The winner

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I had both of these made from photographs I took.

The winner is Carol S. 

Carol S.30 August, 2017 00:40

thanks for all the info you share through your blog. I would like to try my hand at silk screens using thermoflax screens

Preparing for the Sunday workshop

Of course that Sunday workshop is Sunday September 17th but why wait to the last minute. One of the items I am making in advance is an 18" square of dyed cotton with graphics that can be the basis we "practice" using thickened dyes upon. I made this pillow out of a square I had played with.

Above are my circles and squares thermofax screens and below are my beans and rice stamps. Rice is at the top and beans on the bottom. I used acrylic medium to adhere rice and then beans to two pieces of mat board then inked them for stamping.

I first attempted to dye enough fabric for 15 eighteen inch squares. I wanted a muted beige to knock back the white but my first attempt (orange and blue = brown) ended up looking pink. The second attempt I tried a faint olive to hopefully make the pink more brown. I ended up with faint olive with splotches of pink. I cried uncle. This will ultimately be covered in vivid thickened dyes.

In a few hours when totally dry, I will iron (heat set) the acrylic paint and cut them into 15 squares. This should be fun to play with and even if "we" don't think it looks like much our friends and family will be astounded (smile). These will make great pillows for gifts.

about the DVD

I may also send an old thermofax screen of mine along with the DVD to play with and I will pick a winner on Thursday. I forgot to mention that "pick" date.

I also have two tutorials about Thermofax Screens: All About Thermofax Screens  and What is a Thermofax Screen and How Do I Use It. They are great tutorials if I do say so myself and Lyric makes great screens.

something different

This is a Quilting Arts DVD on using thermofax screens.

Leave a comment to win it.

Indigo dye experiment

 I have been using a recipe for making an indigo vat for years. Now all of a sudden the recipe was changed. I called the company and the woman who answered the phone said they wanted to make it weaker so you could do multiple dips. I wasn't interested in multiple dips so I continued to use the old recipe. Well, I lost it and called the company to see if they still had the old recipe. This time I talked to the head of the company who told me the recipe changed because they switched manufacturers and this "new" recipe went along with the new product which I had purchased. At least that made sense so I told her I would do a vat of indigo with the "new" recipe and see if it was similar.

I invited Marcella over to do a few dips and see how it preformed. This is what we did. I only took a few "before" pictures but they were interesting.

a rayon infinity scarf (PVC pipe) and piece of cotton sheeting (left back)

cotton sheeting on a ventilation  duct (my favorite thing)

another rayon infinity scarf (below)

a cotton handkerchief - just for kicks

Basket reed

Marcella's stash (before) blouse, scarf, cheese cloth in a ball.

Marcella hanging up some cheese cloth and below white clothing we dyed using various methods

silk haboti scarf

Did I mention indigo dyeing is addictive? We were at it for seven hours and the "new" recipe passed the test. We will have 3 vats going at the Maine Event.

Re-screening a ripped silk screen

I am in mid preparation for the Maine Event here at my home in Maine next month.

 I was gathering all my silk screens found this one missing the screen. I removed the tape and re-screened it 

                              Ready now for creative hands

and I an trying to act like a grown up and keep things tidy.

Preparing for the Maine Event

The Maine Event is coming soon and I'm having a great time planning and preparing.

I printed the verbal description of each days events then fleshed out supplies I would need, jobs that needed doing, prep for the participants and everything I needed to do in advance for each class. So far I have one and a half days done

I had this paper left over and thought I would make small notebooks for the participants to use in documenting their work and experiments. It was also a great opportunity for me to cut a stamp, print it on paper, fold them into signatures and sew a simple pamphlet stitch binding with some of my hand dyed threads

Five piles with 9 sheets each (3 pamphlets each pile)

acrylic paint on a gelli plate

Coming along - drying.

One container of my own hand dyed threads

 Getting started and the sheet on the right will cover my notebook with all the info for each workshop.

Attaching the rubber stamp to foam core board

Finished