Elaine's July and August

I am  w a y  behind! We were overseas until the middle of August and then there was lots of catching up to do, but here at last are the letters for the past two months.

I have used a material called Tyvek, a non-toxic sheet of bonded, spun polyethylene fibres, which changes its form when heat is applied. I painted both sides of the 7cm square with fabric paints and then using a brown iridescent oil paint, in stick form, I wrote a monoline capital. The squares were then heated with an iron. The result depends on the length and direction of the iron’s heat. A little bit of control, but not much, which I find exciting! Whether the shapes are concave or convex depends on which side the heat is applied, eg. ‘A’ and ‘H” were heated from the back and all the others from the front. The squares have now shrunk in size to between 3.5 and 4 cm. The letters aren’t always recognisable and often distorted, but I like the way they have now become integrated into the material.