More Marbling

I have more marbled fabric to share, I'm getting ready to wash it out - to get out the excess alum and methyl and soften up the pieces.  One of the most fun fabrics we used was a "white on white" stripe on sheer. Kate brought yards and yards of it to share; it marbled beautifully and the stripes were so obvious.  The fact that it was sheer was an extra plus, so good for layering or putting through the printer.

 I did lots of veining which is my favorite thing to do. This is a heavily veined piece, lighter veining I would print an image over using my inkjet.

 I really liked this piece. I was tempted to do something over it but felt it was busy enough.

 This piece was printed on one of my favorite "fabrics" - soil separator cloth" from Home Depot.  It's very sheer and resembles pattern duplicating material from fabric stores.

 This next piece (below) resembles the Stonehenge series which I really like and use a lot.  I like the white running through it. Where there was no paint, the white fabric popped through.

 This was one of the first pieces I did demonstrating some of the more traditional patterns using rakes and creating feather like designs. I really thought it needed more and did WHAT ELSE, but some veining on top to give it dimension and make it look less traditional.

 And a detail - looks better with some veining.

 I remember years ago having a favorite color made by Deka called Blueberry. I don't know why it suddenly came to me but halfway through our marbling, I mixed up a batch and used it the rest of the time. I think everyone else did also.

 I didn't like this piece that much but then splattered some Flow Release on top which makes the paint spread and form little circles.

And still more to come....

"Marble-ous Marbling"

This past week our Fiber Junkies group met for 2 1/2 days of marbling or as one of our members said - Marbelous Marbling. Some of us had already done some marbling. I had also written a book but there were still so many new things to explore.  

 Here is one of Kate's pieces, not quite finished but still looking great. The way she manipulates paint to get it into a landscape design is no easy task!

 We had some wonderful studio space and our own trays which I got from Domino's pizza years ago. They were used to hold the balls of dough and the perfect size for marbling a good size piece of fabric

 We had the luxury of having an entire table for supplies.

 After making the Methyl Cellulose which is a thickened liquid used to float paints on the surface, we started in.  Most paints have to be thinned to the consistency of milk which we did and then we were ready...set...go.

 Dropping the paints on the surface and watching them spread was magical. Another interesting thing in marbling - when you drop a paint on top of another paint, the colors don't mix together. The one on top forces the one underneath to spread out, making room for it.

 One of the most fun things we did was veining.  After the paints were dropped, we loaded a giant wok cleaner (looks like a whisk) with something called Flow Release. We then tapped the "whisk" so droplets would fall on the paint causing it to move and make vein like designs.

 After we created a design that we liked, we lowered our fabric on top. It only takes a few seconds for the design to transfer to the fabric, but that can be a very looooong few seconds when you're excited to see the results.

 And there you have it - the one on the right is the one made from the pan above.

 It was an incredibly hot 2 days but all the better for drying and aluming the fabric.

 Dee Dee had samples from a decorators book with the paper edges which we alummed and used for marbling.

 Some of the worst fabrics gave us the best prints like this inexpensive sparkly fabric from Walmart.  It marbled really well and had a great sparkle to it.

 Many fabrics were overmarbled which is simply marbling a design, lightly rinsing it and allowing it to dry.  There is still enough alum in it for you to marble it again.  In the print below, I liked the original but didn't love it....so...

 I overmarbled it with veining giving it more dimension.

Stay tuned for more really fun fabrics to see.
Til next time...

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July. Have a safe, happy holiday. I am thankful to live in such a wonderful country and to the men who serve to keep our country great.

I'll off and running again this week - this time for a marbling get-away with my fiber junkies group. We'll have 3 days of great fun exploring this wonderful technique...will also have lots of pictures to share.

