Currently Browsing: fabric collage

detail of stitches holding fabric collage together
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Creative Chrysalis

145 – Stitched, Ironed and Ready To Return

September 10, 2022

A lot of free-motion stitching has been done using my mid-arm Handi-Quilter Sweet 16 machine. I’ve put in the details, like smoke…

art quilt with believable imagery
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Creative Chrysalis

142 – Toxic Spill

August 4, 2022

Progress is being made on big Fear Quilt, despite interruptions mentioned previously. Anyone who has tried to keep a blog going consistently…

choosing fabrics to represent ground
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Creative Chrysalis

140 – Laying The Groundwork

March 30, 2022

The sky has been composed above the “Not Yet Dead” attraction. Now to lay the groundwork. Again, I must keep in mind…

realistic art quilt showing detail
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Creative Chrysalis

137 – Just Cut It Out

February 1, 2022

Precious creations are dangerous. Becoming attached to what you’ve made, either because of the look of it or because of knowing what…

example of tangent problem in art
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Creative Chrysalis

136 – Tangent Awareness Day

January 25, 2022

Every budding artist should observe Tangent Awareness Day! The ability to spot this space killing compositional flaw will improve one’s art immensely…

Spool Party by Susan V. Polansky
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Creative Chrysalis

134 – Spool Party: stitched fabric collage

December 23, 2021

How about diving into a little bit about thread? Do I have loyalty to any brand of thread? No, but I do…

fabric collage removed from design wall
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Creative Chrysalis

133- Sewing Begins!

December 6, 2021

Thanks for your patience in awaiting an update on how the big Fear quilt is going. I switched gears from collaging fabric…

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Creative Chrysalis

132 – Fun House Mirrors

October 28, 2021

I posted quite a mess of a picture a few days ago, and I wondered if anyone could guess what it was…

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Creative Chrysalis

131 – Can You Guess What This Mess Is?

October 25, 2021

Have you guessed what the mess in the photo is? Doesn’t look that great now, but keep watching. I am teasing you…

fabric collage in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

130 – The Devil is in the Details

October 5, 2021

I’ve made graffiti artists in my fabric collage art quilt who were going to be spray painting on a mural, but now…

fabric collage of seated man
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Creative Chrysalis

129 – Struggles With The Man

September 21, 2021

I’ve been hard at work, and near the give-it-up point. But I achieved what I wanted despite the struggle. I won’t needlessly…

sewing details onto a dog fabric collage
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Creative Chrysalis

128 – A Dog Comes To Life!

September 4, 2021

A dog came to life! It will be snapping at a child’s cotton candy, so it had to be menacing. I cut…

fabric collage showing amusement part ride
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Creative Chrysalis

127 – Suggest Motion

August 17, 2021

A gesture, a head turned in a certain direction, or the suggestion of movement can “activate” a scene. When adding a person,…

fabric collage people
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Creative Chrysalis

125 – Two Bad Boys

July 20, 2021
Two bad boys are about to come to life. This should be fun! First, a hunt through Google images to find two...
creating a character through fabric collage
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Creative Chrysalis

124 – She’s A Character!

July 11, 2021

I do love when my fabric characters come to life! This sassy lady is someone I could easily envision on the Seaside…

art quilt in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

123- Not Dead Yet

June 28, 2021

Amusement parks have some fantastic signage, especially lit up at night! My scene is viewed during daylight, so no glowing neon here,…

fabric collage in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

122 – Here’s What I’ve Got

June 21, 2021

You’ve seen many posts with unconnected sections, so thought you might enjoy seeing what I’ve got so far for the amusement style…

Comparison of fabric collage template to original photo
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Creative Chrysalis

120 – Passive Observer

June 8, 2021

The amusement park dark ride that I’ve been working on has a large open front where people can get into the vehicles…

photo showing fabric collage in process
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Creative Chrysalis

119 – Tiny Pieces

May 26, 2021

A wheelchair is a complicated form. There won’t be an easy way to represent one in fabric. I’ll make my best go…

fabric collage of a building in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

114 – Taking Shape

April 7, 2021

The “dark ride” building is a large structure and I need to take care that the architecture doesn’t overwhelm the purpose of…

fabric collage people
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Creative Chrysalis

112 – Tickets, Please

March 28, 2021

I’m liking this group of people! I know my fabric collage people are working well when I think of them as characters…

fabric collage and original drawing
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Creative Chrysalis

109 – Ta-Dah!

March 7, 2021

Bet you’ve been curious as to how the separate elements of my amusement park scene will look together. Pinning the pieces to…

fabric collage, templates and original drawing
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Creative Chrysalis

108 – From The Mouth Of A Snake

March 3, 2021

A smaller snake slide is a fine idea, but now to make it real. Usually, I don’t number my templates, but it…

drawing, fabric collage and painting of computer keyboard
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Creative Chrysalis

106 – Steps of Instruction

February 21, 2021

My imagery of a funhouse with a rolling barrel entrance perfectly represents the inviting rabbit hole of the internet, but this amusement…

fabric collage of roof with photo references and original drawing
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Creative Chrysalis

105 – Nailing the Roof

February 15, 2021

Does the house top seem familiar? I modeled it after “American Gothic,” an iconic painting by Grant Wood that has often been…

fabric collage eyes
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Creative Chrysalis

104 – Eyes Above

February 11, 2021

Above the swirling vortex/black hole/rolling barrel entrance to the funhouse of my quilt, I would like to have some eyes. This part…

images of fabric collage process
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Creative Chrysalis

103 – Vortex People

February 6, 2021

Excited to make my first people for this quilt. Upon starting this project, I challenged myself to improve both drawing skills and…

Fabric collection, paper template and Mousetrap Game reference
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Creative Chrysalis

100 – How Good is Your Color Memory?

