Regular readers of this ‘ere blog know that I am a quilter. This month at the art journal session, we combined mixed media with a quilting technique (which I have yet to try in fabric). We made a watercolour masterboard and then with a lot of slicing and pasting created a bargello-style background in our journals. With some basic stitched panels as a focal point we ended up with this:
Rooted in the historical tradition of the Bargello Palace in Florence, Italy, the Bargello quilt pattern is characterized by its use of long, narrow strips of fabric meticulously sewn together. This technique creates an illusion of dynamic movement and depth within the quilt.
Start by using watercolour paint to cover a sheet of watercolour paper. Dry between layers of colour if you’d like to keep them from bleeding into one another.
Flick some paint over the top for a little more interest – use left over watercolour and splashes of diluted white acrylic paint. Dry with heat tool.
Crumple a piece of scrap paper several times and roll it into a ball. Dab into some metallic gold acrylic and tap it across the page.
Throughly dry the page ready for slicing and dicing.
Slice the masterboard into equal slices, lengthways. For A4, 3cm wide is great. Rearrange the slices to break up colours and shapes.
Glue the strips to a sheet of paper. Use a brayer to firmly glue the whole lot down.
Once the glue is dry (you don’t want to get your blade sticky) slice the page up along the short side. Vary the width of the slices. For A4 cut 3cm, then repeat 2cm, 1cm, 0.5cm, 1cm. You’ll end up with a roughly 3cm slice left over at the end.
Glue the strips down, offsetting them by 1.5cm from the previous one. Progress across the page in a zig-zag pattern. Trim off the overlapping ends and stick back on at the other end of the strip to complete the effect and cover the page. Trim off any overlaps. Brayer the page to make sure everything is firmly adhered. If none of this makes sense, check out the video below for a quick run-through of the technique.
Add a vignette border using a complementary colour of distress ink to blend around the edges of the page. Add a smidge of black soot distress ink if you need to make the corners a bit darker.
Dry emboss a piece of card (mist with water on the back to avoid splitting the card). Roll metallic gold acrylic across the raised areas using a brayer. Dry with a heat tool.
Use archival ink to stamp a suitable text image onto card, having chosen one to fit your panel die.
I used a stitched border die set to cut out the panels before edging with the distress ink. Glue down and you’re done.
Used for this layout
- Daler Rowney Graduate Sketchbook A5
- Renesans Intense watercolour paint: Purple Magenta / Phthalo Blue / Helio Turquoise / Transparent Yellow / Scarlet Red
- WH Smith acrylic paint: Gold
- DecoArt Americana acrylic paint: Warm White
- Yes! Paste
- Tim Holtz / Sizzix Texture Fades embossing folder: Patchwork
- Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous cling stamp: Spills & Splatters [CMS028]
- Sweet Dixie Dies: Small Stitched Plaques [SDD255]
- Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Ink: Chipped Sapphire
- Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black
- Sizzix BIg Shot embossing machine
- Scotch ATG 700 industrial double-sided tape dispenser
- Tim Holtz / Tonic non-stick scissors
A quick whizz-through of the project
Come and join a session!
Next month, the theme is ‘all about perspective’ and beginners and artists alike are welcome to book in and enjoy the session. Full guidance is given, all materials are included and art journals are available to buy for just £2 if you don’t have one. The session is held at The Studio in Leicester on 7th April (2025) from 7:30pm and is just £5 to attend. Contact me by 4th April to book your place. More details of my workshops are here.