fiberhart

You are never too old to live and learn. . .

I spent most of yesterday getting the materials I needed to color the canvas backing for Summer Suns. I spoke with my drawing teacher Lisa, and mounting this on stretcher bars is definitely an option. She even volunteered to teach me, which is an offer I will probably take her up on.

I bought more cotton canvas at Joann's, and large bottles of red and yellow Setacolor at Michael's. When I got home, I found out that the red I bought is not the red I'd used on the piece- and Michael's doesn't carry that red. I could always be patient and order it online- but no, not me. So I experimented with mixing cardinal red and black, and was satisfied with my results. So, last night I painted the canvas- about a yard square.

Lisa had mentioned to me about canvases being primed- but I've painted fabric before, why do I need to worry about that? I found out why when it took the entire 9 oz bottle of red to paint the canvas- and that was barely getting it all painted! Then, when I came down this morning- the color wasn't quite right, I'd added too much black. ARRGH!!

Serendipity when you are dyeing and painting can be fun, and I've been a fairly loosy-goosey kind of artist. But today it would have been nice to have gotten what I wanted, and I suppose for that I should have been a little more careful and actually measured. The canvas can be used, just won't work on this piece. And, if I decide to paint canvas again- I will definitely prime it first. At $11 per 9 oz bottle, I'd prefer my paint went further than one yard. In fact, I will probably spring for regular acrylic paints, and not use my fabric paints for this.

So now I am back to square one. I have enough canvas left, so I've decided to go the dye route. I've scoured it, and have the red dye sitting. I do NOT want dye pops on this one, and I almost always end up with dye pops when I use red. Fortunately, this has been a topic of discussion on the dyer's list. The best remedy seems to be mixing your concentrates ahead of time, and giving the red hours to dissolve instead of a few minutes. At this point, I figure I have nothing to lose- so my red concentrate is on my counter, hopefully dissolving completely. I'll finish the dyebath later this afternoon, and sit it out on the driveway to bake in our 90 degree heat.

I'm hoping to get some work done on one of the discharge pieces, so I can start the quilting. September will be here before I know it---