Fabric Play Day

Three of us met at Val's yesterday to begin exploring Kerr Grabowski's Deconstructed Screen Printing techniques. We've all taken a wonderful class from Jane Dunnewold on screen printing at Pro Chem....so we have a bit of knowledge....but we always want more! Gotta keep our brains learning new things.... The piece above is one of mine (best one I did) done with ripped paper and acetate stencil....I have alot more to learn!



For one thing...the painted screens need alot of time to dry totally...the screen for the piece above (also mine) was used too fast...the dye released too quickly...lesson learned.

This piece I did with ripped paper...didn't like it immediately...but after washing I like it alot.

This piece is Val's....very successful. The colors were rich all the way. It should be great once washed and ironed.

These are two of my painted screens...next time I will paint them the night before. We also had an issue with the release paste...mine was on the shelf a couple years or more...didn't thicken up to optimum thickness....lesson learned.

This is another of Val's pieces...we didn't love the darker circles...but she will address them with another process...perhaps foil.

This was a very successful piece of Nancy's. The colors are much richer in person...she was very happy with this one.

We had a fun day, a great lunch (Val served a delicious white wine with yummy ratatouille made by Nancy and fresh fruit for dessert) and we'll meet again to continue the learning.

Marcia

New Bag

I made another bag with the 11 oz. canvas that I think is too heavy for the jackets I make....but it's perfect for these totes. I dyed the canvas with Amethyst and screened the pocket piece with black, since I only had black webbing for the straps.
I have purchased some plain natural webbing and I'm going to dye that and see if I can get the intensity of color I want to match some other bag fabric colors that I already have dyed.

Each time I make the bag I find something different I want to do (because it's not right or it can be better), either in the sequence of sewing, or size of pieces, or thread color (matching or contrasting), way to finish seams...and on and on. I'm told that's a Virgo trait :)

Next up is a beautiful turquoise bag with brown webbing. Gotta get the taxes done first...been procrastinating....another Virgo trait?

Marcia

Early Spring Cleaning

In the past couple weeks, this is the only fabric work I've gotten to...and that was only because I was watching a 2-hour show on 60's music on PBS. This is a small piece I started in Melody Johnson's class at Hudson Valley last year. The fabric is silk broadcloth...it just needed to be quilted. Now it's ready to be either bound and hung, or made into a pillow or bag or incorporated into clothing.

I have to say that the quilting is my least favorite thing to do, and this is about the biggest piece I want to tackle myself. My real joy comes from the fabric and sewing parts of the process...that's why I send my larger pieces out now to be quilted.

I have been cleaning out closets and getting rid of my larger clothes...feels great. And that led to deep cleaning of the closets and basement etc....22 years in one place and we've accumulated alot of stuff. It's time to purge a bit. So that's mostly what I've been doing the last couple weeks... oh, and planning for a baby shower, buying a new car, planning a trip to Florida, ordering a new fence for the yard (installed tomorrow), watching American Idol, Biggest Loser, and my absolute favorite Project Runway! Tonight is the final...and re-runs are on all day today!

Marcia