Sunprints and Stamping Fabric Cards

I have been enjoying the last days of summer while working away to prepare for Etsy Made in Canada, a series of shows which will occur on September 27 in  major cities across Canada.  I will be taking part in the Ottawa show at the Bell Sensplex from 9 to 4 on Saturday September 27.  If you are nearby check it out.  I believe the entrance fee is $6.  I needed to be organized because I will be away hiking in Cape Breton for 10 days before the show.

I managed to find enough sunlight on my patio in August to do some sunprints but didn't take many photos of the process because I had to move quickly before the sun moved.   I wanted to use the prints for cards so I cut my fabric into pieces approx 5 x 7 and did each one separately.   The bottom right was done on satin with setacolours and it worked like a charm.

Then I ironed each on to fusible interfacing and placed it in a window card.  The one in the second row right was painted without sunprinting.

Then I made tree and leaf stamps and stamped a few on painted satin.

I decided to make a few pendants using the painted stamped satin fabric - skies to go with my landscape/seascape jewelry.

More subtle than my landscape jewelry

One thing led to another and I ended up doodling with ultra fine markers in my sketch book.  I did a whole page of designs then photo transferred them to EQ Printable fabric.   I could have drawn right on the fabric with permanent fabric markers but I really liked using the ultra fine sharpies for detail and they tended to bleed when used directly on the fabric.  I used mostly floral designs that lend themselves to a circular format but also strayed into nautilus shapes, eyes, sea urchins, starfish, abstract doodles etc.

My first page of designs - some worked some did not

I made a second sheet of designs and did some matching earrings as well.  Here are some of the finished pendants.

Finshed pendants - I love the sea urchins!

These are done with bottlecap settings - some photo transfer, some painted, some layered landscape

I have never had issues with glues on fabric and metal but when I first used the bottlecap ones some turned the fabric brown.    I tried sealing both the fabric back and the metal and that worked fine.  I ended up using clear nail polish on the metal (which I saw on one of my supplier's sites) and gel medium on the fabric back.   E6000 also worked to seal and glue without browning but I am hesitant to use it regularly because it needs good ventilation etc.  The key is to seal the metal entirely.

I finished a mini embroidery of Tenerife mountain and I am working on a tiny embroidery of brown eyed susans from a photo in my backyard - and I took a few days off to accompany some friends to Prince Edward County - wine tasting, hiking the dunes, swimming and lots of great food!

From my recent trip to Prince Edward County (Wine Country)

We walked the sand dunes of Sandbanks - who would know these vast dunes exist in southern Ontario?  See the two figures in the distance?

A very busy summer and looking forward to my annual fall vacation before another busy fall!

After the torrential rains and vicious storms - a reward!

Oh I almost forgot, I will have a couple of pieces on display next weekend in Almonte at FibreFest - with my fibre arts group, Out of the Box.    I also have a piece at The Running Stitch Quilt show in Kanata on October 3 and 4.  And of course don't forget Fibrations Sept 9-16 at the Art Gallery of Burlington.