Working out in the patio yesterday, I dyed 10 of these…Sweet little onesies for sweet little babies.
Between Monday and Tuesday, I finished 8 new silk scarves and have 3 more waiting to finish. I need some time to decide how to finish them. I want to do more wax designs. There is only one in this group using my new “BIG sponge” stamp. I love the BIG sponge.
I’m so bad…I haven’t blogged in forever. I guess I can just take you through what I have been doing the last couple of weeks… in pictures.
I went to Terra Haute to an exhibit that a friend of mine was in. We went to a place she had once gone to school and I saw interesting things to photograph such as this structure.
Interesting glass close to where we parked…
Then made lots of fabric beads and made earrings from them…this pair sold…
I’ve been making liner bags to go in Kay’s basket purses…a little collaborative effort…
I made ciabatta bread for the very first time…it turned out great…I love it…
We went to my family reunion…outdoors at a state park on the hottest day of the year…
That’s my brother…he was not a happy camper…
We left on Friday to go home for the reunion and were having AC problems at the time. Well, it’s Tuesday and we are still waiting for the repair guy. Lucky we are staying cool though.
Back to the “dye studio” and scarves and onesies this week…
Took this while the scarf was drying…
Pole-wrapped and dyed, stamped and a rubbing applied. The rubbing plate design was made on a piece of cardboard with hot glue. Great way to make rubbings.
Last week I took advantage of the wonderfully mild weather to get out in the patio and work on silk scarves. I screened on most of them. I used deconstructed screen designs, glue designs, and paper resist designs. Some of my breakdown screens didn’t print very long. The new silk screens that Julia and I made worked well, but I see mine are starting to stretch a little. Perhaps that is because I didn’t review Kerr Grabowski’s instructions before we made them! This throw together scarf design turned out to be my favorite. Since I ran out of good breakdown prints, I used other screens and partial designs on it. Another idea has emerged for me to use for future screening. I love the contrast of a large bold design over smaller prints.
The other side of this scarf is a bit different, just because with printing by hand you can get lots of variety. This scarf was printed using all three of the types of printing I mentioned earlier. I’m having a great love affair with chartreuse and turquoise this summer, as well as all the blends in between the two that happen when one does not wash the screens between printing. This scarf is printed on silk charmeuse.
I also added some small beaded fringe on a couple of corners…a new signature idea. The lady that bought this loved the bead fringe.
Three screens were used to make these designs. One was made with blue glue and two were made with soy wax. Screen designs are easy peasy to make.
I am printing scarves today, getting ready for an art fair this weekend. I am using three different silk screens. Two are created with soy wax designs and one has been created using Elmer’s glue. I am amazed at the longevity of the glue screen. I have been using it for some time now. Here it is all messy with dye.
I made a soy wax screen with stripes and it is lasting a long time too. Here are some of the scarves I printed this morning. I think I am going to have to invest in more screens!
I did use another screen that I stamped circles on with soy wax, but I actually got the wax too heavy on it, so there is not a lot of dye put down when you do a pull. I only used it on one of these scarves for a variation in the print. When I get them washed out…I will post the finished look.
I’ve been so busy and have not posted for awhile…shame on me! I think I will show you what I have been up to rather than tell you….
Decatur, IL – Tree Huggers Exhibit in front of the Decatur Arts Council–On my way to the quilt show one morning, I shot these pictures.. this was interesting to see!
Back home….loading new stencils from the Crafter’s Workshop in my etsy shop...these are totally fun to pattern cloth with…
Tea dying and color dyeing silk ribbon for a doll show….
…and dyeing doggie hoodies….
…and working on some artistic silk scarves for upcoming art fair…these have been dyed a base color, then stamped with soy wax, then painted with dye paint and are batching…
Silk scarves are my “practice” work…not only do I get to know the different types of silks, but I get to “play” and practice with designs and colors. Still have lots of different things to do and I will show you as I go along while I get ready for the art fair. But…today I think I want to make some paper/cloth…after I go to town and run some errands…later!
Life has been incredibly busy around my house lately…but I don’t think I’m alone in this…it’s the holidays!
