Monday, August 6, 2007

To "Execute": Livin' the Verb

Is it any wonder that the verb "to execute", in addition to meaning "to carry out, accomplish" and "to perform or do", also can mean "to put to death"????


After I laid out all these tiny page pieces on the water soluble fusible at my studio last week, I tested some different adhesives and how well and easily they wash out and the winner was: Elmer's Washable School Glue Sticks! My only complaint about these gems -- sold two to a bubble pack in Wal-Mart's Back to School sales blitz at 5 packs for $1 -- is the sad realization there is more packaging than glue, only about .6 oz per tube, and I can envision the piles of packaging and empty glue containers creating new mountains in land fills. I used five tubes to stick -- yes,one piece at a time -- all the pieces down to the water soluble fusible backing, then sprayed the whole surface with basting spray and covered it all with a second layer of the water soluble fusible. All well and good, but the basting spray on water soluble only seems to hold for the short term. It is now four days since I first sprayed them and some are lifting off the fabric and base layers. So now pins also assist in the process. It all is a learning curve and I'm ever the explorer, so while the sandwich stabilizing and stitching are tedious, I am sure that I'll streamline and refine my process with each new piece.


Since this is a series and ideas hammer on my insides begging to get out as I resolutely sew line after line after line, I did veer off course from sewing to do samples of the ideas for Pages #3, #4 and #5. The idea for #6 popped out yesterday and I managed to get a quick sketch down in my notebook. It amazes me how long the list of ideas are -- and working quietly and repetitively on the stitching gives my mind even more opportunities to free associate.


I am wondering if an industrial machine will look better and better to me after completing a few of these!

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