Cassandra's Lutradur & Lace Adventures

2009-01-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of emotional stuff going on this winter and the muse did not strike. In addition, I found out the top tension of my sewing machine went bloooey, costing me $$$ and aggravation, and I'm concerned that sewing through those thick L&L projects to edge them might have been the last straw for my little machine, so I'm reluctant to risk it again.

But I want to hang on to this blog for a while and see what happens.

A Winter Muse?

2008-05-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

Honestly, since spring has sprung, I have not felt the urge to work on L&L projects. Perhaps when we are into the hot, dry summer phase I will feel differently. But the muse is quiescient right now.

Tiny Storefront

2008-04-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

This new tool in beta from PayPal is quite the cool thing. Just to play around, I placed a storefront at the bottom of the blog. I wanted to put it at the side, but it is too wide and spills over top of the blog entries. It also does a weird thing with the photos where even if I put them the size it says it wants, it only shows the top half. So I added a direct link below the storefront so someone could look at photos directly. The storefront technology is pretty well done overall and has neat features.

Never mind that I believe I have a total of three readers of this blog or that L&L does not put its best foot forward through photos! It's kind of fun, though. I checked into Etsy, and I determined that for such small items, there was no way I was going to pay a fee just to list them.

Framed Lace Motif Pieces

2008-04-10T18:50:00.001-07:00

I have been working on obtaining frames for some pieces. Since funds are tight, I tried to do this while spending as little money as possible. I think I did pretty well.

These two pieces are in 5x7 frames that I already had. They were sitting in a closet with items I didn't want on the walls in this particular house, so I scavenged and repainted them:

The next three pieces are in 8x10 frames I obtained from a thrift store for $1 apiece. I repainted them. The first frame makes the boldest statement:

The next one I like to think of as a colorful spring meadow framed in a brilliant blue sky:

Sanding and painting the frames took some patience. There are quite a few nooks and crannies. Because the Lumiere paints can be sort of see-through, I painted the frames first with regular dark blue and dark purple, and then I put the Lumiere paints on top as a second coat.

This last frame is very interesting to me. This frame was pink-stained wood already, and it was almost a match. I just sanded it lightly and applied two think coats of pearly white paint. I think it fits the motifs fairly well. I like its simplicity for this piece:

I also have made progress on the lace piece in my previous post, and I'll try to post about it soon. Right now I would like to finish the little storefront that I was working on a few days ago and got stalled on.

MistyFuse: Success!

2008-04-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the person who suggested in a comment that I iron the MistyFuse on to the lace before I cut it up. This worked like a charm! I am very happy about this.

Here's a photo of the lace layout:
Now here's a photo after an initial layer of paint over the lace:
I was a little worried that the MistyFuse would show through the holes in the lace, but it worked just fine. And there's no trouble this time with the paint appearing "flat" instead of shiny. So I think I'm finally good to go on this kind of project! Took me a while . . . oh well. I am looking forward to working on a few more pieces like this, and then I want to do a few more bookmarks.

Sold: One bookmark

2008-04-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I only sold one, but that's OK. It was, after all, a used curriculum sale, so people were not expecting to buy art.

What I actually found more encouraging is that quite a few people looked through them with active interest, and a few people asked how they were made. The only bummer is that the one that sold was the same one I was considering keeping for myself! Oh well--that will motivate me to start some more bookmarks.

BTW, we sold a fair amount of curriculum, so it was good all around.

Bookmarks: All Done!

2008-03-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Hooray! I'm done. Who knows if any one will want to buy them, but I'm happy to have them completed.

Resurrection: L&L Style

2008-03-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Itidarod is winding down now, so I have some room to breathe. Let me fill you in on what I've been thinking/doing in the rare moments between sled dog racing stuff.

When I posted last, I was wondering whether the piece was salvageable. After some more depressing fiddling, I decided to stop. I almost threw the piece away, and then I reflected on how long it takes to prepare a piece of Lutradur, and I hesitated. I flipped it over to the other side where I had pasted a few pieces, and decided to try something. Getting my fingers all "paint-y," I did a piece the looong way and painted the back one color, then cut out individual pieces, painted them individually, and then used more paint to stick them to the back. This was what I had been trying to avoid in the first place, but honestly, it felt GOOD! I finally felt like I was making progress.

The downside to this method is that since you can't rearrange the pieces as you go, I couldn't get as "tight" a pattern as I did before. I can't remember if I posted my original pattern (before I had to take the pieces off to do the layers of MistyFuse), but here's what it looked like:

ASIDE: I did get a comment on my last post from someone named "mistyfuse" that I intend to try next time. (Manufacturere? MistyFuse guru?) This person suggested that I back the lace, then cut the lace up, arrange it, and then iron it again. I think I will try on a smaller piece than 11x14, though! If this works, I will be soooo elated! This person's other suggestion was to use Teflon instead of parchment paper, which I will try next if needed.

Anyhoo, I didn't know those things at the time, so I started "over" the only way I knew: by pasting down each piece by paint. This took a while and was messy (true confession: I strongly dislike getting my hands icky), but the result wasn't bad. I found though, that with the random placement of pieces, a random pattern of paint looked too chaotic. So, I experimented with a loosely representational image of a stream. It's not much in the way of a picture, but as a simple pattern it seems to work:

The difference between the blue stream and the green banks was quite stark so I did a gold wash over the top. There are also some color subtleties that don't come out well in the photo. Right now the piece is drying after having glitter spray applied.

