Monday, June 18, 2012

Inspired by Pinterest

 By Jo Reimer
Batik fabric
While taking a break this morning and browsing pins from some of the boards I follow on Pinterest I spotted a pin from Elvi... a stack of ornate fabrics. 

That sparked an idea that's worth pursuing.

I have LOTS of fabrics and quite a few pieces of old embroideries, hand dyes, and batiks, and my brilliant idea is to scan the best of the fabrics, print them and use the prints in my collages and journals.


I grabbed a few small textiles and scanned them at 300 dpi. I've only printed one, enough to know that this idea is worth some time. The plan is to scan the best of the collection and take the images on a thumb drive to Office Depot or a print shop and have them printed onto a thinnish paper that will be more suitable than the heavy photo paper I have at home... and definitely less expensive than my printer inks, especially when there's a special price on printing.

Sure, I could cut up the actual fabrics and use them but some of these are too valuable to cut, and now I'm thinking of other things to scan:

Piles of jewelry
Scarves
Buttons
Pattern envelopes
The list is endless.

I hope this idea has a snowball effect. Why not make painting of textiles? How about gluing embroidered textiles to a canvas, covering it with gesso, and painting over the resulting texture?

Excuse me while I rescue an old embroidered pillowcase from the giveaway pile. What a great edge texture this will make on a painting!

Embroidered Pillowcase, c. 1950
And DRAW the designs from the textiles, further abstracting the images. Create repeat patterns. Make mirror images. See how far you can take the inspiration. Then tell me about what you've done.

7 comments:

  1. What a great idea to scan your fabric!!

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    1. And why not scan sections of our clothing, especially the prints or stripes that we like a lot.

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  2. I can see how this idea could snowball. There's so much potential. I do know an artist who photographs antique textiles to use in her art. Keep us informed Jo!

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    1. I'd like the see the photos of antique textiles. Wish I'd taken photos of textiles in an old city bazaar one time. What a vision!

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  3. Inspiration can come from anywhere! Just seeing one thing can create a rush of ideas. Don't you love the feeling when you get all charged up? I saw a header on blog that has me considering possibilities.

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    1. I'm an internet junkie for that reason alone. Other people's ideas trigger my own and so often when coupled with my experiences I develop useable ideas.

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  4. Lots of great ideas, that will add new dimension and interest.

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I appreciate comments and questions.