Creating fabric books is a delightful way to express your love of color and fiber effects, and who better to guide you than the experts we feature in Cloth Paper Scissors? In our newest free eBook, you’ll find inspiring ideas and instruction on how to make artist trading cards (also known as ATCs), fabric books, and mail art, all using fiber art that’s explained for beginners, with fiber art projects that are great for seasoned artists as well. Get your free download of Exploring Fiber Art: 4 Free Contemporary Fabric Art Projects here!
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| Fabric books by Debbi Crane. Pin this article (and Debbi’s step-by-step handmade book image) on Pinterest for easy reference. |
First, get inspired with Debbi Crane’s adventurous fabric book art project, which took her from creating a simple handmade book, to transforming it into a 14-book of rainbow colors, which she describes in “A Piece of Cake.” Using canvas duck, acrylic paint, and a few other common art supplies, you can make your own fabric journal with your favorite colors and phrases. (Hint: Debbi likes to use poetry in hers!)
Then let out your inner muse with “Fabric Collage Mail Art” by Wen Redmond. “This collage process is a quick approach to composing a complete series of fabric-collage postcards,” explains Wen. “It’s also an ingenious way to use up all of your scraps and leftovers from other projects. Try it, and enjoy spontaneous artistic flow while creating stacks of unique postcards. So take out all of your goodies, and let’s get creative.”
“Silk and other fibers can be used to make your own unique fabrics for a variety of textile-based projects,” says Dianne Richards, author of the article “Fusing Fabrics and Fibers for Fantastic Effects.” She continues, “this fabric can be used as inspiration for stunning textured collages, usable artwork such as bags, boxes, or book covers, or incorporated into bigger works of art like quilts or wall hangings. It can be embellished in many ways—using other fabrics, silk rods and cocoons, machine and hand embroidery, and beadwork. The possibilities are endless and as wide as your imagination.”
Last, but not least, try your hand at needle felting with “Fiber Effects: Colorful Needle-Felted Trading Cards” by Kelli Perkins, who explains needle-felting basics and offers great tips for the beginning fabric artist.
I hope you enjoy this exclusive collection of fabric art projects, and that you create colorful, new fiber effects on your own mixed-media projects.
Have fun,
