Last week, I gave a screen-printing and surface design demonstration at the Elverhoj Musuem in Solvang. It was a lot of fun to share some of the techniques I use to color cloth. I generally don't have a preconceived plan. I just let the fabric evolve. Most of the time, it turns out well. Sometimes, it needs more layering. Occasionally, it turn out ugly and you just have to cut it into smaller pieces.
I had a very interested crowd and they had great questions and suggestions. The two hours flew by and only one piece of fabric was fully developed. I let the fabrics batch for 24 hours, added more dye and batched for another 24 hours. I promised to post the before and after photos of the fabric, so here they are along with a brief description of what was used.
Before: Vinyl shelf liner shapes were stuck to a silk screen. Thickened dyes were used to print onto denim fabric.
After: More thick and thin dyes were added. This will become a shopping bag.
Before: Thickened dye was used with a thermofax screen.
After: Thickened gold dye was added.
Before: Thin orange dye was used to stamp the circles. Thin fuchsia dye was sprayed into the center of each circle.
After: I filled the white area with thick green dye.
Before: This started as a drop cloth. I used thick blue dye to screen-print a design made with blue tape stuck to the screen. It turned out pretty ugly.
After: I added more thick gold dye. It's still ugly but I think there is still hope for it.
This is the only piece that was completely finished in one pass. I used sponges to spread thin dye and thick black dye to stamp the ovals.
Of course, I didn't get as much done as I hoped to, so more dyeing was done the next day at home. Thin dye was poured and blended onto white denim. This will become a shopping bag.
This piece was dyed at home. The writing was done on white denim with black dye in a squirt bottle. I splashed fuchsia dye on the background and sprayed with water to blur and blend everything. As it turns out, I like the back of the fabric better. I'm currently making a shopping bag with this fabric. I'll post it when it's finished.
This piece was dyed at home. Blue dye was poured onto the denim fabric. Thickened wasabi and purple dyes were spread around. This will become a shopping bag.
There will be one more demonstration at the Elverhoj Museum on January 28th at 2:00 pm. This one will show you how to Make Stamps. Our exhibit will be hanging until February 5th.
My knitting skills aren’t great, but they are improving. It
appears that I have a lot of patience because I just keep knitting, no matter
how much tinking I have to do.
I’m using a gorgeous yarn from Shalimar for this wrap. It’s
a merino, cashmere, silk blend and it’s very soft and warm. I love the way it
looks, but it’s taking a long time and I’m getting a bit tired of doing the
same thing.
My knitty friend said she always has a few projects going so
she could choose what she felt like working on. Great idea . . . it’s the way I
create artwork, so why not knitting. I jumped on that bandwagon and off I went.
This cowl is a made from Capra DK, from Knit Picks. It’s a
beautiful marino and cashmere blend. It’s pretty chilly during my husband’s morning
bike ride to work. This cowl will keep him nice and warm and it’ll be easy to
store in his bike pack.
Years ago, I collected novelty yarns to use as
embellishments in my art quilts. That phase didn’t last long and I barely used
the yarn collection. My knitty friend suggested cutting it up and tying it back
together to form new art yarn. Wow, that sounded like an interesting idea. I sorted
through my bin for yarns that I thought might work together and chose fifteen different yarns. I cut and tied, knitted a sample, deleted several eyelash yarns, and
knitted another sample. After a few versions, I think I have a good assortment
that will make beautiful art yarn.
The balls are beautiful!
I need tie enough yarn for a shawl.
Here's a wonderful Della Q circular needle case from Etsy.
I love the numbers on the needle slots and it has plenty of space for cables,
It also has a zippered pouch on the outside for markers, scissors, etc.
We recently remodeled our
kitchen and dining room. Some people think that sounds like fun, but in
reality, it was a lot of stress and work. I wanted everything, but had to stay
within a budget and the two are often at odds. I have to say that we really did
a great job, we came in under budget (gasp) and the kitchen is both beautiful
and functional.
While the remodel was
happening, my whole life revolved around it. There was a lot of creativity
involved but it was a very different type of creativity. When the remodel was
done, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had a hard time getting back into
my normal creative activities. I was experiencing a major creative block. I tried not to
worry about it too much. I started dyeing and screen-printing fabric, yards and
yards of beautiful fabric! It worked, one thing led to another and the creative
block is a distant memory.
Fiber art, photography, and
dyeing are all at the top of my list of passions. Between the three, my
creative needs are usually satisfied. I don’t think my inquisitive nature will allow me to stop
experimenting with other mediums though. People that know me well expect a lot of questions. I’ve actually tried to stop being so inquisitive, but
it didn’t work (haha). I guess I need to add knowledge to my list of passions.
If you find yourself in a
creative slump, figure out what you are passionate about and start doing it. The
rest will come.
If you would like to see
some of my new work, I’ll be part of a juried exhibit at the Elverhoj Museum in
Solvang, CA. The opening reception is November 19th from 4:00 to 6:00
pm. The exhibit will be on display until February 5, 2017.
Several people have been
inquiring about my blog. It made me realize that I missed it and want to give
it another go. So, ask any questions you want . . . I understand.
Texture is a big part of why I quilt and I spend a lot of time (probably too much time) considering how to quilt each piece. As I was quilting this piece, it just really struck me how different the stitching made it look. I had to stop and take photos and want to share them with you. I have known this for a long time, but to look at the before and after, really proves it.
I like the texture that the purple circle add to the background.
The swirling inside the ovals make them recede and add interest.
I feel like I'm a pretty good quilter, but there is always room for improvement. Sandwiched between a trip to Las Vegas and Spain, I took a 5 day HQ quilting class at the Creation Station with Pam Clarke and Megan Best. It covered a variety of skills ranging from traditional patterns to overall designs, many of which I never would have tried on my own. The scale of most designs were larger than what I was used to. Needless to say, I was definitely pushed out of my comfort zone. It was a good experience and a good confidence builder.
I'm about to quilt the final section of the sky and I'm trying to decide what color of thread to use. Yesterday, I thought I was going to use ice blue thread, but today it isn't even a contender. Between the three colors shown, iris (darker purple), blue and amethyst (lighter purple), I'm leaning towards the iris. I think I'd like to darken up this area a bit and the purple would do that and add a little warmth. Which one do you like best?
I can't show you the whole quilt yet because it's going into an exhibit soon, but I bet you can guess what it is. Here's a close up of some of the quilting on my hand dyed fabric. Hope you can see it, the thread color blends pretty well.
I've been using my homemade pinmoor holders a lot and I absolutely love them. They stay in pretty well even through all the shifting, rolling and scrunching that you do while quilting, but they're easy to remove when you pull on the foam. I purchased extra pins and have about 120 now. More Recent Articles
| 
