ATTN: FELT LOVERS

We were kept so busy yesterday setting up the Showcase house that I didn't have a lot of free time to roam.....besides not all the rooms were completed anyway.

However, two items caught my eye.....

Apparently, I'm not the only one who loves felt!  This 3-D pillow was created with wool felt....truly you wanted to reach out and touch it.

This is the view of the living room.  Not a person walked by without thinking the sleeping pup was real.....  Gray seemed to be a big theme color in several spaces throughout the home.  Seeing the room and knowing it was a 'designer's' vision for the space, reminded me of HGTV's Design Star show which I enjoy immensely.

But....what made me stop was the rug......

Here's a detail.....it's made up of zillions of half-dollar size pieces of felt in varying shades of grey with a little black peppered in....attached to what appeared to be a thick woven cotton rug.


The texture and colors were so appealing, but my first practical thought was....how on earth would anyone clean it?  You couldn't vacuum the darn thing....could you??   But I guess if you live in a 7,300 sq. ft. home on 11 acres...perhaps cleaning the carpet is not your job!

INTERLUDE SHOWHOUSE

 Designer Showcase at "Interlude"

Where: 125 Interlude Place, Hendersonville, NC 28739

When: July 21 - Aug. 5, 2012

Our PTA group hung our exhibit today at a "Showcase" house in Hendersonville, NC.  Georgia and Gen were the moving forces who obtained this opportunity for us.  Local designers and artists were invited to decorate the various rooms in this 7,300 sq. ft. home which can be toured by the public for a period of two weeks.  Everything is for sale, and from what I spied as other rooms were receiving their finishing touches......there are fabulous items on display....not to mention inspiring design ideas.

Our room was off the master bathroom/bedroom suite.  It was originally used as an exercise room.  We, however, have turned that space into a sewing studio/gallery.

It's spacious and has ample natural light.  It can also be entered via a hallway, several paces from a built in bar...(I guess in case you needed to be revived if you overworked yourself!)

How many fiber artists does it take to hang a quilt?  Well...today there were 9 of us.....and after a bit of pre-planning, the hanging went fairly quickly.

 We are using the huge walk in closet (which was originally a storage space for the owner's suitcases..yes I said suitcases) for additional hanging space and to display fabrics and other sewing supplies.

 We ended up displaying something like 40 quilts.....this group of women is really a great team.....everyone pitches in.  No job is too big or too small for a single member.  I'm so fortunate to have such great friends.

Each of us will be volunteering to be a docent during this event.  This will give me a chance to take photos of other rooms to share with you and more photos of our completed room.....check back sometime after July 24th for that post.

FIBER JUNKIES MARBLING #4

Here's a final look at the results of our Fiber Junkie marbling marathon.....  I hope our experiments will inspire you to explore a technique that interests you.

 Kate shared some fabulous cotton black/white dot fabric which intrigued all of us!  This is my piece after printing it three times.

I 'think' these are Kate's (top) & Val's (bottom)

 I wish I would have had more of this polished cotton fabric....alas....this piece was only about 8" x 8".  The results are quite pale but I think this will be a piece easily coordinated into future work.

 White stripe sheer...printed twice.

 .....Another white stripe, printed twice using the 'veining' technique the final time. 

 I brought some boring tan silk noil along, despite being warned it probably wouldn't print well.  TRUE!!!  But if you print it 3 times or more.....a pattern finally developed.

 Here's another piece of silk noil using the 'pebble' technique.

BORING.....this print sheer simply didn't hold the paint well.  Some of the failures may have been caused by insufficient time in the alum solution.....or just the way this type of fabric prints.

 One of my favs......this was printed only once on mercerized cotton.

 Print cottons were fun to play with......this detail (after one printing) shows what the original fabric looked like. 

 ......and now look at this same piece after printing twice.

 Mercerized cotton......a fabric that was probably the second choice of everyone to use, behind sheers.

Despite being annoyed at the numerous white spots that refused to be printed, this piece of mercerized cotton is now one of my favorites.


I'm anxious to push myself by trying to figure out how to utilize these fabrics. Right now my energies are focused on finishing the memorial quilt I'm making to honor my brother.  

FIBER JUNKIES MARBLING #3

Perhaps you might enjoy viewing some of the printed marbled fabrics....and learn just how far we tried to push this technique by printing on a wide range of fabrics.

 Mercerized cotton.....this view shows the fabric after two printings.  First the yellows/oranges/pinks - next the black 'veining'.  Veining was everyone's favorite method....soooo magic!

 This is the same fabric above (not yet pressed!)....after the third printing where I added turquoise and more black.

Unfortunately, this photo doesn't allow you to appreciate just how fabulous Dee Dee's pieces that were printed on sheer fabrics came out. Many looked like granite or marble.

