Monday, March 26, 2007

Burned Out


I've worked with organzas and transparent fabrics before, but I've never used a heat gun with them. I spray basted circles of fabric on a base, stitched/quilted them in place with a large spiral, then took the heat gun to the finished work. The raw edges curled up and feel like plastic. Some of the fabrics melted better than others. The edges are currently unfinished and I'd like some ideas on what might work best on this highly textured (and very stiff in places) piece. Other comments also welcomed. -Marilyn

2 comments:

Betty Donahue said...

This looks like a very fun technique that I would like to try sometime. I like it a lot.
Betty Donahue

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Marilyn,
Looks like you had fun with this one! I've done a little burn out work, too...and the effects are unpredictable and beautiful. I especially like the gold shiny circles that add contrast in texture and color. Some of the others sort of meld together. Have you thought about ways to distinguish the circles/spirals so they stand out more? Some things I thought of are: handstitches in a thick darker thread like perle cotton around a few of the lighter spirals; couching some darker fibers around some of the spirals; or adding some contrasting beading in some of the low constrast areas.

A couple ideas for the edging...just a plain zigzag around the whole thing, couch some fibers around the edge, or go wild with some more burning of the edges (best way I've found to control the burning is to make sure it's quilted all the way to the edges and use a lighter on the edge, do a small area at a time and have a wet cloth to put it down on and another wet cloth to pat it from the top...it's really quite fun)

Cynthia