Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tempus Fugit, I think

Good thing I can look it up in the dictionary. Anyhow, time does fly.

Well, before I start kvetching about having too much to do, I should say that the reason I was inspired to post again was that I now, suddenly, have over 30 followers! Thank you all so much! I’m sorry I don’t have any more eye candy to post; don’t remember the last time I took time for photographs. Found one – it’s at the bottom.

Back to time flying – there are just 7 weeks to go before the first show of the fall, so I have to crank up the production numbers. I did get a lot of snow dyeing done last weekend – still washing it out. Family visit this weekend, and a trip to the Hershey show (as a visitor), then another week to snow-dye or work on poly. (More on that below.) Then I’m teaching a day class on discharge the weekend of the 13th, one-on-one, so I’m starting to dye and fold fabric for that. Then I need to prep for a demo at Oaks on Kanzashi, and a speaking engagement in October, the day before the Quakertown Show. There’s also the annual Chautauqua Show in the end of October, too! And some exciting news – I’m going to teach a 3-hour class at the Somerset show in March – Quilt Fest of NJ.

I read a great article in Quilting Arts today by Marie-Therese Wisniowski on her ‘Multisperse Dye Sublimation’ technique for polyester. I can start painting papers with dye right away, and pull out the heat press once the 90-100 degree F temperatures are over with. And I want to do more sun printing on poly, too, and try some mandalas. Plus I found a source for the sheer iridescent polyester, like I got at Jo-Ann. That’s been popular, so I must order a roll, plus more muslin, maybe. . . . So I’m keeping busy. Thanks again to my followers; if I had a tail it would be wagging!

SchmutzLidPS - here’s a picture I have been playing with – it’s the leftovers on the lid of a bucket of spackle. I’ve learned a good bit about using Photoshop Elements in working with this one image. Maybe I should get a Thermofax screen made of it. Forgot it was there!

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Kanzashi Krazy

Well, I heard about these from people who were at Spring Market, the annual trade show for the quilt industry. Kanzashi are a traditional craft from Japan – flowers made of folded fabric. Some of the folds are the same as Origami. I ordered a book by Diane Gilleland, called Kanzashi in Bloom and started making lots of petals and turning them into flowers while I waited for the nifty Kanzashi makers from Clover to come in. And I also found some patterns for brooches from la Todera patterns. Between those sources, I learned three different ways to make flowers and petals. Enough said – here are the pictures!

First attempt
This is one of the first flowers I made, from a piece of snow-dyed fabric. It’s a little, well a Lot wonky. But we have to start somewhere.Kanzashi with three types of petals


Also an early effort, it was fun to incorporate different sorts of petals. More snow dyed cotton, plus white radiance.

Nusuede Kanzashi
This is a small flower made of hand-dyed Nusuede. Fun to have different texture choices.

Kanzashi with button and floss center
The purple flower is made with rounded petals, which I think are the most versatile. Adding a little embroidery floss as a tie in the button adds a little flourish, I think.

Double-petal Kanzashi
The orange and white flower sports a center that was the button off a pair of pajamas. Did I mention I have 17 pounds of buttons? This double-layer style can’t be made with the Kanzashi makers, unless the fabric is very thin.

Two flower with stems
Here are a couple more early efforts. The center in
the left-hand flower is a piece of a plastic flower that looks like Queen Anne’s lace. Just the ticket for this use. Also, I learned that this gauge wire is way to thin to support the flower.

Black Kanzashi
This black and copper flower looks super on the lapel of a linen-look blazer I have. The fabric is a commercial black batik that I discharged as a test. The button adds just the touch for a rather elegant flower (IMHO.)

Flowers on flip-flops
The flip-flops were an idea from Diane’s Kanzashi book. The fabric, snowdyed; the buttons are from the stash – they were shoe buttons, I believe.Camellia brooch - 4 inch size


Camellia brooch - 5.5 inch size
The final two lush flowers are made per the instructions in the Camelia Gigantus Brooch pattern from la Todera. The first is a mix of solid and snow-dyed cottons, the second is made from ombre’ Radiance. Both have padding under the petals to give them a greater three-dimensional quality. The smaller one has been living on a straw hat, when the larger one has a backing fabric attached, it will end up on a tote bag, I think.

Thanks for looking; and PS – the Clover Kanzashi makers are available at www.dippydyes.com!