fiberhart

I have been playing in the dyes again- the first time in awhile, and enjoying getting back in to it.  I was part of an Ugly Fabric challenge in a Yahoo group I'm part of- this was the piece I got to transform.

 

It was dark except for the one side, and blue.  I knew I wanted to discharge first, and all that blue meant I'd have to use bleach.  So I folded it, clamped it with two plexiglass rectangles, and threw it in a bucket of bleach.

 

I kind of liked it at this point, the yellow made me happy.  But the brown parts were too muddy for me, so I overdyed it in a bit of red.

This sat on my design wall for a good month while I pondered what to do next.  I knew the red was too orange for me, so I finally decided to overdye again in a very pale shade of navy blue.

The blue overdye really did knock back the orange, just like I wanted.  From a distance it looks like a very toned purple, but up close there are all kinds of colors showing.

After another few days on the design wall, I decided it needed one more layer to tie it all together.  So I used a rubbing plate and three colors of metallic Shiva paint stiks on it.  It is now DONE!

It still has marks that hark back to its past as a dark blue fabric- but it has also been totally transformed.  I'm rather pleased with it!

I also spent a day this past weekend doing more dyeing- but I don't have pictures of the fabric yet, so those will have to wait.

I also got a lovely surprise this weekend.  Del Thomas from California came through on her way home from Indiana, and we met for lunch.  It was great to catch up with her- we had a nice lunch at Olive Garden, and shared a piece of rich chocolate cake at the end.  She is a fascinating woman who has done a lot for the quilt community all over the country.  I've loved getting to meet and get to know her!!