Discharge Dyeing Once Again

Had a lot of fun yesterday doing some discharge dyeing. I first tried doing ice discharge dyeing, but didn't get good results at all.  I was afraid to leave the Softscrub on too long and removed it too soon, which  resulted in very little dye being removed. By then I was out of ice, but not bleach.

Black shirt,  accordion folded, tied, then I poured 1/2 bleach/half water mix over it.

Triangular folded and dipped.  I like this one a lot.

Previously dyed, swirled and discharged.

Shibori wrapped around pole and immersed into 1/2 bleach/1/2 water mix.

Blooming Iris

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks. I broke my camera a week ago and have just   been  too busy with not a lot to show here.  Yesterday I noticed this lovely iris in full bloom in my garden.  Just before one of my close friends, Jana, passed away in 1999, when we moved into our present home, she gave me a lot of irises from her garden that she was thinning out. Every year for her February birthday and her October death at least one blooms. It never ceases to amaze me.  Jana was an amazing person and artist.  Just like the iris, she was unique and beautiful when you took the time to look inside.

Been working on more fabric manipulation techniques and my ice dyed quilt.  Should have picture updates on those soon.

Manipulated Fabric Samples

Since the free  guild workshop a couple of weekends ago, I've been intrigued with manipulating fabric. I checked out a book from our library entitled The Art of Manipulating Fabric, by Colette Wolff.

 Actually it's the second time I've checked it out.  It is an incredible collection of great techniques to create 3D folds, tucks and more.  I've also been re-reading Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat.

 I love her twisted rose blocks, but found another way to do them, since her way wasn't working for me.   I made them similar to how you make the chop key blocks, but put three folds on each  side rather than just one in the center.  Because of the extra folds, I started with a 5 inch block for the top and a  3 inch block for the muslin under it, to which you secure the folds. Below are some of my new blocks.

Mock pin tucks using a double needle.

Twisted  rose blocks above with a closeup below