Too Many Barriers

inspiring words
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

I have spent way too long letting my anxiety get the best of me and prevent me from trying out art techniques that interest me. For example, I have a bit of a fire phobia, and that has prevented me from learning silver soldering. I have a goal to take a class in the spring for those techniques.

Today I wanted some words of inspiration to sew onto my leaves for a Fiber art Traders swap. I have long been terrified of trying to print on fabric and ending up with a huge messy unfixable printer jam. Well, I did get a huge messy paper jam on the first try, but the second try worked like a charm!

Here is how I successfully printed on fabric with my inkjet printer:
I ironed a piece of muslin to a piece of freezer paper. Then I trimmed the paper/fabric combo to 8x8 inches. I had originally intended to cut it 8x10.5, but life happens! Anyway, once I convinced my printer not to tell me my paper was the wrong size, I was good to go. I used my rotary cutter to trim, which probably means it is time for a new blade now that I have used it on paper...Or maybe a new cutter and turn this one into my paper cutter!! (Sorry shopping gets me a little excited.) Anyway, sorry back to topic- then I just emptied my printer paper tray, put my paper backed fabric in, and it worked beautifully.

I am really happy to have finally done this process that has intimidated me for so long, and now I have some nice words to use in some fiber art collage work.