FIBER JUNKIES INDIGO DYEING DAY

The Fiber Junkies had to cancel our scheduled indigo dyeing meeting two months ago due to bad weather.  But this week the weather gods cooperated....

I had previously folded, clamped, tied, and labeled my fabrics as did most of our other members, so in a blink of an eye we were raring to go.

Organized as always, Judy had color coded buckets of water for each of us to do a 30 min. soak of our fabric.  After which we placed them on the grass to drain of excess water to avoid diluting the indigo pot.

 Our hero Judy also prepared two buckets of indigo dye.  We left our fabrics in the buckets for about 15 minutes. 

 Next, they were hung from the 2 clotheslines Judy had strung with beautiful views of her many gardens.

 Of course the bundles could have stayed tied while they dried but none of us had the patience for that and soon we started the reveal process.  Kate used some Plexiglas shapes as resists with wonderful results.

 Because I had quite a bit of Liberty of London Lawn fabric - solid pink, I decided to overdye it as I really dislike that color.  Unfortunately, some of my pink fabrics retained far too much pink for my taste....

.....but after a quick dip in and out of the indigo dye bucket....this is how it turned out.

Come back tomorrow to see more of our results.....

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

"FISHING" - NEW WORK

It's enjoyable working in a smaller format for a change, plus it affords the opportunity to use some of the smaller pieces of my hand-dyed fabrics!

                                                     FISHING -  9" X 12" 

AVAILABLE HERE

Hand indigo-dyed wool, silk dyed in iron water, bamboo rayon felt, Ultra-suede, hand appliquéd & embroidered, machine stitched. Mounted on canvas covered frame, finished fabric back, prepared for hanging or display on a table top easel as shown.

My mounted pieces are always completely finished on the back as shown here.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

INDIGO-DYED WOOL PROJECT IN PROCESS

I'm crazy about dyeing with indigo and often hoard what comes out of the dye pots!  Silly me...why not use it?

This piece happens to be accordion folded wool, but just about any fabric yields fabulous results.  Because it's a dress weight wool, it didn't felt really well.  So it's being stabilized with a Pellon lightweight non-fusible that was marked with the outline of the desired size.

By thread basting along my marked line, the outline is visible on the right side as a working guide to its size.

This is a small design, to be mounted on a 9" x 12" canvas covered frame.....hand appliqueing is in progress.  The materials are bamboo rayon felt, Ultra-suede, and silk hand dyed in iron water.  Stay tuned ........

ON A ROLL WITH NOTEBOOK COVERS

This wraps up the week of book cover making.....check out the previous posts to see more if you missed them.

Top two are indigo dyed wool.  Because this wool was high quality dress goods, it didn't felt....thus the edges unraveled easily.  Working with it in a larger format composition notebook allowed for adding a batik lining without becoming too bulky.

The three smaller ones are silk noil, mono-printed with acrylic paints and batik lined.

Each utilizes Ultra-suede scraps for the spines and closures......I knew I was saving them for something!

I've had numerous inquiries about purchasing these notebooks.....yes, they are for sale.  Email me using the link on the right side bar for details.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

INDIGO DYEING - FIBER JUNKIES AUG. - PART 2

KUDOS to Judy who hosted our indigo dye day.  Thankfully she must have prayed to the weather gods because we had perfect weather....sunny, breezy, and not too hot.

My determination to use gloves at all times was pretty much forgotten the first time I had to removed the knots from a rope of indigo soaked fabric.

We've never played with wax when we've indigo dyed in the past, so thanks to Judy and Kate....we did this time around.  I do love polka-dots!  Here Denny is holding my piece just as it came out of the dye pot.....while it is quickly turning from bright green to the lovely indigo blue.  

 At home I'll need to remove the was with a hot iron and paper to absorb it.

Here are the troublesome knots that were difficult to untie when the fabric is wet.

This fabric was twisted and wrapped onto a thick wood dowel...securing with rubber bands.  

An overview of my results....some better than others....but isn't that the thrill of it......ya never know what you are going to get!

 This is Judy's drying on the line....she secured empty thread spools for her resist.

