TwoCoolTexans meets fabric and paper

Not new for me.  But somehow no matter where I venture into the art world, I always come back to using fabric and paper.  I am currently making some mini notepad holders and using, yes, mostly fabric but some paper also.

For now, gone are the days of encaustics.  I will never understand how people can mail encaustics in the summer and it get to its destination without a melt puddle.  Well, honestly, maybe it is because they don't live in Texas.  Because we had such a mild winter (we HAD winter, yes???), I got almost no encaustics done.  Sad.  Made me sad. So, glendabaileydesigns will be making inactive my encaustic work soon.  It's not 100 yet.  Not quite yet.  Looks like it will stay in the 80's for now. 

But, I am back to doing that fabric thing again.  Here are a couple of my notepad organizers that are on Etsy.  I made them using the fabric and paper strips challenge that Alisha and I did a while back.  If you would like to try it yourself, just go back in my blog and you can find it.  Since (my bad) I am not keeping up here very well, you won't have far to go to find it.

So here are a couple.  I love these.  Addicted.

TwoCoolTexans

Update on Chase:  He is doing well.  He did get a rawhide thing from the vet and now he growls at us when we get close to us.  I don't like that but I figure he never had much of anything that was actually his before.  Sounds mean.  But the other two dogs just look at him and move on.

So, hugs to Stacey and now I moved my writing and didn't bring the name of the other grey owner.  And the grey, I think it was Fizz.  Hugs to you all also.  Did a giant muzzle come with your dog?  I don't understand that.  I think they muzzle them when they race also.  I meant to ask why, but figured that it was because they nip at each other and their skin is so sensitive.  But, the muzzle thing bothers me.  If we take him to a social event with other greys, they are ALL muzzled.  So, we probably won't go to any.  Makes them sound hostile and aggressive, which they are not.

I am starting on some new work.  Yes, again.  I love Maggie Ayers work and it is in fiber and gesso and such and that is right up my alley.  Been meaning to do it for a while.

And I took an online class on plexi with Gary Reeves.  I love him.  He is such a testament to "being a giver" in this world.  He is the one that does/did all those utube vids.  Bless you Gary.  You are one of a kind in this world.

Hopefully, back soon.  Get on pinterest.  You won't regret it.

The Retired Racer, newest addition to the Bailey family

Well, I have waited a while to introduce the latest addition to our family.  He came to us about six months ago and he is a joy to us.  But, it was a bit of a hard landing.

Husband and I went to the Antique Mall.  Yes, whod a thought.  We met Chase at the Antique Mall.  I knew that the greyhound rescue had a booth there and soon learned that the ladies that ran the mall let a few of their whippets run freely while the shoppers were perusing the booths.  One of them came up to me one day and I don't know if he scared me or I scared him.  But he ran off quickly.  I hadn't seen them under the check out tables on their beds at that time, so I was pretty jazzed when I came face to face with one of those incredibly beautiful animals.

But Chase (had formerly had another name but it was just tacky) is a greyhound and he is a retired racer.  So, I figured I better come up with a good, appropriate name.  He raced in over 100 races but I don't know how many he won.  He can run 35 miles an hour, the only living creature that can run that fast is a cheetah.  But he can't run very far.  Fast, but not far. 

I digress.

Here is my beautiful boy. He is five years old. 

Anyway, there he was at the Antique Mall.  As was two other rescues and his foster mother.  The three dogs that day were 8, 2 and 5.  We went for not the youngest, nor the older female (who was precious), but to the 5 year old. 

After much ado, we were held to be appropriate parents.  That is always the hardest part.  We also rescued a long haired chihuahua and I must be sure to write up a blog post on him.  He is quite the little lap dog.
Chase came to live with us.  You can't see the scars that he has from the picture (well, I think you can see a few on that side of his body and his legs).  We don't know how he got them, but they are hard to consider.
I don't think they are bites but husband thinks he got them from a cage or something. Big black gashes.

He knew nothing of relating to people.  He had never seen stairs, nor a swimming pool, nor small dogs.  I don't think most of them know much about cats either.  We lost our cat a couple of years ago, but have two smaller dogs.  He really didn't care for them one way or another, which was good.

The stairs were a real issue.  Below where he is standing in the picture above, are several stairs that lead down to the pool area.  And we have a lot of stairs in the house.  He had alot of bloody legs before he learned how to get up and down without injuring himself.  A few more scars.  Probably had he taken his time, it would have gone better.  But he does everything fast.

For the next four months or so, he followed me everywhere I went.  And my studio is upstairs.  But, he was like glue.  I guess that was insecurity.  He is a bit better now.  But, still prefers to be where I am.

I don't feel very good about the way the greyhounds are treated in the racing industry.  And most are not fortunate enough to find a home.  I just have to keep thinking about the ones that do.

Here he is upstairs on his pillow and quilt.  Since I do encaustics (although I am vented properly), I make the dogs stay in another room.  Love you Chase!!!

Back to Encaustic Art

I always love winter because one surely cannot do and sell encaustic art in the summer.  I see that there are tons of people on Etsy who seem to sell year around, but with temperatures way over 100 degrees in Texas.....well....I just can't do it.  I have visions of wax melting in the back of the UPS or post office trucks.
So, I do look forward to temperatures going down and pull out all my encaustics paints, wax, boards, hardwood canvases, oil sticks and so forth. 

I did get a thermofax machine for Christmas from my husband, and I cannot wait to write up some blog entries about it.  Wow, it's great.  But, I just had to get back to the wax work before the winter was gone. 

So, here are my newest pieces. 

