Indigo Dyeing Day 3

Day 3 of playing with Pat's indigo dye vat. We are learning and gaining experience. Here's some pics I took while not hovering over the smelly bucket and some of the results of my folly. Those bright pink pieces are Pat's shibori using Procion MX dye she mixed.



Lily

Marilyn's Journal

This journal case was inspired by Janet Edmonds', Embroidered Boxes and a fabric making technique taught by Lorraine Roy. I layered finely cut silk pieces between a blue silk backing fabric and netting then I free motioned stitched the layers together I then embellished the top with a prebeaded rectangular scrap of fabric, cording and shisha mirrors. I handmade the cords using a lucet tool. I attached some leftover pieces of the fabric on the gusset as decoration and also used a piece of the fabric to make the flap for the closure which is held closed by a strip of lucet cord. I only embellished the front of the case. The spine of the journal cover inside the box is also made from the same silk fabric and an angel is stamped in gold on the front of the book cover which is also made from the same blue silk backing fabric used as the backing in the journal case.
This is my first attempt at this kind of piece and I am really inspired to try some more.

Scanned pictures

Give your opinion please.. This is what I hope to develop into a business so I can keep living in all my studios....I am still trying to figure out how to blog !!
Pat

Missing Title

TASF inaugural meeting

It was a perfect time to inaugurate our first official meeting. On that same day I inaugurated our dyeing studio. That seems to work very well and with a bit of time and more ideas of what we will be doing there we will have it running full time. What fun.

It was my first time meddling with Indigo. The preparation is rather fussy and time consumming. I was quite disappointed with the results after stitching for so long... Then I did not think the colour was right.. However I gasped with delight when I finally ironed all the pieces !!!
WOW, what a surprising surprise !! I love them, and now am ready to prepare more.

Although I have not seen too much "real" shibori I had an impression that the indigo colour was less impressive than I had expected.. Maybe I want it darker ?? Anyway I did find another source for the synthetic indigo, but the preparation is quite different andj it takes longer to get the vat going.. Being a perfectionist ( if possible !) I will order the new indigo and we can play with it another day. I do this in order to have no doubts that what we are doing is the best we can do . I hate having an uresolved problem.

I have now built my first prototype of the shibori knotting tool (yokobiki dai). I will take itto our next meeting on wednesday.. I think it will work well, but is not exactly portable... That will come with use and more ideas.. Having never seen this tool makes making one more difficult.

Remember no pain , no gain, so work hard.

Pat

Turning a new page with TASF

I must confess this is not the first time the shibori bug bite me, but thanks to Pat's prodding, I plunged into this bottomless hole with all out effort. Perhaps it's meant to be, but I dropped everything, I mean it, since last Wednesday and went for it. Marilyn thought I was rude, how can I not be if she has any idea of my state of mind. Please excuse my rudness, I can't help it, I'll try to be nicer next week.

Thursday night, I was exhausted. Of course I couldn't wait to find out what I've got. Of course I worked and work to get rid of those knots and rise out the pieces. I was more excited as the time passed. I was dead tired, my hands and eyes were aching. I went to bed with the last couple pieces I didn't finish cleaning out. The next morning, I sat in bed patting and fondling the pieces.

Then I got out of bed, with the full intention of living a normal day for a change. Spend the morning doing the rounds of shopping, the afternoon relaxing in the library, even took an afternoon nap. Wonderful! Until after dinner that is. God, another late night! I went to bed after 2 a.m. but tasf4u was born.

Who know what the future brings?

Inaugurating our TASF blog

This Thursday marked the first working meeting of our TASF force. We celebrated the occasion with wine and cheese, grape and cherry, marmalade and tea. A good beginning.