A New Design - prepping the canvas
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 03:33PM Well, the ANG Seminar in Milwaukee was great. All my classes went well and all the volunteers did a really wonderful job of making everything run smoothly. But, of course, as much I look forward to it, I am always glad to get back home!
It seems to take about a week to get caught up and ready to move forward. So here I am, just now finishing up the Leaf Collage canvas....with big plans to take my first stitches this evening.
In a recent blog entry I showed a picture of the original proposal and a postcard showing the direction I want to go with color. The next step was to redo the original leaf drawings and change the colors a little to work better with the planned changes. Then, I experimented with transferring these drawings to the eggshell 18 count canvas.
TRANSFERING THE LEAF DESIGNS
I tried both Tee-shirt transfer paper and the new Transfer Artist Paper by Leslie Riley. Both worked but for my needs the Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) gave just the look I was hoping for....and it's really easy to use!!
****Just a note about the pictures.....these are a combination of scans and photos so the canvas color is not consistent - all the canvas is eggshell 18 count mono canvas.
The scan at right is of the right half of the design showing two more leaf designs. You can see a partial image of a leaf shown above (helpful for scale).
For this design I had to plan the general layout in greater detail than I usually do because the leaf transfers needed to be added before any stitching is done. Even though I had work through several of the transfer sheets with my experiments, the combination of the heat of the iron and the length of time I ironed the design caused the surrounding canvas to darken a little....at the beginning, but that is not a problem with this design. And, by the time I reached the 5th and final leaf, I had gotten the timing down pretty well.....15 to 20 seconds is all that is needed for these small leaf patterns. By the way, I scanned in my original painted drawings and arranged them all on one 8-1/2" by 11" sheet so they would print on one sheet of transfer paper. Then I cut them to size and ironed.
NOTE: If you are trying this technique: BE SURE TO CREATE MIRROR IMAGES OF THE DESIGN BEING USED, so it will print properly. Also, Ised the settings of"other specialty paper: and "Best" (printing quality).
NOW TO STITCHING!
I sorted through threads again last night. I had about 10 new ones to add (purchased at M's Canvashouse boutique at Seminar) and then removed about 10 to 15 from the previous selection.
I will post follow-ups as stitching progresses.
Have a great week!
Reader Comments (2)
The transfers look terrific! I would not have thought to do that. This is going to be a great project. I love the fall colors and will enjoy watching you work on this.
The colors you have chosen are MY colors. Can't wait to see the finished piece.
Do you plan to teach this?