BACK TO WALL ART

The wet felting materials have been put away for now....but surely more would have been accomplished in the studio if I'd have spent the day making bowls!  I gazed, shuffled, and pondered the day away over fabric choices to begin my next wall art project.

 I dug out some altered silk noil fabrics. Some had been color discharged and others ice-dyed.  A typical problem that occurs after a play date with the Fiber Junkies is the creation of some really great pieces....BUT....too little of one kind.  I've been trying to focus more during our gatherings.....avoiding jumping from fabric to fabric which  ends up yielding a puny amount of each.  

See what I mean......great pieces, but a challenge to incorporate into one well designed piece!

I'm auditioning back ground fabrics....and seriously again I've pulled out over half of my stash trying to find something that works.  As pitiful as the above photos appear due to poor photo quality......one of these two may actually work.  The top is commercial Woolfelt, while the bottom is my carrier cloth from a recent eco-printing day.

My refusal to purchase any more fabric can definitely be a time waster.....but given where I live with no fabric stores.....digging through my fabric collection and determination in the end, will hopefully result in a pleasing finished piece.  Stay tuned...won't you??

BUILDING AN ART QUILT

After increasing my felted bowl/vase inventory, those materials have been put away for awhile.  I'm turning my attention toward creating wall art again.  With the notion of making slightly larger sizes.  My pals Judy, Kate and I will again have an exhibit at the NC Arboretum next spring which is a perfect opportunity to display bigger pieces.

This piece of discharged black silk noil has been calling me.....though with no specific direction in mind.  Unfortunately, it was a rather small piece so I set about recreating the look.

 Denny brought boxes of this dry bleach to a Fiber Junkies meeting about a year ago.....very cool stuff.  I sprinkled it onto a piece of wet silk noil......gave it an all over spritz of water and let it sit for about 30 mins.  The top photo shows the results.

These botanical printed silk noil fabrics were created using ferns, leaves, turmeric and blueberries.  After tightly rolling and securing around wood dowels, they were simmered for about an hour in an iron solution.  I LOVED each one, though I had no ideas how to use them.

 Close-up....this one was printed with pine needles, turmeric and rose petals.

 With my larger piece of discharged silk noil now ready......I've isolated parts of the eco-dyed fabrics....fringing the edges and am exploring several design options.  Stay tuned, won't you??

Visit these creative bloggers for further inspiration: Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.

WHAT I DITCHED THIS WEEK

I had one of those 'life happens' week.....

This pitiful design was ditched after spending more time on it than I should have.  The background was pieced using some deconstructed silk noil.

Not much will be happening in the studio next week as we prepare for a long awaited visit from our CA kids.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.
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FIBER JUNKIES - APRIL MEETING - DISCHARGE TECHNIQUES

Our most recent Fiber Junkies meeting focused on discharge techniques.  I got so involved that my photo record of our day is pretty thin....but here's an overview of the supplies we tried.

The plastic grid came from Kate....it originally held lace but we thought it'd be a good 'template' for surface design.  I applied a bleach pen to the holes and scribbled around the edge. 

 You never know what color will appear after the bleach does its job.....

We were all anxious to use the granulated bleach that FJ member Denny shared with us.  The results were very mixed.....it did a great job if bleached out dots were all you wanted.  But less successful when it came to using stencils.

It was difficult to control this product when working with defined shapes. We applied it to wet/damp fabric and allowed it to bleach out.....unfortunately these larger images simply didn't work well.

Here's Val's design using a bleach pen.....

I think this was Kate's....the bleach pen worked almost instantly on this hand-dyed fabric.

I concentrated on using mainly silk noil....which may account for the mostly disappointing results.  However, this method worked much better.  When using the discharge paste that Judy brought, we initially found the impressions were too indistinct when working with stencils because the medium migrated under the stencil designs.  

This group is so clever....and came up with the idea of placing the stencil on the fabric and then covering it with a blank silk screen.  This kept the stencil flat and firmly on the fabric as the paste was pressed through the screen.

Thie view of this piece is after screening, while it dried outside.

Once the paste dries, it's transformed by pressing with a hot iron (wear a mask).  The bottom tree images purposely had more heat applied than the top one to provide different appearances.

On the lower right of this crackled design, you can see where the hot iron has completed its work......while the balance awaits more pressing OR not. That's the beauty of this method......the color changes can be manipulated.

It was a fun day.....and I have a small pile of poor results that will be my base fabric at our next meeting where we will yet again tackle deconstructed screen printing.  We all just love the process and do it about twice a year.....even if we don't know what to do with the treasures we create!