Mixing It Up at Art Quilt Tahoe 2019

First Night at Art Quilt Tahoe

Mix It Up is one of my goals for this year, and attending Betty Busby Multi-Media workshop at Art Quilt Tahoe earlier this month provided the perfect environment for some creative play!  Our workshop was held in the newly renovated Dobbins Hall, and since paints were involved, the AQT crew covered the floor with tarps to protect against potential spills/drips/messes.  My table in the back had a lovely view overlooking Lake Tahoe, plus I was super close to the supply of paints!

Room with a View

For most of the week, we used ProChem's Pro Silk & Fabric paints to apply color to our fabrics. It was interesting to note how the paints looked while still wet vs. dried, as well as how the protective plastic bag layered underneath created spectacular texture!

Painted Fabrics - Wet vs. Dry

Next we experimented with Jacquard's Removable Water Based Resist.  We started by applying the resist to white fabric, allowed it to thoroughly dry, and then applied paint in/around the resist.  On the last morning, we rinsed away the resist for the final reveal.

Apply Resist--DRY--Apply Paint--DRY--Rinse for the Final Reveal

I really enjoyed working with the resist and started a second piece (drawing inspiration from free motion quilting designs)

IrRESISTable FUN!

We also applied resist over one of our painted fabrics for more layered fun.

Color on Color Resist

We used Betty's Fauxbori technique to create wonderful, organic stripes (and a bonus ghost layer).

Fauxbori Round 1

Fauxbori Round 2

Betty introduced us to a variety of materials that yielded wonderful sunprints...

Vinyl Stencils

Vinyl Metallic Placemats

It was interesting to note how the sunprinting results varied from Silk Habotai to Cotton.  In the photo below, you can see the sunprint set up (top row), and resulting Silk Sunprints (middle row) vs. Cotton Sunprints (bottom row). 

Sunprinting:  Silk Habotai vs. Cotton

I really liked the crisp patterns achieved with Cotton and created a mini collection of sunprints united by the same 4 colors of paint.

Sunprint Collection

We drew inspiration from our beautiful Tahoe surroundings and experimented with nature printing using leaves and pine needles on silk (with some metallic accents).

Nature Printing

Betty shared some of her favorite tricks for enhancing her sunprints with a variety of pencils, paint pens, and my personal favorite: metallic pens!

Adding Bling with Metallic Pens

We ended the workshop with a very zen-inducing process of using paints and rubbing alcohol to create concentric rings on silk!

Radiating Rings

Betty's Class - Art Quilt Tahoe 2019

The last afternoon of Art Quilt Tahoe is Open House.  Each class displays their creations and we tour the other workshop spaces!  Having so many wonderful outcomes made it difficult to chose my favorites to present for Open House.  Thanks to my friend/roommate, Amy W, for snapping a few photos of my curated collection!

Curated Collection of Creativity!

It is always a treat to visit the other workshops and connect with the other faculty members.  We received one more gift that evening in the form of an absolutely stunning sunset to close out Art Quilt Tahoe 2019.

Closing Night

Thanks to Art Quilt Tahoe for hosting this creative-filled week!!  Special thanks to Betty Busby for her generosity in sharing her knowledge, arsenal of tricks, and tried-and-true arsenal of supplies/materials for use in the workshop!  Upon my return, I began sourcing my favorite products from the week to build up my own arsenal to continue the fun!!