While attending Festival, I was introduced to Judy Gula (thank you, Carol!), owner of Artistic Artifacts. Artistic Artifacts is a shop that is aptly named, offering many unusual products as well as on-site workshops taught by some of our favorite artists, including Liz Kettle and Carol Sloan.
One of their new products, something they call, "Multi-Purpose Fabric," caught my eye in their Festival booth, and I snatched up a couple of yards. Perhaps sensing my greedy desire to experiment with it, Judy offered another half-yard to give away to my blog readers!
So, let me tell you about this very cool fabric. It's manufactured by Roc-lon, and has a lovely, soft hand and drape. It's a heavy 3-ply fabric, almost canvas-weight, but maintains its hand while you're working into it which makes it possible to stitch through even after paint has been applied!
I've experimented pretty heavily on this fabric (some of it kindly donated for that purpose by Roc-lon), using my hottest iron on it (it did really well!) and saturating it with all kinds of mediums from fluid acrylics to heavy gel mediums.
No matter what I've thrown at it, it remains perfectly flat- no wrinkles, cockles, or stretching.
It beautifully accepts a lot of drawing mediums, as well. In the piece above, after painting on the fabric, I accented the walking lady and the background with colored pencils and pastels.
(Yup, the piece above is one I showed you in this post about gel plate printing.)
I even tried my hardest to rip it (impossible!) I've painted it, collaged paper and fabric onto it, and carved it up with scissors, a rotary cutter, and a box cutter! What's really extraordinary about Multi-Purpose Fabric is that is doesn't fray, despite my best effort to make it fray.
So enough of me chattering, let's get to the giveaway!! I have a 1/2 yard to give away and all you need to do to win is respond to this blog post, telling me what you'd like to try with it! I'll announce the winner (drawn randomly) in a few days!
33 comments:
Would love to try this for an outdoor piece
Oh, my--I just ordered from Judy last week and she didn't even brag about this stuff! I'm looking for new experiments and this sounds like the perfect ground to play with...gimme, gimme, gimme, please!!!!!
I would appreciate being in the running. I don't' know what I would do, only that I would. Thanks!
Can you stitch through it? By hand? By machine?
This just might be the thing I need to do the challenge piece. I would love to try it out!
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This just might be the thing I need to do the challenge piece. I would love to try it out!
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This really sounds like miracle fabric. I'd love to use it and try out some new things.
I would just like to play with it, layer with paint add stencil, see what it will do.
Your work with it is beautiful! I would love to try layering acrylic inks with it.
This sounds very robust - I'd paint, print, paste & stitch, then paint & color some more...if I won. Thanks!
Thanks for the great give away. I'd love to try it - sounds interesting.
You never cease to inspire me! Thanks for sharing this new fabric information.
Sounds like a great substrate on which to build covers for hand made journals!
Sounds wonderful, count me in!
I would love to make a journal cover, with a perforated design, out of this fabric- after loading on the surface design of course. I love working on canvas, but I hate the amount that it frays. This would make a wonderful alternative.
Would love to try it out.
Yes can you hand stitch through this new material??? I love the intensity of colors! peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
1/2 yard perfect. I have been planning on making a new sign for my Farmers Market Booth with dye and paint and WONDERING what to use for it...... will it hold up to sun, rain, wind ? I'll put it to the test if you give me the chance ;-)
I would use it for an art quilt.
Maybe a little not so messy acrylic paint stamping and then some hand embroidery (I'm doing the TAST on Sharon B's site.) If the fabric is as you say it is [:)] then that embroidery should be easy!
I would love to try pen and ink , and heavy thread painting. this fabric sounds terrific.
I've never heard of this fabric before, but I'd love to try it in my fabric collages with paint, foil, layered with sheers, stamping! The part about it not tearing intrigues me.
Il ne me semble pas avoir vu ce produit sur le continent européen,je serai très contente de l'essayer, meilleures salutations de Suisse
Very interesting. I love the female image in the piece.
Oooh, I have been hoarding all kinds of art supplies for months, just waiting to finish up some commitments so I can start digging right into all the paints and inks and screen prints and whatnots. I want to try it all and the Multi purpose fabric sounds like a perfct material to work with; I have been looking into it before. I love what you have done with yours!
This sounds amazing--I have a new sewing machine and am taking a class at the shop next week; I'm really excited to learn all the ins and outs so I can get better at free motion stitching...if I win I will probably paint multiple layers and stitch like mad to create an art quilt for the wall behind my sofa =)
Judi, thank you for the juicy information on this fabric. I would be thrilled to win, I would make a mono print sketchbook cover . . . or two.
What would I like to try? What wouldn't I like to try?!? My first thought is to see if I can break some rules about encaustic with it... then there's the idea that I could create tiles to stitch together, add some mixed media... I almost feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, with all the magical things that can happen- thanks for the chance to win!
I would love to try my new Gelli plate with this
Thanks for the opportunity to try this new fabric. I belong to a surface technique site called And Then We Set It On Fire...enough said!
I will have to keep an eye out for this - sounds like the right fabric for a project that has been brewing in my head. Thanks, Judi
I wonder how it would go through the printer before and after painting or dying?
I would love to try as I'm starting to move in new directions, art-wise. I think it might be a good base for new ideas!
And I love what you are doing with it!
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