Ice dye results, and Seattle visit

This weekend I was on the Olympic Peninsula visiting my step-son. The weather was pretty chilly but we did do a one mile walk to this waterfall.

I also bought myself some pretties. A few fat quarters, some dyed silk (the blue) and some dyed wool. 

Now that I'm back, I ironed all the fabrics from my ice dyeing last week.This should be layer one from the first pot. Cobalt/Carmine/Hot Pink.

Layer two had two pieces of fabric. This layer was Azure and Emerald Green.

Here you can see the original white pattern on the fabric is still visible. It adds a little something to the fabric. It shows on the back side as well, but is much more subtle.

 I had a piece of silk in there too.

 
This is the first layer of the second pot. Bronze/Golden Yellow/Avocado.

 And a detail.

 Second layer, Deep Purple/Bronze/Pomegranate

 

 Detail.

Last layer, Hot Pink/Azure/Emerald Green

That is all of the ice dyeing! It is fun and the results are always unexpected!

I did some other dyeing as well. I was experimenting with removing color and redyeing, and I tried it on Kona and standard cotton. The color removed better on the standard cotton, but the dye is a bit more vivid on the Kona. The color looks different on them as well.

Kona, purple.

Cotton, purple.

Kona, maroon.

Cotton, maroon.

I am going to put quite a few of these for sale on Etsy tomorrow if anyone is interested!


I didn't finish up the homemade journals today.  I ended up making chocolate banana bread and shrimp and chorizo stuffed peppers and just ran out of time.  I'll finish and post those tomorrow!

Adding decorative fabric to a cross body bag

I needed a new bag that would fit my new camera as well as other stuff. I found this cross body bag at the thrift store, but it needed an update.

I painted over the white and red with Setacolor opaque black paint (and ironed it on a polyester setting with a piece of parchment over it, after the paint was dry). I knew I was going to put a piece of fabric over it, but did not want the white and red showing at the edges.

This is basically the patch I made. I had to re-do it for the one that I actually used.  I made it a bit too short.  I did not cut the corners on the one that I used, as I was afraid the fabric would unravel at these cut corners.

I used steam-a-seam 2 and pressed my seam allowances in.

I then ironed the fabric onto the bag. I did do a tacking stitch all around the edges. Way better and has more character than a solid black bag!

On Monday I will post on a new blank journal I am making. I will show ones I've made in the past, including some pictures of the interior pages.  It really makes me happy to have a handmade journal! 

More ice dyeing, layered in a pot

I bought about two yards of this fabric at the thrift store and thought I would ice dye it. It has a white printed pattern on it.  When dyeing this kind of fabric, the print stays white and the rest of the fabric accepts the dye.

This is sometimes called "parfait" dyeing (layering fabric/ice/dye). I cut my fabric into fat quarters so I have eight pieces. I am only dyeing 6 of them this way.

I soaked my fabric in water with soda ash for about an hour.

I am using a large enamel pot, and put an enamel strainer in the bottom. As the ice melts, I don't want the fabric to sit in the puddle of water in the bottom of the pot. The strainer is about 1 1/2" high.

I squish my fabric so it fits in my enamel pot. 

I then add a layer of ice.

I sprinkled Procion MX dye powder on top, three colors and less than a teaspoon of each. I then did another layer of fabric/ice/dye powder. The first pot I only got two layers. The second pot, I got three layers.

I threw in a piece of sheer that I was pretty sure was polyester. Sure enough, it didn't dye.

I will show the results on Monday!

Continuation of the bubble wrap pieces

After my last post about my big canvas piece, I left the cling wrap on top of the painted circles overnight.  This morning I took it off and here are all my scrumptious circles.  They did not have a design on them from the cling wrap (it works on watercolor paper, so I really thought it would work here, usually gives lines wherever there is a wrinkle in the cling wrap). But they have a ton of color variation and I think they are great.

On some of them, the red I added (to darken the color) separated and created a cool color pattern.

And of top of all that deliciousness, the "fabric" I used under them to protect my foam board is all kinds of wonderful. I am not sure what I am going to do with this background piece. I used it because it was big enough to cover the foam board I was using to protect my work surface. This "fabric" is something I inherited from an arty acquaintance. I have no idea what it is. It looks like fabric on the face, and very thin plastic on the back, but has a feel of paper. I tried to see if I could separate the fabric from the plasticy backside, but no luck. I think I am going to make something out of it, and attach it to mat board, and mat and frame it. I didn't take a picture of the whole cloth after removing the circles, but will try to remember to do that.

Also in my last post, I had left some bubble wrap on some small acrylic painted canvases while they were drying. Instead of creating texture in the paint, it was more like a sun print. Wherever the bubble wrap was, ended up being almost white.

I mixed up some acrylic paint on a palette, then inked up my brayer, and rolled the paint on the bubble wrap.

After putting the paint on the bubble wrap, I turned it paint side down on the fabric, and rubbed the backside with my hands to transfer the paint. I find it interesting but still need a lot of work. I have two other pieces of a similar size that I am working on as well.

Mixed Media show at Zip 37 gallery

My piece, "Revolution", got accepted into the mixed media show at Zip 37 gallery.  The opening is Friday January 11th. Please stop by if you get the chance. Unfortunately, I will be out of town that day and won't be able to make it to the opening reception.

 

Here is the postcard for the show, with my name in print, very exciting!

Large canvas artwork, bubble wrap

The other day I showed my start of this art canvas piece. I thought I'd show my work in progress.

