My how time flies......

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've posted here. Busy, busy, busy.

I took a really fun class at the Textile Center. It was a yardage painting class, using Procion H dyes.

The class was taught by Marliss Jensen, a very talented fiber artist. It was a 3 day class, lots of information. Each participant hand painted two 3-yard pieces of fabric - a heavier layer of cotton - covered with a layer of silk. Using thickened dyes, we painted both layers at the same time. Resists were applied to the top layer, and this in turn worked as a resist on the under-layer. I used some stamps I had carved. Here's what the first layer looked like.

I decided to use only 4 basic colors - yellow, orange-yellow, crimson, and blue. The dyes are not opaque - so blue applied over yellow created green. The first day I painted the base layer and applied a resist. Very tutti-frutti. On the second day - the scariest - I painted over the entire piece with a blue/black. Wow - what a difference. After a little more painting/stamping - you just can't add too much - I let the piece dry.




We separated the layers - and believe me this was at least a two person job - and got a look at the bottom layer. The silk and the cotton absorbed colors differently, and it looked like I had done twice the work. Amazing.

On the third day, we steam-set the yardage. That was really cool. The steam closet at the Textile Center is huge. It can steam set up to 18 yards of 60" fabric at one time. Then it was rinse, rinse, rinse - and done.

Here it is, a month later - and I haven't made anything with the yardage yet - maybe today. Maybe not - I have to get ready to teach a ribbon yarn coiled basket class at Knitting Camp.

I also submitted 5 things to the Textile Center Holiday Sale (a juried event). I'm anxiously awaiting word if anything was accepted. Cross your fingers.