Weekend Shibori Class - Part 1

What a great weekend in Lancaster, PA, taking a workshop at the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsman.  It was a full 2-day workshop learning techniques of Japanese shibori dyeing - methods of wrapping, folding, stitching, binding and clamping to create beautiful patterns and textures in fabric. 

Our instructor was Kachina Martin, who is a public school art teacher as well as craftsman and juried member of the Pennsylvania guild.  We started off learning about direct dye application on a scarf and allowing it to "batch" or cure, wrapped in plastic, overnight.

   This project would get a second technique and dye applied on day 2.

We also learned several stitching and binding techniques.  On this piece, rows of running stitches are pulled to tightly gather the fabric, then the thread is knotted to keep it pulled tight before dyeing.

Here's what it looks like after dyeing and removing the stitching.

Another technique we learned was pole wrapping.  Using pvc pipe, the fabric (or scarf or item to be dyed) is wrapped around the pipe.  As it is wrapped, it is bound with cord and scrunched together, so that a large amount of fabric takes up very little space.  Several scarves or pieces of fabric can be wrapped on the same pole.

This is the first piece of fabric that I pole wrapped.  You'll see that parts of this piece later have other techniques applied as well. It was folded in half lengthwise and positioned diagonally on the pole to get the chevron effect you see here.

That's what we did in the morning of day 1.  Look for another installment tomorrow!

Shibori Fabric Dyeing

Elizabeth and I are taking a shibori dyeing class this weekend.  Shibori is an ancient Japanese fabric dyeing technique of creating shape resists that utilize a variety of methods – wrapping, tying, stitching, folding, twisting – to create richly textured patterns of color on fabric.  Here is a Quilting Arts video on You Tube that will give you some background on shibori dyeing.

In our quilt camp summers we have experimented with shibori. Elizabeth has done more than I have.  I feel very much a novice at this technique.  Here are pictures of a few of our past experiments.

 In the top picture, the red/yellow/blue piece and the shirt in the above picture were done by folding and then applying the dye in specific places to create pattern.

The piece above is done by wrapping the fabric around a PVC pipe, tying with cord, and then scrunching together before adding the dye, as you see in the pan above.

Hopefully we will have some beautiful creations to post pictures of next week! 

Recycled Project Update

I've been working on the recycled clothing quilt project in between other things.  First, I made 30  blocks like this.

 I also needed some smaller squares and rectangles to get the dimensions I need for width & length.

Today I spent time on the layout and am working on putting the rows together.  Here's a peak at how its shaping up.

I'm happy with how it looks and the progress I made today.

Quilts as Ambassadors

Walking into church this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a quilted banner hanging in the sanctuary that was made by our small but mighty quilt group.  There were 3 of us who came up with the concept for this quilt; the other 2 contributed fabrics and traced hands, but I put it together and did the quilting.  And other than seeing it hang each fall, I forgot about it. So it was nice to be reminded today.  And to look at it and be happy with the work.

That got me to thinking about how the quilts we make and send out into the world - as gifts, charity projects, donations in support of a cause - are ambassadors.  They embody the care, time, dedication, skill, comfort and love we put into each one.  Almost like a child you have nurtured and watched grow, until they are ready to go off on their own.  And wherever they end up, we have faith that they are providing warmth and comfort, and surrounding their owners with the love that went into making them.

Another Fun Screen Printing Class!



Today Elizabeth & I taught thermofax screen printing to a  group of 6 creative ladies.  It's always fun to hear each one's story about what led them to art quilting and wanting to create their own fabric.  And also to see the wheels start turning as we share ideas for ways to use screen printing in their work, whether its the main technique or used in combination with other methods of surface design.  The more layers, the more complex the cloth becomes.  It really is addictive to those of us who are compelled to make something from a blank canvas.  What we eventually do with it doesn't matter - its the making it and the process that's most gratifying.

Joan, in the foreground, is using some of her hand-dyed shibori fabric.  She's new to dyeing and these were some of her first attempts (!).  She wasn't particularly happy with them, but they look pretty good to me!

One of the things Therese does is make felted hats, which she wants to try embellishing with screen prints.

Everyone learned to tape their own screen in preparation for printing.

We used 4 different types of textile paint to make comparisons, and also experimented with discharge paste and thickened dyes.  Our students loved having a large variety of screens to print with and try before deciding which, if any, they wanted to buy.

 

On Nov. 2, we will be teaching again at Artistic Artifacts - the class will be Turn Your Photos into Thermofax Screens.  We teach you to use Photoshop Elements to take your own photos and convert them to black & white high contrast images that can be used to make a screen.  You can find out more about the class here.  Hope to see some of you there!

 

Screen Printed Pottery Update

A couple of weeks ago I shared some photos of screen printed pottery by Reents Pottery.  Michelle bought some custom screens from PGFiber2Art in order to try this technique and promptly went to her studio to experiment as soon as she received the screens.  She posted pictures that same day of the first step in her process.

This past Friday she did a follow-up post of what the mugs look like after some additional glaze and firing.  Here's the mermaid mug:

I think it looks really cool!  You can see her complete post here.

Recycled Clothes Quilt

I'm currently working on a commission for a friend, who wants a quilt made from her 7-year-old's clothing.  The saved treasures also included a crib sheet, and child's chair cover.   I've spent a few weeks (off & on) taking things apart to be able to cut the fabric into usable pieces.

These are some of the shirts, cut apart into fronts and backs. 

Here are some of the other pieces - some cotton knits, flannels, and part of the chair cover, which yielded a surprising amount of fabric.

 And some of the cut pieces, ready to be sewn into blocks.  Stay tuned to see how this evolves!