FROM PHOTO TO WALL ART

                     

I've been inspired by the photos of a long time friend, Doris Kramer-Sager, specifically those of Wisconsin sunsets.  After promising myself for ages, this week I set about translating one into a small art quilt.

 The first step was to dye-paint a piece of sheer fabric.....

 ......and pair it with an ice-dyed cotton sateen.  (photo not true color....it's reads more red, rather than pinkish.)

 A non-fusible interfacing square was basted to the two fabrics to act as a stabilizer.

 All the layers are now prepared for stitching....with a wide border to accommodate mounting on a frame.

 I don't draw so this step took quite awhile....but with pencil and eraser in hand, I sketched out three trees on tracing paper.  It was pinned to the prepared fabric to act as a guide for the machine stitching.

 It took me one complete Netflix movie to remove & pick out all the paper pieces!  This could have been avoided if the stitching was done from the wrong side, with the heavier embroidery thread in the bobbin.  However, my brain doesn't work that way...preferring to see the stitching on the right side as I work instead.  

Next it was wrapped on a canvas covered wood frame.  I like to finish the back of these pieces with fabric. Hand stitching it in place is a killer task on the fingers since there is no give to manipulate the needle.  But, I feel the polished appearance of the piece is worth it.

SHEBOYGAN SUNSET

8" X 8"

Artist ice-dyed cotton sateen with hand dye-painted sheer overlay.  Machine stitched. Prepared for hanging.

Linking with:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday & Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

TAMING DYED FELTED WOOL

This week I've been blogging about the various methods pals Kate & Judy and I played with during a dyeing marathon.

I addressed the two-step approach that finally helped me achieve color on the different fibers used to manufacture National Nonwoven's Woolfelt.

One other common issue that develops during the drying process is the wavy edges you see on this piece above.  Steam pressing often does not remove them.

So at home, working with dampened wool, I stretched the piece flat, pinning the edges to a piece of cardboard.  It was left to dry for 24 hrs....which solved the problem! Of course I could have done that after the fabric was rinsed, BEFORE it dried.....but given the environment where we worked, it wasn't practical.

Check out these links to see what others have been working on this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

DYEING MARATHON - PART 3

I'll spare you from having to look at the many dozens of pieces I dyed.  Instead, here's a look at some of the methods we utilized.

 This is a piece of ice-dyed Woolfelt. As I mentioned in a previous post, MX doesn't dye wool successfully, therefore the 20% wool fiber content of this National Nonwoven fabric appeared as white fuzz.  Using clips to hold the folds of the fabric, it was reprocessed in an indigo acid dye bath. Photo here.

 We use a large canning pot, heated over a burner fueled with propane for acid dyeing.

 I frequently work with silk noil.  Here are two disappointing ice-dyed pieces, scrunched with rubber bands and treated to an acid dye bath to create more color/texture.

This silk noil piece began as a solid light khaki color.  Borrowing a shibori folding method.....held together with string, this too was processed in our indigo acid dye pot.

 We all agreed, this piece was one of my best results.  Ice-dyed silk noil, using leaf green, stormy gray, and straw MX dyes.  We just love it when the colors split!!

 We did a LOT of over-dyeing this time.  I had 4 barn red good quality napkins that had gotten stained....and you know how that goes.....no matter how many times you pre-treat and wash....the stains remain.  The answer:  Ice-dye!!  If I'd had known it would work so well, I'd have brought the placemats that matched!

 Kate is modeling an over-dyed hand quilted whole-cloth vest I'd given her. I know the photo is poor quality but I assure you the results weren't.  I still have a closet full of wearable art from my teaching days, fashion shows, and books. I'm thrilled to pass them along when anyone expresses interest in a piece.

The last evening our piles are impressive....and the trading began!  We not only return to our daily lives with lots of beautiful fabric but with treasured memories as well.

