A post for 2017

For the historical record (and just because I felt like writing), I'm revisiting this neglected blog and posting an update.  It has been over a year, after all!

Last year's fabric book challenge kind of fizzled out, except for a few exceptions.  So did the following one. Some of the reasons given were:  not really interested in the subject/theme, ran out of time, lack of commitment, couldn't get started, etc. So what do we do when there's low participation in our challenges?  Maybe the answer is to let each person decide what subject interests them and/or what techniques they'd like to learn.

That's the new Self-Directed Challenge where each member decides what she wants to work on.  Each chooses their own subject matter and some parameters that will challenge and push them creatively.  We'll share our projects at each monthly meeting to show our progress.

I've finished the first half of my Self-Directed Challenge, which was to make a piece for the Pathways exhibit at Memorial Union at Oregon State University in Sept-Oct.  The exhibit featured work by the Valley-South SAQA group I'm in.   

"The Illuminated Way"

detail

The background fabric was first deconstructed screenprinted and deemed ugly.  So I dyed it teal, then stamped it with one of Maureen's wooden tjaps (printing block).  A blonde sheet of silk fusion (a sort of silk paper I made from silk roving) was placed on top of the background, then channels of teal velvet were stitched over it.  A vertical trail of tiny squares of copper foiling were added, then the quilting.

My artist's statement was about being overwhelmed and getting lost by all the possibilities.  We observe, research, and sample many avenues, always searching for the one that lights up our soul.  "In art, as in life, I'm seeking that spark that illuminates the way forward for me, showing me that I'm on the right path."

Other work completed this year includes these two small  pieces inspired by English artist Angie Hughes, whose work I greatly admire.  They're on a velvet background and the techniques used include fabric painting, discharging through stencils, Angelina fibers, Textiva film, organza layers, and free-motion quilting.  One of the reasons I enjoy making these so much is because of the varied techniques used.  (The variety keeps me interested so I don't wander off and start something else!)

Three Candles (9x10")

Spring Blooms (7x9")

I'll show the results of my eco-dyeing explorations in my next post.  I've really enjoyed steaming eco-prints onto watercolor paper, and have also done more with onion skin dye, solar flower dyes, cochineal dye, and indigo.

A simmering pot of onion skins for dye.

Happy Halloween!

Projects from May

Happy Memorial Day Weekend -- the unofficial start of summer!  This month, I've set up a challenge for myself to create smaller quilts (about 8x10" or 9x12") using only what's in my basket of fabric scraps and leftover pieces from previous projects.  Here's what I have so far:

"Purple House," 8x10"

 Yes, purple and green again (with a splash of orange).  Needs more work:

"Expectation" 8x10" (in-progress)

 Continuing with orange . . .

Untitled (& unfinished), will be about 10x12"

 Lots of orange scraps to use up, so why not?

"Hot!" (possible quilt background)

Something different . . . inspired by Jackie Cardy, who makes the most beautiful brooches in yummy colors you can't get unless, like her, you dye your own  silk velvet.  Someday I'll try that!  Below, the two pieces in the center are on black felt, while the two on the sides are on my handmade silk paper.

Stitching on velvet

Another project finished this month was the Barbados Bag (pattern by Pink Sand Beach).

 "Barbados Bag"

Today's venture:  I pulled out my ancient jars of Setacolor paint (still good!) and sun-printed some fabric.  The first two were slightly scrunched (the lighter areas were inside the folds and not exposed to the sun).  Leaves and flowers were placed on the 3rd piece and sun-printed.

Sunprints using Setacolor paints

The remaining two projects are journal quilts I made in February.  After making them, I decided I didn't want to commit to this as a monthly project.  The current challenge for the Fiberexplorations group is very loosely defined:  to create any type of artist's book for the purpose of exploring whatever technique(s) or subject(s) you choose.  A book of journal quilts (about 9x12") isn't what I want to do, though I'm not sure what is, except that I want something small enough to fit comfortably in one hand.

