LINDA COLSH linda@lindacolsh.com An American residing in Everberg, Belgium, Linda Colsh is a lifelong artist, whose work is published and in collections worldwide. Among the awards her artwork has won are the European Quilt Triennial first prize and top prize of the Fabric of Legacies Exhibition in Colorado. To create her unique fabrics, she works with surface design media, such as dye, discharge, painting and printing. Many of her images begin with her photos or drawings from her sketchbooks. “My fiber art combines the surface design processes I find most interesting to explore: dye, screenprinting, monoprinting, discharge…. Beginning with my digital photographs, I work with software such as Photoshop, CorelDesign, and Illustrator to refine and alter images. I often include digital, sewn or glued paper collage in my work by printing it directly from my computer printer onto fabric. Once I have the imagery on fabric, I can add more color or other elements to the collage on fabric. I incorporate these fabrics in my fiber art: large pieced art quilts, postcards or small works. Currently, I am working in several series that demand specific imagery, so collage and altered collage printed onto fabric is an excellent vehicle for my art. For example, for my series on aging I have worked with images of several older people, and I use photos of various flowers for my concepts of beauty series.”
Prepare fabric. Iron white cotton fabric smooth; remove the backing from a full-page (A4) sticky label such as Avery brand and apply to the fabric. Rotary trim the fabric to exactly the size of the full-page label.
Make black & white collage: Using black & white copier copies, tear and cut pieces and lay out to make a pleasing design (any size). Glue or machine sew the collage together and take a digital snapshot of your collage.
Print collage onto fabric: Open the photo on your computer (Optional: use photo imaging software like Photoshop Elements to adjust the contrast), size or crop to A4 size and, using an inkjet printer, print out on fabric. (note: the black ink of most inkjet printers is permanent; the color inks are not unless specified by the ink company).
Add color: screen, stamp, paint or stencil acrylic paint to add color over the black and white collage.
Layer with stiff batting and machine quilt (no backing yet).
Finish: Iron a backing to the postcard using an iron-on fusible such as Vliesofix. Trim to postcard size and finish the edges with a narrow blanket stitch
