SOY WAX RESIST

I must admit, I was dubious about whether or not I'd enjoy the Nov. technique our Fiber Junkies group had planned.  We worked with soy wax resist. WOW.....fabulous fun and so many great results.  I took about 50 photos but am only sharing a few.

 We all brought various tools to transfer designs to fabric using melted wax.  My thoughtful son gifted me several wood batik stamps he sought out for me during a trip, along with several custom metal stamps.  Unfortunately, none of us could achieve quality designs with these stamps.....we either tended to use too much or too little wax.

 Small dedicated 'electric pans', wax chips, dyes, and other stamping tools such as brushes, corks, spools, etc. were organized.

 Once the wax was melted....the 'design' tool was dipped into the wax and pressed onto fabric that was placed on rug padding.  Here Gen is using the end of an empty plastic spool.  

 I played with a silicone brush (a cooking tool) and pale green silk noil. Here too I found it difficult to control the design.

 My next stamping tool was a potato masher....again, it took some practice to control how much wax to retain on the tool before stamping.

 Val always quietly dazzles us.....her wax resist fabric has already been painted....using a credit card as a scrapper and a stencil to create the birds.

 Kate also used a stencil.....which created this wax design on a recycled cloth napkin.  I was surprised plastic stencils could be used...I assumed they'd melt but the wax wasn't that hot.

Once the wax dried, the fabric was painted using Dyna-Flo.  Time ran out before any of us were able to remove the wax....so it will be interesting to see the final results when we gather in December.

 I think this was Denny's.....she works so fast....it's hard to get photos of her work.

 Another one of Kate's...I think she may have used one half of a tennis ball for the circles......followed by several colors of Dyna-Flo.

 I worked on this hand-dyed silk piece.  The dark lines/spots are the melted wax.....added with a foam brush, and a hand-held waffle vegetable cutter.

Now painted with several colors of Dyna-Flo.

 Here's another one of mine....yellowish silk noil stamped with a egg beater.  Did I say practice is required?  

 This is Judy's....a pleated/crushed piece of silk, wax applied with a waffle veggie cutter. Sorry, I can't remember what created the circles.

 I caught Gen here putting the last bit of paint on her yellow fabric that featured numerous wax resist designs.

Hopefully I can share photos next month of the final look to these fabrics after the wax is removed.  I can say this was really fun and we are all looking forward to perfecting the technique next year.

Follow these links to see what others have been up to this week:  Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday, Off The Wall Friday, and Crazy Mom.

FIBER JUNKIES SHOW AND TELL

WOW......our show and tell this month was over the top.....that's pretty amazing since it's been barely 3 weeks since we last gathered.

 In keeping with the "birthday paper doll" theme....Val brought a delightful collection of clothing for this paper doll.  A round robin of sorts organized by some of her friends several years ago.

 This creative embellished wire dress really caught my eye.

 Kate has continued to be inspired by our recent play date where layers of house paint transformed previously completed (and maybe not entirely succesful) quilts.  I wish there was a before photo to share......but this 'after' is stunning enough to enjoy!

 Denny and Kate, who live close to each other in South Carolina, have been having fun experimenting with all sorts of techniques and materials.  Here is a piece of.....well....you'd NEVER guess.....toliet paper that has been painted!!

 This one also knocked my socks off......it's Press & Seal plastic wrap which was used beneath fabric that was being painted (acting like a drop cloth) ........most impressive and unexpected results.

 Darn it....I can't remember what unusual fabric this was......maybe a paper towel.  Great design, yes???

 Judy undercovered an older silk painted & marbled piece of fabric.  It's so lovely.  Perhaps with a bit of quilting and framing this piece will be completed soon.

Detail

 Here's another one of Judy's pieces.  A screen printed center, surrounded by machine appliqued leaves.......which were samples from one of her workshops.  It's been mounted on a burlap covered canvas frame.

Detail

 We all LOVED this piece......it's one of Gen's creations from a previous Fiber Junkies painted shibori play date.

 And another shibori painted piece by Gen.

 It's nice to put a face to a name.....here's Val holding an amazing piece of microwave ice dyed fabric created by Denny.  You'll never believe it......it's a cheapie workshop type towel from Home Depot!!

