What else is snow for?

At the beginning of the month, we were 'blessed' with snow and although it wasn't much and only really kept us in for one day, I had to make good use of it by Snow Dyeing.

This is something I've done many times before, sometimes through lack of snow using ice, and each time the results have been different but that's one of the wonderful things about using this method of dyeing fabric.

I started by soaking some cotton fabric in soda to help the dye get into the fabric and then folded some and scrunched up other pieces.  This fabric was placed on a rack over a litter tray.......

Next I piled on the snow so that all the fabric was covered.....

Finally for this first stage, I sprinkled dye powder over the snow (taking care that I didn't breathe any in!).  I used a variety of fibre reactive dyes, some of which I'd had for some time and thought it time to use them up.  This may well have affected the results but as I wasn't planning to use the fabric for a particular project, I didn't worry about it.

So that the snow took time to melt and therefore spent as much time as possible on the fabric I put the tray in the shed and left it for 24 hours.   Even then there was still some unmelted snow but we were having sub zero temperatures overnight at that time.

Having rinsed and washed the fabrics, I was really pleased with the results.  some of the fabrics had some lovely areas which you only seem to get with snow dyeing, so the whole operation was a success.

 

 

 

Now I have to decide what to do with the fabric!  I have a couple of ideas mulling so more to come.....

Dyeing orange fabric

On my trip round the colour wheel for this year's Journal Quilts, I was horrified to find for the February one I had no orange fabric so this week I set to and created some.

Now my dyeing practice in the past has always been a 'chuck it all in and see what comes out' but this time round as I wanted a particular colour I thought I would be more methodical. As usual, I  turn to "Dyeing in Plastic Bags" by Helen Deighan and used her methods and recipes and even went as far as recording the recipes I used for the dyes and the salt and soda solutions.  I also pre-marked my fabric samples and made a note of the quantities of dyes I had used so hopefully I can recreate it a need them again.

I found being organised has made me more aware of the colours I achieved and also where they weren't quite right I can tell from the colours I used how I can adjust them next time.   Once the main samples were done I used up the dyes I'd mixed with a bit of   'chuck it all in and see what comes out'.

Really pleased with the results and look forward to using them on February and March's JQs.

The fabrics along the bottom are the eight pieces I was systematic about, mixing lemon yellow and golden yellow with scarlet and magenta.  The two red/pink ones were using 2:1 yellow to magenta.  The other fabrics were the others which used up the orange dyes I have left, some with red added.

October Journal Quilt

Cactus has once again inspired this month's Journal Quilt.

The finished quilt looks very simple and may look like a bit of a cop-out to some but it probably took just as much time and trouble as all the others.

It started with a piece of fabric I had which I think I bought some time ago.  It had been hand dyed and had the appearance of green and yellow stripes and as soon as I saw it in my stash it reminded of a particular cactus we had seen in Gran Canaria - my theme for the year's quilts.

However, the fabric was completely the wrong shape and try as I might I couldn't get it to the 11" square I wanted as the joins needed meant the stripes did not match up.  The downside of hand dyed fabric.   The only way out was to dye my own but of course my result just wasn't as good as the original!

I tried out several ideas for how to create the spikes and settled in the end for free machine quilting them.

The inspirational cactus ....

The November quilt is already to go but I've had a mind block for the final one so let's hope I have some inspiration soon.

Progress on Beach Inchies

The beach themed inchies are taking shape!   Having needlefelted the fabrics and fibres in my previous post, I have been busy hand stitching and embellishing the beach and sky inchies.   I've used a variety of threads, although my favourite is Perle no. 8 so I used this the most.  As well as beads I also embellished the beach inchies with fragments of shells.

The Sea still needs some work but the inchies are all cut ready for stitching.

I needed to dye some threads for these as I wanted some deeper turquoise blue so they are different from the sky so I had a dyeing session with the following results.

Ready to go now to get the sea finished and mount the results.

