT: TAKE IT OFF Now the fabric can come out of the water. That nice dry crackly wheat paste has turned into mushy sludge, and the acrylic paint is attached to the pasty mush.  It’s gross. It’s got to go.

I generally scrape the bulk of it off with the side of a spoon. Then I slosh the fabric up and down in the water some more to get rid of most of the sludge. I like to do the final clean-off outdoors with the garden hose.

DRY I let it air dry OUTDOORS.

SO, WHAT’S THE PURPOSE?
Here that question is at the end of the procedure, and it’s really the most important issue.

On this particular bit of yardage, the purpose of adding the crackle has been to unify all the disparate colors and patterns, to create some unity. I like the way the deep color of the crackle adds depth to the piece.

But, beyond this particular piece, why create original fabric? It’s so tempting to fall in love with the process and then to fall in love with a particular piece that you’ve created.

But that’s not the reason for doing it.

When I create fabric it’s so that it can be used in a piece of artwork. I’ve discovered that using original fabric is artistically pleasing to me, and connects me to the work in a way I would not be if I used commercial fabrics.

And, as a quilter who frequently digs into storytelling in my work, every bit of detail and layered pattern can be a part of the story.

I’ve created two works recently this summer that use my own fabrics, and that incorporate the fabric into the narrative of the artwork. Below; Breathe In and Know, Entering Untold Stories

If you’d like to learn more about these works, please visit them on my website at these links:

BREATHE IN AND KNOW

ENTERING UNTOLD STORIES

How to make wheat paste: Secret Recipe!
It’s flour + water. Mix it in a bowl, till about the thickness of pancake batter.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating 

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

---

Fabric Printing - Elton John adventure

I’ve been wanting to tackle the next stage of this project, but it’s a bit daunting. I have started four different muslin pieces with very subtle background splatter colors on them. Each will become printed/painted fabric in a different palette.

This one is pinks-reds-yellows-yellow/greens. (Not a normal palette for me.) I have an incomplete vision of how I might use this, but I’m waiting to see  how it evolves.

So today’s the day. I put on some Classic Elton John for energy and courage.

“Burn Down the Mission” is filling the studio.

Here’s where I was prior to today’s print/paint session.

I’d done enough to define a direction for the colors. Now I wanted to add more layers and deepen the palette,

Earlier this week I created a few new stencils to add to my regular vocabulary.

Circles, mixed-size-squares, rows of alternating bean-like shapes with sticks, and a cut and sliced box from cream cheese packaging. The first three will function as openings: Paint will go in and those shapes will be printed. The cream cheese box will function as a block-out: I’ll put paint around its perimeter. (I also ended up pulling a large circle shape from my stencil stash and using it similarly.)

But first I wanted to stencil some donut shapes (an existing stencil from my stash) in a deeper green, because I already had bits of that on the fabric in goldish tones.

I printed over these oval donut shapes with a large natural sponge for a loose image.

“Madman across the Water” playing.

Next I blocked out some areas with the cream cheese package. I’m trying to think in positive-negative applications of color. This simple shape is a way to define areas.

Now trying out the new bean-with-sticks pattern with some deeper red.

“Tiny Dancer.” I’m singing along.

I kept working over the surface. I added some areas with the new squares pattern and the new circles pattern.

Here’s where I ended up after a few hours.

I think I want to add a wheat paste crackle to the whole surface to unify all the parts. That will take time to dry and apply. Stay tuned next week for the results!

“Crocodile Rock.” Goodnight Elton.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

---

How to Show What’s Behind

Working as a textile artist provides lots of opportunities to create layers. I enjoy physical layers – collaging one thing on top of another – as well as story and content layers.

I completed “Entering Unknown Stories’ about a week ago. I was reviewing it in my “done” pile today. I was pleased that I incorporated several different ways of showing-what’s-behind into this work.

Transparent Fabric – There are two birds in this quilt, and each was created by painting transparent acrylic on sheer fabric, then collaging the cut-out bird onto the quilt surface. They are opaque enough to be prominent, but they are also transparent to allow some of the background to be visible through their bodies.

Transparent Paint glaze – In this section of the house, I painted a glaze (acrylic paint diluted with medium) of blue to define the interior of the structure. At the top, by the red roof, you can see the effect.

To the left of the roof, the trees are shades of gold. They cross over the wall to inside the house. Those same trees show through the blue glaze that begins just under the red roof. The complementary colors – the blue over gold – allows the trees beneath to almost create a glow.

Overlapping – In the trees, I worked to create the effect of close-up and far away

I used the same silkscreen stencil to print all these trees. But the ones in the foreground are showing with full-intensity paint. The ones further away have been positioned to peek through the foreground and are less intense.

Physical cut-outs I am drawn to architectural elements – especially doors and windows.

A compelling photo – The beginning inspiration for this work was the photo of looking through the iron gate.

I was intrigued with the way the photo draws you in, to see what’s in there behind the iron gate. (And I remember feeling that way when I shot the photo, in a city garden in downtown Natchez, Mississippi.) Framing photos with interesting foreground and something behind provides thought-provoking imagery.

This process of looking at a photo for meaning – I don’t mean to stick this on at the end as an afterthought. In every work that involves some layers of meaning, there has to be a starting place. The layered images I seek to create have to mean something. Or they have to stir up some kind of emotion or memory for me. This provides purpose for all of the technical layer-creation that will come.

This was a quilt that evolved as I developed it in my studio. Much of it I planned: the photo looking through the iron gate, the printed trees, the printed water photos, the leaves, and the inclusion of colorful quilt blocks within the body of the image. But, after I had created that much, it just wasn’t done. Working to add more depth and layers of meaning seemed to take the work where it was intended to go.

If you would like to see the completed work or find out more information about this piece, please visit my website HERE.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

Breathe In and Know...

It all came together!

Two weeks ago I posted about the beginning of this quilt. (5-23-21… Wading into Serenity.) The two weeks since then have had a lot of art things pulling me off course: sewing machine breakdowns plus two other works-in-progress that are just busting my chops with frustration. GGrrrrmph.

BUT… this one came together. Sometimes it works out that way.  Aaaah!

I was interested in using this honey-comb stencil printed piece as an anchor between several sections. I remember printing this section: it was at the end of a printing session and I had some leftover paint. I grabbed a long stretch of muslin and pressed some images. I like the way the pattern has differences in intensity from one end to the other.

I added other printed fabrics and photo transfers to this strip, working in a grid and quilting in sections.

Here’s the quilt when it was mostly constructed – on my easel, waiting to discover what would happen next.

This was actually as far as I’d planned. And I liked all the components. But, at this point it looked to me more like a background and not a finished work. There was more to come.

Some of the layering I added included transparent paint over the photo transfers. The transfers are smooth and not absorptive. They create a nice surface for painting.

Right at the end, I decided to add a few characters to this setting. The bees appear in three spots.

I have photos of this completed work, and a mock-up showing how it would look in an interior, on my website. Please take a look if you’d like to see more: BREATHE IN AND KNOW

This week I hope to get back to the works that are frustrating me and hope to find some solutions.  Wish me luck!

To the artmakers….. Happy creating.

To the art-lovers……… Happy appreciating!

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

---