Sunday, June 26, 2016

Sweet Gum Ball Challenge

Members of the Not Your Grandmother's Bee were challenged to create something inpsired by a sweet gum tree seed pod.


This is my "Blue Bommy Knocker."
The name comes from a children's book "The Hungry Giant's Soup" by Joy Cowley where the "bommy-knocker" is a spiked club that is the giant's weapon of choice.

by Marie

by Donna Mullen Irving

by Carla Hamm

by Debbie Coates

"Liquidamar Stysaciflua" by  Linda Creagh

by Charlotte Rutland

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Dye Retreat 2016

My annual dye retreat just ended. Four of us plus a few guests spent a week in Ken's giant air-conditioned wood shop in East Texas playing with dye and fabric.
(Photos by Linda, Carla and me.)

My attempt at a Debra Linker-style tie-dye.

 Ken has two utility sinks in the shade with a wringer between where Jill has rinsed one of her scarves.

Guest Lynn and homeowner Kathi shibori-folding fabric on the work tables. 
The long counter in the background holds the dye concentrates.

 A dark sky drip-dyed for my next quilt with t-shirts in the wall paper trays below.

 Jill (pictured) and Linda did some chromatography experiments to test the movement of dye with hard and soft water. They determined that it doesn't make much of a difference compared to the ordinary tap water at Calendar Lake.


  Linda was successful at discharging dark fabric that was shibori tied.
She used Sodium Hydrosulfite in hot water.

 Linda's pole-wrapped black silk after a discharge bath.


 Our big book of dye swatches.

 Kid's t-shirts.

 Kathi's new cloth napkins.

 One of Linda's pole wrapped shibori pieces.

 Jill's stitched shibori scarf.

 Dyed yardage for our fabric stash.



Carla visited for a few days and did some Freida Anderson-style plate dyeing.

Carla's finished shirt. The bottom was "jelly-rolled" into a tuna can of sunrise red dye.

Vicki and Lynn visited too.

Chewy and ...
 
... Smokey supervised.