Fiber Art part 5

I decided last week to try Jane's suggestion at the critique group, using some colored cloth as backing for my fibers show print, to make the embedded fibers in the paper more visible.  My frequent woodcut student Mary was there, and over the weekend e-mailed me to offer me some fabric scraps she had.  I decided that the easiest time and place to meet would be in Belmar, the night of my woodcut class.  This worked for her, too, and so she showed up about 20 minutes before the start with large bags of different kinds of fabric.  I decided to take two of her scrap pieces, one light blue, one a light aqua.

Back home, I tested both pieces of fabric under the print, and decided that I liked the effect more with the aqua piece- both created fiber contrasts, but the aqua added more color.  So I took it to the Studio today, and began the process of adhering it to my plywood backing piece.  The remnant was almost exactly as wide as my wood (17"), so I started by gluing it along the top edge of the wood, then stretching it across the wood and gluing along the bottom edge.  Used wood glue, so it dried quickly.

With the fabric secured, next came the print.  I'm guessing that not much about the process is truly archival, but I did want to make it reversible, should I have a need to present this print differently.  So the print itself isn't glued, but just wrapped around the plywood piece and taped to it with linen tape.  In the above photo, a little of the fabric color can be seen along the bottom edge of the plywood, through the paper pulled over it and held in place by the white tape.  It's on top of my mat board folder which just happens to be the same color as the cloth.

Once I was sure everything as dry, I slid it into the frame and completed the assembly.  In the above photo, the fabric has had the desired effect and made the texture of the background more visible.  I set it aside for now, and will deliver it to the gallery on Saturday.