Back to Work

I took vacation time from Christmas until January 6- I've spent the last couple of days trying to get back into the work mode.  I certainly had plenty to keep me busy!

I didn't get to spend anywhere near the time in the studio I'd hoped for.  I did get a little bit of dyeing done.  I tried some more snow dyeing- after my last success overdyeing dogs, I got more dogs with my subsequent tries.  I just don't know if it is worth the hassle!

I did some scarves.  

I was really happy with the one on the right.  The one on the left, I ended up overdyeing with some blue.  It's not as gray as it looks in this photo, it really is a pretty shade of blue.

I did a knit infinity scarf that turned out to be boring orange red.  I went at with Shiva paint stiks and a rubbing plate, and it is much better!

Another infinity scarf was printed first with white paint, then dyed black- I thought.  I did everything right, and ended up with this insipid green.

Apparently the black dye I used was too old- it's the only explanation I can come up with.  So I overdyed it with a black dye I knew I'd gotten within the past year.  I also upped the amount of salt in the dye bath, and dumped in dye concentrate above and beyond a 10% DOS.

It's not quite black, but it is a nice neutral dark charcoal gray.  And my printing held up over two dye baths and washing, so I will be doing that again.

I spent most of January 2 helping to install a show at the Woodbury Art Museum in Orem.  My art quilt group will have a show there from January 14 to March 4, and it looks like it will be really nice.  It not only features quilts, but hand dyed fabric and other fiber.  Here's a sneak peek at one part-

All of us made fabric leaves, then we hung them on this tree.  It looks very cool!

I also got my Tangled Textiles piece finished- but that reveal will happen this weekend.  One thing I did learn with this one- my free motion quilting skills are rusty.  I need to get some practice in before I quilt Michelle's pink quilt.

That's what I've been up to- hopefully I'll have more to report in the coming weeks.  Stay warm!

Scarves Again

Here's some more that came out of the dyepots last weekend.

Both of these are light rayon, LWI.  The one on the right is actually much paler than the picture shows.  The one on the left was a surprise- I had no idea the colors would split like that when I did them.  In hindsight, I should have expected it, I used the bright palette and the colors have all three primaries.

This is a circle scarf, light cotton jersey.  

This last one is silk, with printing done with stencils and paintstiks.  This one is understated and elegant.

Scarves, Encore

I got a bunch more scarves dyed last weekend, and more still to finish.  I have the last three rayon scarves in the washer right now, and I have several silk scarves I'm adding a second layer with paintstiks, stencils, and rubbing plates.  I've learned that the bright colors in my Dye Bible look really different done with low water immersion vs. full immersion!  I have some scarves I love and will be happy to keep if they don't sell, and others that I'm not so sure about.  So without further ado, here's some of my collection thus far.  I hope they sell!

Bamboo Rayon, LWI                                                                           Rayon, DSP and LWI

Light rayon, stamped on wrinkled fabric                                             Silk, DSP and overdyed

and LWI

Silk, dyed and printed with paintstik and a rubbing plate

Silk, dye painted.  I was hoping the blue wouldn't blend so much into the yellow.

More to come!

Scarves Galore!

I have my second batch of scarves in the washer as I'm typing.  I mostly printed or painted these.  I can't wait to see how these come out of the wash!

These are both rayon scarves that I printed- the left with a stamp I carved a few years ago while the fabric was wrinkled, and the right with a foam roller.  I plan to overdye the one on the left, I'm hoping the other one will be good right out of the wash.  I've got four silk and another rayon scarf in the wash with these.

Five more rayon scarves to go, and about a dozen silk.  Then I need to get started with the paintstiks so they have plenty of time to cure!