Paper Fabric I

The PVA was fine! Experiment was a success!

Papers used: a 20-year-old crappy historical "romance" novel, shown here unpainted, and a road map of Vermont, painted blue. I skipped the tissue paper step on the blue and unpainted pieces because the tissue paper shredded into little balls when I painted the reddish piece.

I'm not sure if the pages of the novel will continue to yellow, and they're very readable. The tissue paper didn't blur the text of the red, but the acrylic sure did.

The pages are very flexible, too. If I crumpled them into a ball they might stay crumpled, and I might have to poke a few needle holes to attach sequins, but they're about as slick and plastic as polyester satin.

I need some more paint colors.

And some more sources of free paper with appropriate lines and text. I don't get any disposable magazines, waste paper at work might have confidential info on it...if only I'd saved all that algebra homework 20 years ago!!


I don't know what I'll do with these. Maybe nothing

Eeeew.

James Lileks is one of my favorite writers, and he also maintains a collection of digitized historical pop culture artifacts. Lately he's putting up the 1973 Sears Catalog for our viewing...pleasure isn't really the right word.

Truly luxurious nylon satin!

I'd rather go naked than wrap myself in that plastic.

Sigh.

I ordered some polyvinyl adhesive (PVA) two weeks ago when it was 40 degrees. They finally shipped it Tuesday, and it spent 10 hours in my mailbox today, at approximately 15 degrees F. I hope it's not ruined. I thought they were going to send it UPS, so it would sit in my apt. complex office while I was at work.

I was going to do the ClothPaperScissors Making Fabric Paper thingy. I tried it a couple of years ago with white glue, and it was awful--stiff and plasticky. Like sewing through a milk carton. But PVA is supposed to dry flexible.

Nothing else new. I'm putting Susan Shie-style "chicken scratch" stitching into a piece I painted in a class I took with her in Indianapolis in 2004, and I bought a sketchbook but I don't know where to start.

Goals for 2008

1. Finish three objects larger than the three objects I finished in 2007.
2. Finish three objects that have been sitting in boxes for a few years. These do not have to be art quilts.
   
3. Finish all small objects begun before December.
4. Drink more beer. This sets me up for a goal in 2009: make quilt with beer bottle labels.
   

Why I haven't posted in six weeks

I thought I'd make a quick Christmas sock for Bryan from one of those felt kits. Quick my fat white ass...took six weeks, including several days of nothing-but-sock at the end of December.


Looks good, at least.

On to something marginally more interesting.