Reopening the Studio Barn and Ice Dyeing

This week I got out to the studio barn, and did a thorough sweeping, cleaning, and scrubbing. Originally I was scheduled to teach a dyeing class

 to members of our Almond Country Quilt Guild on  May 2nd.

Of course that needed to be canceled, but hopefully it will be rescheduled

 for another time after the pandemic.

Below is a shirt for my hubby. I tried an S Curve folding method that was described

 on a tie dye YouTube video  by Krispi.

  He has some great videos. I really love how the colors and designs came out!

Top photo is the front and below that is the back of the shirt.

I've been collecting old, lovely linen fabrics.

 And I've been given some wonderful ones from friends as well.

 Some of them have beautiful embroidery, cut work, etc.

 As you can see, the linen takes really well to the dyes.

....and another beautiful one!

Hope everyone is doing well out there and keeping safe! 

Looking forward to teaching classes in the barn at some time again!

I've been busy making more masks for friends, family and others.

These are made using a different pattern than the ones I previously made and showed on my blog. They fit your face a little bit tighter. 

For these I used a pattern from Orange Dot Quilts. If you go to their website you can download the mask pattern for free.If you do that, be sure to check out their Facebook page for a very helpful video as well for how to do the folding part. https://www.orangedotquilts.com/

  It's working out for me because it doesn't require an extended length of time or concentration.

 My husband is still recovering from his two surgeries and needing a lot of assistance. 

He continues to improve a little bit every day, so that is good!

Can't wait until he's back to normal. You never realize how much your hubby does, 

until he can't do anything. 

Last night the sky was incredibly beautiful in the East and the West.

More Face Masks

Yesterday I made three more face masks for family members

 just in case they find themselves in a crowd

 and are unable to distance themselves from others.

I used the Sewing Scientist pattern. 

There is a link to the pattern on yesterday's blog post.

Stay healthy - keep creating! It will help to keep you sane!

Still Sewing

Yesterday I sewed up a fabric mask for myself and will be making one for each of our family members. I've been seeing lots of posts on how to make these and found a great pattern or two.

There's a lot of conflicting information out there about whether health professionals can actually use these hand made masks or not. I've read that they may be effective on top of  a medical mask, or not. Below is a picture of my lovely one.

Here is a link to the pattern I used

https://thestitchingscientist.com/2020/03/how-to-sew-a-face-mask.html

Another interesting pattern from Deaconess Hospital

 that was sent to me by my sister-in-law is below.

https://youtu.be/9tBg0Os5FWQ

Hope everyone is being kind and staying healthy out there!

More Fun Painting Fabric

Having some creative fun making new fabrics using ProChem Silk and Fabric paints.

Above is an Itajime piece folded and ready for dyeing.

After applying the dyes, I put in a plastic bag for a half hour.

Finished piece - still needs ironing, but this lets you see the fold lines

Below are pictures of the whole scarf and some detail shots.

 I love the way the colors migrated into each other creating lovely nuances of patterns.

Arashi Shibori with a Twist

     Gearing up to teach my "Fabulous Fun with Fabric Paints" class 

on March 14th at the Cambria Center for the Arts.

 Getting all my materials and 'stuff' together. Should be a lot of fun. 

I'm hoping for a sunny day so we can put projects out to dry and do some sun printing too.

     Last night I did a fun, quick experiment with the new ProChem fabric paints I bought for the class.   They are just like Jacquard's Dye-na-Flow paint, but more economical. 

It's Arashi Shibori with a twist, literally. I twisted a piece of fabric and secured it to a jar and then painted on fabrics in a diagonal pattern. 

My colors were inspired by the blue violet and greens in the Iris 

getting ready to bloom in my back yard, as you can see in the bottom picture.

Art by Accident

Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile. We have had a family medical emergency

 taking top priority and most of my time and energy. Yesterday, I did have a little time to spend in my studio. I was comparing a couple brands of paint in regards to viscosity, color, etc., 

when the container tipped over, spilling paint. 

Never one to waste paint, I quickly grabbed a couple pieces of cotton fabric to wipe it up, then spritzed some Marabu spray paints here and there.

I really like the subtle nuanced textures created accidentally.

Back in the late 70's while at Cardinal Stritch College in Wisconsin, 

I took a very interesting class, where we did a month long unit on  creating designs accidentally.  

We did a lot of fun experiments using glue, smoke, inks, etc. 

Our 'textbook' was Design by Accident by James F. O'Brien. 

The book contains a variety of great experiments to use to create interesting designs using everything from adhesives, crayons, enamel, smoke, inks, foil, sprays, shellacs, wax paper, etc.

Below are some pictures of samples made in the class. I was living in a small apartment with an even smaller attic, that I used as my studio. It did not have great ventilation, to say the least. In that attic space I remember using all sorts of toxic, stinky materials to create art. 

Now, I take great care to use much safer materials, but still love the accidental designs.

India Ink on wet Bristol Board

 The two above are done with rubber cement on poster board with black india ink

 The two above are melted crayons on poster board.

This one above was created by using tracing paper with water on poster board and followed up with spray paint. Sorry I can't remember the exact steps as to how each was created exactly 

because it was so long ago.

 I just remember having great fun discovering  serendipitous designs.

These were done by spreading acrylic paint on a piece of posterboard, and then pressing another piece of poster board on top of it. Then you pulled the two cardboards apart from each other, creating the raised paint texture. Then you lightly spray black from one edge to catch the raised ridges.