February Journal Quilt, 9x12"

"Leap Day" Journal Quilt, 9x12"

With the warmer weather, I'm excited to continue learning about and experimenting with natural dyes and eco-dyeing.  Next time, I'll include photos of the lichen dye I'm making, which has to steep for a few months before using.  I really want to try dyeing with eucalyptus leaves, but we don't have them here in Oregon.  Maybe I could trade a bag of staghorn lichen with someone in California who has eucalyptus leaves.  Know of anyone?

Eco-dyeing with the fall harvest

It started when we harvested our Concord grapes and I saw all that beautiful purple juice.  My husband was trying his hand at making grape jam, but all I could see was another way to dye fabric, so I confiscated some of the skins and juice and set about experimenting.  My results, on cotton (left) and silk (right:

Dyed with grape skins and juice

With this new passion ignited, I started looking for possibilities.  Aha!  Black walnuts from my son's backyard.  When the outer hull (yellowish-green) begins to turn black and peel away, what's left is an inky black, fibrous substance surrounding the nutshell.  It really stains!  I filled a bucket with them, added water, stirred, and made "walnut hull stew" for fabric dyeing!

Walnut-hull stew

I tightly bunched up a piece of cotton (pre-mordanted with alum), bundled it tightly, and tossed it into the "stew" for 24 hours.

Cotton, bundled for dyeing

Walnut-hull dyed cotton

Cotton sateen, walnut-hull dyed

Because our summer seemingly lasted forever, I still had flowers blooming into late October, just as our trees were turning color and beginning to fall. My next experiments took me back to my childhood and my favorite library book, Mud Pies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow.*  I walked through my yard, choosing flowers:

Late-season flower harvest

 I carefully picked apart the flower petals and leaves, then arranged them on lengths of alum-mordanted cotton  and a piece of silk (no mordant) . . .

Flower petals and leaves  on cotton

 Then tightly rolled each piece around a stick, secured with twine (also called "eco-bundling"):

Final step:  placed them in a bamboo steam basket inside a very large pot, covered, and steamed for 1 hour.

Nothing happened.  I missed a step!  I forgot to mist them with vinegar water, so I did, and got them pretty wet, and steamed them for another hour.  Here's one of the pieces after it air-dried.

But after I rinsed it in lukewarm water, most of the color faded and not much was left, except for the lines made by the twine wrapping:

Finally, I moved on to ice-flower dyeing, a method developed by India Flint in her book Eco-Colour.  I used flower petals I'd collected during the summer, then placed in plastic bags and froze.  I choose some frozen fuschia-colored peony petals, placed them in a Mason jar, and added lukewarm water (and vinegar, to promote the red color).  According to India,

"the temperature shock of immersion assisted in the rapid release of colour.  

Freezing plant material has the added benefit of breaking up the 

structure of the plant, as the moisture contained within the 

cells expands while becoming solid." (p. 138)

Unfortunately, my results were less-than stellar:

Cotton, ice-flower dyed (with peony petals)

Cheesecloth, ice-flower dyed (with peony petals).  The pattern was created
by the way I folded the fabric before immersion.

Where did the pretty color go?   Looks like I'll need more practice!

Lessons learned:  Patience is a virtue.  There are no guarantees in life.  Keep playing and experimenting.  There's always more to learn.

* The magic of Mud Pies and Other Recipes:  Though I didn't really play with dolls (except for Barbies), there was something about foraging in my own backyard that totally absorbed me.   At my pleading, my mom bought me a stack of 3x5" index cards, and I hand-copied every recipe in that book for my own collection.  (Oh, how I wish I still had that collection!)  I can still recall the magical feeling evoked by Erik Blegvad's illustrations; they take me back to the smell and feel of bright, hazy Mid-Atlantic mornings.

From the book's foreword:

This is a cookbook for dolls. It is written for kind climates and summertime.  

It is an outdoor cookbook, because dolls dote on mud, when properly prepared.  They love the crunch of pine needles and the sweet feel of seaweed on the tongue.  The market place, then, will be a forest or sand dune or your own backyard . . .