More from the Barn and since then, part 1

Here are some pictures of the work that came out of my week with Carol Soderlund at the Nancy Crow Barn, and what I’ve been working on since.

This fabric happens to be a ‘dye rag’ that I used when working in class. I like this picture because it shows the difference that happens when a piece has been heat pressed. The next thing I did with this piece was to run it through the smocking pleater with widely spaced needles.  Once that was done, I soaked it with a different blue color and let it dry. Then I processed it in the autoclave to set the color and texture at the same time. The second photo shows the finished piece.

The last photo shows one end that has been spread out and taped down. You can see that the original turquoise remains and the dark blue migrated to the high points of the fabric.

More from the barn

On Wednesday Carol showed us monoprints from two different surfaces.


thickened dye spread on heavy (violet) plastic













Here’s the resulting print.

Then she spread dye onto the hard plastic-topped table – a large surface for a bigger piece of fabric.

Spreading the thickened dye



Scratches in the surface make their own patterns in the spread dye

 

patterns made in the dye with a notched spreader

 

Adding marks from the pointed tooth edge

More thickened dye was spread, then patterns were made in it with a stamp, left, and a sea sponge, right.

Here’s the cloth being spread onto the dye-painted surface. Only problem – I never took a picture of the finished fabric!

Master Class at the Barn

Last week I had the privilege of being in Carol Soderlund’s Visions/ReVisions Master Class at the Nancy Crow Barn in Baltimore, Ohio. No finished work at this time, but I do have lots of pictures!

Here’s a good picture (I think) of Carol, the Master Cat Herder! She wearing an ensemble of a retired hubby shirt with an applied yoke, plus a tee shirt colored with thickened dye rolled over snow fence.

We started working with thickened dye and building up layers of it on screens for DSP (deconstructed screen printing.)  I applied dyes to a screen that was laying on top of several oak leaves plus some string. This was on top of a piece of vinyl, and the dye created a nice layer on the vinyl, except where the leaves were. I laid a piece of fabric on top of the dye that remained and made a monoprint. Then I peeled the leaves off the screen and laid a moist piece of fabric on the leaves. Both pieces are interesting, and both can use more work to be complete. And I haven't even gotten to pictures of DSP yet!

Thanks for looking, more soon.

Feedback from one reader

The author of this ran out of characters in the comment option, so she has given me permission to post her words here. All I can say is ‘wow.’
Lisa- I applaud your choice to put voice to your considerations. Before I chime in, can you bear with my story? It will illustrate WHY I am going to give you the opinion that I do....I was, until Sept of 2006 a police officer, mother of 8 and 9 year old boys, and a quilter - oh yeah, wife too. :0)
Thanks to a 19 year old I tried to arrest for his 4th (? can't remember) OWI, we ended up on the ground, and I ended up with 5 back surgeries: spinal fusions and now, a morphine pump. In one year, I went from being 145 lbs at 5'9”, running 5 mi a day, weight lifting etc, to a complete, bedridden invalid, unable to quilt for over a year, or care for myself. That was Dec 2006. Now, with a morphine (internal) pump, I can quilt for 60 to 90 min at a time, if I am lucky.
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to buy $750.00 worth of dye/supplies for $145.00. My DH was upset, as we are middle class and I cannot work, no $ coming in etc. I thought dyeing would force me through the pain and give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning (which it does). I also hoped, in time, it would make me stronger (which, apparently, it will not). I also wanted to learn to dye so that I could make the colors for my art quilts, now that I cannot afford to buy the fabric.
My DH applied immense pressure for me to make money through dyeing. In the beginning, I was dyeing for the masses. I was physically straining myself because of his desire that I make more money, since I can never work again. I felt guilty, so I was doing as he wished, and eventually, in more pain and hating it. Because I can only be "active" (including standing) at total of 3 hours a day, I had to make a choice: dye for myself, for the love of playing with color, discharging, shibori, etc . . . or dye items to sell at shows. I had people to sell it for me, but my time would mostly be making for others.
I chose to dye for me. The odd thing is, I will make 20 yards, really enjoy the process, and it must show in my work. I go to the 2 quilt guilds I belong to, hold up a piece at show and tell, and people ask to buy it out of my hands. True, dyeing and selling this way will never make me enough money to get to Carol's class – and I have accepted that. I only HOPE she writes a book someday.
Our circumstances seem similar to me in that, if you do dyeing for profit, the schedule and activities of it will take you away from the creative process and maybe your family. For me, dyeing for profit was wearing me out so much that I could not physically dye for me OR quilt. I had some money coming in (a very small amount of cash compared to being a cop), but I was creatively dead, unmotivated, uninspired and uninterested in my art quilting.
My house is 1100 square feet, my kids, now teenagers, have a lot of second-hand things, but they know the value of a dollar. We drive older cars that we own, we have no credit cards, no big family trips on a plane, but even though I spend every day in pain (I am laying down to write this right now), I LOVE to plan my next project and dye the fabric for it. I even felt "unchained" enough that I am starting a local dyeing group here in Sept. Not everyone can make this choice: art full time. I happened to be living frugally, so when forced into the choice by the limits of my injury, I was able to convince DH that the bit of extra money wasn't worth it, for me to starve creatively.
Not sure if this helps you, but I think "making art" is most successful – if not the most enjoyed – when done for oneself, not "arranged" to fit a financial plan or roadmap. If you feel free to create, you may make better art, which in turn, may have its own better financial reward, later. I still get requests for my fabric, I just couldn't imagine missing the weekends with my boys, while vending at a show. The oldest is nearly 16. If h*ll freezes over someday and I can do it, great. But until then, DH and I are happy to live with much less, with my quilting and dyeing making up the difference. How could I spend $40 on eating out…all I could think about is "You know how much dye/silk/fabric I could buy with that?" :0)