When I decided to do the stream thing, it ended up not looking quite right in 11x14 format. I cut it down to 8 x 10 and I like it much better. The good news is that I ended up with two new, attractive bookmarks out of the excess.

That is the other project I have been slowly working on: finishing and edging the bookmarks. I also ordered some bookmark tassels to put on them. I am down to my last few that I hope to finish today, and when I finish them, I hope to post a picture of the whole lot. I am hoping to sell some at an upcoming used curriculum sale. I am also considering framing some of the lace motif pieces and bringing them along just to see if there is any interest.

I am also knee-deep in pricing used curriculum. It's currently all over my workspace in the laundry room that is also used for crafts, so I can't do too much messy L&L stuff until I'm done.

Well, off to price more used curriculum. If I get cleaned up enough to sew the last bookmarks, I'll put another photo up today.

MistyFuse: Woe is Me

2008-02-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

Depressing. This project has been downright depressing. I have been too depressed for several days to blog about this project or even take a photo. But I got brave today. Just like Ree, I'm keepin' it real ; ). Here it is:

Blech.

After a panicked SOS phone call to Needleroozer, I figured out how to use the stuff. THANK YOU! I followed her clear instructions and got the layers fused together. But.

But.

The MistyFuse does not work and play well with my style, apparently. I like the shiny background of the Lutradur and then the lace on top. However, the MistyFuse, although fused, is still "there" and somehow cuts down on the shiny-ness. Seriously cuts down on it. I tried to apply some layers of paint over it, but it still looks like a black hole underneath. I call it the "dead" look. I couldn't seem to compensate for it although I tried several things. I tried to add some colors on top but it's still just awful, IMHO.

Let me show you what I mean. I threw down a random bookmark (not even close to one of my favorites). The bookmark has a fair number of Lutradur surface only shiny places, so it's a good contrast. The photo shows the bookmark next to a section of the piece in question:

Quite a difference. And it's a difference that matters, to me anyway. So, after I took these shots, I literally drenched the thing in purple shiny paint, trying to salvage it. It took quite a dousing to get inbetweeen all the cracks of the MistyFuse. But now the paint is soooo thick that the whole thing is a textured monogamous surface and you can't distinguish the lace pieces from the background.

Well, my brush was loaded from the heavy paint layer, so I cut a few more pieces of lace, painted them too, and stuck them on top of the whole mess, just to see what it would look like. My thought was, "Perhaps I can just start completely over and use this as a background." It's still drying, so I can't move it to a sunny spot yet to get a good photo. But I'm not sure it's going to work. I'm not sure this piece can be salvaged. Got any bright ideas?

Finished Bookmarks #3 and #4

2008-02-28T15:56:00.001-08:00

I'm pretty happy with both of these sets. I actually finished them all in one day! I found myself with a block of time today because the weather was GORGEOUS and I couldn't bear to keep the children inside doing bookwork. I let them go out before lunch, served them lunch on the back patio, and they are still out there. There are large excavations going on in our dirt pit. Those who know me IRL can request photos via email if you'd like, but I'm not willing to post them publicly (sorry).

Anyway, I spent my time watching the engineering feats (complete with water to make mud from the dirt) through the window while sewing these bookmarks up. I have a few more batches after this, and then I'll be done.

I'm sort of taking a breather between "pre-Iditarod" studying-up and "tracking the race," which starts in earnest on Sunday. Then it will be head-down again, full-steam-ahead. This has been a busy, teacher-intensive time, but so far they seem to enjoy it.

Possible Hiatus

2008-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Got MistyFuse. Got parchment paper. Now, got *no time.*

I've embarked on a major homeschooling unit study, following the Iditarod, so if you don't see any updates in this space, that's where I am. (I am doing this because we are going to AK this summer and I want the children to learn about the state before we go.)

But if I get a chance to try these things I waited almost *four weeks* for, I will certainly let you know how it goes.

Thanks to Needleroozer for answering my SOS a few days ago. Sorry I was in such a rush.

Finished Bookmarks #2

2008-02-14T15:07:00.001-08:00

Here are four more bookmarks that I stitched today. I also stitched one more, but it was the same kind as yesterday's, so I won't waste your time showing you that one.

The wide lace nestled together (bookmark #2 from left) looks really cool as a piece of any size, but it sure is a pain to stitch around. The edges of that one don't look nearly as uniform as the others.

Yes, they all have a purple theme, but I'm stitching the ones first that I can use my purple thread with. I am trying to minimize rethreading, changing/redoing bobbins, and all of those sewing hassles. Did I mention that sewing isn't my fav thing? Oh, sorry, I'll give it a rest now.

One major good thing is that I went through DD's wardrobe with her last night, and I don't have to sew any clothes this spring! I have to let out a couple of hems, insert a couple of lace pieces to help with low necklines, and that's all! I had enough clothes put away waiting for her to grow into them that she is in good shape for spring. Next winter will be another matter . . . but I plan to "be Scarlett O'Hara" about that.

I. Hate. Sewing. (Also, Finished Bookmarks #1)

2008-02-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I tried adding some numbers in Photoshop to the bottom of the photo, but they look soooo small . . .

These four bookmarks are from a piece that I didn't like how it turned out overall. They are OK as bookmarks, I think. Since I already had them basically finished, I just had to cut them out, add glitter spray, and paint the backs. This is why these were ready for sewing before some of the other bookmarks I've been blogging about. Those are coming along too but are not quite at this stage. More on those in the coming days.

I experimented on a piece of fabric before I started stitching these, but I guess the fabric bunched up. The Lutradur, however, most certainly does NOT. That means that I didn't think the border would be too wide, but it was!