 Kate even dyed some socks!!!  Nothing is safe with this group!

 Denny did a lot of overdyeing with great success....she's the queen of layering.....and is always thinking - "just one more thing".

I was so busy with my own pieces I didn't do a good job of documenting....perhaps pieces will be brought to share at our Sept. meeting.  We tried a couple of different approaches to dyeing this time.  

Rather than placing dry fabric into the pot.....we soaked it first in plain water, we also left many of the resists in place for about 30 mins. after coming out of the dye pot.  Honestly, I don't know if that provided any better prints or not....in the case of my pieces, I don't think so.....but that could have been just because of the manipulation methods I chose to do.  Would I bother with the extra steps in the future?  Probably not......  Would love to hear what you all think.

GIRLFRIEND ART CAMP - PART 2

Continuing our art camp adventures.......while each batch of our eco-printing simmers for 2 hours we spent time indigo dyeing.

Nan is a terrific & generous host.....we work on her large patio which overlooks a golf course.....allowing us plenty of space to spread out.

 Blue has always been my favorite color....followed by red.  Therefore I'm always ready to create more indigo dyed fabrics.  We worked with white cottons, silk noil, and lots of old linens.

Some artists get very scientific with their folding/stitching/wrapping methods, all which act as resists for the dye penetration and dictates the designs.  We were less so....as we chatted away enjoying the beautiful sunny day.

We had prepared the indigo dye bath ahead of time. I decided to dye half of my bundles dry and the other half after soaking in water for about 10 mins.  After massaging each packet in the indigo bath for 2+ mins., it was removed and placed in a bin.....allowing the dye to set a bit longer.  

I'm now unwrapping one of my dry packets....you can see how the color turns from green to blue as it reacts to oxygen.  I found the pieces dyed from the wet stage had less white than the dry ones.  Of course the way it is folded/manipulated also affects the outcome.

Impressive results....we are happy campers!

 Another piece released from its string/knots/rubber bands etc. - already turning blue.

And we eat well too......homemade pizza that didn't quite stay on the hot pizza stone....totally my doing as this Cheesehead really piled on the cheese!

Another year of good memories and friendship were made.......next Feb. can't come soon enough!  

INDIGO GARDEN WALL ART COMPLETED

Again, I apologize for the poor photo quality.....I believe it's due to the camera's inability to decide what to focus on!  Still, it's a fairly good representation of how  various indigo dyed cottons and line drawn/stitched motifs were combined to achieve rich color and interesting details.

At about 100 hours, I gave up trying to keep track of the hours spent creating it.  Already more ideas using this hodgepodge grid format are swirling in my mind.

 INDIGO GARDEN 40" X 33"

AVAILABLE HERE

Indigo dyed cottons, machine stitched line drawings, machine quilted.

DETAIL

P.S. - ONE MORE TASK.....

Oh ya......yesterday's post neglected to mention just how long it will take to pull the zillion thread ends to the wrong side, bury and tie them off!! Tedious....however, due to the black sashings, each of the indigo sections must be stitched individually....meaning threads have to be tied off at the beginning and end of each line of stitching.

My machine has a tie off function....hummmm fuss budget me is not satisfied with the look of those small knots! At least I've been able to amuse myself and catch up to some of the silly reality TV shows I follow.....

It'd be helpful for potential buyers to have an understanding about what's involved in creating a piece of fiber art....that'd go a long way to better acceptance of our work as ART. (And, the value.)  Alas, as long as I have a needle, thread, and fabric.....I'll be making my art!

LOVE OF INDIGO

There are quilts that appear to have taken mere days to stitch up.....this is probably one of them. BUT....it's not.  Though I don't keep close track of the hours spent on a piece, this one may be closing in on 75 hours, and it has yet to be quilted.

Original art just takes time, especially when factoring the time spent transforming white fabric with stitched motifs and the whole process of indigo dyeing. I'm a slow cutter and deciding how to best utilize the precious/limited amount of indigo fabric is not something done quickly.  Additionally, in order to achieve the accuracy I demand of myself, I'm also a slow stitcher. Yet, all of these different tasks keeps me interested and engaged.

