fabric-o-rama

my etsy pals are having a little challenge on the melange blog. glenda bailey, who is a fabric addict, has challenged all the melange members to use fabric in our art. as a costume designer, fabric is always a part of my life. this love for fabric made it's way into my art. from the first altered book i made to the dolly shrines that i have been working on this week, chances are if you are looking at one of my pieces, there's apt to be some fabric on it some where.

using fabric for me has always been about texture. besides the fact that i don't seem to have the patience (or the skill) to make anything come out "flat", i love to have texture in my work. when i started this art journey and making altered books, i quickly found that fabric had so many uses. first, i adds texture and interest to the surface, secondly, i used it to cover the myriad of mistakes i made, and lastly, it help the pages from sticking together. now, there are fewer mistakes to cover, but i still use fabric. besides, it's a resource that i have tons and tons of. there was a time when i was selling bags of fabric scraps on etsy because i had so much of it.

the scrap bin is getting smaller. mostly because i have a special project, that i have been working on for craft shows. all i am going to say right now, is that it makes excellent use of scraps, in a truly artist way.

the piece that really shows how versatile fabric can be as a medium is in my altered book, "angels have wings." the cover is a corset and fabric is found on almost every page, from the flames that engulf the workers of the triangle shirt waist factory from hand embroidered flaming heart of Mary that boldly sings out on the final page.

i love using fabric so much, it's pretty much always been a part of my art. i do recommend that you take the plunge and try it yourself if you haven't already. you might like the results!