My first try, the (1) bookmark on the left has a verrrry wide border. Machine was set to width of 5. Yikes. Try (2) was a width of 4. Still too much. Try (3) was a width of 3 1/2. Better. So I did (4) the same way.

NOTE TO SELF: Set width no wider than 3 1/2 for small projects.

And to my dismay, Needleroozer was right, and I had to go around twice. That's a lot of thread, and a lot of time. Just these four took me almost an hour! And I had to reload the bobbin (it had a lot of thread on it to start with, too). Waaaah.

This part of a L&L project is too much like work: I. Hate. Sewing.

Since it was sunny and fairly warm, I gave my children some time off of inside school and let them play outside in the dirt pit (a favorite spot). This is how I had time to work on the bookmarks in the middle of the day! ; )

However, the sunny day and the sewing reminded me that I really need to do some sewing for DD this spring. Ack.

So I guess after I get these bookmarks done I need to take a break from L&L and do some sewing.

I. Hate. Sewing.

Did I mention that I strongly dislike sewing? Oh, I guess I did. Sorry. End of rant.

Bookmarks at intermediate stage

2008-02-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

Here are shots of some of the bookmarks in their intermediate phase. Truthfully, I think some of them are done, but I'm reserving judgment. Since glitter doesn't normally show up in the photos anyway, I took this before I applied glitter.

Here are four more below. Actually, I finally found a use for the hideous yellow ; ). It actually works well to accent the green on the sides of the "river" in the bookmark at the far right.

Here are five more: Some of these need more work, I think. I am thinking particularly of the bottom bookmark lying sideways, and the bookmark on the far right. The middle bookmark lying down is my favorite of the bunch.

Also, I know there are stray flakes of a different gold stuck on the top bookmark. I was painting the back and somehow some got on the front. I have to figure out how to either get rid of them or paint over them. Grrr. I already tried to scrape at them a little, with no success.

I like how the curves in the scrim bookmarks turned out (third from left in first photo and far right in second photo). If I make more bookmarks, I will make more of those. But I want to finish this batch first. In addition to these, I have some bookmarks I cut from "reject" pieces that I'm spiffing up a little, individualizing them a bit. And I have to paint all the backs and stitch around the edges. So I want to do all of that before I start more. And I don't want to end up with too many "in stock."

Bookmarks, Bookmarks, Lots O' Bookmarks

2008-02-09T11:53:00.001-08:00

I decided to get some bookmarks worked up to take with me to used curriculum sales when I sell my stuff this year. There's one coming up in March, and another one will be in May or June. I thought it would be a kick to see if I could actually sell something! I don't know yet how much to charge.

Here are the first four. I decided to use some colors that were left over from my original Lumiere sampler pack:

I think I have a little more copper in the bottle. I think I might try rubbing it on one of the green hem lace backgrounds when these dry (one of the green pieces had copper underneath, and you can still see it a little, which gave me that idea). These have already been trimmed. Also, on the hem lace pieces, I pressed them under a book while they were drying to keep them flat.

Here's three more. I really like the composition of first one (on the left), but the color is hideous. I just DO NOT like the yellow gold that came with the original set. I hate mustard the food, and mustard the color. And it looks even worse in the picture than in person! I tried to use this color up on the big lace that sucks up paint. I plan to thoroughly paint over it. After I do that, I think this bookmark will shape up nicely. It is a similar composition to my first framed piece.

The next two bookmarks I'm not sure about yet, with the little bits of lace. I'll have to see what different paint layers do to make them more interesting. The color on this shot is a little strange--the bookmark on the right is actually silver, not blue. Again, I was using up paint for these foundational layers.

Here are some variations in scrim. The scrim is stuck, the bookmarks have been trimmed, and they now have a foundation color. I tried some different patterns of scrim. It will be interesting to see how well these are highlighted by layers of paint. They don't look very spiffy now, but I think they will turn out well.

The last four bookmarks are a step behind. I hesitate to post these, because they look pretty awful before they are trimmed, but then I decided to try to "keep it real." I had some more of the big lace, so I made another bookmark with it. Note to self: Halo Gold Violet is a very pretty color, but don't use it for a foundation color when you're gluing on lace. The gold tends to build up on the brush and makes a mess. Save it for highlights.

As for the burgundy one, I think I'm really going to like this one. Can you spot the double round center in one spot of the lace? This is where the lace edges met each other on the original pillowcase--they were glued together solidly. I kind of like it in there. It reminds me of the Oriental custom of deliberately placing one flaw in a work. I might keep this bookmark for myself! Also, it's the last of this kind of lace, which makes me sad. I'll have to start looking in thrift shops for more, and I don't know if I'll find more or not.

Here are the last two in progress. Whew! That's a lot of bookmarks! The purple one on the left has three different scraps of lace left over from other projects. Actually, I lied above. In the middle of the purple piece--THAT'S the last of the lace I like that I don't know if I will find again. I'll have to see how this one piece turns out--I'm not sure about it.

The blue piece on the left photographed strangely. The lace is the same color as the background, but here it appears lighter. I don't know why.

I also got brave and cut up three other old, experimental pieces for bookmarks, including the waterlogged disaster. I might spruce some of them up with new layers of paint here and there. This gave me about ten more bookmarks. As I cut up the old pieces, I realized that I've learned a bit since then about how to actually do this, which was encouraging.

