A few years ago I started playing with Timtex™ and have been hooked since. I was first introduced to this stiff interfacing while making fabric bowls and boxes using Linda Johansen’s books. What I like about Timtex is that it is rigid enough to hold its shape but soft enough to stitch by hand or machine. With my mixed media background, I soon started altering the interfacing with acrylic paints and collaging it with matte medium as the “glue” to adhere the layers. Once my Timtex backgrounds are altered with color and texture, I can easily cut the interfacing to size and shape, and attach them to wooden frames or canvas board for display.

Earlier this year, Artist Alley (a local gallery) offered a “Kit” challenge to members of the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild. We were tasked with composing an art piece using the limited materials described in the provided list: 22 items (lightbulbs, fabric, thread, beads, wood, coins, etc.), 3 “wild cards” items (doo-hickies, and gee-haws, etc.), and several freebies (paints, adhesives, etc). My inspiration came quickly and my first wild card component was Timtex.

I started by painting the Timtex background with Liquitex Soft Body acrylics. I then used Liquitex Matte Medium to blend the acrylics to form gradation between sky and land. Next, I used more matte medium to layer collaged bits of brown tissue creating a texturized surface.

Later in my construction process, I was stumped on how to use one of the challenge items: “Something found in the kitchen.” I regularly include mesh fruit and vegetable bags in my collage pieces and eventually realized this was my solution. Using more bits of brown tissue and matte medium, I adhered my kitchen find, a mesh avocado bag, to the Timtex background creating a grass-like landscape element. For the final touch to my background, I used dye ink to rubber stamp the ode to the Longleaf Pine tree.

I used a variety of other techniques to meet my challenge requirements and create the pine tree, dogwood flowers and branches, and a collaged wood frame. Each component was pre-assembled, then stapled and glued, along with the Timtex background, to the back of the wood frame.  In the end, I used all of the challenge list items, all 3 wild cards, and most definitely, all of the freebies. Mission:  Accomplished!

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Nanette S. Zeller is a mixed media textile artist from Southern Pines, NC. She works as a freelance technical editor for C&T Publishing and teaches near her home. Her style is a life-long culmination of creative adventure and exploration with a color pallet deeply influence by her love and study of nature. Her blog, www.NanetteSayZ.com, is an online journal of her creative journey.

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