Wen Redmond's Digital Fiber Art

For those of you enjoying Wen Redmonds Holographic Pictures technique in this issue, you can find the application of digital photography to textiles and mixed media expanded upon in this book. It looks at many different ways of using photography with different substrates and mediums to create a wholly unique approach to your art. It is a very user-friendly book with a lot of tips on how to make your own life easier (you can use photos taken on your phone as the techniques here will make allowances for a lower resolution in the pictures) and there are apps suggested, such as Grungetastic, that will make the whole
process of jazzing up your photo much easier if you arent able to slave over Photoshop or another Photo Editing programme. The latter will provide you with more complex images to play with but this allows anyone with basic technology to have a go. The book is helpfully divided up into sections such as using fabric or paper as substrates, using Pre-Coats (such as InkAid) and basic Digital Photography printing before moving onto more experimental chapter, using acrylic mediums, overlays, creating textured surfaces for blending or printing over and using nonporous substrates. Each section is fully illustrated and clearly explained in stages and each chapter contains its own Process and Example sections so you can get to grips with how to achieve an effect and then see some finished pieces.

Wen Redmond's book, Digital Fiber Art, published by C&T Publishing, is packed full of more information than you can possibly believe. And throughout, each technique, tip, and idea is decorated by Wen's photos and digital pieces. It's a complete visual feast.
The book begins with inspirational chapters that help you get your images and backgrounds ready for printing and combining. Using digital filters, digital and physical collage, painting papers and fabrics, Wen shows you how to combine these for truly unique results in your art quilts. Though she focuses throughout on quilts, so many of these techniques can also be used for paper-based collages.
The technical information covers using your printer in some unique ways, pre-coats for your fabrics and papers, making carrier sheets for printing, underpainting and overpainting the substrate, using sheers, recycled fabrics and papers, and various specialty products (like Lutradur). Wen shows you how to include transparent and translucent overlays in your work, plain, printed, and/or painted. She also covers acrylic mediums, especially the specialty ones, and how to add natural materials like tea leaves and sand to your medium. Oh, and don't forget the molding paste and paint skins!
Finally, finishing your work is not neglected either, with a chapter on post-coats, sealers, wax, metallic and luster powders. And last, mounting and displaying work rounds out this jam-packed volume.

Digital fibre art is one of Wen's signature techniques. She has been recognised in the textile/fibre world for decades, and this experience and expertise is well reflected here. As with most how-to books, it starts at the beginning with the kinds of tools and equipment needed to give a good result. Wen then takes off from there, showing how to alter images, print them on different fabrics, and then apply stitch for added depth, interest, and highlighting. By incorporating a number of different techniques, the finished work looks more layered and complex, but it is very achievable. An interested beginner should not be put off, as Wen offers many tips. At the same time, experience artists will find enough here to take their work to the next level.