Shading the Buildings and Laces - Slice of the OC

 

First a personal note: Many of us are at the age where our parents are aging and need more help from us. I am in that boat and thankful to still have them with me and be able to help. My posts may be a little less frequent for the next few months because I am juggling a lot right now, but I promise to do my best and keep posting as often as I can. I value my blog visitors and followers and understand the importance of giving you something new to read and see. So thank you in advance for visiting my blog and your understanding if I seem AWOL at times!

 

Now onto the art quilting stuff!

 

This post is about the shading on the buildings in my "Slice of the OC" piece. I am making this art quilt using techniques that can be easily done at the Flying Geese Fabrics store. I wanted to add some shading to the buildings and change the color of some of the lace trims, but I did not want to use paints that many quilters don't have and would be messy in a classroom setting. I opted for oil pastels, because they are inexpensive, readily available and adequate for this piece. I usually don't prefer oil pastels because I find their color fades when I set it and I have to re-apply a few times. I have many other paints that work better and would normally use those.  But, oil pastels are what I am going to use here.

 

The first photo shows the buildings with shading and the lace trims colored by the oil pastels. You can see that the addition of the shading increases the three dimensional appearance of the buildings. Also, the laces were originally an ivory color. I wanted their color to match the palette that I had selected for this quilt. The photo below shows the oil pastel I chose to color these buildings.

 

To apply the shading I lay the cut out building or lace on a piece of paper. I used drawing paper because I think it will blot the excess oil pastel when ironed.  I gently stroke the fabric with the pastel crayon in the same direction and build up color. Once I get to the intensity I want I fold the paper over the "painted" side of the lace or fabric building, and then iron it for about 15 seconds several times. You can see some color on the paper from this setting technique. If the color is not as strong as I want, then I repeat the process. Sometimes it takes about 3 days for the colored pieces to completely "dry", so I tend to be a little careful during that time not to smear color on another fabric.  That hasn't happened, but I am still a little careful. 

 

That's it. Its simple, fast and cheap. A great combination for many things, but I can think of some exceptions!