The color is a bit off in this photo.....the camera sure had trouble focusing on the line drawings as well!  The next step is obvious....making the quilt sandwich and machine quilting...oh ya....then there's the binding and the sleeve and the label.....time is ticking away.  There's actually no hurry, it will be hung at my NC Arboretum exhibit in April, 2018, that is unless it sells quickly from my online gallery shop!  

Visit these inspiring blogs to see what other artists have been working on this week.  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.

MORE DYEING FUN ON FOLLY BEACH

......We really did indigo dye everything we could get our hands on during our Folly Beach play time....including our hands!

Kate brought some cotton advertising bags...

Which were indigo dyed and over-dyed in an iron/water bath.

 Here's a vintage piece of lace drying...I wanted to see how it would take the indigo dye.

We used various items as resists. Remember when we wore these to bed??  Of course some of you may not be old enough!

 Here is the result.....love the pattern it achieved.

Clamps are so useful....this piece of white cotton was accordion folded.

.....And the result.

 Not wanting to waste a minute....while items were being processed, we prepared lots of 'packages' for dyeing in either the indigo bath or iron/vinegar bath.

I think this was Kate's.....the design was achieved by encasing screws with string or rubber bands and dyeing in indigo.

 This is in-progress photo of one of my wool pieces being readied with fingers of wool gathered and secured with rubber bands.

 .....And the result after dyeing.

We've three have all dyed with indigo before, but for some reason each of us was truly smitten with the process during our 3 days of fun.  (It must be the immediate gratification.)

Stay tuned for more......

WHEN GIRLS PLAY

Twice a year my pal Judy and I have had the good fortune to spend a few days with our very good friend Kate at her place on Folly Beach.

It's common knowledge that I'm definitely the most directionally challenged person in the universe.....but wait....Judy Simmons is another one. Honestly, no matter where we go together....even if we've been there numerous times before....we always, and I mean always take a wrong turn.  Every trip from Asheville to Folly Beach, unless Kate is in the car with us....we miss the turn off to go over the bridge to Folly.....and we are always flabbergasted that we missed it.  This time we didn't.....and it's documented here. 

 BUT.....that didn't mean our trip was flawless, oh heck no! From Asheville to Charleston, it's basically a straight shot south on I26.  Alas.....somehow we ended up going West on I95...toward Savannah.  Seriously!!  No one can make this up. If there is a choice of roads encountered while driving....whatever I say.....one should ALWAYS do the exact opposite. Why I even express an opinion is a mystery since I'm rarely correct. But since Judy is no better, well....our outings are always good for laughs and logging unnecessary miles backtracking.  And before I go onto to another subject......I should confess.....we found ourselves going South when we should have gone North.....as we were driving home.  Totally true!

This is the view from Kate's deck.....what's not to love....unfortunately she still has a lot of debris left in the marsh from the recent hurricane.

Since we dyed fabric non-stop for 3 days, there's a lot to report....therefore I'll be sharing our results in several posts.  

So....what the heck is this??  Each of us (unplanned) dyed a garment.  My idea was to first dye the long sleeved white t-shirt in iron water and then over dye in indigo.  Instead of a pretty rust color I got a drab pewter/brownish.....still have NO idea how that happened.  

But after removing all the rubber bands, I dipped it in our indigo pot and here it is drying....actually it's really not too bad, though not what I was aiming for.

Here's Judy's....she had previously rusted her t-shirt and brought it to indigo dye.....lovely isn't it?!

Kate got into the act by accordion pleating a lightweight cotton cardigan.

A larger than desired white area remained on the back so she used a foam brush to transfer a bit more indigo dye onto it.  Clever girl!!

I also brought along a very faded and stained pair of shorts to over-dye.

Now I have like new indigo shorts....or will when they are dry.

We divvy up the meal responsibilities...and we eat well....This was lunch prepared by Judy.....peppers/tomatoes from her large garden, along with chicken and shrimp salad.

We all just love how the fading sun plays on the marsh grass as seen from Kate's dock.

The day ends.....we are happy, pooped, and have blue fingers.

Visit these inspiring sites 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.