The first weekend of December was the Art Fair at New Harmony. Sales were good. This past weekend was our first Tri-State Artisans Studio Tour. I set up a “shop” in my garage. My friend Kay, who weaves baskets, joined in with her wonderful baskets.
The weekend warmed up to the 40′s so we stayed warm enough with a big heater and a small electric heater. We had fun, visited with people that came by, and had good sales.
Now it’s time to get started on Christmas baking…one week from Friday the party is on!
It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged…I have no excuse…just busy doing other things. Last week it seemed like I spent the whole week working on silk scarves. I needed to deliver some for consignment on my trip to Evansville, so I was dyeing a few, making a pile for consignment and a few for my stash as well as photographing, then listing my stash on etsy. I am trying to be regular with etsy since it is the holiday season and sales will be happening. I sold several scarves last year out of my etsy shop and I would like to be ready for shoppers!
Here is a silk chiffon I dyed. It is a 44″ square. I usually do more than one layer on these, but I think it’s beautiful the way it is and I’m not sure I want to add more to it.
I also joined the Visioning project on SAQA this past week. The project is supposed to help me get organized, aim for goals and hopefully reach them. At the same time, there are artists more advanced than I that will check my page and give me helpful hints. Yesterday I spent some time writing on my page about my goals just for this week. While I was soaking in the tub yesterday morning, I had several ideas float through my brain, so writing helped me to get it in print, which helps me focus better. I also didn’t want to forget those ideas, so I write. I have a solo show in late 2011, and I am hoping that the Visioning project will help me get prepared for that, if for no other reason than I will make commitments and stick to them.
Silk Charmeuse, deconstructed screen printed and thermofax screened
Dear Readers: In my haste to get ready, load up the van and get to breakfast on time yesterday, it never once entered my head to get the camera! I’m just not in the habit of carrying it with me to meals…yet! I am going to have to get advice from Gerrie since she always has lovely pictures of food and meals, even when they eat out.
But I can describe it for you…we had a fruit dish of bananas and strawberries, small stack of pancakes, sausage patties, hard fried eggs with a soft white cheese melted on top (never had that before!), juice and coffee. Yes, it was another wonderful breakfast. If anyone questions my infatuation with my breakfasts the past few days…let me explain. My husband goes to work early and we don’t fix breakfast. Every morning I have a bowl of bran flakes with soy milk and dried cranberries on top…that is it. Being at the bed and breakfast this week was quite a treat as far as breakfast was concerned! And someone else was fixing it…and it was way better than the continental breakfasts you get at a motel for the same price.
Anyway, I sold a few more scarves yesterday…that was very encouraging. Right before I left, I worked on some large square chiffon scarves and was quite pleased with how they turned out. Every day I draped a new one over my “dummy” to see public reaction. The third one sold, and it was one I ran out of time on and planned on doing more to it when I got back. The sale saved me more work!
I still have these two…the one that sold was a bit more reddish than the orange one above. I discharged it the same way, but didn’t like the color so I overdyed it. The discharged areas were more muted. I also used the same screen print on it that the orange one has. It is a Thermofax print of a picture of tree branches.
I’m back home now and need to re-stock my inventory…next art show is in two weeks.
Today I am dyeing silk scarves. I made a couple of shibori scarves and a couple of dyed chiffon scarves that will get discharged and perhaps also printed on in the next couple of days. Two more are rusting as I write.
Today my camera won’t let me unload the pictures from it and that is frustrating…I have pics of a new bag I want to put in this post.
Today I cut corn off the cobs. It’s the end of the corn and many of the ears had shriveled kernels. I threw those away as they would be tough. I cooked the corn for my hubby’s supper.
Today I dyed out in my patio…what a great place to work and a great day to be there. Wish I had time to spend to really do some dyeing and printing, but time is at a premium this week…playtime will come later.
Today I found two salamanders in a 5 gallon bucket by the patio…don’t know why they were there. I thought my husband did it, but he said he didn’t. I think the little one died later this afternoon. How weird…maybe they were hiding out from the neighborhood cats…
Finished piece of art now showing in a “Green” exhibit at Rend Lake.
Of Stones and Walls
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