 This was a disappointment. The lemon yellow nubby rayon dress fabric turned out rather muddy.

 Dee Dee had some sheer samples.....honestly, the marbling looks great on the paper surrounding the fabric....but barely impacted the sheer.  However, I'm SURE there will be a use for it!

 I personally love this piece.....Judy printed it on hardware cloth...without mixing the colors and thought it was a dog. She loved one of my pieces which I was unhappy with, so we traded.

 Here's a metallic sheer that turned out very well.  Sometimes we printed narrow pieces to fill up the tray if our main piece didn't cover all the paint.  No sense wasting all that paint and work!

This piece is gauze.....you can see the unprinted portion on the right.  The design is more typical of what one expects to see when describing 'marbling'.


Believe it or not....I have more to share tomorrow....

FIBER JUNKIES MARBLING #2

I received an email from Kathy....a follower of this blog who said, "STOP....I'm pea green.....don't tell me anymore or I'll be going out onto the street to pickup the first group of women I see and ask if they want to marble fabric with me!!" How hilarious.  I do hope these posts will encourage you to seek out some like-minded fiber lovers and plan your own play dates.

Here's more about our adventure....of course what happens outside the studio time stays private....grinning...

Kate suggested setting up a supply table which was so handy.  However, we barely made a dent in all the paints everyone brought....

 Some were vintage and required thinning with a bit of water.  I can't tell you how many colors we used....a lot....and many were mixed to achieve delicious combinations. The ultimate favorite of all.....blueberry and metallic blueberry.  Judy made both these mini whisks and rakes years ago for the marbling workshops she taught.  We were so lucky to have these supplies on hand! 

 And the studio space, inside and out was to die for.  It's been blistering hot here....so the fabrics dried super quick. 

Drying racks were put to use as well as the large clothes line. Many pieces were printed two or three times, so it was really helpful to have such a short drying period.

 To help provide or entice you into trying this yourself....here's a view of some paints suspended in the solution....ready to accept the fabric.

Here's the 'printed' fabric.  Notice there is little or no paint left in the solution....only a bit of discoloration remains.

I mentioned yesterday how exciting it is to see the fabric begin to absorb the paint pattern.  You may have to click on this photo to enlarge it.....hopefully it will give you some idea.  This piece was a white on white leaf pattern....look at the top of the photo to see the colors/pattern that were being printed.  Truly magic!

 Don't you just love this color combination.....this is an example of three colors being dropped and how they've spread.  It could be printed as it is, or raked and mixed to achieve other designs.

 Here 4 paint colors are utilized.

....and here just 2 paints were dropped.  The darker purples developed because more paint was applied to that area and it didn't spread as much, while the lighter ones spread more.


If you can stand the tease....I'll share more tomorrow.  Try to stay cool wherever you are....we expect another two days of heat before a cool down and hopefully some much needed rain.

FIBER JUNKIES MARBLING RETREAT

Our long awaited for Fiber Junkies 3 day retreat has concluded.....and it will certainly be one of the highlights of all our fun times together.  We'd been planning to it for the longest time. 

The members of this small group are all extremely talented and generous with their knowledge, time, and materials.  We are fortunate to have one member who has a fantastic huge studio...complete with the ability to house 6 friends.  Believe me when I tell you....this was heaven.

 Member Judy Simmons has been marbling fabric for years.  In fact, she authored a book on the subject!  She did an excellent job of patiently guiding us through the process.


Here's an overview of what's involved....and believe me it is a process....time consuming, involved, but pulling out each print from the solution is like opening a new present.  If this peaks your interest, Dharma has a good tutorial here with detailed instructions.


We began by preparing our print solution which is held in a large tray. Each of us had their own tray.....a luxury you can't imagine!  

 With the aid of eye drops and other tools, paint is dropped on the solution and because of its chemical makeup.....the paint floats (like oil on water)

 The paint droplettes expand......

  ......and more colors are added....each magically expanding.

 You truly can't believe what your eyes are seeing as the designs develop.

 When satisfied with the color composition....you begin to mix them by running a variety of 'rakes' vertically....... 

........ and horizontally through the mixture.

 It's often difficult to know when to stop, as each 'pull' creates new and wonderous designs, depending upon the shape of the rake.

 Then it's time to 'print' the fabric which has been prepared by soaking in alum and dried ahead of time.  This view shows a piece of mercerized cotton fabric floating on the dyes.  Even from the wrong side you can see that the paint has been absorbed by the fabric.

The fabric is removed, excess solution drawn out by running one's fingers down the length of the piece.  We stored our prints in buckets of water....and when we got about a dozen completed, we transferred them to drying racks outside.


This is a very adventurous group of fiber artists, therefore a wide range of fabric was used....just to see 'what if'.  I'll share more tomorrow....  I'm one pooped chick and it's time for bed.