This is a large canvas (will be 30" x 36" when attached to stretcher bars). I used my sewing machine to sew on some other fabrics. One is a sateen with a leaf pattern woven in. One is canvas and one is probably polyester. After that, I painted it with watered down acrylic paint. I also painted some lace scraps separately and will be sewing them on tomorrow when they are dry. I just threw the circles onto the canvas for the picture, this isn't where they actually go.

 
This is my inspiration for the design (below), an altered page from a magazine. I used Citrasolv to "dissolve" the inks in a National Geographic. On this particular page, I had inserted a piece of large bubble wrap.  Here is one website that describes the process, but there are lots of web pages on this technique. Citrasolv tutorial.  I do use a foam brush to apply the Citrasolv, in order to thoroughly cover each page (wear gloves!). It may dissolve the brush as you go, it is powerful stuff. I pour some of the Citrasolv in a old tuna can or glass jar to dip my brush in.  It will dissolve a plastic cup. The pages definitely need to be ripped out and separated in 10 to 20 minutes. They will glue themselves together otherwise.  I did this during summer in Colorado, and 10 minutes was definitely enough, since it is not very humid here.  I tried using Citrasolv to transfer one of these altered pages to fabric, but it didn't work. If you've never tried it, it's pretty darn cool. They make great backgrounds for collages, etc. Make sure to work in a well ventilated area if you decide to try it. It smells like orange, but is pungent and I am sure it's not good to breathe it in.

Page using Citrasolv technique

I think the background color on the big canvas is too dark. Since I plan on doing small and large pieces this month, I painted three smaller canvas pieces different shades of green/blue. I like this one (below),but think I still need to go lighter.  I am leaving a piece of bubble wrap on the small ones overnight while they dry, to see if I could get a pattern in the paint. Tomorrow, I plan on painting the bubble wrap with a brayer and "printing" the bubble wrap pattern on these small ones. I'll post that in the future.

 So how do I make the larger circles on the bigger canvas look like the  bubble wrap pattern? Cling wrap.  I had painted my circles a soft yellow the other day.  I mixed up a dirty blue-ish gray by adding red to a mixture of Phalo (green? I will have to check) and ultramarine blue. I used the red to darken the color and also make it more neutral.  I sprayed my circles with water, and then painted this color around the edges of the circles. I did draw some of the paint towards the centers, and then laid down crinkled cling wrap on top.  My cling wrap is green so it is hard to tell exactly what they will look like after the paint dries. (I hate this roll of cling wrap, as it does not come off the roll easily, so I am trying to use it up. In hindsight, I should have used clear so I could see how well it was working!).

Tomorrow should be interesting. I get to unveil my cling wrap circles, paint bubble wrap on my smaller pieces, and most likely paint my background canvas a lighter color.

Also, I went to the thirft store yesterday and bought a huge roll of sheer fabric. I did a burn test, and I think it's polyester, but it has a very nice hand to it. I am sure it is meant to be drapery fabric as it is 120" wide by I-have-no-idea-how-many-yards. My guess would be 10 to 20, and it cost me a whopping $5.  I will have to come up with some projects for it. I may try burning it. I love that book "Hot Textiles" but have a huge fear of fire so that would definitely be an outdoor project with a bucket of water.

Happy New Year!

Okay, today is not January 1st. I spent most of yesterday relaxing and reading.  I know the new year is a good time to reflect on both the past year and the upcoming one. But this time of year, I am always dragging my feet. I hate the short days and the cold weather.  I am going to give myself a kick in the pants and be motivated. An object in motion stays in motion, so all I have to do is start moving.
 
This past year has been a great start. With the support of my loving husband, I quit my job in August to concentrate on my passion for making art.  I will leave the discussion of the line between art and craft to another time. I do both. Can craft be art? Yes, although some of my craft is just craft (pillows, scarves, etc). I do plan on working on art that incorporates knitting and embroidery in a way that I consider art, not craft. I don't see why I can't do both. I know that some people would say that serious artists don't craft. I think that creative people just want to be creative, regardless of how they express themselves.

Since August, I have been doing what I want to do without any firm direction. I did pay attention to calls for entry in local galleries and I have had good success getting into shows. In addition, this year I plan on working on being more focused.  I have such a broad range of things I enjoy making (mainly assemblage and fiber art), but would like to work in a series and have pieces that have a connection. If you put my current art in a room, I am not sure anyone would be able to tell they were all made by the same person.

I work better with a schedule so I will be planning my projects monthly. In January, I plan to work on some larger painted fabric pieces and smaller felted pieces. In February, I plan to work on assemblages, each of which will incorporate a small shovel (I've been collecting these at flea markets for about a year).  I have them hanging from the ceiling in my basement studio. As the next month approaches, I will be planning what the focus will be for that month.

For January, this is a large piece I started the other day at Susan's studio.  I still have a lot of painting and stitching to do before this is complete. I just threw the circles down on the fabric to include them in the picture, this isn't where they will actually go.

February I plan on working with these shovels. I have five of them. My plan is to attach a shadow box with an assemblage in it on the flat paddle part of each.

My goals for January:
Read the book I got for Christmas on Blogger, and put a banner and more info into my blog page.
Work on large fabric pieces and small felted pieces.
Try to finish one large piece and two small pieces a week. I plan to do an art festival in June, if not one before that, and need to build my body of work for these shows.

I really don't want to set up lofty goals for the year. I don't want to disappoint myself. I am going to set up smaller goals through the year and raise the bar as I go. 

I like the idea of picking a word to think about for the year. As weird as it is, my word is "push". I need to push myself to be more productive, I want to push the boundaries of my art concepts, and push myself to do more marketing/promotion to get into more gallery shows/competitions/art festivals.

I hope you all are looking forward to 2013. I know I am.