Cyanotype Article in Quilting Arts Magazine

My article on the cyanotype process is in Quilting Arts Magazine!  I’m so pleased and honored to have this opportunity to share one of my favorite surface design techniques with the Quilting Arts readership.  I take you step-by-step through the process, and make it easy for beginners to get good results.  I use cyanotype extensively in designing my art quilts, and I never tire of either the method or the results. 

The article, “Botanist’s Delight” is the Oct./Nov. issue, which hits the newsstands today.  It was a great experience to work with the QA editorial team, and I'm very happy with the look of the article and the quilts that are featured.  It’s a great issue from cover to cover.  You can read more about it and order a copy at the Quilting Arts website store.

New Work - Bamboo Emerging - in MQU

I can finally reveal a new work-- Bamboo Emerging, 18”h x 24”w.

Bamboo Emerging

I created it in response to an invitation from the editors of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine.  It’s part of a set of 12 art quilts, by 12 different artists, representing the seasons of the year.  I received the email asking me to participate last summer while I was in Bangalore, India, and I’ve been sitting on the news ever since, so I am really thrilled to be sharing it at last!

Bamboo Emerging - detail

Bamboo Emerging represents spring.  Years ago our neighbors planted Arundinaria gigantean bamboo, and every spring it makes a run for it towards my yard. I spend some time hacking it back, while pausing to admire its attractive qualities. 

The center portion is a cyanotype on silk, made from a culled shoot.  The panels are pieced from a variety of silks, with a bit of earthy wool mixed in at the bottom.  Over top of the panels I laid narrow strips of contrasting silk and silk threads and used a machine needle felter to meld them into place.  I then intensively machine quilted it, and added some hand beadwork.  I like the energy and movement it conveys.

I received my advance copy of MQU, the May/June 2012 issue, in the mail yesterday, so I can also share how it looks in the layout:

The best part of this experience is the company I am keeping.  The other artists involved are (Spring) Heidi Zielinski and Patty Hawkins, (Summer) Patricia Anderson Turner, Eileen Doughty, and Roxanne Lessa, (Fall) Judy Momenzadeh, Carol Ann Sinnreich, and Lea McComas, and (Winter) Patt Blair, Kate Themel, and Kathie Briggs.  Wow! It’s an all-star lineup, and the quilts are really, really wonderful.  The quilts will be touring various venues for the next 18 months, starting with the Mancuso Denver National Quilt Festival in May, so keep an out for them when you are out and about.

Machine Quilting Unlimited, May/June 2012 cover

You are going to want a copy of this issue, not just for this feature but also for all the other great content, so if you are not already a subscriber, go here to get yours.  Seriously. It’s a good magazine.

All about Bamboo

A few years ago some neighbors planted some bamboo near our shared property line, presumably as a screen. I believe it is Arundinaria gigantea, a native bamboo that can grow in the southern parts of PA. It is certainly thriving here, and it's making me a bit nervous.....I anticipate some work will be involved in keeping it in check on my side of the line.

However invasive it may turn out to be, it is lovely. I had to trim some of it back today, so I seized the opportunity to make some cyanotypes with it. I had a sample pack of treated silks from Blueprints on Fabric that I've been saving for what turned out to be just this occasion, and had a lot of fun trying them out.

Below is a photo of one of the prints in progress, under glass. You can see the reflection of my zelkova tree, with it's similarly shaped, but smaller, leaves:

And here's a finished print: And another:
I made a variety of prints, in different sizes and with different exposures, some purposely left lighter, so that I will have a lot to work with when I get to the design phase of this project. I am very pleased with all the different textures of the silks, and will be ordering more of them to work with in the future. I made a cheat sheet of samples to help me keep track of what was what: