Angelina Fiber Play

Played for a few hours yesterday with Angelina fibers, polyester fibers that can heat bond to themselves producing a sheet of polyester film, also called fantasy film by some. After perusing the ye olde Internet for a while I had come across a product called BoNash bonding power (aka 007), basically fusing medium in a powder form. The nifty thing is you can sprinkle your Angelina pieces with it and then bond them to fabric, netting etc. Here are the basic ingredients of yesterdays work....

Angelina fibers in assorted colors, some are not heat fusible and therefore must be sandwiched between the heat fusible variety, iron, Teflon sheet, and the 007 and a variety of sequins, decorative fibers and fabric. You can embed flat things in the Angelina, hence the sequins and decorative fibers.

Sheets with inclusions and bonded to fabric or netting....

Sheets not bonded to fabric....

Bonded to some black spider web netting, with sequin inclusions.....

You can stamp the fibers by placing the loose strands on a inked rubber stamp, Teflon sheet over that and then iron.

These samples will be cut into decorative shapes, edging and embellishments for other projects. 

Messed around in the garden this morning, finally got the beans planted and erected the netting over the bed to keep the birds from plucking them from the ground as soon as they come up. The rhubarb is a happy camper right now, probably all of the rain....

And of course Dana wants everyone to know that It's Good To Be A Spoiled Princess.

Altered File Folders

The humble manila office folder never looked so good. I took a class from Maude May at Letters of Joy called Manila Folder Magic. Ever wonder where to put those little bits of important paper, tickets stubs, travel ephemera, recipes, etc.? We created custom folders using letter and legal manila folders, collage ephemera, stamps, fibers, eyelets and decorative paper. It was a blast, no over-analyzing the process, just collaged our way to happiness. Loved this project and have made two more since the class, two are in the pipeline and lots of grandiose ideas for even more elaborate ones with multiple pages and pockets.

This is the one I did in class, which was only 2 hours, so it was quick and dirty collage, which means no over-thinking the placement of ephemera, great way to get out of your box.

Book of Roses

The wonderful techniques I learned from Orly Avineri at ArtFest and my own favorite background and collage work has resulted in my Book of Roses. The pages are of different sizes and cascading with lots of bling and fiber embellishments. It was a undertaking that included liquid inks, black & white & clear gesso, stencils, stamps, acrylics, distress inks, gel and glaze pens, fibers, trim, decorative tape and of course rhinestones. Binding is a 4 hole Japanese with grosgrain ribbon. There are flowers other than roses but they were the main inspiration so they get the accolades. There was some binding angst involved, I now have a Zutter Bind-It-All so future projects with be free of banging the head against the art table. Thanks to Steve at Stampadoodle for ordering in this latest nifty toy for me.

I have been on a bit of a purge fest in the studio, if we ever move it would take me a month to pack the studio so I need to start the paring process. First up, going through all of my books and magazines I have collected for images. How long does it take to go through a cabinet full of National Geographic and cut out only the images you think you will use in the future? It takes a L.O.N.G  time, that's what. Those old encyclopedia's? It was a brutal quick and dirty selection and then into the paper recycling they went.

And too boot I think I have sustained a crafting injury. All of the eyelets in the Book of Roses were put in with the Big Bite punch and setter, its takes some muscle to set the eyelets, so after oh, say a million of them my arm and side muscles were a pretty sore the next day. Gerry was not sympathetic and would not fetch and carry for me, as I sat in my easy chair whining about my serious art injury.

In the garden news portion of this post we are having a freaky spring, too much rain, everything is late, rhodies just NOW blooming, finally could not wait any longer to plant the tomatoes so they are in but with their comfy little water jackets on them. In my world tomato growing is a competitive sport and things must progress ON SCHEDULE, lest I fall behind my rivals (you know who you are!).