Got it!

A friend took a picture of the piece "Red Redemption", that was so well received in Pinawa yesterday, and sent it to me.

This is the piece that was originally painted, and then over-dyed with black Procion MX dye.  The one I thought was "jaw dropping" after it came out of the dye bath. This is a good picture, and shows the subtle colour effect under the dye.  It was only after the beading was finished that I picked up on the effect of the red colour, especially in the beads, that lead to the title.

A little good, a little bad

The over-dyed piece I mentioned in my last blog, was finished in time to hang with the show I mounted today in Pinawa.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and didn't get a picture.  The reaction from all of those in the gallery ( which was open at the time) was positive, and I think it may have been sold before I even left the building.  I knew it was going to be well received, but had underestimated the positive response it got.  That's not to say that  the rest of my pieces weren't well received.  I think it's going to be a good show.  Two of my friends are also exhibiting at the same time, but only one was hanging today.  From what I saw of her art photography,  she will be well represented as well.

The other piece I spoke of, inspired by the work of Beryl Taylor, did not go well, and I've put it away for now.  It seemed to want to go in a direction I didn't care for.  I know one should always listen to what pieces have to say for themselves while they're being created, but I felt that it was  a road I had traveled before, and had never been happy with.  Too formulaic, and not "my" art. 

Other bad news is that my physical problems are worsening, rather than getting better.  The pain is as bad, if not worse, than before, and my upper limb strength increasingly poor.  I have a feeling that I'm may have to stop all studio work for a period, certainly cutting fabric, by any whatever means.  I have time-limited requests for production of some of my "bread and butter" items,  but may have to let them go.  Won't do my reputation much good.  The thought of having more free time, scares me, as I have no idea how I might fill it.  I might even be forced to do some housework, and that would never make me a "happy camper".

I'm excited.

Last time I posted about the physical problems that have impacted my ability to work with fibre.  Slowly, over the paste couple of weeks, I've been looking for other activities that would allow me to continue to work with textiles, but within the limits of my current abilities.  I can machine stitch in small doses, so nothing will be finished quickly.

I now have three different projects in the works, and I'm excited.  The first is the multiple 1 1/2" strips of stabilized dyed cotton Damask that I spoke of in my last post.  Yes, I'm going to pursue stitching them together, with narrow solid colour strips, in between.  Then I may applique small geometric shapes over the whole thing, or, more likely, in a swath.  

Last week, my fibre art support group, The Fibre Art Divas, met and had a bit of "Show"n"Tell".  One lady showed apiece where she had marbled over previously dyed fabric.  I had several painted pieces that had been disappointments, so over-dyed those.  Two were disappointing, but two were jaw dropping.  I'm in the process of slowly machine quilting one of them, within the limits of my shoulder pain.  This will then be embellished and beaded.

Thirdly, on Pintrest, I noticed several pins of work that brought to mind the collage work of Beryl Taylor.  I bought her book "Mixed Media Explorations" several years ago, and had loved what I saw, but hadn't pursued it at the time.  Now I have the time, and have started to work my way through it.

I want to stay within the limits of my stash, rather than buy more "stuff". So I  have started with cutting motifs out of embossed wallpaper, and painting it, before working it into very small motifs that will later be applied to a background.  I made a firm decision to follow my own path in terms of colour, and will be working within a double complement scheme of red/green and blue/orange.  This was dictated by a group of Shibori dyed fabrics that I have.

I plan to link with The Needle and Thread Network, and Nina Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Fridays.

Re-thinking the whole fibre art gig

Sunday, while cutting endless 1 1/2" strips with my rotary cutter, my body objected, and went on a "sit down" strike.  Since then, I've been dealing with regular pain, and the knowledge that routine cutting, for the purpose of preparing fabric for charity quilts is off the table for me, even as a stash reduction strategy.  I have to accept increasing limitations of physical abilities, and not waste what is left on anything that doesn't further my fibre art work. I have a fair stock pile of pre-cut pieces for future charity quilts, and once that's gone--too bad.  