All in all, I was pleased with the progress I made today. I know it has looked like I've been doing "nothing" on the blog, but I was indeed cutting out and preparing the bookmarks. I'm STILL waiting for my Joggles order--it's been 10 days since it was mailed. I emailed her this week and she said that sometimes it has taken three weeks. Boohoo. But I figured out how to lay my other two pieces out of the way, so I'm going to console myself with bookmarks until my MistyFuse gets here. I am enjoying doing them after doing several larger projects--I think I find them less intimidating.

Waiting for MistyFuse

2008-02-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. The last project that I was trying to flatten didn't turn out so well. Some water leaked through wax paper onto my white history dictionary, which made me a VERY unhappy camper. Very. Also, the excess water clogged up the lace so that much of the texture was lost when I finally got the crazy project flattened after about four days of trying. Sigh. Experiments don't always turn out well!

So I picked up the clue phone and ordered some MistyFuse. I have two other projects prepared and laid out, lace pieces and all. One is a strips piece like the failed one, and another is a "bits" piece. My MistyFuse should be here any day, so when it comes I will proceed and blog accordingly.

Response to Book Meme

2008-01-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

When Needleroozer tagged me, my reaction was, "Huh? What on earth?" Being new to blogland, I was unaware of these kinds of activities ; ). But I went to her blog and figured out what's going on.

The bad news is that the nearest book is really a tome: Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward Corbett and Robert Connors. I am reading it to prepare to teach a high-school grammar and composition class in the fall. Here's my selection:

"In summary then, let us say that when we are engaged in any kind of deliberative discourse, we are seeking to convince someone to adopt a certain course of action because it is conducive to happiness or to reject a certain course of action because it will lead to unhappiness. The two main special topics under the general head of happiness are the worthy and the advantageous. In developing these special topics, we will sometimes have occasion to use some of the common topics, such as the possible and the impossible (when urging the advantage for instance, of a certain course of action, we may have to show that the course we are advocating is practicable or easy) and the topic of more and less (when seeking to direct a choice from among a number of goods, for instance, we have need of criteria to help us discriminate degrees of good)."

Long sentences, no? Here's who I'm going to tag (don't know how to do live links yet): DuraMater and Little Red House. I read some other blogs, but I don't know them well enough to feel like I can tag them *blush.* But hey, I tried to participate, which is a big step for me!

An Ode to . . . the Unabridged Dictionary!

2008-01-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

I bought this dictionary almost 10 years ago on a whim. Now it resides in a prominent place on our homeschooling bookshelves, or it did until I started doing L&L. I keep pulling it off the shelf to weigh down projects. It helps hold down pesky lace motifs, it straightens out hem-lace backgrounds, and now, hopefully, it will save my bacon with this new lace strip project.

Maybe I should add it to the ingredients list!

What a tangled web we weave . . .

2008-01-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

. . . when we try to do a project like this without MistyFuse. I've been trying to hold off on a Joggles order for a little while (short of $$$), but I might not last too much longer. After applying a LOT of paint, the best I could do was this:Not exactly flat, is it? Let's see it from the tabletop view:Looks more like a pathetic landscape than a L&L piece . . . sigh. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I put a piece of wax paper on it (paint still wet) and then added these tomes:WTMBoard users will note what I did NOT bring even into the VICINITY of wet paint:It's my copy--I bought it fair and square! Right after it was announced to be going out of print and there was an uproar on the boards, I walked into my local B&N and saw it on a display shelf. Well, I plucked that baby right up and marched to the cash register--it was the last one they had. Then, when the new one came out, I bought one of those also. I'm like that. Now I have both, so one child can use one and the other child can use the other. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I don't think the red ones are going for $200 now, but it was kind of amusing while it lasted--to think I had such a valuable book in my possession ; ).

Anyway, I digress. I'm going to follow up this post with a short meditation on the importance of the dictionary to a L&L project. This has to be about the fifth time I've used it.

And stay tuned to see if the books can save the day with this project.

P.S. Do you think I can convince DH that I need more oversized, heavy books for . . . ahhh, lemme see . . . homeschooling . . . what subject, say you? . . . ahhh, Art, yeah, Art! Hmph. I didn't think so, but it was worth a try.

Lace Motif Pieces Finished (for now)

2008-01-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

I plan to put them away for a few days and then see if I want to make any more changes, but I think I am done. I put two coats of glitter spray on each one. After I frame them, I will take new pictures and replace these, but here they are for now:

LB liked this one better in the pastels. I do have one more motif that I might do later in dark colors and then pastels on top like she suggests, but I have a new piece that I want to do first.

But I think I'm done with representational pieces for a while. I'm ready to do something different. I have a new piece of Lutradur drying right now with its first coat of foundational paint.

Lace Motif Piece #5

2008-01-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is the last piece I have planned in this series. I am just getting going with it. I did the background in gold, then added highlights of purple and pink. I had decent success rubbing some dark purple just on the surface of the lace with my finger to highlight the details. This piece needs more richness of color.
Edited 1/18/08: I changed my mind. I don't think it needs more color. I think a limited palette is better for this piece. I did highlight a little in gold and add some glitter:
I think I'm going to put this one away for a few days and then decide if I'm going to do more to it.

Lace Motif Piece #4

2008-01-17T09:06:00.001-08:00

Here is the other "curly" piece that I didn't get tamed in time. Oh well. This piece is turning out fairly well, although the gold wash canceled out more of the purple background than I planned. Maybe the wash wasn't weak enough. And I'm sorry I don't have an earlier picture of when the whole thing was dark purple. That was actually pretty interesting. Maybe that's the key to 1, 2, and 3--maybe they're too light.

