Postcard Postcards

Oak Leaf Fabric Postcard - Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2013

I think I'm done making oak leaf fabric postcards for awhile. It's been fun and informative and just a little bit addictive. There may be more of these in my future, but for now it's time to move on. And as much as I might like to make one for each and every reader, that isn't going to happen! Instead, I've added an image of one of my oak leaf fabric postcards to some of the products in my cafepress shop. The next best thing to the actual postcard might be the picture on a photo postcard. They come in sets of 8 and can be purchased here. I've also added the image to a lovely mahogany tea/recipe box and a business card holder.

I know I've said this before, but I do plan on more updates to the shop. In the meantime, check out my two calendars of favorite art quilts, cards, mugs and gift items. Some of these may be going away soon.

Mail Bag & More Thread Magic

Look what the mail has brought me this week - a large envelop from June stuffed with silk scraps, some commercial, some her own handy work. I'm a sucker for silk, and this little collection makes a nice addition to my silk stash. What will I make from it?

Constance Rose Artist Postcard

And this art postcard arrived as well from Connie, who is way more motivated than I am right now to be pushing her work forward with experiments in paint on paper. What a nice surprise to see it amongst the Christmas catalogs and bills. I am so blessed to have found these friends through the internet.

It's been a long time since I've had a day job, longer still since I was in school, so it always amuses me that I still have that "vacation" mindset, as in, we are celebrating Thanksgiving here in America which for many is a 4 day weekend, and I had pegged these 4 days to really hunker down and work on my commission postcards. Um, well, it's not like I had to wait for this block of time in order to be free to do it. But I can't break that habit, and just use it to my advantage. I'm on vacation and can get some work done! Sheesh. Anyway, I'm on the home stretch, doing the worst than mindless satin stitching of the edges from which I had to take a break. Again, I had to marvel at the magic that happens when different colors of thread are used in the quilting. The one in the above photo is partially quilted with the King Tut thread variegating from yellow to orange to green.

I didn't think this particular batik worked as well as the one above so these are not part of the commission. I don't know how well you can tell from the picture, but the one on the left is quilted with a yellow variegated thread while the one on the right is the yellow/orange/green one again. One glows, one shades to green. I love it. 

More Postcards

To my surprise and delight, I have received a commission for a dozen of my oak leaf fabric postcards. The original background fabric was used up on the first set of 8, and there was nothing similar in my stash. However, the customer has total faith in my judgement of a replacement fabric. I've chosen two batiks, as he also doesn't care if they are not all the same. Of course, this means I will be returning to the bit of angst generated over choosing the proper color thread to quilt them with. The "perfect" combination may include some of the colors I've already tried, but I suspect there may be better ones as well. Let the play begin!

P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment on my anniversary post to sate my curiosity about how you keep up with my blog. I'll be making a random selection from those comments on Friday, and sending the winner a little gift of appreciation.

Rest of the Postcards

It's a wet dreary day so perfect for hunkering down in the studio and finishing up my oak leaf postcards. It would appear I need to apologize to my scanner - it helps to check settings when results are not as expected. I don't know how but the "unsharp mask filter" got turned off and that is why I couldn't get a sharp scan showing the stitching in the first group. Above is number 4 of the first set, and because it was so light, I chose a different color thread for the edge finish - an Oliver Twist hand-dyed cotton. I also did some inking to even out the way the variegation was reading.

The second set of four had a similar variance in the prints from light to dark and rather than stick with my "winning" thread combination from the first round, I decided to try out some other ideas. It occurred to me that since I'd spent so much time and effort cutting out those leaf veins which showed so well on the darker prints, maybe I shouldn't obscure them with colored thread. So these two got the veins quilted with invisible thread.

I also outlined one with invisible thread, the other with an Essentials thread color called Cedar. No discernible difference between the way the two read. The background on both of these is different from what I tried on the others too - a King Tut called Nile Delta - it has green mixed in with the yellow. My apologies for the colors being all over the map. The true colors are probably somewhere between the two.