At the same time as my cutting came to an abrupt end, I realized that machine quilting, was also part of the problem.  I expect that I will be able to resume this, in limited, and carefully planned stages, but not for a awhile.  I am so-o-o glad that I'm prepared for hanging 3- yes three- exhibits on the first weekend in September.  What's more they are three different communities in the province, all of them needing trips out of town. My injured shoulder doesn't like driving either.

This all started, last spring, when I made a decision to accept any opportunity that came up.  Be careful what you wish for.  LOL  Now I need a new plan.  I have no idea what that may look like.

As well as cutting for charity quilts, I was working with something--not a vision but a vague idea.  This involved dyeing 8 20" Damask napkins, then cutting them into 1 1/2" strips and organizing them from darkest to lightest.  Didn't work and will never be seen again. 

So, I took some of the strips and organized them with narrow gaps of white in between.  Hmmmm?  Maybe something here, but probably not.  We'll see.  

Whatever happens, I have a whole bunch of lightly stabilized Damask strips, that are probably headed for the circular file. All I will have really lost is my time--and I have more of that.

Something made for fun

The last while has been busy and, in some ways, emotionally difficult.  Giving away the treasures that have been hidden in my stash for years is sad, even though I know that they have to go.  I don't want my children stuck with the chore of deciding where to send the treasures when I'm no longer here--or trying to sell them off for pennies on the dollar, at a garage sale.

After another yet afternoon of purging, I needed to have some fun, and put together a small piece, fairly traditional, but acceptable for exhibiting, if something small is required to fill an empty space.  I had fallen in love with the applique fabric and bought it, with no clear idea of how it might be used, but I think it works well here.  I have appliqued it using a Broderie Perse technique. The background is a piece of very light tan fabric, that I rusted.  The finished piece is 15" by 21".  It can't be seen in the photo, but the flowers are FMQ'd, and lightly beaded.  I have given it the title of "A Simple Pleasure".

The "Great Purge" continues

While I was  sitting,  and watching dye work, I was asked why I need to dye more fabric, when I have two shelves of my heavy duty shelving unit absolutely full of dyed fabric.  Good Question.  Maybe because it's there?  But I accept that it's a valid point.  So I went through it all and made up a bundle to go to the thrift store, filled a 5 gallon garbage pail, created a pile to re-purpose into charity quilts, and kept a very small pile with potential for use.

At the same time, I noticed that I have two full shelves of polymer clay and associated equipment, that I will never use, given the arthritis in my hands. So I've contacted my former instructor, whom I know is still in the business, and offered it all to her, to do with as she sees fit-gratis.

Now I sit over my daily coffee, and realize that I don't feel sad, or any remorse, but rather a sense of relief.

I'm PO'd

today I decided to dye some cotton in solid colours to match the ones in my two parfait batches.  I used 280" wide "premium" muslin, which I washed first.  I used the basic dyeing method for Procion MX dyes.  I knew almost as soon as the fabric went in the bath that something was wrong.  It just wasn't accepting the dye.  I let it batch for several hours, and the colour got a little better, but still not what I expected.

Dark Purple?   I don't think so.  If it looks like pink to you, I agree.

Olive Green?  Not in my world.  Not even a nice beige.

Grey?  I know grey sometimes appears blue, but this jar of dye has always been pretty good--until now. Actually it's a better purple than the first sample, but still not the "dark" purple I need.

Navy blue?  Well, this is the best of the bunch, and a very pretty blue, but not what I would call navy.

I checked the label on the bold, which I got with the fabric, as I bought the end of the bolt, over 5 meters, at @$22.5/m.  It was labelled as 100% cotton muslin, but I'm 100% sure it is a poly/cotton blend.  I bought it for dyeing, but will now have to use it for backings on charity quilts.  As I said--I'm pissed off.

New projects

Having finally reached the end of my urgent job list, I was free to start a new project.  Amazing how the energy flows, when you have the freedom to make something of it.

Yesterday I decided that the rusted fabric I make about a week ago, needed more rusting, and set that up.  I also decided to dye some cotton Damask napkins.  I like to re-purpose old lines, and cotton Damask dyes so beautifully.  I had thought that I might try  "parfait" dyeing. I also wanted to try soaking the linen in Sodium Carbonate, rather than sprinkling it on the ice with the dye, as I've done with other projects ( successfully!)  After leaving the dye bath overnight, and washing the napkins, I realized that they were all  the same value. 