Edited 1/18/08: I added some dark highlights to this piece, and I'm pretty happy with it. Again, like piece #5, I think a limited palette works better here.

Hem Lace and Curling Up--The Cure? Unabridged Dictionary

2008-01-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

I have learned more about using hem lace. Yes, it does make the piece curl up. I have a lot of trouble with motif #3, the butterfly piece, for example. But I learned on two subsequent pieces (that I will post about in a moment), that I can put them under an unabridged dictionary overnight (with wax paper covering the pieces) when the hem lace is almost dry and they will flatten and stay that way. Pieces that I have tried to flatten later in the process don't work as well.

Wall Hanging Completed and Up!

2008-01-12T10:23:00.001-08:00

Hooray! This little place in the hall has a wall directly across from it, so I had to stand slightly to the side in a doorway to take this shot. That's why the shot appears "crooked."

On the right side of the picture you can see the edge of the piano and have a peek into our schoolroom (we homeschool). On the left side of the picture you see a sliver of the long hallway to the laundry room, hall bath, and garage.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out. I just hope that I live in my purple house for a good long time so that I can enjoy this hanging in the setting it was designed for. Special thanks to Needleroozer for timely and helpful suggestions along the way.

Why I pasted lace motifs on separately

2008-01-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

Needleroozer was kind enough to phone me today, and we had a wonderful, wide-ranging chat. But I forgot to mention to her why I pasted the lace motifs on separately . . . so I thought I would post it here. For these pieces, the layer of scrim or hem lace is just the background. Getting the background to stick takes a LOT of paint. By the time I finish, the piece is so saturated that it takes about 12-18 hours to dry. I've been reticent to try to attach the motifs at that time, thinking that it would just NEVER dry.

And so to save time, I've been painting the motifs off to the side while the background is drying and then using fabric glue to attach them. I probably *could* attach them with paint if I'm using the same paint as the background, but if I used a mix of paints (such as in the blue piece with the one motif in the center) and I ran out of that specific mix, it would be VERY hard to match. And since attaching the motif takes a lot of paint, the paint I used on the motif would spread to the background in what I think would be a yucky way. So, painting and then gluing seemed the least agony. But if someone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

With my current method, it takes a while (layers) to make the motifs seem integral to the piece instead of sort of hovering on top of it. One thing that has helped has been a weak wash over the entire piece, but this is a challenge if I really want to retain the background color, as I do in the butterfly piece. I'm still trying to figure out how to integrate the butterflies without washing out the background too much.

Lace Motif Piece #3

2008-01-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

Here is the last one. I know it looks a little strange for the butterflies to be pink. It's what I had extra of at that moment--they won't stay pink. I made a hem lace strip background for this piece to fit the butterflies and flowers theme. The corner pieces look better when the piece is framed (I tried it before I glued them to see what it would look like).
Edited 1/17/08: Here is how it looks now. Of the three representational pieces so far, I like it the best.

Lace Motif Piece #2

2008-01-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

This is the second piece, with three very lovely fans. I'm thinking that this piece should have more complicated colors in the final version because there is less compositional detail. I like the scrim stripes as a background for this piece as well.

Edited 1/17/08: Here is how the piece looks right now:

Lace Motif Piece #1

2008-01-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

This is the first of three representational pieces in progress, with another two planned. I am hoping to place these pieces in frames. I laid down a background of "scrim stripes," painted the lace motif a correlating color, and then glued the motif down. In this picture you can see that the glue is not yet dry (the white spots).

Edited 1/17/08: I shortened the previous entry, keeping only some milestone photos. Here is how this piece looks now:I'm not sure whether I like it or not. I did the pastels, including highlighting different areas on the lace motif, but they seemed a bit too bright and distinct. So I did a gold wash over the whole thing, but now of course it is pale (although more unified). So I might put this away for a few days and decide where I want to go with it.

Edited 1/18/08: And now for something completely different. I went bold and limited palette with this piece. I redid it completely in bright blue and then rubbed on some subtle gold highlights:So, what do you think? Pastel, or bold? Which is better?

Fabric Glue Success

2008-01-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

The fabric glue worked really well. It took a loooong time to dry, but it was worth it. I took off the book and wax paper yesterday morning, but some of the glue was still a little tacky as of last night. But the tassels seem to be on firmly and spaced nicely. Now I need to get the dowels, but it might be a couple of days. I'm not going to post another picture because it looks pretty much the same as before. But I am soooo relieved not to have to tack on each tassel by hand. It was worth waiting for the glue to dry--I could work on *other* projects!

More about those soon. I have several small things in the works.

Short Ode to Fabric Glue

2008-01-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love thee, let me count the ways!

You help lace take its proper place.

You anchor pesky flowers that insist on curling up.

And most of all:

You allow me to glue on tassels to the back and space them out while the glue is wet!

Well, it doesn't rhyme, but you get the idea. I decided to use the tassles (Freudian slip between "tassels" and "hassles") with the gold showing, but was despairing of how to sew them on one by one, keep them evenly spaced, and keep my sanity.

After some thought, I decided to try the glue. Then I laid a piece of wax paper over the project and put a heavy unabridged dictionary on top. See, homeschooling is good for your crafting life!

My fingers are crossed until everything dries, though. I'll post how it turns out. Even if I need to tack the tassels on in addition, at least they will be positioned.

Can't Resist

2008-01-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

So, should I name this piece "Purple Rain?"

Hardeeeharrrharr.

Edited: DH didn't see the humor. He growled, "I don't even want to ACKNOWLEDGE that person." Umm, OK. I'll just sign the back then. It's not worth marital discord. But I still think it's pretty funny.

