December's meeting was fattening - too many goodies! But we also had fibery stuff to do. In the Nov/Dec 2007 issue (#15) of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, page 32; there were some really cool things that I can only call Spirit Wards. Inspired by a native tradition in Africa, these hanging fabric collages were very fun to make. I must remember my camera more often as the finished items seen in January were impressive. Mine is not done (no surprises there!) but I'll post it if it ever does get finished.
Meanwhile... January we decided to play with an idea from a new book called Creative Embellishments for Paper, Jewelry, Fabric, and More by Sherrill Kahn. We made beads and "windows" by melting page protectors. These were fun, if a bit stinky in a closed room in 6 degree (F) and snowy MI. Of course, if you can melt page protectors, what else can you melt?
The top photo is a "window" created by sandwiching fabric strips, bits of peacock feather, and some tiny silk oak leaves from the floral department of (cringe) the "J" place, between two layers of Page Protectors (or Sheet Protectors depending on which brand); the top loading plastic pages you keep in three-ring binders. All this was hit with a heat gun until it started to melt together.
The second photo is beads created by rolling cut strips of the Page Protectors around a steel rod (BBQ skewer in my case), wrapping it with hair ties and melting it with the heat gun. One bead is plain, in one I rolled up peacock feather and in the third, a sheer fabric.
So, if you can melt one kind of plastic... The beads above are a plastic wrapper that came off a 4-pack of Campbell's soups. These seemed to work best if wound loosely (lower right) and they cooled quite shiny.
Next, this bead was a strip cut from one of those flimsy water bottles. I wrapped it with a sheer synthetic fabric which burned quite impressively when the bottle plastic curled away from it. Ack! This plastic seemed to be a favorite as it cooled/hardened more clear and shiny than the Page Protector beads which became quite cloudy when cooled but it was harder to get to stick to itself.
Lastly, I did a quick thing with Shrinky Dink as I have never seen it before. I have to admit, that was memorizing!
A glittery gel pen that I scribbled on the pre-shrunk plastic with stayed sparkly. Other people played with some very cool stuff like Fun Foam and turned out some really neat things. Hopefully they will share pictures with us.
Show & Tell
Linda J did some more sun printing with Setacolor paints.
She also did a beautiful quilt with lots of circles and curved piecing - very nice!
February we are going to torture wool and silk with dye :),
Deb H
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