Last week, I introduced the topic of Shape Shifter Rubbings. In short, the idea is to cut a shape from a piece of paper, and then use the shape and the cutout to add a secondary shape to paintstik rubbings. I’m not going to repeat all the basic steps, so click over to the Shape Shiftin’ Fun article on the blog for a quick review of the basic process.
The more I think about and play with this concept, the more possibilities I see. In today’s post, I want to share the next logical step in the process.
Expanding the Possibilities
In Part 1 of the series, we looked at using a shape and a cut out to add a secondary shape to a rubbing. It looked like this:
As you can see in the photo, I made the rubbing on the inside of the circle, then I completed the rubbing on the outside of the circle. I did not remove the fabric from the rubbing plate until the entire rubbing was finished. (It would be nearly impossible to get it back in just the right place!) Today, let’s take a cue from our square dancing friends and see what happens if we Change Our Partner or Twirl Her ‘Round:
Option 1: Rotate the Rubbing Plate (Twirl!)
I wanted to see how the image would look if I rotated the rubbing plate after painting in the center circle. Because I was working with a square of fabric, I turned the rubbing plate “on point” (rotating it 45 degrees), and then made the rubbing on the inside of the circle.
Before making the rubbing on the outside of the circle, I removed the fabric, turned the rubbing plate so it was “square” on my work surface, and placed the fabric back on the rubbing plate. I covered the painted area with the circle of paper and completed the rubbing.
When I removed the circle of paper from the rubbing plate, I have yet another dimension to my Shape Shifter rubbing. Woohoo!
Here is a side by side comparison. When I made the rubbing on the left, I left the fabric in place on the rubbing plate. When I made the second one, I rotated the plate after painting the center. Just one tiny change and we get a totally different effect.
Option 2: Change the Rubbing Plate (Trade!)
As long as we’re picking the fabric up off the rubbing plate between painting the inside and outside of the shape, why not change out the rubbing plate? Let’s see what happens.
For my first sample, I decided to continue using the plate with the concentric squares. I painted the inside of the shape, then chose a different plate from the Op Art set, and painted the border.
This plate is perfect for making the border around a circular rubbing, but the squares weren’t too interesting as a center. Time for another sample.
This time I chose my favorite plate from the Floral Fantasy set for the inside of the shape. Then I went back to the squares from the Op Art set for the outside of the shape. I like the squares much better as a border than a center when I’m changing out the plates. I could go on and on here, but I’m sure you get the idea. Now it’s time for you to make a few Shape Shifter rubbings of your own!
What’s Next?
So far, we’ve just been making Shape Shifter Rubbings with squares of fabric. Our next step is to work on larger pieces of fabric. If you have ideas or suggestions on how you might go about playing with this concept on a larger scale, post a comment here on the blog. I’m still working through my thoughts on this and I’d love to hear your suggestions.
Until next time, happy painting!
I wonder what sort of result you’d get from tiling multiples of your freezer paper stencils across a larger piece, and working on one tile at a time with the surrounding stencil tiles in place.
You wouldn’t be restricted to squares either. Any shape that tiles (eg hexies, diamonds, Penrose, Escher) could feasibly work, though I wonder what would be the best placement method. Perhaps draw it up on a separate paper and work with a lightboard? (Place design on lightboard, then fabric on top, then place stencils according to design.)
I think I saw a quilt artist demo (forget who, maybe National Quilters Circle?) about cutting up to 3 or 4 freezer paper stencils at once with a swivel-head craft-knife – or you could use a cutting machine, of course.
(I’m suddenly envisioning a stencil design with random medium-sized dots or shapes – like pebbles – instead of one big circle. Hmmm.)
Further to my previous comment, by chance, I found a workshop for tiling with freezer paper in an old QNM (June 2006): “Painted Fabric Grids” by Melody Crust.
She draws the desired grid with permanent black marker on a piece of freezer paper large enough to back her fabric, and cuts the tiles from another piece of freezer paper. The grid acts as a placement reference, because you can see it through plain light fabric. (She used white in the article.) If you wanted to use dark or patterned fabric, it would need a lightbox.