Sunday, March 30, 2008

Going out like a lion--

I was going to attribute my burst of energy, creative and otherwise, to spring- but you'd never know if today. I was floored to find 3-4 inches of snow when I got up this morning, and it is still falling. This was the view from our front door looking towards the common area in the back of our home.



At least I know it will melt fast!!

I got one set of sequenced overdyes done, and a second set will have its final washout tonight. The first set is red to yellow, using Dharma's Light Red and Bright Yellow Procion MX dyes. The cotton sateen took the color beautifully, and I got the effect I wanted- subtle patterning, not the crisp effects you get with soda soaking and low water dyeing. I did this just like solid color dyeing- I just did not stir, other than a couple of spins when the fabric first hit the pot. And I even had a helper, Shannon ironed most of them for me.



And here's the glorious finished fabric--




I also make progress on the books covers, which I've decided will be the March TIF project. After all, books like these do contain the details of our lives,don't they? While Shannon ironed, I added some seed stitch embroidery. The embroidery floss is a gorgeous hand dye from Ferrett- the colors just blended perfectly.



And up close-



I glued these to the covers last night, today I plan to finish them, and do the final washout of the second group of sequenced overdyes- this one, red to blue. What better way to spend a snowy, early spring day?

2 comments:

Nellie's Needles said...

YUM! that orange ranging through pink. Lucky you to have someone else interested in ironing those pieces.

Love the book cover. It looks like spring. Are the marks between the stitches made with oil sticks, pastels, or paint?

Beverly said...

The marks are made with Shiva paintstiks, used over a rubbing plate. It was a leaf plate, but the design is hard to distinguish, and I overlapped them anyway.