Heather Thomas

Quilt & Color: Session 1: Introduction: Tools Needed

Heather Thomas
Duration:   9  mins

Description

In this first session Heather will introduce you to all of the tools you need to create and quilted and colored work of art. She will begin by showing several samples of quilts made using this fun technique. As she does so, she will talk about the design elements used and suggest how you can come up with designs of your own by mixing the motifs she provides or by using your own resources. Next, she will tell you all about the different types of paints and inks she likes to use as well as the brushes. She’ll close out the session with suggestions for batting, marking tools, thread selection and her basting technique.

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I really appreciate it when the name of something describes that something really well. And this class is called Quilt and Color, and that's exactly what we're going to do. When we look at this Wal quilt here, it was in its original structure, a piece of white fabric, layered on either side of batting. And the quilting was then done, and then after the quilting was done, all of the color was added. Including the background, including all the fine detail here.

So what looks like applique or machine embroidery or something else, is simply quilting, and then going in and coloring, with markers and ink. This piece was done in the exact same way. It was done on a piece of white canvas, and it was quilted. And then afterwards, it was colored, instead of with ink, with paint. There's lots of different products that you can use, to do any of these techniques.

As long as it's permanent on the surface of fabric. It doesn't even have to be permanent on the surface of fabric, if you know it's going to be, in a frame and never laundered. But you do want it to have longevity against, light fastness, making sure that it doesn't fade. So, make sure that your paint says that it's fade proof. But if it doesn't ever get laundered then you don't have to worry about that laundering factor.

However, that being said, I tend to only use fabric paints on my work so that, if anything were to happen to it, it could be laundered. So the first one was done with ink, and this one was done with oil paint sticks. This piece was also done with oil paint sticks. And again, it was quilted first, and then colored afterwards. And it's done in a technique that's called wet shading.

So the shading is done while the paints are still wet, rather than waiting for them to dry and do shading in between drying. Very simple, very easy to do, very quick. Whereas this little guy, was done with inks again. And it was done with dry shading. So, after the light pink was done, it was put down in the petals, then new color was added on top.

And so the colors don't meld together, they sit on top of each other. And we're gonna be playing with the capabilities and the different things that we can do with the different types of inks and paints that we're going to use in this class. But we can see something as simple as just three flowers with some leaves. Very fun, a great little piece. I've probably got, my guess is about three hours in this.

If I tried to applique this, it would take me probably 20 hours. So, a much quicker way than applique. And then this little guy is done the same way. It's done on silk, and instead of being done on a white background, it's done on a green background. So the background was already this green color.

And so then I needed to use an opaque paint. So I used a paint that you couldn't see through and that wasn't going to be informed by the color underneath. So there's lots of different things and different ways that you can apply that color down. Now these two are ready for color. Again, this is a non white background.

I chose a background that was going to look like sky, so that I didn't have to fill that background in. But all of my stitching has been done, and now it's ready to be colored in with whatever type of paint or ink I decide to use. And this one's ready for some color too. This one I stitched quite a while ago and, I used a colorant in it that has faded until it's almost entirely gone. And so now I'm going to go in and refill it in with another color that I know will be permanent for the rest of its life.

And I won't have to worry about that again. But it was a great thing to bring to show you how to do a whole bunch of wonderful shading. So the first thing we have to do is, get familiar with the products that we're going to need. And, I'm gonna suggest that when you first start doing this, that you do work with white fabrics. What's really important is that, you want your stitch line to really show.

And the best way to make that happen is by using, either a very very puffy batting, or two layers of batting. Now, the puffy batting issue is that, most puffy battings are polyesters and you can not use them, if you're going to use a liquid or a wet paint. You could use them if you're gonna use a dryer paint like a Sheba oil paint stick. But if you use them with a wet paint, the paint will seep through your top fabric and be suspended in all the fuzziness of that polyester, and then seep out in all sorts of weird ways. So I just say, stay away from the polyester for this technique.

So what I use is very thin wool and cotton. I like to use the wool because it gives me a puffier surface, and that surface really shows up nicely. You can also use any kind of cotton that's mixed with silk or bamboo. So here I've got a very very sheer layer of wool. Now this was from a batting that had, many thick layers together and I simply peeled off a layer of wool.

And then here is some batting that's 100% cotton, and some that is cotton with silk. And I'm gonna use two layers no matter what. The fabrics that I like to use, so I don't have to do any pre washing, are a prepared for dyeing fabric. It's just gonna be called PFD, which is the short for prepared for dying. But that's not mandatory, you can prewash your fabrics, then iron them, and use them after.

We don't wanna try to put ink or paint on a non washed non prepared for dyeing fabric because it has a coating on its surface to make it look pretty on the bolt. And that will keep that paint or ink from being permanent. So we wanna make sure that's gone before we use that. So some good battings and some white fabric. Then where I'm going to be using ink, markers, and oil stick paints today.

The ink markers that I like to use, are by Fabrico. And they're quite nice, they're very juicy. They have a lot of color inside them, and they have two different tips. One that's a bullet tip, and then one that is a brush tip. Those tips can be damaged very quickly.

So I'm gonna show you how to not damage them as fast as you would otherwise. But, these go, pretty decent ways, I wouldn't fill in a negative space or a background with them, but they're wonderful for filling in smaller areas. This ink is the exact same ink as the other ink, the liquid ink I'm going to be showing you. It's from the company, excuse me, Tsukineko. And that's spelled T S U K I N E K O.

And it's an all-purpose ink. It's a craft ink that happens to be permanent on fabric. One of the problems with it is, it doesn't say anything about using it on fabric. It's just that somebody tried it, it worked, and now we know it can be done. Comes in about, I think, 30 different colors.

They can all be mixed with each other. And then it has five or six different metallics, and so, here I've got the metallic silver. These are the best metallics I've ever seen in ink or paint. They're absolutely beautiful. These are very liquid.

You can hear them shake. They have a lot of viscosity. They just flow like water. The best applicator to use for them, are these fantastix tools that are sold by the same company. They act like a marker basically, and they control, how the ink goes down on the fabric.

You can also use paint brushes, and these happen to be calligraphy brushes and these are great for sap work or doing big areas. So if you wanna fill in a background, this is a wonderful tool to use because it holds lots of that ink. But using a regular paint brush, is something you can do too however, it takes a long time to get good enough to keep that ink from moving past the line that you want it to stop at. So I always suggest if you can get your hands on the fantastix to use those. We'll also be using some Shiva oil paint sticks.

And, this is a paint that has no viscosity. It does not move on its own. You have to pound it into the surface of the fabric. Because of that, it's much easier for it to stay exactly where you want it to stay. And for it we're going to be using some paint brushes that are either stencil brushes, or regular paint brushes that have been cut down, really close to their barrel, so that they're stiff.

We need that stiffness to put these brushes down with. Or these paints down with. So we're going to be doing some quilting first, and then we're going to be doing some coloring in of that quilting and exploring color down on fabric.

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