More from Carol's workshop. . .

Two weeks- of being extremely busy at work, and little time to play in the studio.  I don't think that will change until after my son Ian's wedding in mid-October, and an audit at work is done the first week in November.  Thank goodness I have a wet studio I can play in year round.

I did mention that I'd come home with more goodies than I've posted from Carol's workshop.  One of my classmates, Lynn Dell, used to be a professional tie dyer, and she taught some of us some tricks after class was over.  What fun!  This shirt started with a boy's extra large tee- after I got home, I cut down the crew neck and shaped the sides.  I love how this turned out!

The other tie dye I brought to class as one of my dogs.  I wish I had a picture of this fabric as it originally looked.  It was spiral dyed, which was fine.  The problem was with the colors- blue and pink.  Yuck.

Lynn Dell re-spiraled it (I learned a lot just watching her!), and we overdyed it in boysenberry and yellow, then sprayed one side with navy blue.  I absolutely love this piece now!! 

I also took a couple of black tees to play with.  This one is discharged using Decolourant Spray, with washers and other hardware providing the resist.  (Ignore the goofy face above the tee, please!)

I still have lots more photos from the class, but haven't had much time to edit them.  Hopefully not too much longer. . .

Wonderful Exhaustion!

I got home yesterday evening from a five day workshop with Carol Soderlund, who is the best fiber art teacher I have ever taken from.  She is well prepared, knows how to manage the class, and is so willing to share her wealth of knowledge about anything related to dyeing.

We folded, clamped, discharged with bleach, and overdyed--

(All of these started with black fabric!)

We printed with Thiox paste on black fabric, or the hand dyed dogs we'd brought with us--

We used potato dextrin- I discharged the black one with thickened bleach, and printed the other with thickened black dye.  Look at all that crackle!

I overdyed some other dogs I brought with me in black, and then printed, doing something I'd never done- illumination!  You mix a Thiox print paste, then dissolve dye powder in that.  It's a fascinating process I will be doing more of!

Some of the black fabric that I'd folded, clamped, bleach discharged and overdyed didn't work for me- so I re-folded (offsetting my folds), and threw it in the Thiox pot.  I am in love with these pieces!

It was a really productive week- I learned a ton, and brought back plenty of fabric and samples.  Oh, yes, and I also came back with the Discharge Book,  fitting companion for my Color Book 1!

But that wasn't all I came back with!  Stay tuned for more!

I'm linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  Go take a look at what other fiber artists have been up to!

Preparations. . .

I've decided to set the green hand dye aside for the time being.  Too much obsessing that got me nowhere!

I also figured it might be a good time for some therapy sewing, a la Rayna Gillman.  This one won't be a scrap quilt, but I am using up a stash of color gradations I made a few years ago.  Throw in a good bit of solid white, and I hope to end up with a quilt for Michelle.  So far, I've got eight strip sets at least partially constructed.  Here's two after I did a diagonal cut- I'm thinking I need to do another one of those.

I've also started getting my supplies together for next week's workshop with Carol Soderlund, Dyeing to Discharge.  I have. . . 

my respirator, gloves, an old sheet (press cloth), thermofax screens, and a sketchbook. . . 

shibori supplies, containers, buckets, my little drawer unit full of stamps and stencils. . . 

two kinds of black commercial cotton, a couple of black tees, a bolt of Hoffman lawn, a bolt of bamboo/cotton, some silk yardage, and a bunch of not-so-stellar hand dyes I hope to remake.  Think this will all fit in the back of my Prius?

I had almost everything on Carol's two page list.  Today I'll get the rest, just some Press and Seal, gallon zip lock bags, some Sharpies, some lightweight gloves, and another kitty litter pan.  I figure by this time next week, I should be totally exhausted, with a brain ready to explode from all I've learned!

Today is a few hours of work, then getting ready to leave for Moab tomorrow for a friend's wedding.  The next ten days on my calendar are jam-packed!