fiberhart

Magnification--

is the name of a challenge our WAQ group is doing for a gallery show this fall. It's only a small piece, 5 X 7, mounted on a 9 X 12 painted canvas. I've had an idea percolating in my brain for awhile, and this week I finally got started.

First, I painted a bunch of the dryer sheets I have been saving for months.



I only did a couple of colors, since that's all I'm using for this piece.

I've wanted to use my soldering iron to cut the dryer sheets, so I pulled this book out of my library where it has been sitting for months, and read up on the basics.



This morning, after a yummy breakfast of homemade sourdough pancakes and strawberries, I sat down to play. I learned that the best way to iron the dryer sheets is between two sheets of parchment. I made a base layer on a piece of white fusible felt, then started playing with shapes and mark-making.



This was enough to make me decide that it's fun, and if I do anymore of this, I'll need to get a respirator.

Next I decided to play with the same colors on black felt. I also did some stitching on these; the green is cotton thread, the pink is polyester. I wanted to see if there was any difference if I hit it with the heat gun.



I definitely prefer the black as a base layer. I was also glad that the polyester thread did just fine under the heat gun, since I have more colors in that than I do cotton.

So now it is on to the actual piece. I decided I'm not going to cut the dryer sheets while they are on the felt- it is too easy to inadvertently cut the felt in the process. So I've layer several of the sheets, and fused some Misty Fuse to the bottom piece. I'm thinking I can cut my shapes, and then fuse them to the felt.

I also think that next time I paint dryer sheets, I will use a foam brush instead of just smooshing the paint around in a bowl with a bunch of the sheets. I want more control of the color, and that seems like the best way. It will definitely take longer to paint, but I think it will be worth it.