Stencils, soldering irons and inattentive mothers!

Procion paper play - stencils and rollers with thickened procion dyes

Quite a few years ago I went on a course for fusing fabrics together with a soldering iron - and did not enjoy it. No offence to artists who do fuse. In fact if you visit the website of Margaret Beal,  www.fusingfabric.co.uk, one of the great proponents of fusing, you will see some amazing work. However, as I said to my mother, working with a soldering iron was definitely not for me and not something I intended to do in the future.   

The only thing my mother remembered from that conversation was the word 'soldering iron' and guess what I got for Christmas?!! Well, this soldering iron has lain forlorn in my draw for years, but suddenly I have round a great use for it. It is wonderful for cutting through perspex to make stencils.

Here is the first I made - a sort of plant with berries. Not quilt successful because I didn't put in any bridges. So there a lot of loose bits flapping around in the breeze which allows quite a bit of seepage under the stencil. Still, I'm quite pleased for a first attempt.

It is amazing how effective it can be to restrict yourself to just 2 dyes. The first photo uses turquoise and rust, above and below uses turquoise and charcoal. I've also turned the stencil over and stamped with it, giving both a positive and negative print.

The second stencil is very loosely based on wisteria. 

Turquoise, violet and mustard.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence