Let's play with bold, unusual textures.

Take another look around your house through artist Mel Beach's eyes, because there are objects you can stamp with that you would never have expected.

And with Susie Monday, pick a word that delivers your message and build your art around it.

Be bold with texture on this episode of Quilting Arts.

Quilting Arts TV is brought to you by.

The Bernina 990.

If it can be imagined, it can be created.

Gentle fuse fusible web made for quilters from Maywood Studio.

[Upbeat music] Today, Mel Beach is going to show us how to use common household objects to create beautiful stamped fabric.

Yes.

I you know I love to do block printing and carve man stamps, but there's a learning curve to this, so my students love it when I can introduce them to other ways to create their own stamped and printed texture.

And it really, surprisingly, is using very basic supplies that are probably in your recycling bin.

They're around in thrift stores, junk bins.

So once you start making them, you sometimes become a hoarder as you're saving all of this supplies and goodies.

It's totally a fun thing to do with kids to to make them think about things - Yeah.

that that they see around the house, or that maybe they're throwing away that they could reuse.

Definitely, definitely.

So the things I'm thinking about is you want some kind of base for your stamp.

And so there's a variety that you can choose from.

These are from different snacks and packaged foods.

And I like these because they are clear.

They have a bit of a lip so I can really stamp it.

But I can also see exactly where that print is going to go on my fabric.

I'm not above using cardboard in a pinch, and so cutting off those flaps from packages.

If you've got a tower of CDs or DVDs you're no longer using, you can use those as well to create some great radial designs Again, pill tops.

Pill tops.

Yeah.

And so you can use these.

And again they have something especially this one's got something to hold on to.

And that handles are going to be important.

So you don't get stuff everywhere.

I tend to get paint everywhere on my fingers.

The last base I like this is these are flooring samples from my local Creative Reuse center.

Some flooring shops may have them as well, and they're coming all different sizes and finishes, and they're just really nice and sturdy.

And they're pretty lightweight too.

They are, they are.

So that's kind of the base.

Now we have to think about what kind of textures or patterns we want to add to our bases.

And you kind of get to mix and match.

One of my favorites is this sticker backed craft foam.

It comes in sheets and you just basically cut to your size you want, and you can peel off and just stick it where you want.

Okay.

So what what about these.

So they actually manufacture the sheets into these precut shapes and flowers stars heart squares you skys imagination.

And so it kind of jumpstart just because they've precut them you can adjust them further.

And that's what I've done for this one I took a square and I just marked some little L's on the back side.

And I'm just going to cut that down a little smaller.

And I can add a little bit of customization to this particular final piece.

It's super easy to cut through this stuff, so you have to be careful at the corners and that kind of thing that you could.

- I would be careful.

Yeah.

Because probably if you go too far.

Need to take the paper off this one too.

- Please.

Okay.

And you can somewhat reposition this.

So if you don't get quite right in space and not the end of the world.

Let you do that one.

- Thank you.

And this if you have big sheets you can cut your own stuff to.

Exactly.

And so done.

Ready to go?

Oh great.

Other fun textures that we can use.

Toothpicks.

And they come in all different textures and shapes.

So you'll be surprised.

Box to box may be very different prints.

And sometimes square rather than round.

Yeah.

As coffee stirrers they're nice and lightweight that they're easy to cut.

I've used rubber bands as well as just a basic craft acrylic foam.

And any guesses as to what these fun little doodads are?

I do not know.

So if.

You've ever done some reworking of your home, these are tile spacers.

Oh, okay.

- So that's why it's kind of looking around.

I get a lot of stuff from hardware stores as well, so it's just like that would make a fun texture.

So let's show you how I've kind of you can pull from this pile a few from this pile and make a variety of stamps.

So here's a bunch with that craft foam.

And you can see - So cute.

- Just you can cut any shape, any pattern, just great little wedges that radiate out kind of a mosaic triangles.

Again, there's not a huge ordeal for cutting any shapes.

And they just fun and stick some funky little flowers.

The precut ones right.

- These are the precut.

These are ones I made.

These are all the leftovers from here.

So you did it on both sides.

- I did.

So you did two for two for one for.

I love those two fors.

Here are some of those toothpicks.

Easy.

Yeah.

Coffee stirrers.

And again they're small enough and thin enough - Oh nice.

That you can cut them smaller with not your good fabric scissors, but definitely some basic scissors.

And then here's that CD.

So you just.

Put yarn around and around.

Yeah.

So with yarn, it's hard to get too close without your fingers getting into the paint.

So since I was using yarn, I made myself a handle.

- Oh nice.

so I can paint, stamp and then lift up some of these other things like, you know, this has got just plain cardboard.

I can make myself a little tab with painter's tape.

So you make a handle so that you can hold it and you don't get paint on your fingers, you don't get smudges on your fabric.

I just fold and stick half of it, leave half.

So smart.

And then I could just lift and peel.

And so it's just really useful.

So you can use this for anything that doesn't have a workable handle.

- Okay.

And then last rubber bands again you can see I can see exactly where that's going to print on my.

- Yeah.

That makes really handy handles.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And then I just noticed one of my bottle tops fell off.

No worries.

Now if you drink different beverages of soda or pop, you just want to make sure all those caps are the same height so it prints evenly.

So a little, little tip.

And that's the case here too.

Right.

- Exactly.

Sometimes that craft foam comes in different different thicknesses.

- Yeah.

So shall we do some fun printing then.

Yeah, that.

Would be great.

- Excellent.

I'll pick out One thing I wanted to ask you about is the glue.

The kinds of glue that do you use?

Regular school glue or.

I have.

Used a craft white glue.

The only thing is that it tends to get reactive with water.

So if I'm going to clean them, sometimes that glue can peel up a little bit.

So I just go really careful.

I find a really good clear adhesive.

That kind of as a multi-tasker is going to be more more long lasting - Yeah.

- for your stamps.

So a stronger glue is good.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- We'll just set some of these aside.

Okay.

And then we're just going to use a very high end paint palette.

I just use a paper plate.

Nothing fancy.

And I'm using craft paints, craft acrylic paints - Okay.

that you can find in most craft stores.

You do want to give them a good shake because sometimes they can separate out.

The pigment, settle to the bottom, - Yeah.

and then you get the gloopy stuff on the top.

Yeah.

And I just put like a dime or quarter sized dollop just to get started.

A lot of times I will work with analogous colors or primaries.

So again, as I mix and match, I'm not getting brown or any surprises that aren't not to my liking.

And then for application general I'm using either a foam dauber They come in different colors as color doesn't really matter, it's more of the diameter of the size and also the feel.

They have sometimes different densities.

In a pinch Make up sponges.

Oh cosmetic sponge.

- Exactly.

That can work well.

So I'll just keep this kind of just off to the side.

Okay.

And then I like to protect my workspace.

It's not super messy, but anytime you have paint, I have my apron on.

I put a little plastic board.

I find some stamps work better with a layer or two of paper towel.

A little bit of padding.

- It gives it that push factor.

Exactly.

And then again I'm working with just prepared for dye fabric.

But you can do this on your commercial solids, your fabrics that just need a little bit of new life to them.

So it's a chance to give it a bit of a makeover.

Okay, so let's start with this one first.

I've got my little handy handle on there, and since I work with two colors, I often will work in like zones.

I'll put kind of in different quadrants.

- Yeah.

And this way it kind of gives it a more modeled look.

And one of the learning curves is how much paint do you put on.

And you don't want it super goopy and globby, but you do want some adequate coverage on your on your stamp.

So you just kind of learn this as you go.

It's trial and error.

Some test prints and you'll kind of see.

Oh that was too much.

Or oh, this is getting the sweet spot I can see in this spot already right there.

So we'll give it a try.

And sometimes if it's missing a little bit it's just as interesting.

So it's human touch.

It's not a manufactured it's you.

Now I can see how the paper towels given it a little bit to sink into.

Exactly.

And then peel up.

Oh fun.

- So it's just kind of fun.

The one I love the best is toothpicks.

So simple.

- It is so simple.

And it's just got these imperfect.

They're not perfectly parallel, so don't worry about having to mount them or glue them on.

All perfect because it's going to be tricky.

They tend to roll for me.

So painting it again.

But most surface design techniques you have to embrace the serendipity.

You have to just love what you get.

You got it.

Okay.

Love that.

Look at the little wobbly parts from Maybe it's where the paint dabs were.

- It is.

Yeah.

And you know where it tapers off and gets pointier.

So if you didn't use the paper towels, you may not get those points.

So sometimes I like to work in rows.

We'll just do one.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

And then if you like that, you can come down like a split level just to get a little bit more dense design.

Nice.

It makes great for like, landscape quilts kind of backgrounds.

That's why it's so good to play with different things and just experiment, because you never know what you're going to really love.

Exactly.

So I like those.

- Yeah.

Let's do one more variation.

But amazing that something that simple and that cheap to make can create such a beautiful design.

It takes a lot of the pressure off.

It's like, well, if it didn't work, this is all stuff that would have been in my recycling bin anyway.

- Right.

Right.

- So it does take off.

So I'm going to do another kind of going across.

And for this next one, instead of going next to it or below it, I'm going to do a quarter turn.

So perpendicular.

And you get That great grid.

Which I love a good grid.

- Yes.

So the sky's the limit.

Again, I like to play with each of my stamps and play with print potential.

I call it.

And what can you do with one stamp?

Once these have been air dried, I'll put them between some parchment paper and heat.

Set them with a hot dry iron.

Because this is acrylic paint, it can melt to my iron or my surface, so that will give it a good protection.

- Oh they're beautiful.

- Yeah.

Well, tell me a little bit about these pieces.

In fact, let's slide this out and we can bring this in.

Yeah.

- So you can see.

- Hopefully You recognize these.

This was the fabric.

- Oh.

That I cut it from.

- Yeah.

And this was from the CD case that I had just the half quadrant.

- The one over here.

Oh yeah.

Right.

So you can just wipe it around.

And that center is the foam dauber.

Oh!

- So it's a great way to use up that excess paint before you have to clean it and get some little fun circles.

And they're also modeled as well.

Nice.

- Super fun.

- What a beautiful piece.

I love all your hand embroidery in here too.

And what about this pieces?

Did you.

Just using the same craft acrylic paints.

But I'm using tongue depressor and I'm using that to stamp.

So it's kind of an individual.

Yeah.

- Household object.

But very much the same process.

- Yeah.

Oh it's beautiful.

- Thank you.

And then what about this.

Oh that background is that last grid print.

- Oh.

I keep making the stuff up and I just keep using it.

I love it - Yeah.

- because it just adds great.

And you can see there's some inconsistencies of those toothpicks.

This was a different toothpick that had some wider sections and some skinnier, and it just adds some really yummy prints to your piece.

Wonderful.

Thank you for teaching me all this.

Thank you very much.

And we'll be back in just a second.

Susie Monday is an artist and an instructor and does beautiful work with type.

And you're here to teach us a little bit about your technique.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

I'm so happy to be here.

I've been making these very personal alphabet letters for quite a long time.

This is a poster that I did in, I think, 1979.

Wow.

- For a project at the Kennedy Center.

But you'll notice that the letters are not typeset.

Those are like hand-cut letters.

And that's what I thought I'd show everybody how I'd like to do those and in a different processes.

And here's one on fabric.

So this you can tell I basically made little collages and then put them on fabric with a paperback fabric and fusible and then did stitching on it.

So it makes a whole kind of different feel to a, to a type piece.

- Yeah.

And how fun.

Because if you were making something for someone, you could use something that was important to them.

Right.

Phrases that meant something to them.

Something to them.

And yeah, it's really great.

So this is kind of what we're going to be talking about doing today.

Yeah.

This is a little piece.

And you can see I've done some hand stitching on the top of it.

And just free motion stitch around the edges of things.

And, and then you can wrap it.

Oh nice.

And do a nice backing on it.

And the most important thing of course, is to think about, you know, what's your message?

I'm doing these kind of personal messages for artists.

My my artist self.

What what do I need to hear?

- Yeah.

Stop fear.

Step up.

Get out there.

So it's, you know, think of a couple of words and start with those.

Great.

Okay.

So where do you start.

Well we're going to start I'm going to show you first two different ways you can do this.

First of all, you can actually cut the letters out of fabric.

And you put a fusible backing on a strip and then fold it so that you've got it kind of equal size rectangles.

- Okay.

And each letter will fit when you cut it out.

- Oh So they're all the basically the same size.

- Yeah.

They're basically the same kind of size of letters.

And if you make like M's or W's make it like one and a half size.

So the wider letters.

Wider letters need a little bit more.

But the main thing you need to think about is that it's well, Michelangelo always said that he'd just cut away what wasn't the sculpture.

And so this is a process.

Basically, you're going to cut away what is not the letter.

So what letter are you working on I need an S an S.

- Oh S first.

is going to be the tricky one because you kind of have to.

You have to think about the half of it.

Right Yeah.

And the negative the negative space.

But you're experienced at this.

Yeah.

If you weren't experienced could you take a chalk pencil and make it.

- You could But I really prefer to tell people get your feet wet cutting freehand because it's just going to be more personal and more interesting.

And those little flaws are what make it so wonderful.

Yeah.

- And they make it handmade.

So you can see this.

It's not going to be perfect by any means, but it's It's great.

- going to stick down there and into T. Then I need a T.

- That's easy.

to t. Yeah, obviously, because you just use any edges of your rectangle as the size of the, the sides of your letters.

Perfect.

You want me to help take paper off that.

- Yeah.

because you've got to iron them on, right.

- Yeah.

Then you just space them out on your piece of.

That's good.

Do you sometimes do them wonky.

- Yeah.

You can.

Do them wonky.

And however you think your pieces need to look.

I'll let you position.

Yeah that's good.

And so you follow the directions on your fusible I am.

Iron him down.

And then you would take this to the sewing machine to stitch.

- Okay.

Fun.

- Also though if you don't want to get have as much sewing to do, you can actually make the collage of paper and then run it through your.

Scanner.

Scanner, your inkjet printer and print it on paper backed fabric.

So here's that you can see I cut I've cut the letters.

Stop and fear.

And fear.

Pop the A out there.

But just, you know stick them down here on with with the.

I like the lowercase with the capitals too.

- Capitals yeah.

You know one of the things these letters I was taught by a students of Sister Mary Carita in California, and she had an alphabet that she called the Amen alphabet.

So everything was lowercase letters or uppercase letters, except the letters in Am and.

en are fine.

- Oh fun.

- And that made it.

And she was really influential in like - Yeah.

- The pop art.

Pop art of kind of movement.

So then once you have your, your pieces here, you would, you know, pick out the collage and collage that on.

Okay.

- We got that going and then.

And so then you scan that in.

You scan that in and - Print it out - And print it out on.

Fusible I mean a paper, paper backed.

Fusible product that comes out of an ink printer.

- Yeah.

Inkjet printer, inkjet printing.

So we got these now is our letters.

That must be a pretty strong fusible on there.

Yeah yeah actually these are just how the letters the paper comes and then you have to fuse that with a fusible onto.

Another piece of - Another piece of fabric.

Okay.

So then you end up with this pieces.

Oh I see okay.

- See?

- Yep yep okay.

So here's our.

And it's at this point it's all one piece.

It's all one piece.

It's stuck on their good.

- Okay.

And then this is what we will take to the machine.

- Okay.

That sounds great.

Or do you want to just stitch on this one.

- Yeah we'll just Okay.

Let's go to the machine.

We'll just do this one.

There you go.

And I'm just going to first straight stitch around the edges of this.

There you go.

You can start.

So this is just to tack the outer edge down.

Yeah.

It's it's.

I like I do a lot with fusible.

But I know that it's not going to stay down on your fabric even for a wall piece, unless you know, you put glass in front of it or whatever.

And There you go.

So I like to make sure that my edges are stitched down first.

Just go very carefully.

It's really nice to have this foot where you can see through and have the little red line that keeps you in the keeps you honest on the edge of the fabric there.

You're being very careful and tidy here.

This is one of the few times I'm careful.

And tidy.

That's part of what makes your work look so, you know, - Yeah.

- Handmade.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like working very loose.

It's there's a lot my skills are not in the world of precision, which is the reason I generally call myself a textile collage artist and not a quilter.

Yeah.

Do you want to do a little bit of free motion?

Sure.

Let's try that here.

Okay.

Let's raise.

There we go.

That's good.

Pull the whole thing out.

I'll see if I can do this fast and speedy here.

- Yep.

So you also do you also do free motion work?

Do a lot of free motion work actually.

- Yeah.

So this is a free motion foot.

Oh, I need to drop your feed dogs too.

Right.

-Yeah.

I like to add a little free motion both to kind of go around my big letters.

Oh it's easier to do free motion than to have to keep pivoting with a.

- Right.

