Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Big Day

Yesterday, my Shibori book finally arrived. ( "Shibori for Textile Artists"  by Janet Gunner.) I shouldn't say "finally" as it came from Britain, and actually arrived quite quickly, but, I had been waiting.  The dyes arrived last week and have been sitting  where I can see them every time  I walk into the studio.  So I jumped in with both feet and did three pieces yesterday, and plan to do a couple more today.  I made a fairly strong dye bath, and have kept it to see how long it actually stays viable.  Since I did a half metre of just plain fabric, along with the three pieces, it has done quite a bit so far. Today, I hope to get out to buy more fabric.  I'm using a good quality white muslin, which is light weight enough for these old finger to stitch through several layers.  It should be good quality for the price!  I would also like to get another pot to use for the dye bath.  I don't really need a deep pot, as I have the 5 gallon pail I used last time, for the pole-wrapped pieces.  But a second pot would be useful.

While I intend to concentrate on stitch-resist patterns, other methods should be fun, and they will work up much more quickly than the stitched ones.

This time I was very careful to use my rubber gloves, and started out with the pair I have that are gauntlets up to my elbow.  After working awhile I thought it felt wet and checked.  Sure enough--there was a hole in one glove and my right hand was completly navy blue--all the way to the elbow.

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