Some Surface Embellishment, maybe....

Have you ever been on an Artist's Studio Tour? I have been on a few and went on one today that was really wonderful. The tours invite you (free)  into the studios of professional artists where you can discuss their work, see them working, and of course, buy their efforts. It is very inspirational and great fun. There is something about craft fairs that leaves me lukewarm the past few years. There always seems to be a sea of quilting cotton placemats for sale on myriad tables. And of course, what craft fair would be genuine without those Christmas elf crocheted toilet paper covers? Bless these people for working so hard at their craft but that type of thing just doesn't do it for me. Sometimes there are gems lurking at these craft fairs  but when they realize how talented and marketable they are, those artists jump on the studio tour bandwagon. I've never been disappointed on one of these tours as all the artists are truly professional and so talented.

Today I saw dyers, beaders, glass fusers, a young man who cut big blocks of linoleum into fabulous designs,  a couple of wonderful photographers, painters, print makers and more. It was truly inspirational.  Suddenly my purple wool jacket seemed a bit blah.

I think I have the fit worked out now with the FBA added and a swayback adjustment. I am also going to make the darts at the neck shorter which should give me more ruffle around the neck and not accentuate my sloping shoulders as much. I will also wear shoulder pads. Muslin #3 got darts and no darts. The no waist dart version hung much better on me as it did on the three other versions I have seen. I haven't seen anyone make it with the darts yet. I did add a bust dart in front as well but no waist darts will be found.

Another reason to catch one of these studio tours, if you can, is the refreshing jolt of creativity it gives you. My brain is totally refreshed and energized with ideas. Truthfully, the past couple of weeks I have been looking at my purple/blue wool and just thinking it is a sea of darkness. I've been toying with several ideas for adding surface embellishment to the jacket and today came home and played with my paints. What originally sparked me to think about painting or doing something to the fabric was this picture below of Sandra Betzina's jacket. She took out the darts and sleeve ruffles and  had this incredible fabric  that really enhanced the design. I've also noticed that all of the great versions I have seen of this jacket were prints. Who am I to argue with success?

I have this twig stencil and pulled out various types of paints to see what I would get. The one above is actually silver oil paint dry brushed on to the wool. I love painting fabrics with oil paints. I love oil paints and that smell of linseed can envelope me any time. For some reason the painting looks really clunky in the photos but it is really a finer design in real life. The one with the silver paint looks very natural, lets the wool not look painted and Hubs loved it. 

On this one I used Lumiere metallic turquoise textile paint. It was a bit clunky and I think would give a better print if I had mixed it up a bit better. I love these colors together. And last and least...........

This is white Jacquard textile paint. I mixed it with fabric medium and it really was too runny but that is why we experiment and do samples.

Which one will I pick? Not sure because I am also considering some non paint options for embellishment, maybe some fancy threads to serge the edges with or some couching. I'm still letting ideas flow and playing. I want this to be everyday wearable but not a sea of midnight. I will keep you  posted. The jacket is all cut out............Bunny