 And...here's Denny.....with a smaller towel....it started out white and through the magic of parfait/microwave ice dyeing it became a winner.

Does it get any better?  Hardly......we all enjoy our creative time together......next month is our holiday gathering.  Tradition dictates that we use this time as a goal planning session for our 2015 monthly meetings.  You can review what the Fiber Junkies have done in 2014 by clicking on the label 'Fiber Junkies'.

FIBER JUNKIES NOVEMBER MEETING

When we were a tad younger.....perhaps sharing our age was avoided....but heck, now we can glory in the fact that we are still active and enjoying life in our 70th year.

 It was Judy's turn to wear a birthday crown.....with good wishes and a hug from Val.  We all thought we pulled a fast one on Judy by having her surprise celebration this month, rather than in December since we didn't want it to conflict with our holiday gathering.  NOT.....she guessed.....but went along with the sneaky preparations anyway.

 She often talks about her fond memories of playing with paper dolls when she was a little girl.  So that was our theme.......  What a fun collection we gathered for her.

 Denny dyed a table cloth.....another tradition....the birthday girl gets a great hunk of dyed fabric.  Don't misunderstand....we don't celebrate every birthday....only the really 'big' ones'.  I made poster board place mats.  While we enjoyed a yummy chili lunch....we used a variety of marking pencils to 'dress' our dolls.

Now this may not be little girl paper doll material......but we aren't dead yet!

I tend to be the dessert maker for our group.  In keeping with our ages....we are trying to eat healthier....so rather than the normal sugar filled birthday cake, I made an apple torte, topped with an apple slice rose.....  Really it tasted better than it looks.

Check in again tomorrow when I share the rest of our day's activities. 

OKAY, WE ARE GLOATING!

It's happy days for Cheeseheads........

Packers 55 - Bears 14

The Bears didn't score till the 3rd quarter....when Rodgers with 6 TD's was rested and Matt Flynn came in for the remainder of the game.

 Our two heroes.....Jordy Nelson (amazing back to back catches!!!) Rodgers.....  That's not to diminish the outstanding play by the rest of the Packers.....honestly, we are all smiling......

PATCHWORK PROJECT

The indecisive struggle I'm having about how to finish my latest felt piece did not have a miraculous solution overnight.  However, I'm leaning more and more toward allowing it to be a stand alone piece.....as it was originally intended. 

It's a good thing I work on a number of projects simultaneously as I'll be doing some passive designing on that piece while mindlessly stitching a lap quilt.

We recently did some furniture shifting in our great room.....lack of ample seating has kept this chair in play....though the light fabric stands out too much in the room. I selected this lap quilt from my stash to help tone it down, however 'the husband' doesn't like the busy pattern. (Note...he's not the artist in the family...but is someone who always seems to have an opinion anyway!*!)

 The room features mostly blues with red accents.  Okay....I'm going with a simple non-pattern and lots of red.  Being kinda a control freak......I've cut a bunch of patches and am arranging them piece by piece, vertical row by vertical row to achieve what I hope is a nice balance.  

 When about 3 rows are arranged....they are stitched vertically and I begin the process all over again.  The rows are narrow....only 3" finished....hummm....I should have made then wider as I'm tiring of the process already and my fingers are itching for beads! 

GO PACKERS........CRUSH THE BEARS!!!!

INDECISION!?!

I'm feeling pressured to get this piece mounted and ready to sell.  But, it's pressure I'm putting on myself for no good reason.  Perhaps a week away from studio projects is the reason.... I already have a large inventory of pieces for my gallery shop....so what's the rush??

I managed to find a canvas wrapped frame in a suitable size.....and in short order secured a thin layer of batting to it.

 Next I located my stash of black silk noil in the first place I looked! (Sorry...it looks grey here.)  In order to keep this rather flimsy fabric on grain, I like to mark the required size with basting.

 Moving at warp speed now.....the fabric is temporarily positioned on the frame, topped with the wool piece.  YUCK.....I don't think I like it.  It seems so menacing.....or perhaps that's just my take at this moment.

 Now I'm really second guessing myself......so I haul out other options for the background.  This looks better in the photo than in person......scratch it from consideration.