On the lighter prints, I went back to quilting the veins and outlining the leaves with regular thread - the Cedar. Thinking to keep things simple and rather like it. And for a change of pace, I introduced green thread into the background.

This didn't work as well as I'd hoped, making for too busy of a background in my opinion. I was hoping the dark green Essentials Dark Olive thread would make the lighter leaf (bottom) stand out but it just adds more lines that read dark and not necessarily green. The other one (top) is a little better with the lighter variegated King Tut color called English Ivy.

It always fascinates me how thread color can change how the fabric it is stitched across reads. The postcards on the left read cool with that green thread in the background while the ones on the right read warm with the predominantly yellow thread in the background - almost like using two different colorways of the underlying print. Without color in the veins, the Cedar thread worked well for the satin stitched edge but to my surprise, the Turkey Red thread from the first set accented the other postcards better. It seemed to make that cedar thread in the veins pop out more, looking more red.

So that's it for these oak leaves for now. Most of them are being mailed off and the idea to group a set of them on a background for a quilt is for another day. I think it's time I got back to that beading project.

Oak Leaf Postcard Progress

I should know by now that whatever my first choice of thread color is, it will not show up like I think it will. Blendy blendy seems to be my curse when merely subtle is all I might be going for. After the first yellow I'd chosen failed to stand out from the background fabric, I grabbed a brighter spool and found the effect I was looking for. Was a surprise that it did not pop off the fabric more  - which was why it had not made the first cut in the selection process. Note how the combination of thread and paint has changed how the background fabric reads - no long so white and bright.

And so after trying various combinations of thread color, this in my mind was the winning combination: from left to right, YLI 40 wt machine quilting cotton variegated called Sunset to outline the leaf; Superior King Tut 40 wt cotton variegated thread called Chariot of Fire (#929) to stitch the veins, another King Tut variegated called Shekels (#985) for the background, and Connecting Threads Essentials 50 wt cotton thread solid called Turkey Red to satin stitch around the outside. Did I not predict one of the newly purchased Essentials would make it into these postcards?

Of course, not all of my prints were the same darkness. This one printed quite a bit fainter so I'm not sure the "winning" threads would have been right for it. However, it is the one with the more muted yellow thread that while ok, did not give the glow I was looking for. The outlining thread had much variegation in it and to help the leaf stand out more, I inked next to the stitched line with a brown Micron pen.

Here the winning combination is shown with my second favorite. It uses the YLI Sunset in the veins as well as the outline. Sorry that the stitching does not show up better in the photos - both the camera and the scans seemed utterly confused by the paint of the stamped image.

Due to time constraints, I only finished these three right now but I'll be working up the rest of the 8 soon - maybe trying some additional colors for the background. Before writing info on the back, I spun one around in all orientations, finding it difficult to decide which I liked best. So then I laid the three out together, each in a different orientation for comparison. And suddenly I saw a different way I could use my multiple prints - do you see it too? Yes, together arranged on a background to form a larger quilt for the wall. Exciting! Why did this not occur to me sooner? I've actually done it before with multiple prints from a commercial stamp, but that feels like another lifetime ago - when I was still in Wisconsin. I think I could do a better job now with all these additional years of experience. Well, one can hope... 

Color Palette Ideas

We've had several weeks of glorious autumn afternoons, brisk but brilliant with the color of turning leaves. I marvel at how I can look around in nature and spot color combinations I hadn't thought about trying or the richness and complexity within what on the surface looks a single color or value. So as I gazed up into the golden leaves, I saw they were not yellow, but many shades of yellow with undertones of green that still lingered. But mostly I was struck by how those yellows looked against that particular blue sky. I usually pair yellow with purple or oranges or browns, or perhaps with a dark blue but I don't think I've done it with that blue. Not sure why as this was a very popular fashion pairing back in the 60's. Dating myself here, but in junior high school these were the school colors, and the drill team I was on made blue outfits with gold accents - just these colors. Food for thought.

