ridgewaystudios.org

All fabric for this quilt was made in a class with Linda Colsh several years ago.  It wasn’t until I started using metal paints on fabric that I knew what to make.

This one uses the energy in the green arches and the figure to evoke Vesuvius.  The figure is transposed from a photo of the statue of Pan in Pompeii, painted with brass and iron paints, and patinating solution.

The floating ash came from the way we layered the scrolls of fabric in Linda’s class.  The paints moved through the fabrics, creating unexpected effects, like floating ash…

‘Pompeii,’ uses the same printed black fabric from Linda’s class.  The leaves are metal paints printed with a stencil, both negative and positive versions.

The wine bottles were drawn after a photo of wine bottles in the ruins, then machine quilted without any other enhancement on the hand-painted fabric.

‘Distant Planet is the second of the Interstellar quilts.  Dyed silk combines with commercial cottons and machine quilting to evoke an unfamiliar sky.  The shape of the quilt and the green silk reflect the quadrilaterals used extensively in Star Wars.

Photography from space exploration and science fiction blend freely in my first efforts.  As I make more fabrics for this series of quilts, I hope to find the quilt-like features of space exploration that we tend to overlook.  Most habitations, for example, come from archaeology or submarine design, and feature weapons as the most common human artifacts.  It will be good to nurture a different vision…

…a new commercial stencil (lower left) used on silk with Montana spray paint, Chroma-craft brushed on a blue background, and pentel dye sticks over a rosy dyed silk charmeuse.

I’m looking for overall patterns to use with more quilts in the Interstellar series.

After the surprise of the blue pears, I took a more hopeful look at using blue colors on wood.

Generally, we get the best results with the warm colors on wooden objects.  However, this amazingly deep blue matte paint combines so well with silver highlights that I have indulged extensively on these ornaments.  (2.5 -3″ tall, Colorado Aspen)

The only drawback to these ornaments is that they may require a silvery tree, or maybe some very blue lights on a green one.  I am looking forward to seeing how the colors respond to the LED Christmas lights.  I have always thought the LED colors were somewhat cold.  Like outer space.  Like interstellar space….

Save

I was inspired by Merryl Saylan to use milk paint on wooden fruits.  It is a self-priming paint that can be applied in layers and cut back with sanding.

Federal Blue was not on my list of likely colors for pears.  These have a blue base, with some blue mixed with buttermilk sponged on top.  Amazingly, the blue and yellow paints did not combine to form green.  I liked the frosty feeling, so I used a pewter metallic paint for the stems.

Thanks to Merryl for the suggestion, and to Ben at Woodcraft for giving me a sample of Federal Blue traditional milk paint!

Woodturners have been making fruit for over a hundred years, but we don’t see much of it in the US.  When we went to England, the turners made collections of fruit in different kinds of exotic wood scraps.  That way, the bowl was like  a memory palace for their work.

I’ve been experimenting with different color methods–fabric paint, fabric dye, acrylics, and milk paints.  Here’s a snapshot of my progress so far.  The pomegranate took a bit of carving, too.