 I had hoped that those on the bottom of the vessel would be darker.  So today I set up another "parfait " with more dye powder, and more ice, as I had wondered if too little liquid might have contributed to the problem. The parfait is so-o- pretty while it's in progress!  Can't wait to see how this one turns out. I also have to wonder if the different method of using the Sodium Carbonate made a difference. If it is still to closely matched in value, I  have a plan to deal with it.

While the dye is"batching", I worked on  the rusted fabric.  I cut it to size, and managed to get enough for binding out of the piece.  Then it was sandwiched and I started quilting.  I soon realized that I had forgotten to add extra when sizing it, to allow for what would be taken up with the quilting, so it will end up a little smaller than I had anticipated.

Once the quilting is finished, I plan to add some "Broderie Perse" applique.  I decided to go with raw edge applique, as it would be so much easier than turned edge, and so much more efficient use of the fabric.  My appliques will be cut from this.  I will do a little FMQ'g on the appliques, and may add some beads.  It really is a joy to be working on something that I can change and manipulate however I want.

"Tis done!

A lot of hard work today, and the piece is finished.  One thing I didn't mention yesterday, was having to make a cord, and attach tassels on each end.  This is not something I'd ever done before, but I figured it out--I think.  They look good anyway.

The overall piece is now done.  There are problem areas, but I don't imagine anyone else but me would ever notice them.  I haven't done any finishing is years, and obviously my skills have deteriorated.

Since I chose not to use the felt needle pages, I've kept them, in hopes of figuring out some means of using them for their intended purpose

This was finished shortly after supper, so I started doing the machine quilting on one of the charity quilts I made a few weeks ago.  It was fairly simple and it got done too.  Now I just have to bind it, also by machine, tomorrow.

Adventures in hand finishing (long)

The finishing is started on this piece of competed cross stitching, that has been tucked away in the studio for several years.  It will be a fairly large needle book.  I knew going in that the finishing would be complex and physically demanding ( for me), and most of it is done with a curved needle.  Then I made it worse by using a curved needle meant for canvaswork, rather than a sharp one.

The first step was to find a suitable piece of card stock to use in the various pieces that will go together to make up the finished piece.  The poster board sold  in craft stores etc is just not firm enough, so a trip to an artists'specialty store was indicated. They had  quite a variety of stock, but most of it was quite flimsy.  Finally I did find a piece that I thought might do. It was mixed media paper, and the least expensive of the lot. The paper that would have worked a bit better was 300lb watercolour paper at almost $20 for a huge sheet. But I knew that I had a piece of 400lb watercolour at home that I could use if the less expensive one didn't work.  Other than having to use two layers for the main section  of the needle book, it worked fine.

The finishing is worked in sections, the first being backing of the main piece. This process was quite laborious, especially when worked with the dull canvaswork needle.

Next was a basic background to fit over the two sides of this main piece when finished.  Sorry, but the picture shows this in place over the main piece, before that piece was prepared.

Next was to prepare the actual needle  area.  This required some thought.  The instructions called for this to be done in the same linen as everything else, and involved hand beading.  IMHO this would not have been very functional.  So I gave some thought to changing everything  in favour of function over appearance, and made these sections using felt pages to hold the needles. 

 But, the original concept of the piece was one of elegance over function, and did I really need a functional needle case, in the first place?  I have a very nice functional needle case that I made years ago, as a teaching piece, using  the Yugoslavian Stitch.  (This is not Swedish weaving, or Huck Weaving.)

Finally, I decided to go with elegance, and then discovered that I didn't have enough of the original linen.  I used a piece of Duipionni Silk instead, and while it doesn't perfectly match, it still looks better than the felt.

So this is where it now sits.  All of the sections are ready to go, and all that remains is 3-4 days of hand stitching.  So far I have about 18 hours of time into the finishing.  Sure glad I'm not paying a professional finisher.