More Alaskan Adventures

I have so many beautiful photos of such a beautiful place - not quilt related but some great inspiration for quilts. I always loved little houses on the side of a hill, especially when they are painted different colors - what a good idea for a quilt. Below is Juneau - first stop on our cruise and the capital of Alaska. It's not very big for a major city. Another interesting fact - there are roads throughout Juneau but they end there. We were told there's only 3 ways to get to Juneau - by boat, plane or birth canal (-:    

 The day we were in Juneau we went to the Mendenhall Glacier which was beautiful and also a beautiful day.

 We also took a boat to go whale watching. Orcas don't stay in Alaska year round unlike the Humpback whale which does. The Orca's had just arrived to these waters, they were so playful.  It was so exciting to see them in their natural habitat. We also saw lots of Humpbacks and Sea Lions.

 The mountains around were breathtaking and so massive.

 Skagway was another lovely city and again, pretty little houses on the hillside.

 One of my favorite side trips was on the White Pass Summit Railroad - the original route used during the gold rush.

 As we moved further and further up, it got colder and colder and more beautiful with each turn of the bend.

A fun perspective from here to the front of the train.

 We went all the way to the border of British Columbia - 5 flags - US, British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon and Canada.

 And the trees were so beautiful in the mist. This will definitely be a silk screen.

 And quilting is alive and well in Alaska! A beautiful shop!

More adventures to follow and pretty soon, it's back to my studio.

Towel Animals

One of the "silly" things they do aboard a cruise ship is to leave towel animals on your bed each night, along with pieces of chocolate.  I loved the chocolates, the animals I had to think about. But as the week went on, I found myself looking forward to seeing what was awaiting me each evening. I honestly don't recognize the first animal - any thoughts?

 The next night was a stingray. Every animal came equipped with plastic googly eyes that would fall on the floor. By the end of the week, there were eyes everywhere!

 A butterfly perhaps?

 One of the afternoon lectures onboard the ship was how to accomplish this "feat of folding" and of course a book to buy.

Neither of which I took advantage of....so this skill will remain a mystery to me.  My guests will always get nice, clean towels, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) in the shape of a towel!  :-)

 This little puppy was my favorite. I really wanted him to remain a pup for a while but next morning, they took him apart  :-(

So it's been hard getting back into a routine - lots of lazy moments. I did get the vacumn out today, tomorrow I may even plug it in.   :-)
Til next time......

Home Again

It's fun to go away and even better to come home, but oh so hard to get into a routine again.  We were both so exhausted from spending 12 hours (not including the time changes) each way either on a plane or in an airport and the time change is always hard but all in all worth it.  We started our trip in Seattle where we have family and friends. Seattle is beautiful this time of year - such a wonderful, eclectic city.

The Space Needle...

 And always on the lookout for trees (below) - there were some beauties. Everything almost a fluorescent green.  This might have to be part of a quilt; I love the moss and texture.

 Pike's Market is always fun to visit, lots of flowers and

 the the very popular "fish throwing" vendor. Someone will pick a fish and it will be thrown to someone behind the counter for cutting and cleaning. It's great fun to watch and they've been doing this ever since I've been going to Pikes which is over 25 years.

 We stayed with my friend Sandy who is a wonderful quilter and has an even more wonderful fabric collection. What you see is only half of what she has.

 And some of the wonderful quilts she's used in the 9 books she's written.

 One of the houses Sandy took us to was this one below - a tiny little house tucked in amongst tall apartments and right across from the water.  The woman who bought this, did so many, many years ago before it was built up and then purchased the one next to it. She has a passion for flowers and gardens and having a concrete front lawn, this is how she solved the problem.

 It's absolutely wonderful to see in person; I could have spent hours there.

 One of the highlights of Seattle was discovering my great-grandfather's house. My dad's family were among the original settlers of Mercer Island and I knew my great-grandfather was the first postmaster of the Island.  My step brother who's into geneology discovered this house and took me to see it.  The owner was kind enough to let us in and take photos - it was thrilling to see a little piece of my family history.

More to come, still tired but lots of good memories.