Saturday, February 26, 2011

More dyed tops

I finished the other two tops for my friend's order:
This is the light rayon poncho

This is the "Bamboo" top  - Front
"Bamboo" top - side

Nine patch finished/special order

Remember this?  Well, I finally finished it yesterday:
It now resides on our dining table... just the right size to cover the center where dishes are placed during dinner!  Meanwhile, I still need to finish the Split Rail lap quilt.  It's going to be a beauty when it's done... but it may take awhile.  I'm in the middle of a tie-dye special order for a friend in Washington State.  Here is one of the tops I have made for her:

This is a really neat asymmetrical tunic... very graceful, and a perfect display for my "Autumn Leaves" batik pattern.  But I will probably be doing other designs on this style as well.  I will post pix of the other two tops when they are done.  One is a light weight rayon poncho, the other a cotton woven "Bohemian" style shirt.
And as if I didn't have enough to do, I have taken a commitment to create a brochure for a fellow artist who makes jewelry... just a sideline that has evolved over the past couple of years.  Never a dull moment!  

Monday, February 21, 2011

Winter morning

Totally unrelated to my fiber arts, but I just have to share this!  I took it about 6:15 this morning... it's the view from the front of our house looking west.  That's our neighbor's house in the foreground. 
I love where we live... it is sooooo picturesque!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Split Rail Quilt top

Yesterday, I finished assembling the Split Rail top for my quilting class:
The photo doesn't do the fabric justice!  It's all batik fabrics, and the colors are light and dark teal, light and dark gold, and a white with teal leaves.  This is my second split rail -- I did one about 5 years ago in another basic quilting class -- and putting this one together has been very easy!  I have one more class session where we make the border, get into pinning and quilting, quilt sleeve, label and binding.  Obviously, we won't finish the quilt in class, but my memory of the last one is that it isn't complex, just takes a little time.  I will post final pix when it is done.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pix of Diamond shape batik tank

Today, I waxed over the dyed area of the tank I blogged about yesterday.  Then, once the wax had hardened,  I placed the tank into a plastic bin where I had poured about 1 1/2 cups of black dye.  At first, I was trying to avoid getting dye on the front, then I decided to crackle the wax and dye both the front and back to get a more interesting look.  Here is a picture of the front:
The back is a solid black.  I have to admit, I really like how it turned out!  Yesterday, it looked a little garish to me, even though I like bright colors.  Today, with the black veining, I think it has definitely become more visually interesting!  I know I will be doing more batik clothing in the coming months!  

Monday, February 7, 2011

More batik experiments

I have been wanting to use batik more in my clothing line, so I decided to do a little experimenting today.  I pre-soda soaked a tank yesterday and let it dry.  This morning, I selected some implements to apply the wax, then gave a little thought to how I wanted to position the different shapes.  I decided to use a washable marker to create a diamond-shaped grid on the front of the tank, then used the tools to wax each diamond.  Then I selected the dyes I wanted to use.  Here is the shirt after applying dyes to the diamonds:
I used a "sprong" for the concentric circle, a pvc pipe for the continuous circle, and a foam brush I notched for the parallel stripes.  Then, to create the lines between the diamonds, I used a piece of craft wood that is about 1/4 inch thick by  about 5 inches long.  Once the wax was hard, I stretched the tank on a piece of foam board I had covered with contact paper, and anchored the bottom of the tank with t-pins.  I drew a sketch of the design so I could plot out the color placement.  Even with all that planning, I still ended up with a couple of places where the same color was in adjacent shapes, darn it!
Once the dyes have 'batched' and dried, I plan to paint wax over the front and dye the back of the shirt with black, using low water immersion technique.  I'll post a picture of the final result once it's done, so check back! 

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Batik Sampler - final version

Well, after studying the sampler I dyed yesterday, I decided another layer of wax/dye was in order, so I re-soda soaked, added more wax markings, and overdyed with hot pink, rose red and purple.  Now I just need to decide which direction I like it best!
 
















I'm thinking about mounting it on heavy paper and framing...
I had also thought about crackling the wax and overdyeing with black, but I think I'll save that for another piece.  Meanwhile, I'm liking some of the techniques I tried on this one:  cut foam brush, pvc pipe, tjanting...

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Batik Sampler

I've been really inspired by the experiments I see posted about over here lately!  So I decided to get back to playing with batik... I actually applied the wax to the piece shown here about 2 months ago, but haven't had time until today to dye the fabric!  At any rate, I decided to do a simple dye paint with dyes I already had mixed.  The main experiment here was the varied items I used to apply the soy wax:

Implements included foam stamps, potato masher, nail-head stamp, stamp made from bamboo skewers, sprong, dowel, some kind of circle (don't remember!) and I think I did some freeform painting.  To apply the dyes, I used a foam brush.  Note the bleeding on the left side, where the turquoise is feathering into the lemon yellow... I love that!  I will let the dyes dry, then rinse/wash.  I'll take an 'after picture and post when that step is done.  For those who prefer ironing out their wax, I still like washing out the wax in hot water, but I'm sure interesting results could be had with the ironing method as well!

Spring makeover


I felt a breath of warm air this morning when I went out to feed the birds and get the paper... made me want to do a little redecorating on the blog!  I'll leave it this way for awhile... see if I like it.  Let me know what you think!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Quilting class

I signed up for a Beginning Quilting class with my friend Joyce... it's being taught at our local fabric store, Odegaard's.  I took a beginning class about 5 years ago at another shop, but haven't done any traditional quilting since, so I figured it would be good to take a refresher.  Besides, Joyce, who sews professionally --she makes lots of neat products for home and personal use -- has never quilted, and we thought it would be fun to take the class together.  Turns out we're the only 2 in the class, and I know the teacher from our local Quilters' Guild, so it's a very comfortable environment to learn in.
Our first project is a "9 patch", which I'm on my way to expanding to 12 patches to make a small table runner.  The colors and fabrics I chose are good for my home decor, but totally different than colors I use in my tie-dye projects!  See for yourself:
My carpet is dark brown, and my accent colors are rust and dusty blue... this was the best I could do to come up with coordinating fabrics.   But I think it will look okay on the dining table once I get the border on!
Meanwhile, next week we will be starting a Split Rail quilt, which I have done before.  Here's the one I did from my original class:

See what I mean about the colors I end up with?  And the quilt is laying on the carpet, so you can see what I'm dealing with.
Well, for the new Split Rail, I came up with a slightly different color scheme:
Odegaard's carries a large selection of batik fabrics, and I decided to splurge on this one.  Haven't decided what to use for the binding yet, and I may hand-dye fabric for the backing or just use solid color, but I sure like the fabrics I chose for the top... can't wait to get started!