challenging materials

Hello! Natalya here...
Lately I seem to be enjoying challenging myself with materials. I have always worked with recyclables in my art quilting, but mostly that has been vintage linens, dryer sheets and the occasional bubble wrap... This year I seem to have upped my ante without even noticing...

cut up and layered plastic bags

First I dove into using plastics. Within a few weeks of collecting plastic bags from various supermarket trips I had enough materials to create several artworks almost entirely of plastic.

mittens and twigs!

Then I invited my friends to contribute to my self-imposed challenge. I am currently making portraits of their homes and for materials using ephemera that they collected for me. What was I thinking?  Well... I was thinking it would be fun actually!
In the first portrait I made, I was given worn out wool mittens, twigs, tissue paper and dryer sheets. It was a fun challenge to figure out. Somehow the mittens made a perfect lawn and the color of the tissue paper was the same shade as the stucco house.

brochures!

The next challenging bit of ephemera that's on my work table currently is mostly paper. Brochures from various parks, house plans and ticket stubs. This home portrait will be completely different from the previous one. But will I be able to keep it all in my style? Sure hope so..

What challenging materials have you worked with?

playing with plastic

Hello Natalya here, typing with gluey fingers after the latest experiment. Lately I have found myself working with plastics once again. Those horrendous plastic bags that are still used in all the big box stores around here. Somehow, even though I mostly remember to bring my own cloth bags, I still wind up with tons of the plastic in my house. Occasionally I'll use them for texture, clear layer or shine in my work. But recently I endeavored to create a whole piece just from plastic.

In the past I have simply layered the plastic, pinned and stitched right thru it. But plastic tends to slide and that does not achieve perfect placement, which is usually OK by me, except that this time I was looking for something more precise. So I decided to experiment with matte medium.

I drew my basic sketch on paper and started cutting and layering the plastic right on top. Between each layer and the paper I added a light wash of matte medium. I smoothed things out as I worked, and all seemed to be going well. Until it dried. First off, I rediscovered that glue trapped between plastic sheets takes an awfully long time to dry... And when it does dry - it puckers. I was a bit worried that I'd have to scrap things..

I thought I'd outline-stitch my buildings first and then see how I feel. Things were still puckery, but I wanted to keep going.

By the time I stitched the details, the puckers did not bother me so much. I kind of liked the extra texture they added.

I moved on to the hand stitched details and the puckers were not an issue at all. Now hand stitching consumed all my attention and demanded more and more.

Here is a detail of the finished piece. See the full picture on my blog here. 

I am continuing with my plastics experiment: there is a sister piece to the "Glass Bridge" above, which is about to get its hand stitched details. It had a lot more time to dry, so I am curious to see if it'll feel different to stitch through. And for the piece after that, I intend to try fusing the plastics together. My only worry is about the fumes...glad spring is here...all my studio windows will be open!