To Fringe or Not to Fringe?

2008-01-05T13:13:00.001-08:00

I have included two sets of photos below. You can see from my last posting the wall hanging as it currently is, with no fringe. But the cord I bought to hang it with had a bundle of tassels at each end. The tassel thingies were too gaudy and bulky, but when I took them apart I had a bunch of smaller, usable tassels that I threaded in a line and laid at the bottom of the piece. Well, I guess it's the bottom! I'll have to decide which end is up.

Anyway, I have laid the tassels out two ways. Here are the tassels showing the gold wrapping:

Here are the tassels with the gold wrapping hidden:

OK. (1) Should I tassel? (2) If so, which way looks nicer (showing gold or not)? (3) How do I attach the crazy things? I wouldn't want to try to stitch them to the back and have the stitches show through, for example. (4) Are they too long (should I give them a haircut)?

I vacillate between liking the gold showing and thinking it's a distraction. Also, I have to spread them out slightly to cover the subject. So, if I attach them with the gold showing, will it look odd that they are spaced out? I'm wondering if it will be less noticeable that I barely have enough of them ; ) if I attach them with the gold hidden. In addition, I wonder if it will continue the "flowy" theme of the piece to have the gold hidden so that the purple tassels flow out from the lace.

Or maybe I'm overanalyzing because I have no idea how I would attach them!

Decisions, decisions.

A Trial In Situ

2008-01-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

We had the rarest of rarities here today in the Northwest--a SUNNY January Saturday! So I asked my DH to hold up the piece against the wall where it will be going so I could photograph it "in situ." A little Latin lingo, there.

Above I included a couple of different shots, uncropped, to try to show the wall color. It, like the Lutradur & Lace, does not photograph well. It is a medium mauvy tone with a burgundy tinge as well. The third shot shows more of a closeup to see the colors together.

I also took the plunge at Needleroozer's suggestion and did zig-zag stitching to finish the edges. It was a little tough at top and bottom where the lace goes to the edge and is thick. Don't look too closely! I'm not sure yet if I like it, but I need some distance and time from the piece to decide. I still might fool a little with a few of the flowers, but otherwise I think I'm done. I need to make sleeves for the back and get some dowels and paint them. I have a nice cord to hang it with.

Black Holes Banished

2008-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm finally seeing this project start to look the way I envisioned it. Again, I'm not sure how much the change is apparent in the photo, but in person it's significant (to me anyway). I "washed" parts of the piece with Halo Violet Gold. I took a small paintbrush and carefully went along the sides of the long pieces of lace and around each flower, using the flow of the water to help me fill in the dark, non-iridescent places that were left. In this case, I had too much "depth" to the piece! Now the whole piece appears "brighter" and doesn't act like it has been up all night with a vomiting child (black circles around "eyes" AKA flowers). It was a lot of detail work, but it was worth it.
Here is a closer view. I also gave this piece a heavy dousing of glitter spray last night. I heart glitter spray, as the Pioneer Woman would say. After this flurry of work, where I'm starting to get in the zone of, "I'm beginning to be happy with this piece," I think I should let it rest for a few days. This method works well when writing an essay or research paper (English major here), so I think I will apply it here, put the piece away, and then come to it again in a little while with a fresh eye to see what finishing touches it needs. Also, I now need to give more thought to how I will finish it for hanging. I've had a few ideas but I haven't really "settled" on anything.

The Battenburg piece? Well, I'm definitely NOT in the zone on that one. I think I'll put it away for a few days too, for a different reason--for this one I shall hope for fresh inspiration. ; )

Lace motifs!

2008-01-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

Can you tell I'm enthusiastic about my order from Lace and Beyond? Here are a few hasty closeups of some of my favorite motifs:

Bookmarks

2008-01-02T10:40:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of bookmarks that I made for my children. Mr. Boy's favorite color is blue, so I gave him a blue and gold one. Here I was trying for some more scrim stripes, but I tried to do it with too much "gather." Next time I'll cut back. The bookmark looks fine and works fine, but it would be a mistake on a larger piece. My girly-girl loves pink, but I couldn't resist an undercoat of blue on it as well. The hem lace laid in strips is my second subtle background concept that I want to try behind a lace medallion piece. I like the way it turned out. You can highlight or tone down the lace as much as you want. The hem lace does seem to want to make the piece curl up a little--I don't know if that's just because the piece is so small. I guess I'll find out later when I try a larger piece!

I didn't put anything that "sticks out" on either bookmark based on my lesson learned a few weeks ago. Since they are for the children, they will see some hard use, so I wanted them to be durable.

Weak Wash and Accenting of Wall Hanging

2008-01-02T10:21:00.001-08:00

This morning, I took a picture of the effects of the weak wash. Now, I'm not sure how apparent the change is from the photos (yesterday's vs. today's), but in person, the effect subtlely seems more "pulled together." It's a good start.
Here's a closeup:
Then, I lightly brushed with an almost dry round sponge over the top of the wide lace. I tried my finger, but it was verrrry slow. Making sure the sponge was almost dry was key, as well as just gliding it over the top of the lace carefully, making sure the color stayed just on top. I like how it turned out. Then, I also added some pink in some areas and one a few flowers. Again, the effect is subtle. I think it adds some depth to the piece. Here's an overall shot and then a closeup:

Starting to pick out accents on Wall Hanging

2008-01-01T21:54:00.001-08:00

This project is going a little better than the other one. At this stage I am experimenting with picking out some of the different lace in different colors of purple to see how they look. It doesn't look unified yet.

