More on Indigo Dyeing

I love working with Indigo; it's a fascinating process. To get good color, the Indigo bath must rid itself of oxygen, making it soluble. I've heard of natural Indigo having a "flower" on top and this is an indication that the Indigo is soluble.
It's important to keep the solution as "oxygen free" as possible. To this end, the soaked fabric should be wrung out tightly before dipping as water contains oxygen. The vat should also be kept covered to prevent oxygen from entering. The fabric is dipped quickly and then hung to air dry. Oxidation occurs at this point turning the fabric from a yellow-green to Indigo. Each time you dip, the color deepens. One of the most fun parts is to fold, wrap etc. your fabric before dipping to  create a pattern. I wrapped the piece below with green beads.
I also used a gimp thread (to the left). It's 100% cotton and a good candidate for dyeing. I kept the thread continuous rather than cut small pieces for each bead. I knew I would have some interesting thread to use for stitching when done. Having 1 long piece made it easier to "undo". The beads are inexpensive plastic beads but any small shape would work such as dried beans and buttons.

Below is the wonderful thread I wound up with.

In this workshop, we also talked about rice bags. Original rice bags are patched and sewn together using a very coarse thread. They are used to collect rice in the fields and also to make Saki-rice wine. I have one - a treasure I picked up in Japan years ago. I've been waiting for the perfect time to use it. I dyed a small part with Indigo and the rest left natural. It will work into some kind of wall hanging.

We also used resists; this fabric was clamped with C clamps and plexiglass squares.

A wonderful process.

Yashiko Wada and Shibori

I had the great experience of taking a workshop from Yashiko Wada yesterday. It was packed full of knowledge and ideas from a woman who is both experienced and incredibly talented. A focus of the workshop was using worn and used items of clothing etc. to make new interesting pieces of art. Felt, water soluble materials and working with Indigo were also touched upon. I was intrigued by the piece below which uses worn pieces of Shibori to make this "new" piece.
And this piece which also used Sashiko - a form of decorative stitching done in large patterns over the surface.

The Indigo pot - the real thing. I've only used synthetic Indigo dye and have always wanted to work with real Indigo, it was great fun!

Yashiko Wada (below) an incredible artist and fantastic instructor. I look forward to taking more workshops from her in the future.

I am off and running to Gatlinburg in a few minutes and have more to add so I'll say "stay tuned for more about this wonderful technique".

Small Studies

I've been using up scraps of fabric to do these small studies. They're a lot of fun and it's easy to try something new with not much of an investment in time or materials. I decided to mat them and back them with foamboard. The mats are a standard size (11x14) making them easy to frame. The opening is 8x10. The first one is a study in trees. The left side is a monoprint, the right side is a tree made of sheer fabric. There's a minimum amount of stitching - just enough for interest.
This next study uses one of my hand dyed fabrics on both sides, the left side being stamped. I have a wonderful leaf stamp I probably use too much. In this case, it was stamped on sheer painted organza using Lumiere paint, then cut out and the edges burned. The leaves were attached using a monofilament thread and stitching down the middle following the vein line. This last one is another study in trees using hand dyed fabric. The tree is a photograph manipulated and made into a line drawing using photoshop. From the line drawing, I was able to make a silk screen. I screened discharge paste on the fabric. The left side had me stumped until I came upon this printed tree on silk organza. I like the way you can see through to the fabric underneath.

Nuno Show and Tell

In my last blog I talked about our Nuno Felting day with Nancy Bruce. I promised more photos of her work and the results of our felting - all very exciting. This scarf made by Nancy is lined and attached to the lining with a buttonhole stitch. You can see the blue lining; it's very heavily felted and a WOW color!

These 2 scarves have a buttonhole stitch around the edge also, for an interesting effect.

This scarf - much wider, could also be used as a shawl. The edge has beading and fringe.

Martine's scarf has wonderful points coming off the edge. The center has no felting; it's much wider than the edges where the felting pulled in the sides.

Patsy worked in wonderful colors - adding a bit of hot pink to the center of some of the rovings to give it more zing.

Mary made a line of rovings down through the center as well as on each end - very cool.

I wanted a more "gossamer" look and used less rovings but placed them all over with lots of space in between. This negative space (silk gauze) becomes puckered when the felting occurs all around it - an
interesting effect.

A detail of my scarf shows the "curls" which Nancy dyed for our use. The bright yellow curls are just "plain cute" as can be, adding another dimension to the surface. I think they are my favorite part.