 Here's a dark grey hand-dyed cotton as an option.

And now a slightly lighter version.  At the moment....none are really exactly what I had in mind.  Which is such a bummer as I wanted to finish it today....instead I've taken photos and fled to my computer to have a little pity party.  I'm going to ponder a bit more....maybe I won't mount it on a frame after all.......decisions, decisions.......

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY QUILT GUILD TRIP

I returned yesterday afternoon from my 2nd to last travel teaching trip......conflicted about my decision to retire after spending days with such wonderful quilters and my exceptionally great hostesses.

However, I won't easily forget the trip getting to Vermont which was so stressful (not a suprise with 3 flights) but the added drama to 1 mechanical, 1 delay waiting for crew, a sprint literally from one end of an airport to another to catch my connection almost takes the joy out of traveling.  NOT to mention, screaming babies, a child kicking the back of my seat for 2 hrs. (I'm sure the mother thought her darling was too adorable to scold, cause she never said a word.)  Super crowded aircrafts with folks squeezed into too little seats.  The final straw was the 30ish young man sitting next to me on a commuter flight playing some sort of video game using an ipad.  HE WAS DRIVING a race car by flinging his arms, while holding his device.  I thought he would give me a knock out punch at any moment.

If anyone lives or is visiting the Burlington area before January.....I highly recommend visiting the Shelburne Museum's Civil War textile exhibit.  It was awesome!!!  Thank you to Janet for taking me.

 I'd been concerned about the timing of this trip ever since it was booked.....thinking....hummmm  Vermont in Nov. could mean dealing with winter weather.  Funny thing....this is what I left but it was beautiful there!

 Everyone knows I'm such a hotel snob.....now I truly don't expect the 4 Seasons but Motel 6 doesn't make me a happy traveler.  Yeah......look was luxury greeted me as I checked into my hotel......

 Several students are giving new homes to some of my small quilts.....Notice how both Janet (above) and Claire (below) have selected quilts that match what they were wearing.  

The last evening included a visit to charming downtown Vermont with a super delicious dinner of grilled salmon artfully garnished with tasty additions.

It had gotten a bit chilly and windy so we didn't linger, but I could easily envision a day of strolling the brick streets and interesting shops.  My first of 3 flights for home departed at 6:00 AM.......so an early evening was definitely in order.

Now, I have to get busy unpacking and reorganizing for my upcoming trip to Boc Raton, FL........in addition to 2 fiber meetings next week and hopefully some stitching.

SUNSET MOMENT - NEW FELTED WORK

By the time you are reading this....I'll be winging my way to present a lecture and workshop at the Champlain Valley Quilt Guild in Burlington, VT.  It will take 3 flights and nearly 10 hrs. to get there....the convenience of air travel seems to be going backwards!

Preparing for my final two teaching jobs during the month of November has been surprisingly distracting....therefore my accomplishments have been sparse. This little project is nearly complete.  Due to its uneven size, I've decided to mount it on a black silk noil covered canvas frame......and as soon as I get a frame the correct size.....I'll do just that! 

 I have almost zero drawing skills......however sometimes mapping out a rough plan is necessary when specific placement is required.

 The inspiration for the design came directly from this piece of hand felted and dyed wool I made about a year ago.

 The motifs are Ultra-Suede, machine and hand appliqued in place.

SUNSET MOMENT  15" X 9"

Available soon in my shop

Artist hand-felted, hand-dyed wool, Ultra-Suede, machine & hand applique, and hand embroidered.

A CLASS ACT....

It's difficult to escape hearing about the despicable behavior of a growing number of athletes.....but here's one that IS A CLASS ACT, both on and off the Field....

Just another reason to love Aaron Rodgers.....  click here to see a short youtube video.

SERIOUSLY!?! SNOW.....

RIDICULOUS!!!  We left Wisconsin to avoid snow....esp. snow in October!!  It's been snowing here for 12 hours now.....what melted at first is now pure ice on the roads.  Now the snow is mounting with zero signs of it stopping.

Ohhhhhh......I get it....it's Mother Nature's way of suggesting I stay in my studio today.....okay...when ya look at it that way.....it's all good.