One thing that is surprising me about this piece is how I am NOT really liking the dark purple peeking out from behind the lace. It is more "drastic" than I planned, and because it doesn't have iridescence, it looks like black holes or something behind the lace pieces. But I think I have some ways I can tone that down. Here's an overall view:

Next I have included a couple of closer-up views:

Now, clearly this needs more work, but it is coming along. I thought that I needed to accent the skinnier lace, but I think I need to accent the flatter, wider lace as well. For the next round, I think I will accent that as well, but I will probably apply the paint lightly with a finger rather than a brush or a round foam applicator for a lighter touch. In previous pieces the effect has been too "heavy" with this type of lace. The holes inbetween are quite large.

Also, this stage is where I encountered the difficulty with the dark purple being a distraction to the piece. I decided to do two things: (1) Apply a glitter spray to see if that masked the lack of iridescence in that layer, and (2) Try the wash again, but a really weak one.

The glitter did just about nothing. Don't take me wrong, I like glitter, but it didn't help in this case. I'll be painting over most of it and will have to re-apply it later. Oh well, nothing was messed up, anyway. No biggie.

The wash actually helped a little. I made a REALLY weak one because I was spooked about what happened last time, but I think I made it a little too weak. I did the weak wash with Halo Violet Gold so I wouldn't mess anything up by it being too dark. If anything, I erred on the light side, but at least I didn't hurt anything. The downsides were that it took a long time to do because there is so much texture on this piece and it took a long time to dry. But overall I think the piece does look more unified now. I don't have a photo of that yet--I'm planning to wait for daylight tomorrow.

Major lesson learned: Lay down a layer of iridescent paint before I lay down lace. I didn't here because of the large area--I was concerned with how much paint it would take. I thought it would work to have just a good color. Nope. Next time I'll know better.

I am, on the other hand, really liking the scrim background "stripes" on this piece. I think it gives the piece a lot more interest than a plain background (like the Battenburg piece). I plan to try this method again, along with another one that I have up my sleeve.

Oh, a small bummer--the small butterflies I ordered are a teeny bit too large for this piece. Oh well, that just means I can use them for something else! I'm mentally planning a series of smaller pieces. But, later!

Some first attempts at iridescence on Wall Hanging

2008-01-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

This was the first attempt at adding iridescence. I think the gold got to be a bit much.

Here's a closeup.
These pictures are a few days old. Immediately after this I'm going to post another set where I've done quite a few more things to the piece. I think the composition is OK on this; now I have to figure out the best way to accent certain pieces while having a unified look. I'll be conducting some experiments on that this week.

More on the Battenburg piece

2008-01-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. Grrr--Blogger has NOT been playing nice with uploading pictures. Yesterday, I was planning to post, I promise, but it kept "freezing" in the middle of uploading. I finally got frustrated and gave up because we were getting ready to go to a friend's house for dinner.

So, when I read that my only really regular reader was waiting for another post, I felt guilty. I had thought I would wait until tomorrow, but I decided to give it another try. And on the third try, it worked. I have at least one other post in the pipeline, so we'll see how that one goes.

Anyhoo, my DH was wanting me to try different areas of color instead of tiny dabs of color mixed together (my typical style). I am trying to work on this but am having trouble. Here's one try:

Ummm, well! Hmmm. Not so great. OK, I thought, let's try to unify this piece somehow. I've heard people talk about doing a "wash." Why not mix half paint and half water and paint over it? I chose gold. Ummm, well! It washed, all right! I now had a gold piece, and the lace still looked lighter than the background. It was Not A Good Thing. Lesson learned: Use a lot less paint when trying to do a "wash."

I couldn't even stand to take a picture of it.

Alllllrighty, lets brush some dark blue paint over that lace so I can at least SEE the thing. Then I ended up with a little excess purple from another project and added that.
Okeydokey. Well, the good thing is that I can SEE it! I think I need to work on this piece some more. But I have learned two important things: (1) Use a much weaker "wash," and (2) Even with a complicated lace motif, you need something in the background or it's blah. I'm not liking the Lutradur by itself as well. I do have a couple of subtle backgrounds in mind when I try my next lace motif piece. So this is a valuable learning experience. I think I can still salvage this piece, but I'm waiting for a little inspiration.

When I mention my DH talking about different large areas of color, he was referring to the photos I've shown him of the work at Stitchtherapy that I have linked at the side. I don't know how she does that, but the effect is marvelous. It has defined areas yet is a unified piece. I clearly have much more to learn! If anyone can enlighten me, I would welcome suggestions on how to achieve that kind of look.

First shots of wall-hanging in progress

2007-12-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

Here is an overall shot. Last night I affixed the lace. You can still see the edges hanging off because I haven't trimmed them yet. You can also see my beautiful (not!) plastic garbage bag background that I work on. I took this next to a window while standing on the counter, BTW.

Here is a closer shot that shows more detail but still shows the entire width of the piece. I think the color is more true in this shot.

Here is a closeup. I hope you can see the subtle vertical stripes in the background of the piece created by the scrim. I hope that these will create interesting effects as I go. I have a few small butterfly lace motifs on order, and I am hoping to add three or so of them in an accent color to stand out from the rest of the piece.

Next, I will begin applying iridescent layers. I did not yet up until this point because of the quantity of paint, but I do like this matte base color.

Battenburg Lace Motif in progress

2007-12-27T13:08:00.003-08:00

Here is a lace motif piece that I am trying out. I am using lace from a pillow sham that I cut up (got it from Goodwill). I just got to the point where I laid down the first iridescent color in combination with affixing the lace. I am experimenting with some more representational forms of L&L.

