a little word about a bird on burlap

If you've been with me for the last month you know I am not in my home studio basement. I am enjoying some sunshine and uninterrupted playtime. Being away from home has been challenging because I brought minimal supplies with me and I refuse to go shop for more.

As you may have read.... I have this bottle of water soluble varnish that I want to use up.
So far I've shown you how to use it to  add elements to a collage   and  to reverse an image and how to use it to.
You might want to go read those posts first so you know what I am talking about.


Now I'd  like to show you how to add an image to a ruff surface... such as burlap.
.yes that's  how "I" spell ruff...so no comments about misspelled words please.

This technique is not my idea....or maybe it is.... it might be the result of playing with various other ideas...
who knows  ...  but I really don't remember where I read it...   if I read it...   or if it was in a dream....
I have been artsy and crafty for over fifty years.... probably even more than that if you count all my past lives..... there's a lot of stuff in the old noggin.   I read ALL the magazines.... and a lot of blogs... If I ever come across it, I will let you know....If you have seen it please let me know so I can post it. It's alot like paper fabric or fabric paper.....and I think I may have seen it used to make a votive holder... or was that a dream too?

Well on with the show....

I want the image of the bird on a piece of burlap....

 using lace paper or a very thin handmade paper and varnish

cover the burlap ...don't use a lot of varnish...just enough to moisten the paper.

use a gentle pouncing motion to work the paper into the burlap

 you can see the varnish is still wet.

Stamp image on thin tissue paper...

in this photo the lace paper is larger that my burlap....it gets torn off later 

 pounce the image onto the burlap...the tissue paper will become very transparent.

without the lace paper, the image world be very hard to see.
(If you use a lighter color fabric instead of the brown burlap you really don't need the white middle layer.)

 gently tear away the paper and tissue

 this is going to take a while to dry

Go shoe shopping.... or go to a movie
or if it's late...go to bed

I tried to dry one in the microwave once....don't do that.

 I love the texture here....

Now go forth and use this technique on all types of heavily textured fabrics

linen, aida , canvas,  burlap...lace

Instead of lace paper you can use very very thin muslin. As you would  in fabric paper techniques

You multi media artists out there .... are your wheels turning?   

This is cool....go experiment with this.

This varnish is cheepo and you get quite alot in the bottle, tissue paper is ....well I'll bet you have some left over from the holidays....try colored tissue....try napkins... so it's almost like free entertainment for a couple hours

Use the varnish to make fabric paper....there are tons of tutorials out there for fabric paper...

You card makers out there...
go make your own embellishments...
use your cute images too
use pretty inks and papers

go play

don't be afraid to "ruin" paper or ink....there's plenty of that out there.

Sit yourself down with some supplies and don't have a finished piece in mind...

just play

All you art quilters...this goes for you too...just remember it is NOT waterproof...so no washy washy.

like I said before....

 This  is not my idea....but I really don't remember where I read it....

I read ALL the magazines.... and a lot of blogs... When I come across it I will let you know....If you have seen it please let me know so I can post it.

If you do decide to play with varnish, please come tell me.
I'd like to see what you do with it.
  

 In the mean time I will be playing with my varnish...

                                      .....I have a little more than half a bottle left.......