Indian Corn Imprint (2009) 14 x 11.5"
This is a small piece I just completed this weekend. At Monday’s Pandoras meeting, I created a stamp of the corn pattern using Fun Foam mounted on a cylinder (see previous entry for explanation of this process). I created stamps using both the positive parts (kernels) and negative parts (spaces between the kernels) of the design.
I stamped on muslin, using Liquitex Soft Body Artist Color and Liquitex Professional Acrylic Ink, mixed with Liquitex Fabric Medium. I cut some of the stamped muslin apart and stitched it back together. You can see this in the upper left section of the photo above, and in the detail shots below.
On some of the images using the stamp with the kernels, I drew around the kernels with a purple Derwent Inktense Pencil and then used a wet paintbrush to soften the pencil lines.
When I quilted it, I stitched in some kernels along the edges that weren’t there originally, and filled them in with the Inktense pencils. My intent was not to make them look exactly the same, but to draw attention to the stitched line and the transition between the two pieces (which you can see in the photo below, almost right down the middle):
and in this shot, horizontally near the top:
On the stamped images using the stamp with the space between the kernels, I used the Inktense pencils to color in (using cross hatching) the kernels. Or I simply did the cross hatching with thread. You can see this in the photo below, on the left side:
I quilted in lines suggestive of dried corn husks around the corn, using a variated green/tan/brown thread.
I had fun with this piece, and learned how to use some new materials I had not tried before. I really liked the Liquitex materials, especially how the inks and paints worked with the Fabric Medium. Liquitex makes some metallic colors, too, which I have not tried yet, but will in the future. The Inktense pencils would be nice for a soft watercolor effect, or a subtle wash of color.
I like trying out new techniques and materials, because I find that it forces me a bit out of my comfort zone, and makes me more creative. It also adds skills and materials to my arsenal, so that when I get a great idea, I can choose those best suited to the subject matter.
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