And that makes them stand out a little bit.

Stand out gives it a little texture.

The other thing you can do is you can just go in and start doing a little textural information.

Pieces that add a little.

It's just fun.

It's just fun.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

The more you quilt than the more textural it looks - Yeah.

In the finished piece.

And then I like to go in and hand stitch - Okay.

- some more.

So that even gives another layer of texture and interest to it as you as you get it done.

Do you ever use colored thread or do you?

- Yeah sure.

Mostly it's something that blends into the background.

Mostly I'm using the background, but that's just the ones I've made so far, you know?

You don't know what's going to come next.

Just have fun and pull it all together.

Yeah.

- Okay.

So now we're going to go back to the table.

Let's go back to the table.

- Okay.

All right.

So you let's say that you've done all the stitching you want to do and you've got it looking like that right.

Yeah.

Then you've got a little quilt sandwich coming.

You've got your stitches on top of it.

This is in theory all stitched down.

And you've got it on a nice big piece because you like to wrap your pieces - Right.

around a stretched canvas.

Right?

I like a stretch canvas because to me, small pieces, small art quilts especially, people don't know exactly how to mount them or how to hang them.

And if you make it more like a painting it, it's easier to sell it.

It's easier for people to know what to do with it.

They, you know, it feels a - Makes sense.

little more finished.

- Right.

than just a, you know, the way you would do a quilt quilt.

So basically I just take it and.

Got to make sure everything, all the artwork is centered.

All the work is centered on there, which usually takes a little bit of to put one stitch And you're you're really stretching it.

Yeah.

Yeah, one stitch in.

And then I look at it and say, yeah, that's straight.

Good enough.

- Good enough.

And you're and you're stapling right in the middle.

Right in the middle of each side.

Okay.

You do everything so fast.

And then.

- It's why you get so much done.

That's why I get it all done.

I have to get it fast.

Is basically the only tricky part is the corners.

And you're going to be thinking of this as though if you've ever made a hospital corner on a bed.

Yep.

- You.

- My mother was a home teacher.

So yes I've done that.

- So yes, you've done that.

You pull that fabric, that extra fabric around the edge, and you make yourself a little hospital corner here.

So the funniest part is right at the corners is manipulating Right.

it all into place.

- Yeah.

And actually usually I trim out a little bit of that Yeah.

- So it wouldn't be quite, quite as thick.

But it's going to - Yeah.

- come together and look like a Okay.

- Finished piece.

- That's great.

So let's look at this one.

Yeah.

We've got about 30 seconds.

And I wanted to make sure I talked about your wonderful hand stitching here.

And I love how you've added some details.

- Yes.

These were just little pieces of fabric I designed on my tablet.

And the other thing that you do that's so nice is to put this fabric backing on.

- Right.

So you just fold the edges under and then fold the hand stitches.

Hand stitch it.

and do a little invisible stitch and a nice middle.

Perfect.

- Hanger.

So then everybody knows that they can hang it up easily.

Easily.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- So fun.

And you can make them different sizes.

Of course I've done smaller ones and bigger ones and eight by eight inch ones and.

They're very fun.

- Put them together.

- Thanks so much for teaching me this.

- Thank you.

We'll be back in just a minute.

From applied.

Design theory to innovative technique.

Learn what fellow artists are up to within the art quilting community.

Join us for finishing touches.

Hi, Marcia.

Hi, Susan.

- What did you bring for us today?

Well, I brought two very interesting and exquisite quilts today.

This first one is has a lot of crewel work.

And, you know, the whole center part.

- Yeah.

And the crewel is something my mom used to do in the 70s.

So I was especially drawn to it.

Like, this middle part could be the original.

And then she could have added these.

And that's kind of nice to have different generations having worked on the same piece.

And to honor the maker.

Yes.

Absolutely.

- Is always wonderful.

I love the little blueberries.

Yes.

They're great.

And now we have this one, which is really interesting.

It is basically almost a scrapbook of a journey.

Check them all out.

- Yes.

Look at this.

It's almost like a little botanical scrapbook.

Look at the little leaves.

Actual leaves dried, I think.

- Yeah.

- In there.

Oh, it's great little three dimensional things here as well.

And in the middle we have a leaf.

And I thought that was a connection to the other quilt is that they're both addressing botany in different ways.

It's terrific.

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