Saturday, December 26, 2015

Zentangle Hexagon Ornament

The Quilt Rat, Jill Buckley created these wonderful Zentangle doodled hexie ornaments. See her blog post click here and part two, with a video and here I think they are the most wonderful designs, she has even shared a pattern you can print. Thank you Quilt Rat! I even got to use my new toy, acrylic hexagon templates that I got at the Second City Quilt Shop in Chicago last summer.
I traced the pattern on white cotton, with a mechanical pencil, for fine lines, and the 1" hexies onto manila folder. If you are worried about transparent paints, use white index cards. I thought about assembling the hexies first and then painting, my usual approach, but decided to use her way. I taped individual hexies on my plastic covered work surface. I thought the aloe gel idea to use with the paints was very intriguing. I put on a thin layer of aloe and used red liquid acrylic paint from Americana. The paint went on so smooth, straight from the bottle. No bleeding, I normally would have had to water down the paints to get a smooth application. I painted all seven hexies with red, before rinsing my brush. I had difficulties using the yellow paint, because the aloe gel had dried, frowny face. I added some gel to the green paint, and it went on smoother. So lesson learned, finish one hexie with all 3 colors, before moving on to the next one.
My paint was more opaque than the ones she used, so I had to go over my lines again with the Pigma pen, but that was no big deal. The before and after re-inking picture, show the importance of the lines.
Putting the pieces together, I used Elmers glue to hold the seam allowances, I had to wait for each seam to set, before moving on to the next one. I need to check and see what glue she used, the Elmers was not the best choice. I am used to sewing/basting the seams around the cardboard and then popping out the card. I thought about doing that, assembling the 7 pieces, and then painting. But this way you can trace the pattern easily, and you are leaving in the card. I found it difficult to get my stitches through the fabric with the glue and paint on them. But the paint stabilizes the bias, a definite plus.
The almost finished ornament, I still need to sew a few pieces. I added green to my color choices, because I do see this as a tree ornament. I want to add a backing fabric, I don't know how she finished the back of hers, so I have to think on this a minute. I would definitely make more, they were a little more time consuming than I first thought, but well worth it. The only change I would make is my glue choices. Thank you "The Quilt Rat" for the wonderful tutorial and pattern. click here for her blog

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other talented textile artists are doing.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! How fabulous to see that You were inspired to try this .....turned out great!
    Just to clarify ....mine is not an ornament ...it is a fabric rosette ready to be joined with others to create a quilt or wall hanging. I only used glue (fond and porters glue pen) as a method of temporary "basting" just like one might do with appliqué
    The hexagons are joined together with hand stitches the traditional EPP way
    Thanks so much for sharing your project and process....these would make great ornaments or even maybe little framed pieces

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  2. Also....it is important to keep the glue back from the edge where you will stitch....and use paint/pencil/or inks that don't change the hand of the fabric.....I always test the product I use to be sure it can be easily stitched through )by hand) when dry and that it will be permanent when heat set (washable)
    Hope that helps

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  3. Thanks for your advice, I'll try to find that glue.

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