Aaron hangs photos at THAA

Aarin drove out to Holland today to hang his exhibit, Place Studies, at the Tiger Hills Arts Association. The exhibit runs for the month of October with an open house on October 22 at 7pm. 

Latest Fibre Art Pieces

Here are photos of my latest pieces. I wanted to stylize my landscapes away from the total realism of my previous works. I wanted to encorporate my painted fabric, trapunto and one realistic focal point. 

In the following pieces you will see different coloured fabric each representing one layer of the landscape, a section of the work that is trapuntoed (sculpted with extra batting), and a grey area that give realistic detail to the work. 

The Big Reveal

Then next day after dyeing our silk I washed them out at home. It was fun to see what we created!!

Here are the results.  The first ones are Beth's and I took the photos outside. 

These ones are mine. I took the photos inside. 

Wool Dyeing Day at Annette's

Helen, Geesje, Annette and I had a blast dyeing wool fleece at her place.  We tried three different methods of dyeing.  Annette showed us her way of dyeing on her wood stove using silk dye.  Geesje showed her way of using a crock pot and Procion dyes.  And I showed how to dye wool using KoolAid or food colouring in the microwave.  We learned that we need to add vinegar to the water to dye using food colouring, but not for KoolAid because it already has citric acid in it.

Then after lunch, we all tried some wet felting.  Helen and I used a base of undyed wool and layered coloured wool on the top to make a flat felted piece that we will make into a little "purse" to hold needles, scissors and thread.  Geejse made a landscape, and Annette made a seat cover for her dining room chair.

Annette placing wool in the pot on her hot wood stove.

The dye Annette uses on wool.

Outside Annette's shed where we dyed wool.

Geesje dyeing wool in crock pot using Procion Dye.

After an hour Annette's wool has taken up the dye.

The KoolAid dyed wool.  Very vibrant.

The dry pieces of wool layered up before adding the water.

Helen's felting project in the making.

Geesje's project in progress

felting a ball.  Starts out very big.

The finished projects.  Starting top left - Annette, Helen, Krista and Geesje.

Annette felting her chair cover.

Using a sander to agitate the felted piece.  Works well!

Finished felted piece for chair seat cover.

Silk Dyeing Workshop

Beth and I drove in to Artists Emporium in Winnipeg to take a silk dyeing workshop. There were eight participants and half of us were from our Fibre Arts Divas group!!

Here are the basic steps:

1.  Fold your silk cloth and use plastic clothes pins, elastics, chop sticks, etc to hold the fold and create lines on the cloth as it dyed. 

2.  Soak in soda ash mixed in water. This is a mordant that allows the fibres to accept the dye. 

3.  Apply dye. We used squeeze bottles. The instructor provided dozens of colours!!

4.  Let the cloth soaked in dye sit for 12-24 hours. We put each of our pieces in plastic bags and brought them home. 

5.  Rinse in cold, and then hot water until it runs clear. Wash in hot water with synthrapol or other dye fixing detergent. The piece should now be fixed and ready to wear.