This week I have really had the hankering to sew, so I pulled out the iron and the sewing machine. I started experimenting with prayer flag prototypes that we can make with students.
It was time for our second meeting of the creativity circle and C had suggested we go monoprints, so I wanted to test which fruits and vegetables will work. Apples and mushrooms were the easiest to work with because of their firm, spongy texture. Peppers were the trickiest to work with because I ended up painting the inside--only the very outside edge and the stem left their marks.
The calligraphy is from a stencil set and they say "peace", "happiness", and "love". I was happy with the transluscent quality of these flags.
The blue was an opaque fabric paint, but I added water to make the print light and transparent. I used acrylic paint for the other colors and thinned them out quite a bit, applying them with a cheap, small sponge roller.
I love this green lantern in C's studio.
Isn't it great to create things on a dining room table?
J gave us a eggs from her three hens and served a lovely plum clafouti she'd just baked. It was incredibly light and delicious. C had make a fantastic banana bread too.
C made a spiderman print for her grandson and J made this beautiful design etched in foam.
After our frenzied bout of creativity we wrote down things that we felt were not working in our lives on little pieces of paper we burnt in the back yard.
Back at home, Ules had been writing and drawing up a storm. This design shows a real shift for him--using the fine liner for the outside and filling it in with his thicker markers. I'm glad he's figured this out for himself.
He spends hours writing out ideas for video games complete with dialogue.
I've been wanting to use this ribbon for ages. I bought it at a thrift shop and it's from a fancy shop that used to be on South Granville. I cut the words out and rearranged them onto some quilting squares and made the flags below. They have little pockets in them for prayers.
These are thicker and heavier, and would be more suited to indoor use, like a kitchen. I need to find more alphabet ribbon so I can make more words, but I'm excited about making more of these indoor flags.
I've been experimenting more with veggie prints and now I have a series of nine flags sewn together with thick rickrack. The asparagus was very tricky to work with--difficult to cut in half so that it lay flat. I also had to add the "leaf" bits using a bit of foam to print with. I'll take better photos of them tomorrow. I was losing the light.
For my artist date today I headed to Gala Fabrics on South Granville and found they were having a sale. The men in the shop were very helpful and pleasant (unlike experiences I've had at Dressew). South Granville was very quiet. Businesses outside the Olympic zones are experiencing at least a 30 per cent drop off in sales.
I should have left a slightly larger frame of backing fabric around the edges and more at the bottom. I like the look of the rickrack, but today I bought seam binding because I think it will be easier to use.
I'm excited about using up the bits and pieces of old fabrics I have been hoarding for years. It's very cathartic! I'm going to make a series of these flags to sell at the school flea market. They'll have to be quite steep though because of the amount of time they take to make. I enjoy it as a meditative exercise, but it's not a moneymaking enterprise! Anyway, I will be able to use my experience to help the students make their flags for our garden celebration at City Hall on May 2.
Now we have some good karma flags for our kitchen!
