On March 23^rd, we had a very enlightening and entertaining presentation by our own: Tracy Visher.

Armed with not one but two glue guns, she played the infamous Annie Oakley, disguised as an art quilter, for almost an hour and hit her targets right on every time!

She demonstrated several ways to use a glue gun to make art that can be transferred to cloth. Basically, you draw out your “pattern” on parchment paper, let it sit and cool for a few minutes, pull it off the parchment and voila! You have your own stencil to use as you please. But you don’t actually place the stencil on your fabric and leave it there as a design element (perhaps you could??). First you need to “frost” it with paint and then transfer the painted image onto the fabric—or as Tracy pointed out, place the fabric over the painted glue stencil for a more accurate rendition of your design. And later, you can add to the stencil if it seems that something is missing or askew. Just use that glue gun again and draw more marks on the original glue glob.

Tracy showed us several methods of getting color onto the stencil: 1) Maribou fashion spray, 2) Acrylic paint brushed onto the stencil, 3) Inktense blocks (be sure to liquify beforehand), and 5) alcohol inks—which were a flop.

Other options for adhering the painted stencils to fabric were:

1)      create your own wood or lucite block for ease and repetitive use of said stencil;

2)      glue the stencil on to a cheap ceramic tile (which makes it reuseable);

3)      adhere your stencil to a glass bottle and paint it from there;

4)      4 place stencils on the bottom of a muffin tin for a series;

5)      You can also make a rubbing with shiva paintsticks or crayons (make sure to let them dry adequately).

So much fun. And So many ideas to play with! Thanks, Tracy.