January 25, 2021

My color memory is such that I can go to a fabric store and quite accurately remember the colors and patterns that…

Susan Polansky, drawing, full and detail, reference images
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Creative Chrysalis

99 – Putting Reference Images into Place

January 21, 2021

Now I put my collection of reference images to work. Using the magic of Photoshop Elements, I make a quick photo collage…

Artist Susan Polansky using a laser level in the art studio
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Creative Chrysalis

95 – Let Me Get This Straight…

January 12, 2021

This design wall is made of two 4’ x 8’ Styrofoam panels covered with flannel. I won’t be able to work on…

quilt sandwich made with an air-brushed painting
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Skirmish on Insecurity Hill

17 – Simple (?) Solution

May 17, 2019

Making it up as I go, I’ve decided to layer the air-brushing and batting onto the right side of the backing fabric….

Finished Butterfly and Flower Quilt
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butterfly

14 – Butterfly has landed!

February 21, 2019
It took longer to finish up this quilt than I expected, though it wasn't the quilt's fault. Life just got in the...
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butterfly

13 – So much greenery

January 11, 2019

The assembled quilt has been loaded onto my A-1 longarm sewing machine. Not only will the stitching hold down the fabric collage…

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butterfly

12 – Where will the butterfly land?

January 7, 2019

Before quilting, I need to play with the position of flowers (I’ve painted a smaller second one) and butterfly on the painted…

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butterfly

11 – Soft as a butterfly’s wings

January 2, 2019

Added some paint to soften the edges between black border and fused color spots. I’m liking it! #butterfly #wings #fabriccollage #saqawip #fabricpainting…

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butterfly

10 – Building a butterfly

December 20, 2018

Building a butterfly with fabric -the photo shows back and front. The black fabric has fusible on it, which made it easier…

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butterfly

9 – The black of a butterfly

December 16, 2018

Flower painting has been put aside – now for something completely different, creating the butterfly. Hard to go to straight black after…

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India quilt

36 – Done and Photographed!

August 1, 2018

Ah, I just showed my quilt getting loaded onto my long arm yesterday, and-TaDah! it’s done and photographed! Not a super fast…

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India quilt

34 – All fused and ready for the next step

July 30, 2018

Composition is off the design wall! Ironing with a press cloth to make sure everything is fused completely. Next step: quilting. #indiaquilt…

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India quilt

33 – Washing away the stabilizer

July 27, 2018

Going going gone – biggest section of stitching and wash away stabilizer in the bathtub. I put an envelope of netting to…

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India quilt

31 – Marking outlines with pins

July 19, 2018

When I remove a section of my quilt composition to do some stitch work, I carefully mark with pins the space it…

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India quilt

30 – Sewing in details before quilting

July 17, 2018

Sewing a section of #indiaquilt. This isn’t the quilting stage yet. Here I am securing bits of fabric(they have already been fused)…

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India quilt

29 – The deadline is looming

July 15, 2018

I’m in the final stretch of making my complicated #indiaquilt for #neqmexplorations ,- it has to be finished and photographed by Aug….

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India quilt

28 – Building in sections

June 25, 2018

After stitching a section and washing stabilizer away, I add it back to the rest of the quilt. #indiaquilt #fabriccollage #saqawip #neqmexplorations…

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India quilt

27 – Quilt sections built from tiny pieces

June 23, 2018

A horizontal section of #indiaquilt removed to do some stitching. If you’ve been following from the beginning, you’ll remember that I didn’t…

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India quilt

25 – Organizing fabric scraps

June 10, 2018

Small fabric scraps can get out of hand quickly when doing a complicated #fabriccollage like my #indiaquilt. I use a hanging organizer…

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India quilt

24 – Not the typical way of fusing

June 3, 2018

I pin up bits of fabric that I cut with a freezer paper template or by freehand guesstimating the shape, but none…

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India quilt

23 – The perils of liking your work

May 24, 2018

When work becomes “precious” because you like it, it’s difficult not to get caught up in playing it safe, but that sucks…

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India quilt

20 – Fabric auditions

May 8, 2018

Fabric auditions. Worst part about this is putting away all the ones that don’t make it! #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #fabriccollage #susanpolansky

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India quilt

19 – The biggest character gets dressed

May 5, 2018

Time to work on one of the bigger people, but I’m still using tweezers. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur #fabriccollage #susanpolansky

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India quilt

18 – Woman in the green sari gets company

May 2, 2018

I showed the green sari woman getting created, but here she is in position with some company. #indiaquilt #saqawip #jaipur #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky

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India quilt

17 – A Sari made without sewing

April 27, 2018

Working on the little people; saris are fun because you can sneak in an unexpected burst of color. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur…

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India quilt

14 – Making some good guesses

April 16, 2018

Some fabrics might be replaced a few times, just as a painter would revise their colors, until the right balance is created….

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India quilt

13 – An overwhelming moment

April 14, 2018

Beginning to put together a complicated quilt, when I am facing the actuality of the how many steps it will take for…

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India quilt

1 – 6 months and counting

March 10, 2018

I’ve begun my next quilt, and as a departure from my usual method, I am making it specifically for an exhibit at…