Untitled by Linda Cline

14 x 9; Hand dyed cotton, painted Wonder Under, cheese cloth, spun thread clippings.

I gave in and made time to play this afternoon.

I had some cheesecloth laying about that I had painted in a strange dark purple color that I didn’t care for much. I painted it in spots with some brighter blue paint. Dry cheesecloth doesn't seem to paint well with a foam brush, it wants to cling to the brush instead. Damp cheesecloth is much easier to paint. I used some puff paint quite by accident which worked out quite nicely. It made the threads on the cloth appear thicker in those places. I also painted some Wonder Under in shades of red, orange and purple. I worked with no particular images in mind, only did what the materials seemed to need.

I did some tests with the Wonder Under to see if it matters which side up looks best (doesn’t seem to matter), and if it looked better on dark or light fabric. On dark fabric the colors looked dull, and the less painted areas dulled the color of the base fabric. So I chose a hand dyed yellow base fabric and added torn strips of the painted Wonder Under. And then I learned that if just ironed Wonder Under falls back on itself it sticks to itself and becomes distressed looking when you pull it apart.

I thought about waves washing up on a shore when I put the cheese cloth. Not expecting to create realistic waves, just so I could make interesting organic looking shapes.

A while ago I had spun some of the clipped threads I had collected with a drop spindle. This project seemed the perfect place to put it.

I was thinking I might add the strip of watercolor paper I had painted, but it didn’t seem to belong in this piece. I think I will put a facing instead of binding this, and I may add some beads. This was completely different that what I usually do, and I had some serious fun this afternoon.