100 Days Project - 100 days of Textile experiments.

Last year I hadn't even heard of the 100 Day project till all my friends seemed to be taking part. This year I signed up so for For 100 days I will be doing textile experiments and I hope that most will be inspired by architecture that I've taken photos of whilst I've been travelling. This is a link to my project .

I am working through some of the fabrics and art materials I have accumulated over the years. The first week I used Evolon.  This is a synthetic spun polyester and nylon fabric. It feels a bit like suede. The samples are approximately 6 inches square unless they shrink when melted or I start to run out!
I bought my Evolon from Village Books and Crafts in Palmerston North.

Day 1 - I  free motion machine stitched it then painted it with dilute indian ink and acrylic paint. It spreads a bit like watercolour paints.

Day 2. I painted two different pieces with acrylic paints and fused one shape on top of the other piece. The Evolon takes the paint well and it is easy to cut intricate shapes because it doesn't fray at all. It stitches like fabric but would be better if stretched in a hoop. Unfortunately my pieces were a bit small for that so I stabilised it with fine batting.

Day 3 I monoprinted by spreading the ink on a piece of glass and then laying the Evolon on top and drawing on the back of it. It is a bit blurry as the Evolon has filaments which sort of wick away the ink. Some people use it for making watercolours as the ink soaks into the fibres

This is an image of the full 7 days of samples together.

Day 4. I used some very old transfer inks to add colour. I am limited to blue, black and red as the rest have been lost over the 15 years since I bought them.

Day 5. I stitched 2 layers of Evolon together using a picture I'd taken of a window in Ahmedabad in India. Then I heated the stitched piece with a heat gun. At first nothing happened then it started to melt and finally became quite hard and plasticky.

Day 6. I did a different type of mono print by inking the glass then drawing into the ink. I then cut out the design and tried to add foil by using fusible webbing. The iron was too hot and I managed to melt the foil and the backing onto the Evolon. The background is hand painted cotton.

Day 7. I cut out shapes in the Evolon using a soldering iron then coloured the design using transfer inks. The design comes from a window screen in Ahmedabad.

So thats the end of the Evolon. Next week I will be working with Lutrador which I bought thinking I might use and never got out of the packet.

Advantages of Evolon. It takes paints very well, it can be cut into intricate shapes without fraying or tearing. It is strong and can be burnt to make very interesting shapes. I think it will be very useful for making costumes as well as for covers for hand made books.

Lastly - This is an interview of me by Charlotte Scott  the 'SlightlyMadQuiltLady".

Here is the link. Interview Clare Smith. Charlotte asked some great questions. She is interviewing all the tutors teaching at the New Zealand Quilt Symposium in October this year.