Here is another photo of it. I am including this photo because it shows how the lace actually appears lighter than the background. I believe it's because it sucked up paint while the background did not because it was prepared by acrylic paint under-layers. I left the background plain on this one (instead of scrim or whatever) and I don't know how that's going to work out.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

2007-12-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

Now that the children have opened their gifts and are busy playing, it's my turn to play! I just started my first large, ambitious piece. I am hoping to make a 3-ft-long wallhanging. I have been preparing the Lutradur with some inexpensive acrylic paint, and today I prepared the actual foundation. For this layer I still used inexpensive acrylic paint (Delta Vintage Wine) but I added the foundation texture. I decided to use one long piece of scrim with loose vertical folds. I extended the scrim past the piece on all four sides and will trim it later. I learned from the bookmark piece that I don't like the look of the background lace stopping before the edge.

I opened up the scrim to its furthest width and then arranged loose folds on the piece (like a curtain). Then I used a round sponge brush and started tacking it down with paint in various places. Gradually I worked until the entire surface was saturated in paint. This took almost two little bottles of paint! Now I'm out of my favorite cheap color. Boohoo! I think I'll wait a few days to brave the stores to get some more. I dislike holiday shopping crowds.

Anyway, the resulting effect is subtle vertical stripes of texture that vary slightly and will make a nice background. Next, I plan to add some lace accents on top of it. I considered doing the lace in this step also, but because this step used sooo much paint, I decided to hold off so this layer could dry properly. If I can get a decent picture of the texture tomorrow when it dries, I will post it.

In case you're wondering why I'm working in purple so much, I bought a house with purple walls. Yep, purple. It's a beautiful house and the color is nice, but you have to be careful what you put with it. So, I have been experimenting with purples leading up to this wallhanging so that it would be the right hues for my wall. After the wallhanging is complete, I will try to snap a photo of it on the wall so you can see it in context. But it will have to be a nice sunny day to get the colors right, and sunny days are in short supply in eastern Washington at this time of year.

Bookmark with gold flakes

2007-12-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here are two photos of the same piece. The top photo shows the detail better, but the bottom photo (although slightly blurry) shows the colors more "true to life." I experimented with gold flakes from the papermaking aisle at Michael's on this piece. I experimented with gold flakes on another piece, but they looked awful. However, rubbed into the hem-type-lace on this piece, they looked really interesting. Of course, they have to be added at the last stage. I think the key is actually rubbing them in, not having them "sit" on top. I might try another piece with hem lace as a background texture, but I'll run it all the way past the edges and then trim. I don't like the edges as they show here. But overall, I think this bookmark turned out pretty well, and it's flatter than the other attempt. My DH wants this bookmark and plans to trim the edges off, which is perfectly fine with me.

My First Framed Piece!

2007-12-23T20:44:00.000-08:00

Now this I am pretty happy with. I saw an old pillowcase in Goodwill, and I wasn't sure if the lace would work, but the children urged me to purchase it. When I went to cut the lace off the pillowcase, I had even more doubts, because it was the kind that basically fell apart somewhat when removed. Well, I had seen on Expression Studio where someone had laid strips of lace vertically on a piece, and I tried the technique with this piece, and I really like the texture. When I got the piece to where I wanted it, I took one of the colors and sort of "washed" an old frame with the glass removed. It goes really nicely with my walls, so I plan to keep it in the foyer on a media cabinet. I also sprayed it with glitter, which doesn't show so well in the picture. Oh, the picture. My DH and I went through several permutations trying to get a decent shot. I still haven't really made friends with the camera to try to photograph this stuff very well. Oh well, I will learn.

Some Early Pieces

2007-12-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

Here are two pieces, a triangle scrap and a bookmark. I like the effect of the scrim in both pieces. I'm sorry the picture of the photo is a teeny bit blurry, but this photo showed the colors better than the others I took. I also like the effect of lace flowers in a slightly different color, but that "feature" also makes it a lousy bookmark since they can come off easily. Oh well! I have another, flatter bookmark in the works. I like the colors in the triangle piece but am not sure what I can do with it. Oh well. It was a good experiment.

Trying to make peace with my camera

2007-12-22T22:36:00.001-08:00

I really like L&L pieces in person, but with photos, well, they lose something. Some essence . . . some luminous quality. I am finding this quite frustrating. I'm really a PhD (Push here, Dummy) kind of camera person, so I'm sure there's ways to fix this.

Since I use Lumiere and other iridescent paints, I think it makes it harder for the camera. I am going to experiment over the next few days and see if I can do better capturing some of my early pieces.

After a couple of weeks of experimenting, today I finished a piece that I feel like framing! Hooray! I took the glass out of a cheap frame that I had hanging around and painted the frame with a complementary color to the piece. Tomorrow I hope to put it together and photograph it.

Introduction

2007-12-22T22:31:00.001-08:00

I never thought I would be doing something artistic. Here's my first try at L&L--don't laugh! And it's not as yellow in person as it appears in the photo.

This is also where I discovered my secret alternative to Lutradur--dark gray weed fabric! I was too impatient to wait until my Lutradur arrived, so I went and chopped off a small piece of the weed fabric from one of our flowerbeds. Although it's surface is a little rougher, it works much the same way as the Lutradur, and it's cheaper and more readily available. Get the kind with a "spun" look that you can sort of see through. The expensive, totally opaque weed fabrics will not work.