Special Effects For Needlework & Mixed Media Projects

Since I'm getting ready to start on another Seascape, I thought this would be a good time to share with you some fun things you can use for "special effects".

This is a piece of China Silk which I hand-painted and applied to the foundation fabric with Heat & Bond:



The image is a bit fuzzy. You know that photography is not my medium! But it's enough for you to see.

I then added a "special effects" layer which consists of Angelina Fibers, Silk Rods and some metallic gold mesh:



Angelina Fiber is a very fine "light reflective" as well as "light refractive" fiber. It is extremely luminescent and comes in a wide range of colors.



Angelina is a loose, fusible fiber meaning that when heated, it bonds to itself creating a sheer, non-woven fabric which can then be applied to an unlimited range of projects. It can be used in paper arts such as hand-made paper, scrapbooking and greeting cards. It can used with wool for felting and as you can see here, it will make for a lovely background to my Seascape.

Silk Rods are another really fun "special effect" item that can be used in all mixed media applications. The only limit is one's own imagination:



I purchased my Silk Rods from Grace at Larkspur Funny Farm, another wonderful Etsy shop owner! Since I am rather clueless about silk worms, I am going to quote Grace from her description of the Silk Rods:

"Carrier Silk Rods are the by product of reeling silk from the cocoon. As the silk filament is unraveled from the cocoons into a skein that is carried over a rod. Silk builds up on this carrier rod and must be removed. This silk is then slit and removed. These slit tubes still have the sericin. The rods can be dyed, separated into layers, sprayed with water and ironed flat or degummed. They have been used in paper making, jewelry, spinning, felting, altered art, textural stitching and silk fusion. The rods vary in shapes and sizes."

So here is what I did with my piece:

Working on a sheet of Freezer paper, I sprinkled on some purple and mint green Angelina. I then added some snippets of metallic gold fabric mesh.

I pulled off some small pieces of the silk rod, spritzed it with water, pressed it with my iron and laid that on top of my fiber and gold mesh. I then sprinkled a bit more of the mint green and the purple Angelina on top, covered it with my Freezer paper and pressed it. This all fused together in what I call a "fiber sandwich". At the moment, it's just laying on top of my China Silk but will be held in place with my stitching and embellishments which I will be starting on here shortly.

Grace is currently sold out of her Silk Rods but I spoke with her last week and expect to see new listings soon so if you're interested in purchasing some of these, please bookmark her shop and keep checking back.

There are many online sources for Angelina Fibers but I recommend Textura Trading. For the direct link to the Angelina Fiber page, click here.

Dragonfly Purse & More!

Ok, who ordered snow? According to my calender it's the middle of April! Yes, it's snowing here but I'll try to think "Spring" thoughts and hope that it comes back very soon!

First, I want to update you on my little Flicker birdie. He's fine! He sat in the same spot on my maple tree for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday. Every little while, he would stretch his wings and look around a bit. After a couple of hours, he called out to his friends! 2 more Flickers came and landed in the tree by him. A few minutes later, all 3 of them flew off into the woods together!

I can't begin to tell you what an amazing experience it was to touch this gorgeous bird! I would never wish his trauma on any bird. He hit that window very hard and knocked the wind out of himself but to see him so up close and to touch him was amazing. I'm thrilled that I was here to help him and that he was able to recover from the shock.

So now, onto some finishes! I finished up my Dragonfly purse yesterday. And for those of you who counted 5 dragonflies, 2 butterflies and a spider yes, you are correct! Here's a photo of the finished purse:



I just listed this in my Etsy shop.

My next finish is the black Autism pouch:



I trimmed the bottom of this pouch with some crocheted beaded edging that my mom made for me. She does this to thank me for taking the time sell some of her things for her.

Anyway, that's my news for today! I plan to start another CQ piece later today and I want to get my list of needed supplies together for my custom apron order so I can pick up what I need and get started on that. Stop by tomorrow to see what I decide to work on.

At Home With Needlework Magazine Holiday Issue

The new Holiday Issue of At Home With Needlework by Zweigart is now available. Here is a list of my designs which appear in this issue:

"Redwork Valentine Stitchband Border" - page 6
"Cluster Of Clovers" Tabletopper (cover) - page 8
"Easter Bunny" Tabletopper (cover) - page 10
"Bookmarks For Dad" - page 16
"Autumn Leaves" Stitchband Borders - page 23
"Halloween Greetings" - page 26
"Harvest Table Collection" - page 29



You can find this magazine and others with my designs at your local needlework shop.

Bird Rescue

About an hour ago, I was in my kitchen and heard a huge thump on one of my living room windows. I looked out, and laying on the ground was a beautiful Flicker bird which is a member of the Woodpecker family. I immediately ran outside in hopes of helping him.

He was still breathing so I sat down and started talking to him, telling him that was fine, that he hit the window hard and was just a bit stunned.

His eyes kept opening and closing so I started petting him. Birds are so soft! Anyway, he began to perk up a bit. It didn't appear to me that his wings were broken but I wasn't sure about his neck. I kept visualizing him being ok and flying away but after a few minutes, he was still quite out of it.

I ran in the house, grabbed a box and some old towels and then went back out. Again, he was still breathing, and starting to move his head around a bit so I assumed that his neck wasn't broken. I talked to him some more, kept petting him and then gently picked him up and put him in the box and carried him to the front porch.



I sat the box on the chair and just talked to him and kept petting his little head and slowly but surely, he started to move around some more.



As you can see, this little guy was quite out of it but after awhile, I noticed as I started to move around, walking back and forth a bit on the porch, he started watching me which I think perked him up some more. After a few more minutes, he stood up, and flew into my maple tree.

I just checked on him and he's still sitting in the same spot in the tree but he was looking around, I saw him stretch his wings a little and I heard him chattering. All of which I believe are good signs that he'll be ok. I'll keep you posted.

Black Autism Pouch Complete!

I stitched on this yesterday during the Cubs Home Opener game. Yes, they lost. That's ok, I'm just so happy to have baseball to listen to again!

Anyway, this is ready for assembling now:



As with the first Autism pouch that I did a few weeks back, I pulled the colors from the puzzle ribbon.

My plan for today is do the machine work on this as well as the Dragonfly Purse. If all goes well, I may even get the hand-finishing completed today too! Stop by tomorrow to see I was able to stay on schedule!

I have a custom apron to do so I'll be pulling out my apron patterns today to figure out what supplies I'll need and I have a ton of new blocks all sewn up and ready to stitch on so I'll have to choose one for my next CQ project. I'll probably have to go "eenie, meenie, miney, mo" because I want to do them all and probably won't be able to just pick one!!! Isn't creativity wonderful?!!!