Quilting Arts Magazine: embellishments

November 2006, Issue #5

Welcome to the Cloth Paper Scissors® e-Newsletter, an electronic bulletin with the latest information on fiber art and mixed-media trends and techniques, as well as news about Cloth Paper Scissors and new products at our online store.

multiple uses for mulberry bark

Fiber artist Maggie Gray describes innovative ways to use mulberry bark fibers (called Kozo) in the next issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Issue 10, Jan./Feb.2007, and we expect it to be as popular with readers as Stef Francis’ article “Fun with Silk Rods, Cocoons, and Bark” in Quilting Arts Magazine® Issue 17, Spring 2005.

You can get a head start using this versatile fiber in your quilting and mixed-media art by combining these ideas with mulberry bark, silk rods, and cocoons in a variety of colors, available at our online store.

Cut pieces of bark and glue them as is onto fabric or paper substrate as a background or surface design.
Weave unusual threads and yarns through the lacy mulberry fibers.
Tease out the fibers and weave them in among more pliable yarns and threads, couch over them, or string beads, shells, or buttons on them as an embellishment.
Take a square of mulberry bark and stitch it onto fabric or paper to make a pocket.
Paint or dye the unbleached or bleached fibers, or add paint or ink to pre-dyed mulberry bark.
Use the bark as a stamp. Apply paint or ink to the surface and print with it.
Make shapes by soaking the fibers and then ripping or stretching them and molding them over a bowl or armature. Add starch or PVA glue to the water before soaking to strengthen the shape.

Find mulberry bark at our online store..

your days are numbered

IN THE QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE CALENDAR

These calendars make great holiday gifts, and they’re selling fast. Order yours before time runs out!

Find them exclusively in our online store...

the journal quilt project book has arrived

CREATIVE QUILTING: THE JOURNAL QUILT PROJECT

Word has spread quickly that Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project (Quilting Arts, LLC, 2006) is an amazing book, full of color, design, and inspiration. Edited by Karey Patterson Bresenhan, Creative Quilting is a compendium of more than 400 quilts, each 8 1/2" x 11", culled from the nearly 6,000 QuiltPages made by 918 artists who have participated in The Journal Quilt Project over five years.

Order your copy today.

the fab four

FOUR FABULOUS NEW BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Fabric Leftovers: Simple, adaptable ways to use up scraps by D’Arcy-Jean Milne (C&T Publishing, 2006), shows readers how to turn scraps into fabric beads and bowls, jewelry and hair accessories, button flowers and book covers, and coffee cup cuffs (look for more on these quaff cuffs in Quilting Arts Magazine, Issue 24) among many other projects.

The Surface Designer’s Handbook, Dyeing, Printing, Painting, and Creating Resists on Fabric, by Holly Brackmann (Interweave Press, 2006), is one of the best books we’ve seen on the topic of altering fabrics through dyeing, printing, and painting. The book covers all aspects of dyes (fiber reactive, acid, vat, and disperse); explains step-by-step how to use these dyes; teaches embellishing on fabric with foiling, embroidery, beadwork, and collage; and offers hands-on resources, including dye worksheets, recipes, and instructions for all techniques, plus tips and tricks.

Double Trouble Does it Again! Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn of Double Trouble Enterprises have published two new creative embroidery books, and we’ve got them in our store. Grids to Stitch, Book 17 draws inspiration from nature, brickwork, high-rise buildings, baked goods, and bottle caps among many other grid-like arrangements and then renders re-interpretations with fiber, netting, soluble fabric, distress and heat techniques, and stitch. Seductive Surfaces, Book 18 looks to historical artifacts for insight into creating enticing surfaces you long to touch using everything from velvet to “plastic and textile waste” manipulated through stitch, bonding, beading, gilding, and embellishing. Order your books today!

Remember: Subscribers to Quilting Arts Magazine® and Cloth Paper Scissors® will receive 10 percent off the cover price of these books, as they do with all website purchases.

double your fun on our creative embroidery cruise

If you enjoy Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn’s books, imagine how amazing it would be to take a cruise with them, learning creative embroidery techniques firsthand in daily seminars with them, mixed-media artist Beryl Taylor, or Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth Paper Scissors Editor-in-Chief Patricia Bolton.

We still have space available on the Fabulous Fiber Art and Creative Embroidery Cruise to Alaska, July 14-21, 2007, with Quilting Arts, LLC, and the Holland America Cruise Line, so reserve your spot now. For registration and details on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, visit qacruise.com or call 800-707-1634.

Register today!

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