Fiber Junkies Pt 1 - Working with Soy Wax

Yes, Fiber Junkies again, we work around everyone's schedule and this was the best time with the holidays coming up so fast. This month we did soy wax printing/batiking and it was great fun and a new experience for many of us. My friend Mary has some great pictures on her blog of this technique along with a good explanation. These first 2 pictures are from Mary as I neglected to take them, thank you Mary.

 Several of us had the small electric fry pans which is important for controlling the temperature. Wax has a very low melting point and can ignite easily so it's important to keep it just above the melting point. After stamping fabric with objects dipped in wax, we painted the area with Dye na Flow paint.

 There was a very creative assortment of tools that were "heat friendly" and could safely put put in hot wax.

 Everything from potato mashers to corks, spools and paint brush coiled cleaners were used.

 The wax dries almost instantly so you can start painting.

 This is one of my marbled prints and perhaps too busy for this technique as the waxed image areas seemed to melt into the fabric print.

 This has Dye na Flow added.

 Kates with the wax on..

 and painted.

 This tool that kate is using made such a fun mark...not sure what it was, but gave great results.

 Kates painted. Once the paint is dry, the pieces are ironed between pieces of newspaper to remove the wax the and original fabric shows through, so as pretty as this is, it is still not done and will take on a different look when the wax is removed.

 I loved what Denny was doing with her lettering and piece of plastic "ladder"

 Painted and waiting for wax to be removed.

 Mary's got an additional wash of darker purple...

 very nice effect.

 Gen used a print for hers so this should be fun to see.

 and Denny used a stencil here.

Vals was gorgeous, she used Lumiere paint which was very clever as it's so pretty with it's high metallic content. Everyone is to bring their finished pieces to the Christmas party to share the final look. Next time - the party and please stay tuned.

"The Boyscouts"

I started this piece a while ago, back and forth on the design wall. It just returned from a show I was part of at the NC Arboretum. I've always liked the piece, just one of those things where it got lost in the shuffle of other projects.

The subject matter is near and dear to my heart as it's photos of my Uncle Ted and my dad (his brother) in scout uniforms. The photos were layered on top of a rock wall and blended together in Photoshop Elements. The effect is subtle and you have to look hard to see the imagery of the boys. My uncle is in the top right corner, my dad in the lower left about 1/3 from the left side.

You can see it better  in this picture.

I did some screening along the top using discharge paste and felt I needed to break up the black area since the piece was dark to begin with.

I also added some tree branches at bottom left for more interest along with writing from my mother's autograph book.

 I started layering it but realized it needed more and also to be a little larger.

 I found this wonderful glitzy like cotton fabric with a very obvious weave which I thought would work...

and it did but it still needed more.

I tend to use and like darker colors on the edge to "contain" the piece and black seemed to work. I use all kinds of fabric as I'm after effect. Silk noil which is a heavier and nubby silk is what I used here. 

 I also added a more obvious face in the top to give it a more haunting look...

 and lots of glitzy thread along with monofilament.

And the finished piece which measures 17 1/2" x 20"H. If you're interested in purchasing this piece, please email me privately.
Judy

Fiber Junkies Pt 3 - Show and Tell

I've been meaning to share some of the pieces from our Show and Tell at our Fiber Junkies meeting. This is the last piece in  a series Denny has been working on. She's been wearing spider earrings throughout and said when she finished her last piece, the earrings would come off.

It's a wonderful piece and the back interesting as well

with the maze of webs.

Denny made these feathers out of fabric which were a great touch and meaningful to the theme of the piece. All the pieces in this series were based on interviews with people regarding life experiences;  each part of her quilts are essential to the whole.

Mary made this simple and very elegant quilt out of Japanese prints as a gift for family members....lucky family! 

And the back - as beautiful as the front.

Mary also shared her latest pieces using marbled fabric she had created and incorporated with beads. This one pulls at my heartstrings.

Marbled fabric has a lot of energy and hard to work with - quite a task to get a good balance between embellishment and fabric and I think Mary nailed it.
Til next time...
Judy

Fiber Junkies Pt 2 - The Party

And the fun continues, not only did we have such a great day of playing and experimenting but we also celebrated a special birthday for Denny. Since Denny was born in the spooky month of Halloween and also wears spider earrings, we thought this a perfect theme. 

The plates, the napkins and creepy spiders, the tablecloth was a black web sheer covering a hand dyed fabric.

We all brought home a spider but I couldn't keep mine. I would come upon it in my studio and for a second, it scared me to death. I wasn't even thinking it was evil enough to play a prank on husband or son as I know they would return the prank - so in the garbage it had to go...but it was a good one!

We hung dyed cheesecloth and Denny was given a shawl of cheesecloth to wear. You can see both tablecloths on right along with chocolate eyeballs and spiders on top.

Gen made a pot of soup and served it in a cauldron...

along with Mary's wonderful pumpkin cheesecake.

Oops....how did he/she get on there...

and best thing of all - home made breadsticks to look like witches fingers, cleverly created by Mary. How cool is that and an added bonus...they were delicious!

On to the jewels...yes there were lots of interesting jewelry like spider noserings being modeled by  Carol, Gens daughter who always visits us when she's up from Florida.

Denny has a glow in the dark spider necklace, a wand and broom and gorgeous hat...

and the group. We are a crazy group but we do have fun and enjoy the creative input we are able to give to each other. It's always a learning day but also a laughing and inspiration day. Happy Birthday Denny!

Too Early for the White Stuff

As a rule, we never have snow this early - Nov 1...Yikes.....I do like snow as long as I don't have to drive in it or shovel it. I love to watch it falling but then I want it to be gone.

 The weather channel was right for a change, living in such a mountainous area, they often don't get it right.

 It's odd to see the fall foliage still on the trees with the snow coming down...

 a winter wonderland. I'm glad I have some great sewing projects just calling to me...

 and some hot soup and cocoa.

Til next time...

Judy