Small Art

I have been working on another 'Small Art' series the past few days. I started with a piece of Complex Cloth I created summer before last... I know, not too swift! But I'm getting there... anyway, this was a piece I dyed using Low Water Immersion, then bleach discharged with torn newspaper as a resist. I fused the fabric to pellum, then I fused on some of another LWI piece, added ribbon and yarn, stamped some with metallic fabric paint, then used various techniques to finish the edges. I will probably go in and add some sparklies before I declare them finished. Oh, and I have 2 more I need to bind as well. These are really fun pieces to work on! And I'm thinking I want to try mounting them and framing as wall art. I'll post pictures of the final result when they are done.

Dyeing weekend

I managed to get some time to dye for myself this weekend, as well as for a friend. After cleaning house on Friday (which was looooooooong overdue!) I dyed 2 dresses for my friend Dede, then pulled some blank stock to dye for my etsy shop, website, and a show I will be setting up at in November. I had lots of dyes leftover from previous projects, and wanted to use some up, so I dyed several pieces using Low Water Immersion. Here are 2 that I particularly like:



I really like the organic design I got on these two, and have no idea how old the dyes were, but they did the job!
I have also begun to make covered journals, and will post pix when I have a few completed. Great way to use some of the complex cloth fabrics I have been accumulating, as well as some of the other fabrics I have dyed.
Well, it's Monday, so back to work I go, but soon I will be able to get up on Monday and head down the hall to the studio! Yaaaah.....

Another experiment

I decided to do another art cloth using DVD's and Clamps to resist the dye. This time, after first using LWI to lay on the first colors - lemon yellow, medium orange and scarlet - I dried the fabric, then pressed, accordion folded and applied the DVD's and clamps. Then, instead of applying the black dye using LWI, I decided to apply thickened dye with a squeeze bottle. I began to apply the black, then realized I had not soda soaked the fabric first! So, in the interest of finding out what would happen, I finished applying the black dye, let the piece sit for an hour, then sprayed on soda ash. After letting the soda ash soak in for another hour, I washed the fabric. To my surprise, not only didn't the black dye wash out, but I think it came out better than the first piece where I used LWI to apply the black! Here is the new piece:


Here is a closeup of the middle rows:


If you look closely, you might see what resembles Hibiscus flowers... another 'happy accident'! I will no doubt be doing more pieces using this method, and I am convinced that no two will look alike! Stay tuned...

Whole cloth quilt or wall hanging?

I recently dyed a piece of fabric with a 'fern' design stitched in, and had hoped to use it for a whole cloth quilt. But after washing it out and looking at it, I can't decide if quilting will add anything to the design. Maybe I should just mount it or bind it with other fabric and leave it as is... what do you think?

Uncharted territory

At our playdate last weekend, Melly, our facilitator/teacher/inspirer, gave us a challenge: Cut into at least 2 of the fabrics we have created using Surface Design/complex cloth techniques; create a piece approximately 12" x 12". So today, I began my project, not knowing what the end result would be. I had one LWI-dyed piece from the playdate that I sprayed bleach over using sequins as a resist, and dishwasher gel to stamp some of the surface. It came out rather interesting, so I decided to use it as my main theme. I have cut out several shapes and pinned them over another LWI piece I dyed at the same time I dyed the cut piece. Here is what I have so far:



I cut away 2 of the stamped areas and pinned elsewhere on the main piece, then slashed some of the remaining fabric to create the 'rays'. Now it's time to let my imagination have a go at what I should do next.... more to come!

Where does inspiration come from?

September 17, 2007 - I recently joined a Surface Design group here in Flagstaff. Most of the members were in the class I took this summer, and we are just getting started. Last month, our facilitator, Melly, gave us a challenge to create a screen using soy wax and house paint. Well.... as the time flew by, and the next meeting (tonight!) drew closer, I realized that I had not come up with a design to use for this challenge. I am not one to doodle a lot, so I really had to work at trying to develop a design. Finally, out of sheer frustration, I sent off an e-mail to Melly crying about how I couldn't come up with a design.... poor me! Well, not two hours later, I picked up a pencil and in less than 15 minutes, I had my design! No idea where it came from, it just came! And here is the result:

The design makes me think of yoga for some reason, so I will probably be using it on my yoga sets and for a shirt design as well. I like it because looking at it from one direction, I see a figure in repose; from another direction, it seems the figure is doing the backstroke in the water... it also reminds me of a sleeping figure. In all cases, it is very soothing and serene. I dyed a yard of fabric using Low Water immersion technique, then screened on dishwasher gel with bleach to discharge the dye. What is really nice is that the design from the LWI is still visible within the figures, just lighter. So, tonight I will share my experiment with the other members of our Surface Design group, then see what 'challenge' Melly has in store for next month..... great fun!

It's never too late...

August 23, 2007 - Awhile back, I took a week-long art course at our local community college. Among other things, the teacher introduced us to basic screen-printing, mono-printing, creating and using stamps, discharge dyeing and using soy wax as a resist. I posted some pictures at the end of the class to show a little about what I learned. Meanwhile, I got busy at home and started experimenting with what I had learned... mostly in the areas of screen-printing and soy wax. Here are some samples of what I have accomplished so far:

In this example, I created a screen of the owl, printed a blank shirt, colored the owl with thickened dyes, then waxed over the image. I then used Low Water Immersion to dye the background.















Below is a design where I used a stamp to apply dishwasher gel with bleach to a pre-dyed shirt.









In this example, I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over the design, dyed the background using LWI, washed the shirt, re-soaked in soda ash, then painted the sunburst with thickened dyes.


















Here is another example where I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over, used LWI to dye the background, washed, then painted the image with thickened dyes.






















I feel like I have reached a turning point in my creative life... not the first time this has happened, but it's been awhile! I will post more pictures as I continue my new adventure...