Tenar’s cave

Here is the next batch of scraps. The first two were done like the last, I ironed organza on batiste, but there was a layer of spunfab betwenn the organza and the rest. Spunfab is a product which is similar to bondaweb but has no carrier paper. The surface of these samples is a bit less brittle and it is only broken in those places where heavy cotton threads were trapped under the melted organza. I feel the surface is still not strong enough to be used without some unmelted top layer.

For the next experiment, lightwight lutrador was ironed onto batiste, with a few scraps of organza trapped between the layers. The lutradur melted forming a solid yet flexible surface, this works better than organza. Yes, I know, this one is kind of boring.

Oh my, I’m running out of time again. High time I start combining the scraps into a sampler, no matter how many new Ideas to try out stuff I have.

Another hard week at work, another work without much creativity. The only thing I really did was play arround a little bit. Did you know that polyester organza melts at the cotton setting of your flat iron? I didn’t. Also I didn’t know that kunin felt can stand such temperatures when ironed through baking paper.

For the first sample I stitched a piece of green organza onto a piece of plum kunin felt with cotton embroidery floss, the ironed. The organza melted completely, stuck to the felt very well and formed a smooth plastic-like surface, and it is still soft. Next, I melted a piece of the same organza onto a piece of cotton embroidery fabric. That didn’t go qoite so well. The organza did stick to the cotton, but it broke at places and the surface became sort of brittle. In both cases, there was no harm done to the cotton components.

Now this is going to be my project for the rest of the months: I will pay more attention to the deatails of my craft/art instead of just playing. I will do little pieces in several techniques that are about melting fabric, in some way, no matter if with the heat gun or the flat iron. Hopefully, I will be fast enough that I have a few to sew onto a background by the end of the month. This will be my “details of using heat with textiles” sampler.