Choices and decisions; rambling on

Some choices are easy, and others are harder. I recently chose to sign up for the Visions and ReVisions class at the Crow Barn. Carol Soderlund is the teacher, and I already know how good she is, so it was an easy decision to make, except for the money. The class format is sort of independent study, and the size is very small, so my next choice was what to focus on. By chance I found out that a small piece of paper helped me narrow down the choices. I ended up deciding on polyester.

A decision I’m trying to avoid is whether I should just give it all up and try to find a regular 40 hour a week job. Lately I have been doing odd jobs for another quilt show vendor, so that will take care of the short run. Then the seasonal retail jobs are just around the corner. A motivational poster I saw once said ‘Not to decide is to decide.’ So until I can’t put the decision off any longer, I will chose not to decide.

One thing I’m starting to explore is more venues to sell my hand-dye and surface design fabrics. (Because, if I sell more, I don’t have to decide to give it up.) So far I have lost money at shows for garment sewers. Now I am considering putting my toe into the fine craft show waters. I have chosen not to do that before now, because I have been selling only yardage. So I need to come up with something that can be well-made quickly and easily from my yardage that will sell. I’ve seen some fine art painters that are selling works in a 5” – 6” square size. A small wall hanging that isn’t square is a possibility. (I found out when I made my first miniature wall hanging that the square format looks like a pot holder.) Another option is a jacket. There’s plenty of room to research the possibilities, and to go to a lot of craft shows to see what else is out there. (A tough task, but someone’s got to do it.) And I could include fabric in my booth, so that I could offer a jacket or quilt or cloth as art on commission.

Finally, I have chosen to spend some time talking to Morna of the IAPQ about her business coaching program. That call will be taking place next Tuesday, so when it’s over I will have another decision to make. At least she has a payment plan. Now I am going to chose to post this and not spend any more time on it. Thanks for reading!

New and clearance items on website

Well, I've been updating the website and have posted a total of 15 new items, and moved several pieces of fabric and some odds and ends to the clearance page.

Here's one of the new items - it's discharged Kona.

And here is one of the clearance items - discharged and overdyed black Radiance.

Thanks!

Another polyester experiment

Here’s a picture of a piece of polyester double georgette that I dyed with disperse dyes. It was an experiment, and technically it’s not my best work. Even so, it’s really neat.

The whole piece is 58” wide and two yards long. I applied disperse dyes to a cotton gauze which was hung up to dry. That’s what created the chevron effect in light and dark greys. The finished fabric itself is flat. Then I had to affix the gauze to the polyester, and I tried a light coat of spray adhesive. Then the whole piece was heat pressed. That accounts for the rectangles – it’s the size of the heat press surface. White areas are spots I missed, and darker straight lines are where I pressed the same area twice.

Next time I have a better idea of how to adhere the two fabrics together before I heat press them. I will try using print paste as an adhesive. I’m not sure how to resolve the problem of the missed and double-pressed area. Maybe layout lines on the back.

This fabric and four others have been added to the DippyDyes website. My day job is a little dry right now, so I have to use my time profitably, even if it means NOT dyeing stuff. The goal is five per day. Thanks!