 

I went back with the camera on another day to capture this palette as well as to try to capture the overall brilliance all that yellow created. While panning this stretch of trees, zooming in and out, I noticed this lone bright green evergreen nestled within the golds. One does not expect to see such a fresh green this time of the year, and when I have paired my golden yellows with green, it would be of a more muted variety. More food for thought.

 When I returned from my walk Saturday, I headed to the studio to work on my oak leaf postcards. When I opened the blinds, the late afternoon sun highlighted more of my golden inspiration. I had no doubt these colors were in my stash (including the blue from the sky) but hadn't actually inspected it yet. Nature was nagging, though, don't you think? So I obliged by checking my hand-dyes which you see here, and my batiks too. No shortage of this palette amongst my fabrics!

But playing with that palette needs to wait. I have fabric postcards to finish. For practical reasons, I ended up cutting the printed fabric into two pieces and layered up one set of 4 (I use decor bond covered with leftover strips of Hobbs Thermore and then the printed fabric). You may remember that I was questioning having so many of these prints to work with - mostly wondering what I would do with the eight of them when finished (only one has a designated home at this point). It hadn't occurred to me what freedom I would feel having so many to work with as I considered thread colors. It may be a little difficult to see in the picture but each one has different combinations (the upper left is the only one that also has the background quilted). I always struggle with envisioning how a thread will actually read once stitched - even with the auditioning aide of "drizzling" thread from the spool across the fabric. With so many "blanks" I could use trial and error to guide the way. The first thread would have worked if the length and value variety of the variegation had been less. Other choices did not show up enough or too much in the wrong way. As it turned out, the thread I thought least likely to work well around and on the leaf turned out to be my favorite.

Speaking of threads, I'd placed an order with Connecting Threads to take advantage of their sale on their Essentials line of 50 wt cotton thread. You know how it is - you never have the right color of thread and this is such great quality at such a good price. I pretty much bought a spool of every color on sale - 20 in all, mostly various browns but also some blues, bright greens which I have few of and those orangey ones which I normally would say I would never use but know that I will. They arrived on Saturday too and might find their way into these oak postcards. Yum!

I planned to experiment with different background threads yesterday afternoon but when I returned from my walk, the power was out and was predicted to remain so all evening. Arghh - well-intentioned plans thwarted! There was still some daylight in my office so I gathered up my beading project to see if I could get something done before the light totally failed. As I beaded, I remembered a gift my brother had given me that might just prolong my beading time - a mini-mag lite with legs. I found it and attached it to the desk...

And it provided enough light to allow me to bead for several hours - to a point where I needed to mark another section which I was NOT willing to do in restricted lighting. It was time for dinner anyway and then a quiet evening reading by lamp light. If only I could have fixed a hot drink to sip while snuggled under a quilt.

For other examples of how I've brought nature's palette into the studio, see these posts:

Bring Nature Inside (this was the start of the 5 quilts in the Azalia series)

November Journal Quilt

Seed Head Inspiration

More Nature Matching (beginnings of the poppies and peonies pairing series, one quilt completed)

In Praise of Gray

More Printing and Done

I wanted to finish the backs of my fabric postcards with the end of the sentiment printed on the front. This should be a piece of cake, I thought, as I could use a full sheet of paper covered with muslin and get two backs per sheet. On the recommendation of friend Mary Stori, I tried the alternate method to freezer paper - adhering the fabric to card stock with 505 basting spray. I think I tried this a long time ago and must have run into problems with it, leading me to use freezer paper instead. But Mary's instructions led me to believe this was worth a try. The basting spray goes on the card stock, the card stock on an oversized piece of fabric. Smooth the fabric to be sure it sticks evenly to the card stock with no bubbles, and trim off excess.

As an added precaution, apply painter's tape over the lead edge.

And it ran through the printer with ease. (This was formatted in Corel Paint Shop Pro, the outside lines serving as a guide for cutting apart.)

