Rust Dyeing Reveal

Our Mesa group of fibre artists, FAME, did rust dyeing as our latest project. Linda led us through the technique of wrapping fabric in rusty items, spraying them with a vinegar and water solution and letting them sit covered for 24 hours. I took them out of the bag this morning. Rinsed them in salt water and then washed them. Here is the reveal!  What do you think?

Linda showing us a finished art piece using rust dyed fabric. 

Here are my pieces of fabric on an old cookie sheet after sitting for 24 hours. 

After washing; here are my samples. 

Silk dupioni. Rust dyed shibori style with steel wool and iron filings. 

Green batik fabric rust dyed with a gear. 

Various cotton fabrics rust dyed with nails. 

Walking Companion

Our Mesa neighbours got a Golden Doodle (cross between a Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle) named Arizona. I have been taking her for a walk almost daily. She has a lot of energy as she is only 9 months old, but is very good and willing to please. I have been attempting to train her to walk comfortably on a short leash. Every day she gets better and better!

Two Favorite Threads News Flash

I learned something new today about my favorite thread, Mettler Poly Sheen. It is identical to Isocord Thread, right down to the colour numbers!  Did you know that?!

I love Mettler Poly Sheen thread. It is a bright shiny thread for bold thread work. It is 40 weight so it shows up nicely. It is strong and rarely breaks, even when free motion stitching. 

I have seen Isocord thread before and even bought one spool to try it out. Machine embroiderers like to use it for the gorgeous colours and strength. You don't really want your thread breaking in the middle of an embroidery piece!

I probably will still buy Mettler Poly Sheen as I don't go through the same large quantity of thread as embroiderers. And I like that I can buy a large variety of colours without too much expense. But I think I may buy the bigger cones of Isocord in my most used colours. 

My favorite thread looking like eye candy in this display at Mad B's Quilt and Sew. 

Notice the small words Amann Group. 

Here is the display of Isocord thread on the larger cones. 

Aha. The same Amann Group label. I never noticed this before. 

Postcards Front and Back

I finished two postcards. I found some cute vintage postcard back designs on the Internet and printed them on fabric. After bonding these to the back of my quilted images I sealed the edges using a satin stitch. They look cute!

The Front of the Mesa Arizona postcards. 

The top one is Inktense Pencils and free-motion stitching. The bottom one is all thread stitched. 

Backs of the postcards. 

More Inktense on Fabric Post Cards

I'm continuing to play with Inktense pencils. They are similar to a pencil crayon, but inside the pencil is a dry ink that acts like wet ink when water is added. 

I made two black-line drawings based on pictures Don had taken at Yosemite. One of the Half Dome and one of the Lower Yosemite Falls. I traced the black lines onto batik fabric with a fine black Sharpie pen. Then I added the colour using the Inktense Pencils. I chose about 6 pencils and created shades using just these few colours by overlapping colours and either pressing lightly or heavily. This gave me all the colours I needed in the intensity I desired. 

Once I got the colour on, then I misted each with water. I misted them quite heavily as I wanted the colours to bleed a bit to look like a water colour painting. 

I let the pictures dry. Misted them lightly and ironed them. This heat sets the colours so that they are now permanently set into the fibres of the batik fabric. 

Next I will sandwich and quilt them to make a couple more postcards. 

Half Dome after misting to get the ink into the fibres. 

Lower Yosemite Falls after misting with water. 

Heat set by ironing. 

Also, heat set. 

Today's two creations on the cork board beside yesterday's two postcards. 

FAME Meetings Resume

A group of fibre artists who meet at Mad B's Quilt and Sew in Mesa reconvened this week. We meet on the second and fourth Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 4. Cost is $5 to the store and membership is open. 

Each meeting we have show and tell to see what everyone is working on and to get inspired. Then we have someone from our group facilitate a lesson on a fibre art technique. This is usually a hands-on activity and helps us build our 'tool kit' of techniques that we can use on our own later. 

We had a great attendance of over a dozen fibre artists at our reorganizational meeting. Show and tell produced some fabulous ideas for future workshop ideas. 

FAME group meeting in Mad B's Quilt and Sew workshop area. 

Linda showing her cyanotype pieces from last year. 

Linda showing a piece she created through rust dyeing fabric. 

A stunning quilt from scraps. 

Theresa showing her squirrel created using recycled fabrics from rescued antique quilts. 

Fabric Postcard with Inktense

I finally got creative. It seemed to take awhile since my return to Mesa.

I created a black line drawing of a Arizona Mesa-like mountains design. Traced that design onto fabric using a fine sharpie black pen. Layering with batting and stiff tear-away stabilizer I created a sandwich that I free-motion stitched the pen lines with black thread. 

Where the shapes were on the fabric I coloured in the areas using Inktense pencils. I then activated the dry Inktense by misting the project with water. Notice how the ink colour intensifies!

Now I need to fuse on a blank backing that includes a label containing my name and the location of the image. I would like to make the back look like a regular postcard back. Remember those?  We used to mail them to each other when we were on holidays!  Now we FaceBook and Blog!!

The black-line drawing with tear-away stabilizer (bottom),
batting and fabric layers ready (left to right top).

Here I have free-motion stitched on the sandwich.

Then I began colouring the shapes with Inktense pencils.

Here it is all coloured in with dry Inktense pencil.

After misting the Inktense it causes the ink to become set into the fibres and is very vibrant!

Recap - Black-line master to Inktense postcard.

Project Launch and Invitation to Participate

Interesting meeting with Jin Choi and Thomas Shine today at the Scottsdale Modern and Contemporary Art museum. The husband and wife duo, both architects, Jin with a fine art background and Thomas with an engineering background, create public art installations. 

They described two previous installations. "The Lace" in Amsterdam and "The Urchins" in Singapore. Then introduced "Arizona!" A sculpture that will stand 8 feet tall and 650 feet long. This structure of hand crocheted lace ribbon will elegantly meander over and around the Arizona Canal at the Scottsdale Waterfront. It will be installed November 2018 and remain for one year. 

Currently they are recruiting crochet artists to be part of this project. I am going to help out. Anyone else interested?

Thomas Shine and Jin Choi presentation

"The Lace" hangs over a canal in Amsterdam. Based on a bobbin lace bonnet. 

Fastening the crocheted pieces to fishing net with 10,000 zip ties!  The fishing net supports the crochet art work for hanging. 

Erecting "The Urchins" in Singapore. 

Putting the pieces together with metal frames to get the spherical shape of a sea urchin. 

Each sea urchin had 22 longitudinal curved frames and three circular horizontal frames. 

The "Arizona!" Sculpture is based on famous eroded rock formations like Antelope Canyon. 

wire ribbon to create a scale model. 

Digital image that was created for the art installation proposal. 

One strip of the detail in the crocheted ribbon that will be created many times to get 650 feet in length. 

An actual piece of the poly cord crocheted art piece.