It's week two of making a small mixed media piece this year. I was thinking about making the second one since I made the first one last week. On Saturday I had some time when I could have made it, but my rule is that I make them from Sunday to Saturday, so I waited until Sunday. I woke up early (for a Sunday), so when my husband was awake and I could make noise, I got to work.
The pressure of creating the first one was gone, thank goodness! Last week I felt frozen and excited at the same time. This week felt better. I knew I wanted to try combining a piece of monoprinted construction fence printed cotton with wool/felt. The cotton was actually a left over strip from my January 2008 12 x 12 x 12.
The picture above is the front side, and below is the back side of this piece. I like both sides, though I think the front is more interesting.
I'm learning that it matters which side I apply the layers to felt, which side you felt facing up on the felting machine, and how much you felt it on one side vs the other side. How to choose which side to felt is hard to contemplate. Very different concept. Also, using a felting machine is very different than using a sewing machine, I broke a (felting) needle because I think I was pulling too hard. It also doesn't seem to like the Test Fabrics #419 cotton from the monoprint. I love printing and painting on the 419 but it's like iron when you sew it.
You can see my finished weekly mixed media work on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.
