Preparing a Screen

A silk screen prepared and drying.  I painted dye paint over the back of the screen, then embedded objects in it to create patterns.

Screen is now dried and ready for printing.

Update For Today

Instead of writing a blog post today, I wrote a new “page” on this blog.  I was doing some experimenting with flour paste resist this morning and thought maybe some would be interested in seeing the process, so I made a page here. It’s also on the sidebar under Tutorials with the name Flour Paste Resist.  I will be posting more photos in the future as I mess around with it some more.

I also am now offering Jane Dunnewold’s new book “Art Cloth” on my website.

Purchase here.

There is an update on Making Paper Cloth with a new photo of a finished needle case made with the paper cloth.

So much to explore…

Week In Review

It’s been a strange week. I slightly twisted my ankle last Saturday, but no pain and swelling showed up til Sunday afternoon.  And it swelled up really good by Monday.  I hobbled around the house determined not to let time be a’ wastin’…

I kept ice on it a lot, but also spent time at my sewing machine.  I had printed a huge piece of cloth a while back and decided to make these…those of you who read my blog will recognize the cloth…I love these…

Since I sold my first set of screen printed throw pillows last Saturday, I am now highly motivated to keep going, so I sewed up a few more covers, after cutting lots of fabric for the backs.

It’s too hot to be outside printing since we don’t seem to be able to move past 100 plus degree days. But I have lots of indoor work to be done as long as I can keep supplied with everything I need.  In my “weakened state” I made a request  on Facebook to see if anyone was going to Walmart. Could they check on zippers for me please?  One of my friends did go there but they didn’t have any of the polyester zippers I needed for my bags. So I placed an order with Brewer which I needed to do anyway, but wasn’t ready to do it this early.  I ordered a bunch of zippers, but they only had one box of the Cloister Brown and I needed many.  Sigh.  But the three zippers I got are enough to hold me at this moment.  I am making bags which are liners for a basket purse.  My friend Kay is a basketweaver and we are teaming up on this project.  I think the liners might help her sell the baskets better.  She did sell a purse and liner last Saturday. Woohoo! She has two big shows next month, so I gotta get busy.

And then there’s my own work…I am giving thought to creating hand dyed cotton napkins with matching table runners.  This is for the Select Collection event to be held in November.  The theme is home and wearables.  I dyed some shibori designs on fat quarters.  Table napkins, anyone?

Kay likes them and thinks they would be great as napkins.  What do you think?

Blooming

It was a nice, sunny, cool-er morning in New Harmony.  I found lots of photo inspiration there today.

Photo of The Week

We’ve been enjoying the cherries!

More Progress

I have been working this week…instead of blogging. I will be the featured artist at an event called Select Collection in November.  The organizer and promoter of the event wants to use photos of Fragments of a Life in her promotional materials.  Since I suspect that people will want to see those pieces at the event and since I’m not positive that’s my bestest work of the moment, I have decided to continue the series and have been working on some new pieces.

Fragments of a Life #5, pin basted and ready to stitch.

I have also been printing black and white cloth the past couple of days since I had a buyer interested in some.  The shortcut way is to use screen printing ink, but I want to do some folded pieces with dye.  The heat has been prohibitive here, being over 100 degrees yesterday and today, so I haven’t worked outside which is where I like to work with dyes.

If life stays out of the way, I think I can get lots done this month!