Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Blue Oxford Qult


Way, way, way back in the day, when I was in college, I took a class in alternative processes in photography. We explored blueprinting (cyanotype), brown printing (using silver nitrate as a light sensitive emulsion), and gum-bichromate printing process. Though it was a photography class, I chose to do a few of my projects on fabric.
It was 1976(yikes!), the bicentennial year and there was a renewed interest in making quilts. So, I decided to make a quilt out of blueprinted fabric (see above). I used the pillowcase method to bind the quilt, by sewing the front and back together, leaving an opening large enough to turn the quilt right sides out. Then, I shoved the batting inside and sewed the opening shut. Making a quarter inch seam allowance on each of the blueprinted images, I pinned them on top of the quilt sandwich and sewed them on with my sewing machine.
I had already done a black and white photo project using a blue oxford button-down shirt. I had photographed it in as many different ways I could think of, including folded, crumpled, wet, draped over a fence, hung on a clothesline, etc. I recently found my original black and white photos, and scanned them into my computer.
Using an image editing program, I manipulated the photos to sharpen them and change the color. I decided to make small individual quilts of each image, which I will put in my next post.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Homage to Diana

One of my favorite photographers is Diana Citret. Some of my most prize photos of my kids when they were young were taken by Diana. She was able to capture the essence of who they are, and I decided to make a couple of quilts to show off her great work. So, with her permission, below are Diana's photos, along with the quilts.