DYEING MARATHON - PART 2

Ice-dyeing is a subject I've covered many times on this blog....and one the three of us do regularly on our Folly Beach jaunts.  The following is not meant to be a tutorial....rather an overview of our approach.

 We work on a large concrete pad beneath the house with an enclosed utility/storage area attached.  We assemble all our dyes together...(note the microwave....we micro-waved dyed this time as well.....mostly over-dyeing pieces that needed improvement!)

 We've done this so many times that we've really developed a system....here we have kitty liter pans labeled with the main color we've chosen to dye with....and each of us add fabrics as desired.  

Big buckets are prepared with a soda ash solution, this one now contains all the fabric we had selected for our 'brown' batch. 

 Large bags of ice have been purchased and kept in a cooler.  Kate is preparing one by breaking the cubes into manageable sizes with a rubber mallet.

We can never remember what combination of dyes we used...esp. if we want to either avoid doing that again or repeat when results are superior.  So, now we take a reference photo of the 3 or 4 we use for each pan.

 Fabrics are arranged on a screen placed on top of a kitty liter pan.  Ice chunks are placed on the fabric (sometimes we tray dye as well....placing small amounts of fabric loosely spread out in the pan).  Judy, showing excellent dyeing precautions is wearing rubber gloves and a mask as she sprinkles the dry MX dye power onto the ice.

 Each pan is covered with black plastic, secured with clothes pins and set in the sun to batch.  This is what we did the first day (with maybe one or two more that weren't in the photo).  Not bad considering we didn't arrive till around 1:00 PM).  Sincerely, we've worked together so often we almost have an assembly line method now.

 The next morning when the plastic is removed....all the ice is melted and the delicious colors are revealed.

 Ever tweaking our system....Kate came up with the back saving idea of using a tall work trolley to wash out our fabrics.

Once the water runs clear, the fabric is re-washed with Synthropol in a washing machine and hung to dry.

We save the pressing to do during happy hour where there is always a lot of squealing and laughter....and yes, sometimes outright begging to trade!

More to come on the next post.

DYEING MARATHON

Bliss......I've been away with pals the last four day doing a dyeing marathon at a friend's home on Folly Beach, SC.  I'm considering weighing my stack of  fabric....surely it must be 10 pounds or more.....

Here's a sneak peak of some of my results.....more to come when I can take a breath....and stop itching from all the chigger bites!!  They LOVE me....and this trip I vowed to add another layer of protection besides the outside spraying my friend does.  My skin/clothing/and even hair was drowned in bug spray....and I thought I'd gotten away with only a few minor bites...not so....but worth every annoying itch! 

 Cotton long sleeve t-shirt that had been light tan, turned into a weird pinkish after accidently being washed with bleach in a load of whites.  Now, after some ice dyeing....I have a brand new t-shirt!!

 Ditto for this sweat shirt......it started as a pale yellow...that always looked dirty....now it has a new life....though I wish it would have come out more red.....I have an aversion to anything pink.

Hooray......3 white pieces of National Nonwoven's Woolfelt were ice-dyed, then overdyed with acid dyes.  Woolfelt is available in a variety of fiber contents.  The most common is 80/20.  One would think that means 80% wool - 20% rayon.  Actually it's the opposite....so when dyeing with MX the results are generally beautiful BUT there is always a flim of undyed white wool fibers. Those wool fibers will take up color when over-dyeing in an acid dye bath and the results are so lovely.

Check back.....I'll be posting more soon.

FIBER RETREAT WITH THE BEST BUDDIES

 Three of us fiber buddies just wrapped up 3 days of non-stop fabric dyeing on Folly Beach, SC where friend Kate has a home.  I took a zillion photos.....and will share some of the techniques we used in a few days.  My social schedule is unusually busy at the moment so for now, here's an overview.

 We had many successes, but positive results with natural dyeing using plants still eluded us.  

 The view of the river marsh from our workspace....