Retrospective 1

One good thing about moving is having to look through old work that hasn't seen the light of day for some years.   The down side is some of it has to go!

I've surprised myself at how ruthless I've been but made sure anything that went was photographed first so I so have something to remember.

Back in the 1980s I did City and Guilds Creative Embroidery Parts 1 an 2.  It was my first experience of any formal training in anything connected to art and textiles and it blew my mind!   This was really the beginning of the journey I'm still on and I don't think it's an exaggeration that it changed my creative soul.

Looking back over the work I brought back some happy memories and several surprises too so I thought over the next few weeks/months I would share some of this retrospective work.

This first collection  consists of canvas work which I loved and, as you will see, I did quite a few pieces.   I also tended to work in primary colours at this time, which again is apparent.    The first few ones were based on tulips.

And of course, in true C&G tradition, the design board that went with it!

 

 

The next group are other various examples based on canvas work.

 



 

Threads woven over netting



A view from a window

 

Black and White with canvas detail



Detail

   

Dyed threads worked on canvas

   

Detail

  

Stitches on canvas using various fabrics and threads



Detail

    

The final piece was inspired by a day spent dyeing thread and fabrics which hung out in the garden to dry one sunny summer's day.

 





Dyeing for New Work

Happy few hours spent dyeing some fabric and threads for my next two projects.

You can tell from the colours that it is a watery theme!  One will be inspired by Chichester Harbour and the other will be inspired by photos taken in Iceland by my Thread and Shutter friend Brian Baker.

It's the first time I've set out to dye very pale colours and I'm now worried that they will be too pale.  At least I will be able to dye them again!

Can't wait to get started......

Productive Day Dyeing

I spend a morning this week dyeing - no particular reason, just fancied doing it!

I normally use the plastic bag method but decided to give low immersion/tray dyeing a go this time.  

The first batch started with lemon yellow and I then added red and turquoise.  I think I overdid the "pressing to make sure everything was covered" as it did end up looking more brown that I wanted.  Once washed it didn't look so bad.

I then dyed batches of turquoise with a splash of cobalt blue; magenta with a splash of purple; and finally orange with a splash of red.  Very happy with the results of these.

To finish off I used up all the left over dye with the result of a blue, red, purple mix.

At the same time I dyed some threads - soft cotton, perle and a skein of stranded.

I have a project in mind for these so keep watching!

Challenge fabric ready

After an afternoon dyeing fabric, I now have the fabric ready to continue with my South Downs Challenge 'boot'.

I always use Helen Deighan's Dyeing in Plastic Bags method, mixing my own colours from primary coloured Procion dyes.  I use two different shades of each colour - turquiose/cobalt blue; golden yellow/lemon yellow; and magenta/scarlet - and although my mixing etc is not a precise as Helen's, I am usually pleased with the results.   If I want a particular colour I will use that colour dye.

My fabric is usually a bit mottled but I'm happy with that look as it really looks hand dyed.

Straight out of the dye solution

Washed and dried ready for use

I also dyed some cotton perle so I would have matching thread for any handstitching I may add.

Threads ready to dry and be untangled!

Now to plan the next stage.

Ice Dyeing

Did some Ice Dyeing a few days ago as I had acquired two bags of ice!

I did one lot as "Ice Parfait" where the fabric, ice and dye powder are layered in a tall container.  I did three layers, putting yellow at the bottom and blue and red on subsequent layers.   I was a bit concerned that the bottom layer would end up more sludge than clear colour, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The photos show the dyeing process followed by the resulting fabric.

 

 

I also did some "normal" Ice Dyeing, using mainly blue and turquoise dye powder as I needed a blue background for a piece of planned work.

 

Again the photos show the dyeing process and the resulting fabric.

 

 

 

In both dye pots I added a selection of threads as well:

I also had some vintage tray cloths with pulled thread work which I dyed with the intention of using them to make book covers.