Eco Printing on Silk

What to do with all the decorative cherries the trees are dropping?  We have a tree which is very full of these cherries. Very full may be an understatement!  This photo is after we have collected 6 large trash bags of cherries!

Using some cherries in my eco printing of silks, I have some very subtle pinks in my fabric.  The others are maple leaves which my neighbor's tree is sharing.  Flowers, plant leaves, etc all make their mark.

The most interesting part of this printing process is seeing which mordant leaves the best images.  Mostly I prefer soy milk.

Sometimes I steam my silk with the mordant and found objects and other times I choose to let it batch for a few days.  The results are slightly better when the steamer is used.

This printed silk is the same fabric as the one above.  The biggest difference is that I did a thermofax discharge before its first eco printed bath.  These two pieces of fabrics are from a thrift shop blouse.

Organza Room Dividers

When the last curtains died (they shrunk and looked terrible) I decided to make some room  dividers that would give us more light and allow the heat and AC flow across the room.  I purchased some inexpensive organza and washed it.  I am pretty sure it is polyester.

Because a section of these dividers had to have some privacy I dug out old maps.  Before I did anything I used a cheap hardware store brush and thinned the gesso with water. I then applied the thinned gesso to both sides of the maps.  I used 2 or 3 maps for each 4" section of the dividers.

After that dried I applied a thin coat of raw sienna, also thinned with water. 

I wanted a little more decoration so I found some old stamps I created.  On each side of the map, but off to one side, I stamped this rose pattern.  Note the imperfections  (The blue is the map).

Next I laid out the organza and put the maps where I wanted them. I used Golden Matte Medium and my old paint brush and started applying the Matte Medium.  Two coats all over the map and organza.  When it was dry - overnight - I folded the organza 

at the top so my curtain was 7" top to bottom and 4" wide and applied 2 coats of Matte Medium on each side, being sure that the maps were covered completely.  The Matte Medium sealed the maps in place.

After it dried for two days, I hung it on the curtain rod which has clips.  If it is uneven at the bottom,I just trimmed it off.  There is some flexibility. They will not fold back the way a curtain will. But they will slide and bend a little.The dog walks "through" it all the time. 

The light shines through.  The heat and AC go through it.  And we can have guests and our bed is hidden!

Hand dyed skirt!

Skirt

I did a gradation of black dye panels and that sat here as I pondered.  Finally I decided to stitch them together as a gradated set of black dyes.  There are some additional colors and patches as 2 yards of fabric isn't enough for length!  This photo is the medium values of the gradation.  The black dyes do not really dye a dark black which is fine by me.  They are a blue black.

Here are two other views:

Notice how the side seam brings the lightest and darkest colors together!
The skirt is a circular one. Perfect for summer!

Interested?  Send me your waist, hip and length and I will make you one!  $125.00 and you will have it in just three weeks to wear.  If you want to sew the fabrics yourself or just want to purchase the 8 panels (each is 8 to 9" wide by 45"), that would be $50.00.  Shipping included!

Next up, a blue one and a green one.  How I love green!

64 Miles Exhibition at the Cheshire County Historical Society

Save the date!  Everyone is invited to the opening night of the 64 Miles exhibit at the Historical Society of Cheshire County on Main Street in Keene on July 19 4:30 to 6:30PM.  Can't make the opening?  The show will be up until September.

The Ashuelot River

This exhibit is about the Ashuelot River between Washington, NH to where the river meets the Connecticut River in Hinsdale, NH.  64 miles.  The effects of this river on Cheshire County are enormous: industry, recreation, power, Army Core of Engineering, floods or none, ice fishing, and more.

The more than 40 artists were charged with creating art which represents various parts of the river in one of the four seasons.  90 works were submitted.  There is also a preview at Brewbaker's on Main St.

For this exhibit, I printed a digital image which using a special transfer process, transferred the image onto cloth which had been mounted onto a wooden box frame.  After it was dray, I painted parts of the image to create more intense lights and darks.

About the fabrics I used.  I painted a silk organza which I mounted for two of the images.  The top image here, was transferred onto a rust dyed and over dyed silk habotai fabric.  This fabric emphasis the rust and gold colors of the image.  This image is of an Army Core of Engineer's dam between Gilsum and Marlow, NH.

I love this process.  I am enjoying the photography, some image manipulation and working with all the mediums.  I am curious to see what others will think. 

Why join the KAT tour?

One of my fellow artists wrote an interesting article about the Keene Art Tour.  I think this needs to be shared!  Why join the KAT Tour? 

Luann Udell writes well.  Here blog is one to follow.  And the article is on her blog! http://luannudell.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/be-an-art-hero-join-an-open-studio-tour/

Check it out and enjoy!

The Keene Art Tour is in November.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Upcycled clothing at the Sharon Arts Center

Sharon Arts Fine Craft Gallery  now has all my upcycled clothing - hand dyed blouses, interesting tops and bottoms, etc.  

Sharon Arts Fine Craft Gallery, 20-40 Depot Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

Phone: (603) 924-2787, fax: (603) 924-6795

Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10am-6pm and Sunday 11am – 5pm.

The Sharon Arts Craft Gallery features the works of over 100 local juried craftspeople in a variety of mediums, including prints, brush-paintings, candles, greeting cards, fiber crafts, wooden crafts, ceramics and pottery, fine jewelry, and much, much more.

The Sharon Arts Center is going for color.  Their shop manager, Gillie, is doing it right.  This upcycled clothing is a perfect fit!

Fabric Surface Design

My friend, Cheryl Rezendes-Rulewich, just had her book published.

Fabric Surface Design

It is a lovely book!  Cheryl teaches the reader how to create any surface design using textile paints that are easily washed out and cleaned up.  Batik, silk screen, image transfer, crayons, stamping, etc. It is almost 300 pages.  Softcover.  

I am so proud of Cheryl!  If you like Surface Design, you will love this book!