Dyeing | Crazy for Fiber

November 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

Archive for the ‘Dyeing’ Category

No Slacking Allowed

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

I thought that eventually all the commitments that I have taken on would pile up, and I would start to panic. After a bit of self talk, I got my act together today and was able to bring order out of the impending chaos. I feel good about that.

I have been getting to the studio a bit each day, which helps to balance all the left brain stuff. I over-dyed one of the silk pieces that was not quite black and another undyed piece. I soaked them in vinegar and then into the silk black dye and into the microwave.

I got a much better black. You can see it in the first photo next to one of the pieces from the other day. The silk didn’t dye as evenly this time as you can see here.

But, I think it will work for what I want – at least the blacker sections. I also Mistyfuse the rainbow silk.

I also drew some sketches of the piece I plan to make with these fabrics. I won’t be able to show it for a bit as it is for an invitational show and we have been asked to keep the pieces under wraps for now.

I have continued to stitch the 3 x 3s together – having fun pairing beads with each section.

Here are my sketches from the last two days.

This is the comfy old chair in my office – I have had it for so long.

Mr C brought these to me today. It was a gray rainy day and they were a delight.

Tomorrow, I am doing the food for the opening reception of the Trinity Arts exhibit. The artist is from Argentina so I am doing some regional food — steak with Chimichurri sauce, Empanadas and a few other goodies.

Posted in 3 x 3, Dyeing, Fusing, Sketch Every Day, Trinity Arts | Comments Off on No Slacking Allowed

The 3 x 3 Assemblage

Monday, February 25th, 2013

I think this orientation has much more presence than the longer version. I have 6 stragglers. Not sure how to handle them. Maybe I will have some holes in the assemblage and add more pieces to the bottom. Now I have to figure out how to stitch this together. I am thinking of just tacking the corners together so that I don’t muddle it up with too much stitching. You can click on this image to see it larger.

I dyed some silk charmeuse with Prochem’s Silk Black using Paula Burch’s recommendation of soda ash soak and batching overnight. It is a nice dark charcoal color, but not black. I think I might try a vinegar soak next time.

For my drawing exercise, I have attempted to draw a lowly baking potato, 3 different ways. First with pencil.

Second, with ink.

And then with ink and watercolor pencil.

It was the same potato – sort of looks the same. I think there is some merit in redrawing the same object.

My SDA registration duties are slowing down just as my work for Trinity Arts Artist Among Us duties are gearing up. I never run out of things to do.

Posted in 3 x 3, Dyeing, Sketch Every Day | 5 Comments »

Dye Fest Results

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

I had mixed results with my dyeing. But, dyeing is never that bad because you can over-dye, print and discharge. The piece above was done my squirting dye. I was hoping for some watery colors. I like this cobalt blue piece.

I rejuvenated a stained white t-shirt.

These two pieces are really wow! They are silk organza. I poured 2 or 3 different dyes into the baggie.

The chartreuse came out nicely.

I love, love this cheddar color.

Here is a nice golden yellow. I really needed these colors in my stash.

Here is my china red piece, followed by a reddish orange piece.

And these are just a melange of dyes.

This one was all the left over dyes.

That bit of blue/turquoise was a drip, but it is kind of cool.

I found a box big enough for the 9 quilts I have to ship to Art Quilting Studio; it is used for shipping golf bags. We need to cut it down a bit. I have them ready to go except for fixing the box.

I started quilting the Rhythm and Hues piece.

I think the variegated thread adds to the rhythm.

Here is today’s 3 x 3.

I am totally whooped. It has been a busy week-end.

Posted in 3 x 3, Art Quilting Studio, Dyeing, Machine Quilting, My creations | 2 Comments »

Hot Time in PDX

Saturday, August 4th, 2012

It is over 100° in Portland for the first time since July 2009. I decided it was a good day to dye. I need some red and red oranges and orange for a project I have in mind.

I mixed the dyes in my dye kitchen but did all the other work out on my studio patio.

Here are some of my fabrics batching in baggies in the sun.

I also did some “tray dyeing”. Actually, I just laid the fabric on plastic on my table, squirted dye and then added another layer of plastic and fabric and some more dye.

I did some cool colors, too.

This is chartreuse, turquoise and cobalt blue. I grabbed a long sleeved white tea shirt and squirted it with these dyes, too.

I got this quilt fused together. I really like it. I have it sandwiched and it is waiting to tell me how to quilt it.

Here is today’s 3 x 3, turquoise fabric with metallic paint and zigzag quilted.

Posted in 3 x 3, Dyeing, Fusing, My creations | 3 Comments »

A Good Day for Dye Batching.

Saturday, July 7th, 2012

We are having temps in the high 80s so I decided it would be a good day to do some deconstructed screen printing. These are the first pulls that I got. I had used blue and yellow and green when I created the screen. I wanted to get some prints that would look like water. These are a bit green for what I wanted.