Hello everyone, hope this finds you well. We are in the midst of a 'polar vortex' event here in B.C. so I've been hunkered down in my studio trying to stay cozy and warm! I was playing around with strips of cotton muslin fabric that I had left over after making a window blind and ended up making a length of faux 'washi' that I foresee using in my art journals.
I started with a strip of muslin about 1 1/2" wide by 60" long. I painted it with acrylic paint starting with pale yellow and gradually blending along the length through shades of yellow, green and finally blue.
Stenciling came next, using the same colour families, through multiple StencilGirl Products stencils (Leafy Doodle Border L736, Tropical Floral Stencil L311 and CM2019, limited edition no longer available).
Stamping followed with multiple stamps from my stash using various colours of permanent inks.
I wanted to maintain the frayed edge of the muslin strip so adhered images and patterns with matte medium that were printed on collage and tissue papers. While the medium was still damp I gently pulled away the pieces of the images that over ran the edges of the fabric strip to reveal the ragged edge of the torn muslin. I used pre-printed collage tissue paper from Tim Holtz and some pieces of gel plate printed tissue papers I had in my stash.
To add some texture I also added fragments of vintage dictionary papers and pieces of muslin printed with ledger page images, adhering them with more matte medium and when it had dried sewing a line of zigzag stitches.
And finally, I chose a variety of metal charms and embellishments from my stash, painted them all with white acrylic paint and coloured them with Mushroom and Sepia alcohol inks before sewing them onto the strip by hand with embroidery floss.
Hope that you've enjoyed seeing how my faux muslin washi came together, I had a lot of fun making it and can't wait to add bits and pieces of it to my art journals. Thanks as always for stopping by today and if you are in the deep freeze like I am here, stay warm!
Deb xo