Natuals dyes in 2012

I've only finished the one coral bell piece.  Now I'm expanding the 'Run Off' series and I'm going to try this hot, new idea for natural dyes.

As a child, I was taught how to dye wool yarn used for weaving with natural dyes.  Tried and true natural (non-synthetic) dye materials might be osage orange root, black walnuts or onion skins.  The chosen material was boiled to extract the dye and the wool was mordanted ( treated with alum or metal to hold the dye).  Most vegetable products provided browns, dull greens, yellows and orange.

Today (2012) artists have found new ways to extract dye from natural materials by fermenting, using steam or cold processes.  Colors have been created that were formerly lost with the high heat methods I used as a girl. I am excited to experiment with the cold bundling process, wrapping the plant materials with a piece of metal and /or a material with tannin, like wood or tea.

I don't have the room to start collecting plant material, but I was watching the sides of the road today to see what I could scavenge and try a bundle or two.  I do have a project that would benefit from this technique. So---- I off and running in a new direction before I can finish my current projects.  I must be crazy!  I'm also working on a Seminole strip quilt and hoping to finish a gift quilt that is now overdue. I probably should not have admitted that, but, most readers know me and will not be surprised.

Series Class final meeting

Today was the last meeting of  "Design Explorations #3, Learning to Work in a Series".  This is a class held once a month for the last six months and it has been a joy!  The women in the class are all remarkable people and artists.  Heather Thomas, the creator of the class,  is so very knowledgeable, motivational, and inspiring.  Her influence has changed my life and given me tools to create,  that I would have loved to have had much earlier in my life.  I have learned so much.  Or maybe, this class has allowed what I have been learning the past four years to gel and come together for me. I have five 'mixed media' canvases completed, two more almost finished and many more on the drawing board, so to speak.  As I have discovered in this class, "the series isn't finished until the artist has exhausted what she has to say".  I'm still talking.

Acting on Constructive Criticism

The small piece I did after missing the challenge deadline was critiqued this past Wednesday.  It was suggested I add some additional quilting to flatten some puffiness.  I followed the advice and I am very pleased with the result  The appliqued elements really stand out, almost like tiles. The edges are crisper and the negative space is flatter.  I hope you can see the difference in the picture.

Coral Bell leaves provide a challenge

I have three more pieces going, all from the Coral Bell leaf printing. I'm very happy to have found ways to experiment with the fabric.  It has been a lot of fun. As I said in the last post.  Push Forward, Push Harder.  I've got some other things in the works as well.  My husband will give me some tips for cutting some 1/8th inch board for a real experiment with paper collage. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I met with three terrific women artists this morning.  We critiqued our current work and generally enjoyed talking together. It's motivating to share with those who give encouragement and advice.  I am blessed to be  involved with a group of talented people, sharing our work, ideas, being able to stretch and experiment.

Let's see if I can cut a straight line tomorrow and finish another Coral Bell piece.

Push Forward, Push Harder

One of the reasons I decided to do a blog was to push myself.  I procrastinate, I stew, I over plan.  I miss deadlines for challenges.

The orange wedding fabric that I printed  coral bell leaves with Lumiere 'Halo Pink Gold' was the start of a magazine challenge for an 8"x8" piece.  I also stamped rectangles of parallel lines with an ochre color. No problem, the hard part is done now that the base fabric has been printed and stamped.  Yah!  So, even though I missed the challenge.  I still challenged my self and  auditioned commercial fabrics for the orange on orange print.

I made the piece 11"w by 10 1/4" h, hand appliqued some strip piecing and a larger square, quilted the leaf and machine stitched a pattern in the upper right corner.  It has a narrow binding using the same fabric as the backing.

 Now I have several other pieces to work on.

Backyard Dye Experiments

Meininger art suppy store had a 20% off sale last Saturday.  I bought some new acrylic colors, some paper and some dye. Not to let grass grow under my feet, I tried some ice dyeing with the Procion dye and was disappointed with the result.  The dye had spread evenly, no layering of color, no dark areas bleeding to light - so the technique was wrong.  I'll follow the ice parfait directions in the latest "Quilter's Arts Magazine" the next time, hopefully with better results. Now I have fairly evenly dyed light blue fabric.  I left it in the solution overnight - a little deeper in color. I laid it on a piece of cracked wood to dry and the cracks left lighter and darker lines on the fabric following the cracks.  Neat! Then I dropped dye by the droplet, let it pool and dry.  I repeated this several times. I also folded the fabric and dropped dye on the fold which opened to a miror image along the fold line. I like the results. Layered and organic.  I will work with this again.