Nuno Felting

What a great day, my mind is still spinning. Our good friend and very accomplished fiber artist, Nancy Bruce showed a group of us how to Nuno felt. I've admired the technique for years so was thrilled to have this opportunity. Nuno felting uses small amounts of rovings which are felted into a sheer piece of fabric. The rovings and fabric become one. Pieces of thread, fiber curls etc. can be "caught" in between the rovings for more interest. This is one of Nancy's pieces - Wow!
We started on the deck outside. It was raining and windy so we moved inside very quickly. Our first step was to lay very sheer silk -  3.5mm silk gauze, on top of a bubble wrap type material. This was an old pool cover cut into strips.

Next we laid the rovings. Nancy dyed them in many beautiful colors. This part was great fun and very creative. Martine was wanting her rovings to hang off the edge. Wait til you see how interesting this turns out.

Mary is working with wonderful colors on a navy background.

After the rovings are in place, a polyester curtain like material is laid over the top. This holds the rovings in place and will not "felt" with the rovings, leaving them to felt with the silk gauze.

Next comes the water;  this little orange contraption is similar to the sprinklers our grandmothers used when ironing clothes. It brought me back in time. The entire surface is rubbed and smoothed out.

Making sure there are no air bubbles.

Then comes the rolling, and rolling, and more rolling. This is what felts the rovings to themselves and the silk gauze.

Using a bubble wrap mitt, the next step is to gently rub the scarf with hot water and soap.

The end results - I love the felted points.

Patsys' wonderful scarf - great colors!

The Nuno felters - Martine, Judy (with her scarf), Nancy, Patsy and Mary in front. What a great day-thank you Nancy, you are the best!

Fun Adventures, Funny Friends

We all know them and have them in our life - our "funny friends" They keep us laughing. In our PTA group, it's Linda Cantrell. Mind you, Linda doesn't work hard at it. It just seems to happen. Like take yesterday for instance, our group had a field trip to Weaverville to do lunch, antique and just check out local fun stuff. One of our stops was at this wonderful spa - the Secret Garden. The front yard had some amazing antiques - a childs tricyle, a small chair and bench. Linda decided to try a turn at the tricycle and GOT STUCK!

There was a beautiful pond with the most colorful fish. Lynne is a-gazing at them.

I love the way the trees are reflected in the pool. This will be part of a quilt someday, I'm sure!

And these beautiful winter trees with all the configuration of branches - such interesting images.

Such a fun day.

Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild

I had the great pleasure of teaching this week at the Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild in Seneca, SC. I stayed with my good friend Marilyn Wall who is a member of the guild. Her home is on a lake - this is the view I woke up to. It almost made me want to play hookey and not go to class.
There is an old fence and gate in the front. It has always been in the family but in another location and about to be torn down. Marilyn was lucky to get the whole thing transported to her home. It's amazing to see with all kinds of potential for quilt designs.

One of the quilts at Show and Tell was a tribute to the firefighters of Edison, NJ for their heroic efforts during 911. Children drew their message on paper which was then transferred to fabric. Each block was so precious and meaningful.

This next quilt made me laugh. I'm not sure of the name but I call it the TP Quilt.

This gorgeous quilt was made by Dixie Haywood who does wonderful things with the pineapple pattern.

The workshop on Creative Machine Applique was wonderful fun. The ladies were so enthused and a joy to be with. Here is Barbara and my hostess and friend - Marilyn.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful 2 days!

Birthday Happenings

This past weekend was a birthday celebration for my son, Mike. My daughter came from Atlanta to visit and we went to our favorite place for celebrating - the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. We always walk outside first, taking in the view. It's always breathtaking and springtime is especially colorful.Another gorgeous view of the mountains before having dinner.

The next day we went to Graveyard Fields for a hike - so much inspiration for quilts. I love this tiny waterfall

and the coloring on these rocks! Guaranteed, they will turn up printed on fabric and in a quilt.

I loved this tree, bleached white from the sun and amongst all the brown ones, how unique. This will probably become an image for a silk screen. Nature is wonderful!

I'm off to teach in SC for a couple of days. I will keep you posted.

Marbled Jacket Finished

I'm finishing up my marbled fabric jacket; all that's left are buttons and buttonholes. For me, this is the most "un-fun" part and I always procrastinate. Recently I treated myself to a foot for sewing on buttons. Wow, what a difference. It literally took me 1-2 minutes to sew on 6 buttons.

The first step was to mark the placement of the buttons. I used a white chalk pencil, made a cross and centered the button over it.

Next, I lowered the foot down onto the button. You have to manually adjust the width of the zigzag so the needle hits the holes and not the button.

This amazing little foot has a bar running down the center. The needle moves back and forth over the bar. When done, you gently slide the button towards you. Having the bar there, raises the thread and creates a slack making the button easier to push through the buttonhole. I remember learning to sew buttons on clothing using a pin across the top.

And here's the finished piece - think I'm gonna like wearing this jacket.