More Dyeing

We had a lousy weekend weather-wise, so I spent more time in the studio.  I've decided I need to add to my stash- mostly value gradations.  I've had an idea for a quilt bouncing around in my head for awhile, related to the colors in the desert and mesas around Moab.  So I'm dyeing very toned, desert-y colors.  Yesterday I did a muted purple and what I hoped would be a sage green.  This is what I got--

It's hard to see in the photo, but these have texture- I did them low water immersion, with what I thought was plenty of scrunching and squeezing.  I was hoping for some, but not a lot of texture.  I think next time I will use more water- almost as much as with regular immersion.  I have no desire to sit and stir eight buckets of fabric, but all that water should help minimize the texture.

The two on the right are fabrics I dyed last year, and didn't like- so I folded them, clamped them, and threw them in bleach.  I am much happier with them now.  I did another one that I really disliked-

It was drip dyed with navy blue, fuschia, and probably some yellows.  I folded it into a square, clamped pieces of plexiglass, and bleached it.  You can see the original fabric in some of the dark marks. I like it much better, haven't decided if I'll do anything else to it or not.

And, I overdyed the ugly fabric I showed last week.  

Not sure about this one, I may overdye it with a bit of blue.  I was hoping for more of a burgundy color, not the almost but not quite orange that I got.  I'll look at it for a week and decide then.

And, as a Mother's Day present to me- I signed up for a Craftsy class, Shoot It! A Primer on Product Photography.  It looks like it will have lots of good information on shooting fabric and soaps to make them visually appealing.  I'll let you know how that goes!

Ugly Fabric Challenge

A couple of months ago, I decided to participate in another ugly fabric challenge.  The moderator of a group I belong to sends all the participants a piece of fabric she has dyed and considers 'ugly.'  Our job is to try to create a swan out of an ugly duckling!

I got this half yard piece of fabric.  

I quite like the bits of golden brown on the one side.  I wondered about the blue- since this is so dark, I knew I had to discharge first.  With blues, that generally means you are limited to bleach.

So, I folded it into a square, and clamped a piece of plexiglass on both sides.

With all those clamps, I didn't have a bucket big enough- so I had to remove some, which means the plexiglass didn't resist as well as I'd have liked.  Here it is soaking in Bleach Stop,

and this is what it looked like after being washed.

I tried to fold it so the lightest areas were inside the package, but it's pretty light on the two sides.  I'm happy that I lost most of the blue, and that I have the very dark rectangles left.  Now I will look at it for a few days, trying to decide what the next step is.  I'm thinking an overdye in a warm red.

As for soaping, I now have over a hundred bars curing in the closet.  I decided I had to slow down making them, I need to see how they sell!  So far, those who have been gifted with soap have liked it, and I am enjoying using it too.  One of these days I'm going to have to do a blog post on the similarities between soapers and quilters!

I can feel the muse slowly making her way back into my psyche after what feels like a long absence. With Lance's wedding done, Shannon moved to Colorado and starting nursing school, and Sean graduated and pursuing his plans, I'm hoping for a little more emotional energy and space to devote to both my artistic outlets.  And if the soap doesn't sell, I guess we'll just have a very clean family and circle of friends!

More from Carol's workshop. . .

Two weeks- of being extremely busy at work, and little time to play in the studio.  I don't think that will change until after my son Ian's wedding in mid-October, and an audit at work is done the first week in November.  Thank goodness I have a wet studio I can play in year round.

I did mention that I'd come home with more goodies than I've posted from Carol's workshop.  One of my classmates, Lynn Dell, used to be a professional tie dyer, and she taught some of us some tricks after class was over.  What fun!  This shirt started with a boy's extra large tee- after I got home, I cut down the crew neck and shaped the sides.  I love how this turned out!

The other tie dye I brought to class as one of my dogs.  I wish I had a picture of this fabric as it originally looked.  It was spiral dyed, which was fine.  The problem was with the colors- blue and pink.  Yuck.

Lynn Dell re-spiraled it (I learned a lot just watching her!), and we overdyed it in boysenberry and yellow, then sprayed one side with navy blue.  I absolutely love this piece now!! 

I also took a couple of black tees to play with.  This one is discharged using Decolourant Spray, with washers and other hardware providing the resist.  (Ignore the goofy face above the tee, please!)

I still have lots more photos from the class, but haven't had much time to edit them.  Hopefully not too much longer. . .

Wonderful Exhaustion!

I got home yesterday evening from a five day workshop with Carol Soderlund, who is the best fiber art teacher I have ever taken from.  She is well prepared, knows how to manage the class, and is so willing to share her wealth of knowledge about anything related to dyeing.

We folded, clamped, discharged with bleach, and overdyed--

(All of these started with black fabric!)

We printed with Thiox paste on black fabric, or the hand dyed dogs we'd brought with us--

We used potato dextrin- I discharged the black one with thickened bleach, and printed the other with thickened black dye.  Look at all that crackle!

I overdyed some other dogs I brought with me in black, and then printed, doing something I'd never done- illumination!  You mix a Thiox print paste, then dissolve dye powder in that.  It's a fascinating process I will be doing more of!

Some of the black fabric that I'd folded, clamped, bleach discharged and overdyed didn't work for me- so I re-folded (offsetting my folds), and threw it in the Thiox pot.  I am in love with these pieces!

It was a really productive week- I learned a ton, and brought back plenty of fabric and samples.  Oh, yes, and I also came back with the Discharge Book,  fitting companion for my Color Book 1!

But that wasn't all I came back with!  Stay tuned for more!

I'm linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  Go take a look at what other fiber artists have been up to!