Saturday, February 22, 2014

Headway (I Think)

My head is still buzzing, and I'm fairly vibrating with energy these days -- so much so, in fact, that I hardly slept a wink Friday night.  Last night I managed to crawl into bed early and catch up, so I know I can function today without falling over.  :-)

Speaking of catching up...

This blogging business takes time (especially the downloading, sorting and filing of photos) but I do like to do it at least twice a week so that the posts don't become too long and thus...BO-ring.

Last post, I'd torn apart "Lost in the Woods".  Turns out, reworking the sky and the roof of the cabin might just not be enough.  Presently thinking about banishing it entirely from the repertoire!

Thank you all for your encouraging and flattering comments about "A Walk in the Woods".  I have plans for another couple in slightly larger sizes.  I have a limited amount of the hand-dyed blue (did that myself last year) so I thought I'd dye some more.  I put aside two bags for the low-water-immersion treatment.  The dye was...well, not that fresh...and though I'd properly prepped the fabric it didn't turn out as dark as I'd have liked.  Great sky material, but not for the shadows of trees.  NOTE: the top fabric in the stack (right-hand photo) was unbleached muslin, which, I realized in afterthought, had not been pre-washed before I prepped it in a soda ash bath;  the back fabric was a synthetic which I wasn't expecting to hold the colour.  Just thought I'd throw it in to use up the dye.  :-)

"Enough", I thought; I had a full 'customer card' from Caroline's Homespun Seasons in Stettler, and I needed to pick up the cover for my old Husqvarna 225 (RIP), which cannot be repaired (can't get the part any more; it's all of 20 years old.), and I had to stop in to the Cabinet of Curiosities to get more mats for my miniatures.  So...before the next deep freeze set in (forecast for tomorrow), I drove up to Stettler yesterday.  It was a lovely diversion from all I have to do here.  Got the fabric, got some more muslin and some white combed cotton for more dyeing (later).  Got the mats -- and discovered that at the end of January, the gallery had sold the first one of the five minis I left with it last spring: "Prairie Twilight II", which is currently the masthead of this blog.  Yes...a lovely diversion indeed.

In my snow-dyeing this week (we had a squall on Wednesday, that left at least 6" of fresh powder), I did better than I've ever done before.  I have only Becky of the "Solar Threads" blog to thank for this.  She's been posting about her recent adventures in snow dyeing, and in one message, she happened to mention that she placed her fabric, snow and dye layers on a rack in/over the basin she was using.  I happened to have had troubles with melted snow/dye pooling at the bottom of my basin; as soon as I read about the rack I knew I'd have to try it.

Pima cotton, Kona cotton & some muslin
damp (from soda ash) & piled on a rack
You can just see the rack peeking out from under the fabric in the above photo.  As I've been preparing to work with red roses, I decided to use scarlet and fuchsia dye powders on the snow:


Just look at the results!  I'm over the moon!

Small, short piece of muslin

A long, narrow piece; the photo is really 3 shots stitched together

Either Pima or Kona cotton (1st piece)

Either Pima or Kona cotton (2nd piece)

I was so excited that although it was very late in the afternoon, I went out again and gathered snow for a blue batch.  The only fabric I had to hand was some silk habotai, so I plunked it in the soda ash bath for 1/2 hour and then set it up:


I thought I'd add a touch of yellow here and there for a floral centre or hint of leaf...whatever turned out.  Again, over the moon!  The silk just glows.  Think this calls for small pieces, hand stitched...



I have a few other adventures to write about...but this post is long enough and I have studio work to do.  Stay tuned for another report from "Winter School".  :-)

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...because I still can.  Adios for now...

6 comments:

Vera Holmgren said...

Lovely colors! Ive never tried snow just icedyeing.

LA Paylor said...

great fabric, now what will you make??
LeeAnna Paylor
lapaylor.blogspot.com

Jo Ferguson said...

Results like this make me want to take the plunge and dye my own fabric. You should be excited, the colours are GORGEOUS!!!!

Pat said...

Glad you are making the best use of the snow.Not a flake here this year. Congratulations on the sale of you piece,

els said...

Congratulations on your sale. Your dyed fabrics are really wonderful. What a pity that we don't have snow here. I would love to try.

Lesley Turner said...

You have been a busy girl these cold winter days. Having so many projects completed must feel good. Congrats on the successful snow dyeing.