I didn't have quite the same success with the second one. Perhaps I should have put more basting spray on the card stock, or maybe I wasn't as careful with the smoothing. There were places where the fabric shifted and creased as it fed through. And when I pulled it off, my lines of text were no longer straight but rippled. For comparison sake, I ironed my last piece of fabric onto the heavy freezer paper and got about the same result - a total surprise. In retrospect, I think I failed to set one of the printer's properties to adjust for the extra thickness being run through it. I don't use this printer often and even though it is the same brand as the one that gets more daily use, the set-up screens and options are slightly different. And of course, I didn't take a minute to reference my notes from previous printing. This is what happens when you get cocky and are in a rush!

I always fuse my postcard backs to a piece of Decor Bond so I was able to carefully manipulate the wavy lines of text mostly back into shape. With that, it was time to assemble and satin stitch around the edges. Each postcard is slightly different. This one has a sun quilted on it.

Here's the whole set. I allowed myself to try out different colors of thread on each, both for the satin stitching around the mountains and around the outside edge. Now to add a personal note on the back and get these sent off.

Adding Text

I thought I asked you guys to wish me luck? You didn't wish quite hard enough - my day of experimenting with adding text to my triangles was a bit frustrating and did not yield quite the result I was hoping for. I'm settling for the result you see above, one that does not show up as well as I'd like, but is the best I can do. Here's how I got there.

I started by making a scan of the triangle.

In Corel Paint Shop Pro, I used this as the background layer, sizing the canvas to match the actual size of the triangle. I added a vector layer to try out different fonts, wordings and arrangements of the text, seeing exactly how it would fit on the triangle when printed.

Here's another version with slanted text. The background layer with the triangle is still there, not visible at this point because I changed the opacity to keep it from printing. I could have deleted the layer, but I wanted to be able to bring it back up if I needed to adjust the text. Ready to print, I ironed each triangle onto a 3 x 6 inch rectangle of freezer paper - just big enough to hold the triangle - and adjusted the printer layout accordingly. I did print just a plain piece of paper first to check alignment and which way the triangle should be fed in, and then sent through the real thing. The first two fed through fine, although the printing hardly showed - even when I changed the text color. And then...there's little worse than the sickening scrunching sound of a paper jam. Yup, that small piece of freezer paper caught and wadded up tight under the printer head. The fabric came out fairly easily, but it took patience and gentle steady tugging to extricate the paper in one piece. Most of my employed years involved some kind of administrative aide work, meaning I have a lot of experience teasing paper jams out of a variety of printers and copy machines, so in a way, I was back in my element. ;-)

Lesson learned, I pulled out a full sheet of heavier weight Jenkins freezer paper, figured out where on the page to affix my triangle, reset the printer layout, ran a test paper through and successfully printed enough triangles for my postcards with no more jams. Good thing I have more triangles than I need because a few of them were not lined up quite right and the text positioning was off.

But as I said, the ink just wasn't showing up well on this fabric, so "enhancement" was in order. I settled on colored pencil fill and Pigma pen outlining although I probably could have gotten the lettering to pop more had I tried a little opaque paint. However, the way the day had been going, I sensed paint and a paint brush were not a good idea. For better or worse, I'm using these as is, ready to attach them to my postcard bases. (Click on any picture for a larger view.)  

First Steps

I think all the books are now out of boxes and in my bookshelf. That done, getting on with these leftovers became most compelling. My thought was to use the stripsets as the basis for fabric postcards upon which the leftover blue triangles "mountains" would sit. I could layer up the long one and quilt it, then subdivide into individual cards. The second colorway stripset was only enough for a single card. Perhaps you're wondering what the bandage rolls are for. Those are actually strips of batting left after squaring up quilts. Often they are wide enough for a postcard but if not, I just butt several together as I've had to do here. I worked upside down on the long strip, the final layer being Decor Bond.

The first time I tried fabric postcards, I could see what a useful format this could be for using up odds and ends, so set aside a small bin to keep these in: leftover batting, muslin for the backs, Decor Bond, some cut to size, fabric and scraps for the cards. When I opened the bin, it had much more in it - things from my work table I didn't know what to do with when I packed up and moved, and there was room in the bin. Out of sight, out of mind, and I'm still wondering what to do with some of it. However, there are my small easels I've been looking for, certainly would not have thought to look here.

