Not sewing

I knit a little (size 2) sweater for my sister's first great grandchild, Deklon.

I found this fabric at our local quilt store and had to buy it then...

I made a soft toy which I decided was a Maine Black Bear.

I love these back and white graphics.

A weak finish

Dried and ready to wash. They were still pretty vibrant at this point.

After wash and dry. Let's just call these a first layer.

Deconstructing the screens

One 

Pre-treated cotton

Two

Thickened print paste

Three

Dried screens ready to go

Wetted with print paste

I had forgotten that the screen below had hot wax shapes on it but I used thickened dye to prep it.

wet

Prints

First pass below

Finished cloth

As you can see below, I printed the screen sideways by mistake

I just wish they could maintain that vibrant color

More deconstructed screen

After my last attempt to use the deconstructed screens as stamps I ended up having 11 screens left. I went WAY outside of my comfort zone (being lazy is my comfort zone) and pre-soaked "table cover" fabric for the next batch.  Marcella who owns a clothing store in Rockland, Maine (Mace's) gave me two white shirts that her assistant calls "Artists Shirts". She says they are walking out the door. She gave me two in "One Size" and "One Size Plus". I really love super baggy clothes so I am dyeing the plus one for myself. I will also try to buy some more from her to dye and sell. We'll see how that goes. There my not be anymore from her wholesaler. Meanwhile I pre-soaked the plus shirt and hung it on the line to dry. I went even further outside my lazy comfort zone and got my spinner out to spin the pre-soaked fabrics dry. If you do a lot of pre-soaking, a spinner is wonderful. You can recapture most of the soda ash liquid NOT to save money because it is cheap but start with spun dry fabric and not have to make more because it's just dripping off the fabrics and being wasted. This spinner is probably some of the best money I have ever spent. For some reason I can't link (error message) the Spinner on Amazon so cut and paste this: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Portable-Countertop-Spin-Dryer/dp/B002HT0958/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1510070184&sr=8-5&keywords=clothes+spinner

Tomorrow is my crazy day so I hope to get to the deconstruction the day after. Stay tuned!!

Magpie

I just had to share this photo of an amazing bird. We don't have Magpies in Maine so I was 50 years old before I ever laid eyes on one. What a beauty. I love Crows and Ravens but this bird is just too beautiful and a member of the Corvid family like Crows.

New book winner

The winner of the book never contacted me so I went to Random.org and got a new winner. Hopefully I will hear from her.

Kathleen Pitts26 October, 2017 20:06

I love Nick Bantock's book, I didn't even know this one existed, sounds intriguing.

Change in plan

I thoroughly sprayed the front and back of the fabric with soda ash in a pump sprayer,  then neatly folded it between sheets of plastic bin liners cut down the sides. That gave me the "length" of bag needed to cover the 4' width of the table. As usual, I took no pictures.

 Under normal conditions (electricity), I would have waited an hour then hung the fabric on the line to dry - YES, with the thickened dye and soda ash still on it. This is a trick I learned a few years ago when making fine lines with thickened black dye in a fine tipped bottle. When bone dry I would have washed it - under normal conditions. Instead I folded the packet of fabric and slipped it into a plastic shopping bag let it sit there for three days until the power came back on.

We had out power restored about dinner time last night and we so elated (yes, I did a happy dance on the deck) that we just luxuriated in the warmth and watched the news to find out what had happened in the world while we lived like cave men. This morning, overcast  and blowy, I pegged it out to catch the wind and dry out a bit. It was almost dry when I threw it in the washer (thank you Central Maine Power) and washed the piece in cold water with Synthropol (Prosypol form ProChem).

When it came out it was time for the boiling bath to remove the soy wax - very easy. The Maine Eventers know all about these processes.

Wax still on above but 

boiling water and Ivory dish washing liquid and the soy wax was dispersed.

Then it was into the washer again for a hot wash. Washed and dried...

It is so dark and dreary outside, I may make another book after I sew together a baby sweater for my new grand nephew.