Materials Matter

Since I didn't go to art school, for a long time it didn't occur to me that the result of making art work - with paints, dyes, or inks - was heavily dependent on the surface to which it was applied. Painting on watercolor paper certainly gives a different result from painting on canvas, right? The same holds true with printing on fabric using an ink jet printer. Over the years I've printed my digital collages on a variety of fabrics, both pretreated and ones I've treated myself with Bubble Jet Set. One thing I haven't been afraid to do is experiment. New products come out all the time, and occasionally old ones fall by the way side.

I recently tried printing on two new-to-me fabrics in this spirit of experimentation. The photo below shows two print outs of the same kaleidoscope (created using Kaleidoscope Kreator), printed using the exact same settings, on different brands pretreated silk fabrics.

It's pretty obvious that I'd choose the right hand fabric, Jacquard Fabrisign II, over the left hand fabric. That said, I have a pigment ink printer (an Epson 2200), and that fabric clearly works better for me with my printer. However, a different ink formulation might work better on the left hand fabric. The lesson? Don't be afraid to experiment! Better to test out several small samples on a few types of fabric than to get started on a big project and end up with disappointing results. And remember, experimenting can be fun! I can always screen print over less than optimum prints, or use them as a background for something. I wish you happy printing!
 

Quilting Arts TV Taping - Part II

Here are a few more photos from the Quilting Arts TV taping. The first three were taken of the monitor in the green room. During taping you can (usually) watch each segment while it's being taped on a TV there.

Pokey and Vivika. Pokey is a real pro and is great at making the guests feel at ease.

Vivika and Judith were both great on camera. They looked like they did this every day.

Judith's segments were just the beginning of her day, as she went on to tape a DVD that afternoon. She's been teaching quilting for many years, and her expertise was clearly evident on camera.

There are plenty of folks working behind the scenes to make it all happen. I didn't get good pictures of most of them (like Helen, Lindsey, and the production staff), but I did get one of Jeanne Cook-Delpit. Jeanne is the Director of National Events for Bernina USA. She very efficiently makes sure that everyone has everything they need with respect to the sewing machines. She is also an extremely upbeat and encouraging person! Many thanks to Jeanne for taking the time to show me how to use some special features on a machine after my segments were through.

Carol Taylor, me, and Judith Trager (Vivika was taking the picture)

As a bonus I got to go out to dinner with Vivika, Judith, and Carol Taylor. Carol was in town to teach, and it was delightful to meet her. A wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

Many thanks to everyone at Quilting Arts, KS Inc. Productions, and Beachwood Studios!

Quilting Arts TV Filming

Wow! I just got back from taping 3 segments for Quilting Arts TV Series 800. What a wonderful experience! I haven't unpacked yet, but wanted to quickly share a few photos. The first one is right before (and I mean mere moments before) taping for segment 2 began.

Pokey and me and lots of kaleidoscopes. I can't say enough good things about the fantastic Kaleidoscope Kreator software I used for this segment.

Each guest sets up a tray with everything needed for a segment. The tray is taken to the set, everything is arranged for the shoot, then it gets put back on the tray to be taken to the green room when the segment is complete. The photo below shows how a tray looks after a segment (on the left), and the right hand tray is before a segment. You can see some thermofax screens in the plastic bag to the right, and some paper towels, waiting to be put on a tray for the third segment.


After my segments were finished Lindsey Murray took a short video of Pokey interviewing me in the green room to put on the IQA facebook page.

I met several wonderful artists - Vivika Denegre, Judith Trager, Faith Cleary, and Carol Taylor - and of course the great Quilting Arts and KS Productions folks. I'll post some more photos later this week.