I originally thought to have the bands running horizontally but there would have been too much waste - the bands are 7" wide. Also, those triangles are 6" long at the base, so a bit large for the typical 4 x 6 inch postcard. So I've opted to make my cards 5 x 7 and make peace with the stripes running vertically. I hoped to knock back the high contrast with the quilting, but it didn't do as much as I'd hoped.

I could get 4 cards out of that strip. Before proceeding, I applied Fray Check to the edges, both to control raveling and to secure the quilting ends. Next step is to experiment with text on the blue triangles. I've been playing in Paint Shop Pro and hope I can print the text directly onto the triangles. If not, then I will be using a printout of the text as a guide for applying the words with pen or paint. Wish me luck.

 

Mountain Ash Snow Berries Fabric Postcards

I put the finishing touches on these around midnight last night. A last row of red stitching next to the satin stitched edges. (Click on photo for larger view.) They are now tucked in Christmas cards and on on their way...


Yes, I started with four, but that fourth one became a "prototype" of experimentation, trying to hit upon a thread color that pleased me. My meager collection of reds were all similar in value to each other and to the fabric they were to lie on. The rayon just didn't give the effect of berries that I had in mind, a dark brown was simply not right. If you look closely at mountain ash berries, you will see they are more orange then red, so I thought, aha! that orange polylite thread that has come in so handy lately will surely do the trick. But no, it too wasn't what I had in mind. (It's the lower three in the picture above and the center finished postcard in the top picture. You can see how it makes the red fabric look more orange than the same fabric stitched with reds.) I actually picked out the stitching on one semi-circle, no mean feat when you have double-stitched a circle with tiny stitches. It was a bad day at the office.


Then in conversation with a friend, two things happened. I was reminded of the technique of blending your own color by passing two different threads through the eye of the needle. And I remembered I had some red silk thread stashed away with my supplies for Baltimore Album blocks. There was a darker, almost reddish brown thread in there that on its own was too dark, but which toned down the red rayon just enough when paired with it to give more definition against the red fabric. (You can see in the previous pictures several of those blending trials with other thread colors.) The difference is subtle, but what I was looking for.

So what do you think? Is this a design idea worthy of further exploration in a larger format? I'm thinking yes. Got ideas or comments? Please share!

Jockeying for Space Postcard

"Jockeying for Space"
Fabric Postcard 4 x 6
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

I had the chance to play with fabric postcards again over the weekend. I've made several with triangles like this, calling them Jockeying for Position. But this one, because it has a tighter feel to the arrangement, is more in line with the larger Jockeying for Space, and so that is what this one is called. It also differs from the other ones in its addition of narrower triangles.


I'd meant to use up the triangles that had been trimmed from another project last year, and got as far as getting out the paint wipe cloth that would be the background. I stalled while thinking too hard about which parts of that cloth would work best with which triangles. I allowed myself to get overwhelmed and ended up putting the project away. This time, one of the goals was to work quickly and definitely not spend too much time picking out spots on the background and arranging the triangles. I considered the lighter side, realized I could cut a strip off and sub-cut it into postcard-size backgrounds and be done with it. Now I have multiple backgrounds ready to go.


The arrangement of the triangles fell into place with only a few rounds of "jockeying" and thought. The ironic thing is, this orientation is the one I designed to. It was only when I was ready to square it up that I thought to check the other orientations, deciding I like the portrait orientation shown at the top. But frankly, it looks pretty good no matter which way it is turned.

Bluebird In My Mailbox

"Bluebird of Happiness"
Mail Art Project #21
Cynthia St. Charles

The winds have been howling for 24 hours, whipping the snow into drifts and plunging the temps well below freezing. It gives one pause about going out into it, requiring much bundling and a good reason. If nothing else, I needed to retrieve my mail and newspaper, and what waited in my mailbox was indeed worth braving the elements - this "Bluebird of Happiness" fabric postcard.

