Ice Dyeing with a Twist or Should I Say with a Turn

Did some ice dyeing again yesterday, but different than I've done previously.  I bundled and scrunched the  fabrics and shirt tying them with string and rubber bands, so they stayed together in a dinner plate like shape.  I placed them on a rack over a larger container, put ice on it and then sprinkled darker color dye powder on it.  Next I placed it outside for an hour or so until most of the ice had melted. Then I brought it back inside, flipped it upside down and placed ice over it followed by lighter color dye powder.

I really like the contrast in colors and textures.

The above piece is canvas.

The piece above is cotton.

This shirt looks much better when on a body.  

Visiting Quilt National without Leaving Home

One of these years, I really want to visit Quilt National.  Maybe when I return to the midwest to visit relatives.  Although it seems the years I do that, are the off years for that show, as it is a biennial show.  Anyway, it's great you can see so many of the quilts via the internet.  I know seeing them in person is a completely different, more fulfilling experience, but it's better than not seeing them at all.

One of my favorite quilts from the show is by Charlotte Ziebarth, entitled Liquid Sunset.



To view more of her work visit:  http://www.charlotteziebarth.com/

I often check out her website and especially her blog.  She creates wonderful artquilts and has great information besides.

Another website and blog I enjoy visiting often is Deidre Adam's. She has a fabulous textural quilt in Quilt National, plus pictures of each artist with their quilt.   Go here to visit her website:
http://abstractions.deidreadams.com/

Enjoy your trip to the show! Back to grading final projects for me.

Stitching Away the Time

With nine and a half more days of school left, Saturday was mostly spent grading papers, unloading and loading the school kiln and lesson planning for the week.

I had a couple hours to do some more stitching on two of my unfinished quilts that will be part of my upcoming solo show at the library in July.  Any spare time I have is going towards getting those two done.  I do enjoy hand embroidery, although it is time consuming.

Today, I did a little work in the garden, planting more lettuce and some hollyhocks.  Both were planted slightly over a month ago, but didn't grow.  So I'm hoping with the warmer weather, the soil will be warmer encouraging the seeds to germinate and grow.

In the afternoon I went wine tasting with a friend in beautiful Paso Robles wine country.  Here's a picture taken at Halter Ranch Winery.

Fiber Coiled Baskets, Gargoyles and More

This was Open House week at the middle school where I teach, so all my time and energy went into preparing for that.  The rest of the week I was pretty much recovering.

My students have done some amazing work this year.  Here's some pics.

 These are the ceramic gargoyles students made as part of a unit on Gothic Architecture.  They still need to be painted black and then a coat of gray sand paint will be added to 'age' them.

 Students could create chimeras, gargoyles, or other mythic

 creatures as seen on medieval cathedrals.

Fiber coiled baskets made by the 8th graders as part of a unit on Native American arts.

Ceramic bowls in the style of Maria Martinez created by 6th graders. Students made simple pinch pots, added a coil to the top to learn how to score and slip clay, then carved their Native American designs into the pots.  Pots were bisque fired, then students glazed them.

Self Portraits, using a grid method, by 7th Graders

 Block Prints by 7th Graders

Metal tooled Medieval Letters by 7th Graders.

Fourteen and a half more days of school!!!

Dyeing Silk with Color Hue Dyes

My Cutting Edge group had a chance to experiment with Color Hue Dyes yesterday at our meeting thanks to a great demo from Rene Jennings.

Here's  a link to Dharma with more info about this fun, easy technique http://www.dharmatrading.com/kits/starter/sets/colorhue-silk-dyes-10-color-set.html

Below are pictures of our experiments.

Here is one of my pieces very wet and still on the plastic.

 Here's Ann Louise and I figuring out the next move to make in our creations.

Above is the dry version of the top piece.

Here is another one I made.  Both pieces are approximately 12 x 18 inches.

Here's a vibrant one Mary Ann was doing.

One from Ann Louise

Another of Mary Ann's

Soy Wax Batik with Dye-na-Flow Paints

Yesterday I batiked some silk and cotton using Dye-na-Flow paints.

I first waxed the large circle grids to preserve some of the white, then painted on the yellow and orange.

Then I used a tool that was rectangular with diamond openings

 to preserve some of the yellow and orange areas.  After the wax dried, I painted black over it.

After the black dried, I placed it in the freezer (read that you get more cracking this way) and then twisted it to get the wax go fall off.  I did too much twisting, too much wax came out, but I didn't know it at the time.  I then applied black over the whole piece and let it dry.  Closeup is below. I like it but wish it didn't have quite so much black.

This is a silk scarf.  Again I preserved some white areas, then painted yellows and oranges on it. Next I waxed over some of the yellow and orange areas, then applied blue paint.  Really like this one.

Shibori Shirts

Did some Arashi Shibori on  three shirts Sunday.

This one is a linen shirt with embroidered areas that stayed white

 due to the polyester thread in them.

This was done on a yellow Land's End T-shirt.

This was done on a Dharma White T-Shirt.