I thought I would show you some of the stuff I have been doing. First, we applied resist to PDF fabric and then painted a dye on it to creat a Faux Batik. This was a two step process - so we met for two weeks for this one. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)
The picture above is one yard of fabric that was brushed with cooked oatmeal and then dyed with hot pink, bright yellow, teal and one section of bright blue. I folded the fabric over so the yellow mixed in with the teal. When I washed out the dye it faded to much paler colors as you can see. But the effect of the oatmeal is neat.
The above picture is of PDF fabric that was designed heavily with a blue school glue gel resist and in the left lower corner I drew flowers with baby rice food from a hypodermic syringe. This was then painted with bright orange dye which faded to pale, pale peach when washed. I thought this one would have been really cool if it had stayed bright orange.
The third resist I tried was mashed potatoes. I painted that with bright yellow but it also washed to a pale yellow and because of how I applied the mashed potatoes there was more white than yellow. So, I will save that one and over dye it sometime.
Each are very usable pieces of fabric - just wish the colors were more vibrant. The teacher thought perhaps her dyes were old and apologized for that. And, as I have learned from dyeing fabric before, it truly is a learning experience - which is what the class was all about. So, I am not disappointed at all with what I ended up with.
Next up was paintsticks. This is the second time I have taken a class concerning this technique for quilting. The last time it was included briefly in a quilt embellishing class. Sorry the picture is blurry.
I am not impressed with this technique (for quilting) and can say that I will not be running out to buy the supplies - but I am glad I got to try it again. The top two are rubbings over a texture plate, the bottom left was achieved by rubbing over a plastic needlepoint thingy, and the bottom right was a stencil. (Most of the students made more things than I did but I just did the four things since I wasn't that thrilled with this technique and I had the idea.) In 1991 I stenciled my entire kitchen ceiling border using paintsticks - I would likely use them in a craft like that before using them on a quilt. But I have been known to eat my words! :)
Most recent was a fabric Post Card class. This was not actually part of the Art Class - but most of us signed up for it anyway. I knew how they were done - but it was the fun of doing it, and again, I learned a few new things along the way.
My favorite one of this is the clothesline - I love clotheslines! The one thing I miss the most about living in a townhome is not having a clothesline. I always hung my clothes out to dry in the summer - to me, there is nothing that beats the smell and feel of clothes dried outside! (My old (several generations) fantastic rhubarb patch runs a close second to the clothesline - I really miss it too.)
Can you guess what the butterfly (or is it a fly?) is made out of? It is a tea bag!! We traced the creature using a Sharpie and then were supposed to sew on the black lines - which looks very nice. But I was too impatient and just sewed around it and then used my stamping chalks to color it in. I will personalize it with a stamp when I use it - that is why there is nothing in the left hand corner of the post card.
It has been fun to take these classes because I am able to sample different techniques to see what appeals to me and what doesn't. I have felt like I am back in grade school having fun in art class, making messes and playing around. :)
I have chattered enough - if you have read all the way through this - thank you!!
Be sure to go to Patchwork Times to see what everyone else has been working on. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Keep your creative juices flowing.....
6 comments:
Wow, lots of different stuff. All of it is very cool, but I like your postcards most. The butterfly is so cute!
Everything you did sounded like fun. I have the paint sticks and did a quilt border with them. I made leaf stencils and painted all the leaves different fall colors. I really liked the effect. The nice thing about them is that they don't dry up. I'd like to try dying fabric sometime...maybe.
What a fun class that must be! I would love to be in the class, but it's thousands of miles from where I live!
Wow!!! You HAVE been having fun!
These pieces are so cool. I really like that second one there, the pale pdf one...Wonderful texture in that! And the fly! Who wouldn't love to get that in the mail?!! The coloring is really good. Out of a teabag as well?!!! And the lovely jaggedy satin stitches border...So so cool.
: )
Good to have some play days. I love the oat meal piece.
What fun to try out so many new techniques. Sometimes we miss out on time to play when we get to be adults.
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