I follow Cynthia St. Charles' blog where I had an opportunity to sign up for her Mail Art project explained here. Every week I view her latest batch and hope I am the recipient of an extra, and now in week 21 of her project, my name has finally been picked. On the back is this quotation by Gretta Brooker Palmer: "Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy." That is so true, and something I've been very aware of this year.

The bluebird theme also reminds me of a class my friend Judi and I took years ago where everyone in the class learned an applique technique using the same pattern of a bird on a tree limb. The class did not go well for us, and we each had our own take on expressing that with the name of our finished pieces, made into journal quilts. Mine was "The Bluebird of Unhappiness" and Judi's was "The Bluebird from Hell"! Thank goodness, I now have a bluebird with a more upbeat vibe. And I love how my collection of fabric art from other artists via their generosity is slowly growing.

It's not too late to sign up for the project. View more of Cynthia's Mail Art here.

Variations on a Theme

"June, June! Strawberry Moon!"
11" x 13" Art Quilt/Private Collection
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2006

I'm feeling guilty about not posting for so long. Some progress is being made, so I really should give you a peek at how the moons are coming along. In order to see my progression in using the strawberry moon theme, I'm starting with the the first one above, made way back in 2006 before I moved back to Idaho. The tree trunks are discharged using a freezer paper stencil and the moon is hand-dyed fabric also discharged and then reverse appliqued into place. I did some hand quilting along the trunks and moon, then mounted it to the commercial print - a method newly experimented with here but which has become a mainstay finishing technique for me.

"Strawberry Moon"
4" x 6" framed Textile Art
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2010

Fast forward to last fall and the resurrection of the strawberry moon in miniature form.


I'm often sketching trees, either curvy trunks or ones with branches overlapping. This one had no particular place I planned to use it, but resized, it became the basis for the grouping of trees I used on the landscape-oriented miniature. When I discovered that I couldn't get mats locally with the proper size opening for my postcard size minis, I realized that this sketch was the perfect size for a slightly larger 5 x 7 inch miniature version. How would a moon look behind the trees? Just fine!


But between the miniature of 2010 and the 5 x 7 of this month, there were these variations in my original design. Discounting the clone harvest moons at lower right (the only difference between them is the sky fabric and they have batting which the original harvest moon did not), each time I worked with the extra moons I'd cut, I altered the trees a bit - not really what I'd set out to do but which I happily succumbed to. First I changed the orientation from landscape to portrait as well as changing background and moon color and number/arrangement of trees (upper left). Then I moved on to a different fabric for the trees which looked good with the peachy moon on the navy background (upper middle). Because I wanted the same color combination for the larger version and my fabric was limited, the moon is smaller than in the others. The addition of another tree with or without branches didn't work - too cluttered. I like the simplicity of the single tree. The moon is also offset more, but in the larger version to the right, more room allowed for all trees and the moon looked best centered. I had the full set of trees cut for the last variation (middle left), birch-like fabric set against navy background, was arranging them when for some reason, I wondered if it would look better with just trunks like in my original strawberry moon. I let it sit overnight, then decided, yes indeed, I wanted this one to be plain old trunks. At the stage in this picture, all have been stay-stitched, trimmed and fray-checked. All have batting, except for the 5 x 7 which is only backed with Decor Bond for stability (it will be taped to a mat and framed). The other strawberry moons have Decor Bond with the fusible side exposed so that they can be fused to a mount after the edges have been satin stitched - will show that later. The harvest moon on the left has been finished out as a postcard, edges now satin stitched, and the other one will be taped to a mat for framing.


As I worked late this afternoon, I noticed a bit of a sunset in progress. Moving to my bedroom with the western exposure I saw how wonderfully these trees were silhouetted against the coral clouds. It answered a question I'd been posing all day, wondering if I should be doing anything to those plain navy backgrounds behind my trees. I'd decided not to complicate things with this set of variations, but to keep in mind the possibility of adding clouds if I continue working with these images. It's obvious why trees keep showing up in my work, isn't it?