MidSummer Maine 2018

Announcing the new MidSummer Maine Event, June 22,23 and 24.

Our Visual Taproot

This event will center on mark making, textile process and spontaneous improvisational creation. We will be experimenting with mark making tools and a wide variation of fiber, in woven and non-woven forms, to create a visual bank for reference. The main thrust is on experimenting, playing, looking, and learning, taking our imaginations and creativity to places we have never been before. Although the main focus is on process and experimentation, we will explore and exploit these experiences, in creating an array of works on paper and fiber culminating in two books.

On day one we will make paste paper, to cover a traditional coptic stitched sketchbook, for documenting our experiences over the three days, and beyond, followed by two days of unbridled experimentation. These creative experiments can be bound into a book of many fibers as a potential resource for further work, our visual taproot.

Next year, we will be building on these processes and more, going further in the exploration of mark, materials, and creation. I hope to share this experience with you.

Class is limited to ten but a second event covering the same material will be offered  July 20,21 and 22 as well.

The three day workshop is $150. and there is  a materials fee of $75. Lunch will be served all three days and there will be a dinner Saturday night here for $10.  I have 3 rooms available to stay in for each event for $50. a night.

If you have ever considered coming to mid-coast Maine for a workshop this is the one you want to attend.Are you interested?  Please contact me using the Contact Form at the bottom of this page.

I should have left it alone

The first shirt was gorgeous. Look at those fabulous colors.

 But the second shirt, the one in my size................


I should have been happy. I should have left it alone but noooooooo!!
It was too green and not as purple as I wanted it. I have only myself to blame. Instead of mixing up "Grape", I mixed up fuchsia and intense blue. My hand should NEVER touch a bottle of fuchsia ever again.

I ruined it. Now I am trying to come up with way to get that color out without destroying the fabric. 

Out of the dyer and under the iron

The first shirt, the one that is too small for me, came out GREAT I love the colors and the figuring on the fabric

Dye is all washed out then into the washer with THREE color catchers

Two pictures of the ironed shirt on a hanger

Just beautiful coloring on this shirt

The other shirt (mine) almost looks like camo. I am very disappointed

What do you do when your very disappointed? Yeah, more dye...

The Artist Shirt or What do you do after two blizzards

I visited my friend Marcella's clothing store this summer and she had these FABULOUS shirts that one of her employees named "The Artist Shirt". I loved them and since they were white I thought of all the ways I could color them up. I pre-soaked the one that would fit me thinking I would apply thickened dye in scrapings but with all this snow, the thought "Snow Dye" popped in my head. Holy Cow what a great idea.
I have a refrigerator full of bottles of dye concentrate but I mixed up new for full potency. Here is the story in pictures.

I recently started mixing my MX dyes in empty dye jars. No fooling around with dye powder possible going into the air then into my lungs. Heavy shaking really gets the dye mixed well

Dye and soda ash

Hardware cloth screens to suspend the fabric above the dripping dye.

Fabric arranged scrumpled up on the screens

Here comes the snow.

First "snow cone" covered in dye. At this point you can see the colors very easily.

Fresh dye

Starting to rot

Now its ready for the microwave treatment. Dye works between 70 and 110 so I'm ready to warm it up.

Fabric with some dye filled snow covered in plastic wrap and going into the microwave for 8 minutes on high. That would be my dedicated microwave.

Surprise ending

I started out with the Horizon 3 pictured in the last post. I "tried on" several horizons and foreground and I ended up with an entirely new piece using none of the components from Horizon 3.

I tried the foreground two different way; horizontal and vertical. I liked them both but ended up choosing the horizontal. I have it on the backing and when the temperature goes above zero I will attempt to cut a new frame for it.

What's next

December was a hectic month for many reasons none of which involved Christmas. The quilt for my sister was MIA in the mail for almost 3 weeks but it finally arrived. The puppies approve and my sister loves it.
I decided to start selling my book covers online and I started another blog which ate up quite a bit of time. I "recreated" the blog three times and I am now happy with it. You can see it here.

I have also been working on a new piece in the "Horizon" series. I dismantled a finished and framed piece (below) and have made major changes.

I think I will take a break from the book covers and work a bit on the new "Horizon". I am also going to Boston to meet a friend from the "Maine Event". We are going to IKEA and I am buying two small units to use as a storage base for my ironing table. More about that later

The finished book covers

I managed to iron out the fabric bulges on these two.

Book Cover Extravaganza

I really enjoyed working on the quilt and was not quite ready to put the Juki to bed so I put in a new needle and indulged in a book cover extravaganza. I went through fabric I made over the last 12 years and picked out some contenders. Some were fabric paint experiments but most were experiments of some kind. After the experiment I just put the pieces to bed so this was a great opportunity to give them another life.

This was the original pile of fabrics all ironed nicely. I added more and still have more book covers yet to make.

The cloth from the table where I set up screens to deconstruct

This was a stamping and colography experiment. The colograph was done with hot glue squiggles on a cardboard base

This was a paint and stamp experiment

Using up dye after a thickened dye session

This was bleach sprayed on Travertine tiles then black cotton placed on the bleachy tiles. I really like this one.

This was fabric that Nienke sent me years ago. It was beautiful and needed to be the "star of the show". These book covers were the perfect vehicle for showing off her dyeing techniques.

The big finish

I did a pretty good job not duplicating too many quilt designs. I did use a lot of words I use to describe my sister like wonderful and amazing.

All quilted so now I need some bias tape for the binding.

Would you believe this is an indigo dye? Halogen lights are NOT good when taking photographs.

I ended up with over 25 YARDS of bias tape. I was a bit concerned that I might run out. Didn't happen.

Good color above.

Finished, in a box and in the mail winging its way to Indiana.