Starting a New Series - by Regina Marzlin

Detail of "Who Are You, Really?

 The latest Art Cloth Network call for entry is titled "Blurred Boundaries". My ideas were swirling but I finally settled on working with the human figure, which I rarely ever do. But the theme begged the question: how clearly can we see another person, or are we just left with a blurry, unfocused image of someone? The way we perceive each other and present ourselves in the world is for some reason interesting to me right now. Sometimes you just have to follow up, however weird it seems at first. 

I decided to once again use my preferred method of printing the fabric using my gel printing plates. I hand-cut a lot of stencils, taking silhouettes mostly from sewing and fashion magazines, as I wanted to emphasize the posing that people do.

I then used the stencils to try out multi-layered prints, that were offset so the shapes overlap, and get unfocused.

It worked the way I wanted! This is not always the case, so I was happy with that. I proceeded to print and made material in different colourways so I could make more than one piece. I finished two new pieces and have a feeling that I'm not done with the ideas and will add more to this new series. 

Here are a few more detail shots:

Detail of "Performance"

Detail of "Performance"

Detail of "Who Are You, Really?"

Printing up a storm - by Regina Marzlin

Within our Art Cloth Network group, we have a good number of subgroups that get together virtually to discuss various topics, do critiques, talk about certain techniques and so on. One of these online groups is the Gelli print group. Members of this group are interested in using gel plates for monotype printing on fabric or paper. We often work alongside each other, happily producing a stack of prints while talking about technical questions, design ideas or art and life in general. I really like this informal concept of sharing a virtual studio with my textile colleagues. Our studio hours are usually so very quiet and we work in isolation. But in this group, we can hold up our freshly printed fabric for everyone to admire and we can all share our excitement when a print is successful. We also give each other useful tips and advice on the printing process.

These prints were nature prints done with different leaves and plant materials on white cotton fabric. I like to stick to a palette when I do these kinds of prints so they all harmonize.

The individual prints are all 6" by 6" and I have plans for what to do with them and how they will be presented at a sales exhibition in Nova Scotia this upcoming November.