Photo Friday : Heidi Rand

This week's photograph shows an interesting and useful way to use Lutradur, and comes from Heidi Rand, whose work you can see here and here, and whom you can contact directly here.  She says of her work:

 "I love making useful things from my art, and really treasure the
unique qualities of Lutradur: the fact that it looks delicate and is
translucent, but is actually strong and won't tear, which makes it
perfect for structural art pieces like vases, bowls, etc.

I've been making fabric vases for years, using my original fabric
designs that I print onto cotton or silk, but I was inspired one day
to try the same basic pattern using Lutradur.

For the surface design of this piece I took my original photos of a
butterfly, a feather, and a window, duplicated them and blended and
collaged the images into a dramatic abstract with vivid patches of
color.

I printed the design onto Lutradur that I had coated with Golden
Paint's Digital Ground, a substance that greatly improves the quality
of the inkjet print. I sewed the lutradur into a vase, using an
untreated piece of lutradur for the base.

When I make the fabric vases I have to use stabilizer and line them,
but because the Lutradur is strong enough to stand on its own I didn't
use stabilizer.  I also decided not to line the inside of the vase, so
that light could shine through it to enhance the effect of the printed
design.  It really shortened the time it usually takes me to make the
vases, although coating the Lutradur was an extra step I don't need to
take with fabric because it's pretreated for inkjet printing.

I love the finished vase - I think the only thing I'll do differently
next time is to use a printed piece for the base for a more cohesive
and polished look."

I'm sure this has given us all food for thought; if you have any questions, please ask them here, and Heidi will respond.  Many thanks, Heidi!