Our activity for this meeting was to be indigo dyeing. However, the weather wasn't cooperating so at the last minute Kate suggested a somewhat similar nifty technique. The idea is to use shibori type folding methods as we would have with the indigo but instead use paint/dye on the edges of the folds to create interesting patterns.
Judy our host and hero of the day scrambled and got all the supplies ready for the fun day in her studio.
Judy is well known for her surface design pieces which she taught for many years on the national quilting highway circuit and in her books. We are grateful for her generosity......this is just part of the supplies she had organized for us to use.
I had prepared this pink (I really, really, dislike pink) Liberty of London Lawn fabric scrunched on a PVC pipe to indigo dye. But I brought it anyway to see what would happen if I painted it instead.
So often I come home from our FJ play dates with hunks of fabric dyed/painted in all different colors, nothing coordinates and they end up lingering on the shelf. So my new goal was to use the same paint colors to try to create a more useful collection by the end of the day.
Here are a few more of my folded pieces. NOTE......90% of what I was using were failed pieces from previous 'experiments'......worth trying to see if they could be rescued.
Here's another small piece 'flag' folded, using Dye-na-Flow.
As you can see now that they are washed and pressed......there's nothing usable here. I should have used solid white fabric as Gen did....she her winners below.
And here are Sue's super results......
But despite my disappointing results......it was such a fun day....with great pals and a technique I'm sure we will play with again.
Linking to: Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop, whoop Friday.
7 comments:
Ever resourceful fiber artists to come up with a rainy day plan. This is a great idea and what an impressive array of paints to choose from. The fiber fun never stops.
Are you able to use the dyed fabrics in usable quilts?
I thought about you today as I hit an estate sale with a ton of roving wool!!! It's in Etowah, email me if you want the deatils. It is open tomorrow and 50% off.
Yes, Denise dyed hand-dyed fabrics can certainly be used in quilts other than wall art quilts that one may not choose to launder. The key is to make sure all dye residue has been completely rinsed/washed from the fabrics.
You might be surprised that you can use your 'rejects' for piecing or applique....I see possibilities there!!!
What? Nothing usable here? What about that fabulous top one? And the bottom one looks interesting as well. I think you are suffering from my syndrome of super-imposing your expectations onto the finished product and when the two don't match then you call it a fail.
Anyway, you are on to something with your thought to use the same paint colors in a session. I realized the value of this with my last couple of snow-dye sessions. How wonderful to have pieces I could actually use together rather than a bunch the result of randomly and not so thoughtfully chosen colors.
I've done this sort of thing before, substituting paint for dye, and learned that I had to really saturate the edges of the folds and then also work some in between. The shibori I tried was very disappointed as the paint didn't really penetrate at all and all I got were a few "arrows" when I took out the thread basting. Paint has a tendency to migrate as it dries up to the folds, more so than dyes. And depending on the paint, there's that transparency issue when not using blank fabric. Well, as you say, at least you had a fun day with the girls.
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