Most houses that are adjacent to water are built on stilts.  This provides a great area out of the elements to work.

This is probably our 4th or 5th such retreat and over time we've dyed just about every fiber material we could get our hands on.  There have been many thrift sale finds such as old linens, napkins, aprons, tableclothes, bed sheets, plus socks, underwear.  This time I brought a off white knit nightgown that Judy is holding for the photo.

What a transformation after it was ice-dyed!!

 We divvy up all the chores.......here's one of our lunches that Judy provided.

 Even though we really do work almost non-stop, we take time to walk out on the dock to view the breathtaking sunsets.

Late nights are a given as we launder and iron our treasures.  We came home with an average of 4 pounds of dyed fabrics each.  As they say, a good time was had by all!!

Other artists have been busy this week.....see their treasures here:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.

FOLLY BEACH DYEING MARATHON - PART 3

As I mentioned, much of what I dyed was not solid white commercial PFD fabric.

I wish I'd have retained a 'before' photo of this failed ice-dyed piece. The Marimekko print began life as a garment bag, used for one of my Fairfield Fashion Show Garments....way back when.

The decision to over-dye seemed wise. Unfortunately, these results weren't to my liking either.  Gulp, the piece was supposed to be put in the green/blue ice-dye pan....but instead it ended in the jewel tone one. Yuck!

Fiber Junkie member Denny gifted us boxes of Twice Fresh....a powdered chlorine bleach. I randomly sprinkled it onto the very damp fabric and rolled it up.  It sat in the sun for 4 or 5 hours.

As as often happens.....fabric backs can surprise and become the favorite. See how the bleach provided little sparks on the fabric?  (left-back  right-front)

The last day is always such a rush as we process the final pans that batched overnight; rinsing, washing, but no time for line drying given the nearly 6 hour drive home. Naturally, there's a lot of other clean up involved as well....as you dyers know well.  

So when I arrived home early that evening, I hung the still damp pieces on my antique drying rack.  I'd over-dyed a lot of wool and prefer to line dry them.

Kate spotted a brand new designer sheet at a thrift sale for $1.00.......which she shared with us.  Is this not amazing?!?

She also gave me some silk noil....my stash is depleted so I was thrilled.....and even happier after seeing these results.  It was dyed using our new window screen method.

This is a vintage linen table runner.....cut in half and ice-dyed using different colors.

I also dyed numerous pieces of gauze.  This one was initially ice-dyed but hadn't been properly arranged, leaving big areas undyed.  So, it was redyed in the microwave using some liquid mixed dyes.  

It's so much fun up-cycling fabrics that may not otherwise have had a purpose.  I'm already thinking ahead to our next adventure and will be digging in my stash with a very critical eye.

FOLLY BEACH DYEING MARATHON - PART 2

The weather for our first day was picture perfect....not quite so the following day.

Since I was beginning to feel punk, knowing now it wasn't allergies....I spent a lot of time out of the cold and wind in the storage/mechanical closet which was more like a small room.  Here I'm measuring/mixing small amounts of dyes.

Inexpensive plastic storage tubs (lightly covered with plastic wrap) work great for microwave dyeing. A variety of fabrics were utilized.....silk noil, National Nonwoven's Woolfelt, and commercial cotton prints.  I did very little using commercial white PFD fabric.

This particular piece of fabric from my stash had been auditioned a dozen time for various projects and the color was just never right. Hey...so why not over-dye it?!?

I was thrilled with the result....just enough interesting color/texture was retained after it was dyed with Acqua Marine.

We make a good team....each is responsible for specific meals....this was our lunch ala Judy.  Chicken salad, egg salad, shrimp salad, along with olive topped cream cheese filled celery sticks on a bed of mixed greens. Displayed here on some of our dyed fabrics.

Unmasked.....Kate (left) and Judy (right) are bundled up as we enjoyed Kate's dock........

Just in time for this lovely sunset.....

Stay tuned for Part 3.