I probably could have more new pieces, but I have been concentrating on spreading out and trying to do some new techniques.  There is so much more information now than when I started doing encaustics 5 years ago.  It was a vast wasteland except Joanne Mattera's book.  Now, there are lots of wonderful teachings and even some on line classes. 

So, if you are an art junkie person and love to try it all, think about encaustics. 

I always say I am going to do better

I have slipped again.  Alisha and I are always saying that we are going to do better on the blog issue.  And then life just gets in the way.  But, I have not slidden off the face of the earth, just not making good use of my time I guess.

Anyway, I am making a New Year's resolution to get a blog post done at least once a week.  I hope that works better than the exercize resolutions.

My shops are on vacation.  Time to just take a break.  I have kinda gotten to doing more of the commercial thing instead of paying attention to the type of art which I love.  I hope to change all that after the first of the year. More fine art, less making what sells.  At least I am going to try.  Basically, I just love to support all my art addictions with my sales.  At least that is what I tell myself.

I am trying to buy a thermofax machine.  Yep, me and all the tatoo artists.  I cannot get one as of yet.  I want one of the new models and not a 100 year old 3M model.  So, I sure hope to score one and do a bunch of screen printing.  I have been purchasing the screens from others and that does seem to cramp one's experiments when you have to wait weeks and pay 15.00 plus shipping to get one screen done.  Hopefully, I can get one soon.  I thought that tatooing was kinda slowing down, but evidently not.  Somebody is buying up all those imagers.  I do know though that a lot of artists have found that it is the easiest and best way to get a print onto canvas, fabric, or paper. 

Off I go.  Hopefully, back soon.

Hugs,
G

More on the transformation

Akkk, I forgot to scan the swirly little tool that I used.  Now I cannot find it.  I wonder if it has been carried off by one of the four legged friends that sometimes come in here to see what I am doing.  I will show it when it comes back around.  If it's in any kind of condition.

Here, again, is my fabric after I did some monoprinting on it.  It is really too dark, I think I learned a little about using black over the entire surface of the plate.

I actually would like it better if I were doing a fabric collage and needed a good black fabric that was not solid.  But, that is not the case here.

Next, I am using a Shiva Paintstick in iridescent gold and a plastic rubbing plate.  I don't use these oil paint sticks nearly enough.  I do have a great tip for using them that has totally changed the way I feel about using them.  They have a "film" that gets over top of them after they sit for a while and it has to be peeled off before they will mark.  The film just completely encapsulates the oil paint so that the stick will not dry out and you have to throw it away.  I have some from ten years ago and getting that film off of them is hard, but underneath they are still usable.  Which, for me, is good, since I tend to jump from one art medium to another...often....

Okay, here is a tip for using the oil sticks.  Remove the entire cardboard, the whole thing.  All the way down the length of the stick.  Here is a picture of how it looks in the package and you can see that it is covered down the length with what basically is a light cardboard.

Here is another look at it with the cardboard off.

I always use a magazine or other padding underneath the plastic rubbing plate.  I don't know if it actually helps, but I think so.  Here is how to set it up to use the oil sticks.

Lay down a magazine, the rubbing plate, then the wrong side of the fabric on top of the plate.

Take the entire width of the oil stick and using it as flat to the fabric as you can, begin rubbing.  I used to use the tip, and I hated the big spaces that were left on the print.  This is the way to always get a good impression.

And, here she is.  It will take the oil impressions about five days or so to dry. 

Now, it's Alisha's turn and I will lay it aside to try and figure out what I might want to make out of it in the future.

Onward with the ugly fabric challenge

Today, I am going to use my gelli printing plate to add some images to my ugly fabric.  As I said before, this thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread if you want to do easy easy printing.  You can make your own, but I am lazy and I would rather not.

So, I bought this one.  The website is http://www.gelliarts.com/.  It has tons of information about this new product.  I thought it was a bit pricey, but it is well worth it.  If I don't ruin it.  I have stained mine and that annoys me, but I can turn it over and use the other side.  It comes with some instructions, which are important if you want it to last.  It wasn't actually supposed to stain if you used acrylic paints, but somehow I did manage.  Now mine is an icky blue.  But it should be usable even on that side.

Here is a picture of my messy printing plate.

Here is a scan of the paper inside the packaging when you purchase one.

I did find that you need to use "open acrylics" (I use Golden Open Acrylics) OR you need to use some "open medium" with your acrylics.  Otherwise, the acrylic paint just dries way too fast on the plate.  And the purpose is to get the paint spread on the plate, impress some found objects or lace, bubble wrap or whatever into the paint, then put your fabric on top and brayer so that the image will be printed right onto your fabric.  Or paper, or whatever you are wanting to get an image onto.

I haven't tried DynaFlow or other thin fabric paints.  Since they are thinner, they most likely would spread better and you wouldn't have to use the medium.  But, for now, I just had my mind made up to use acrylic paints.

First, I mixed the Golden Open Medium with some Carbon Black acrylic in a tube.  Then I poured it over the gel plate and brayered the paint to make a smooth surface.

Looks pretty icky.  I got a ton of glare from the window in my art room.  But I think you can get the idea.

Next, I chose some (just a very few) objects to impress into the black paint.  I used a piece of plastic canvas, one of those swirly things on a stick from years ago that we used with Radiant Pearls.  Anybody remember those greasy paints?  Loved them. 

Then I laid my fabric face down on the gel plate and just tapped it in areas to transfer the paint to the fabric.

Pulled the fabric off the plate and dried it a bit with a heat gun and then ironed it.  Right now it looks like it has a bit much paint on it, but I will change that.....soon.