BIG accomplishments!

Photos to follow but in the last day, I have finished two more Frowning Francis dolls for my daughter and her husband , put the tree up and MOSTLY got it decorated, cleaned the diningroom and done the mantle decorations. I guess the crow needs a couple more touches too so I shall do that. All in all, a productive day. Oh! This AM I made an appointment to have my Alice in Wonderland locks shorn a bit next Tuesday AM. NB- NO photos of the haircut-before OR after!!!

As Promised

Here is the Plane Tree Bark- not trimmed, not mounted, but done--- I THINK ! In " real life" , it is better because you can really see the peely layers.This little piece is mainly layers of Dupioni silk, heavily machine stitched with painted Evolon, organza and the odd bit of commercial cotton batik. now it needs finishing !
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AND, NOW- FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT .....

 ...the first dye experiments. Above, what I was aiming for.

To the left, serendipitous rosy magenta as a result of not a tight enough scrunch and too much magenta dye- but OK.








And here- more of what I was aiming for. All in all, for the first dyeing I have done in YEARS, quite pleasing and usable for sure. Now, for the greens- but maybe not till I get the tree up and decorated and some honest to goodness housework done. Might even bake a cookie? Stay tuned :-)

Note re: Procion MX dyes- I LOVE the fact that this stuff is more granular than it used to be. It does not seem to fly everywhere as it once did- mainly straight up my nose! I did wear a mask though  which I never used to : -(

New Post, new day, old process.....

I did it today!! Photo to follow . I dyed this afternoon in our cellar. I bought some Procion MX dyes and finally got round to trying them out. I made a piece of cotton lawn fabric dyed with magenta and turquoise dyes using the Low Water Immersion technique. The dyes are familiar to me as once upon a time , in another incarnation, I did a LOT of batik dyeing and I used Procion dyes then . The LWI technique is new to me though. It seems kind of tie dye- ish and I like parts of what I did . Parts are too monochromatic though- too rosy with too little turquoise effect. It is nice but I wanted the two colours to show. I know what to do now so next time .....

I still need to post a picture of the nearing finished Plane Tree Bark piece. Pleasant colours. interesting textures. I will perhaps add a light layer of Lumiere paint texture on the top layer just to break up the flatness of that surface.

I have begun working on my Green Inchies. SO much to look forward to : )

Blue Inchies

 Here are some semi successful blue inchies.

 I had a hard time finding blues that I liked.

...and I LOVE blue.















I was playing with the Blue Moon idea but not too successfully. Let us hope Green is a better week!

Elegance

You know, the maples and oaks and lots of other leaves put on a spectacular show in the autumn. Baroque shapes, curlicues, BRILLIANT colours - and then, they curl up, turn brown and set about becoming compost. Huge piles of leaves are sitting impatiently on the roadsides awaiting the big sucker machine and blowing impatiently at the slightest breeze. This morning  on my walk , I spied these elegant willow leaves. Do they rely on garish colour? No! Do they have complicated intricately twisted shapes? No! Instead, the Willow waits for all of her deciduous sisters and brothers to put on their fancy dress shows and when it is all over, she quietly drops her subtly-coloured, graceful ,elegant leaves on TOP of the composting piles that await the leaf collection. Those piles were decorated with willow this morning.

I carried a few home to show you. The colours are warm but subtle and here and there , the odd chartreuse holdout shines forth prominently. They do not twist and curl or do other leafy gymnastics. Instead, they just bend delicately, elegantly , reminding us all that so very often, less is DEFINITELY more!






I also found a dried head of seeds from a huge Ailanthus Altissima ( Tree of Heaven) . Look at them ! They look pretty ordinary at a glance  but spend some time and look at the texture! Each  little contorted wing has a seed in the middle of it and the wrinkly surface really begs the macro photographic talents and skills of my friend, Carol. Even with my poor skills and little pocket digital camera , you get the idea of the beauty of this handful of dry brownish material. You know what folks? STOP! Bend down and pick something up and LOOK AT IT ! Don't just LOOK. SEE!! Force yourself to actually experience all of the glorious beauty that surrounds us in the tiny, simple shapes of nature . There you go! Sermon over for today: )

Just coz I can !!!

I am posting briefly from our dentist's office ! How cool is THAT??? Our dentist has kindly provided a wifi connection for his patients! That is grand for people like me who do not have 3G.

Other Doctors should think about doing the same . I would MUCH rather handle my own iPad than a grimy magazine in a waiting room.

Every Inchie Monday #49- RED

I was on a roll! Choose only one! So where was everyone LAST week? By the way, this was a blast but do not expect such prolific production every week !

Patience pays off

Here he sits , on Peanut Patrol. He watches the kitchen window for someone to move toward the sliding door. The sliding door produces peanuts!

It never fails! If you are sufficiently  patient and vigilant , the sliding door WILL dispense peanuts!

Bucketing down

It is WET! I am not really complaining as it is so good for the trees and shrubs just before winter. I am whining just a little though as it is soooo gloomy . Makes my head hurt! I like light, especially when I am working. I am working today on the background for one of the little Plane Tree Bark pictures I took a few weeks ago. The substrate is a piece of pale sort of celery green Dupioni upholstery silk. Great coour and I am over stitching it with a variegated green , some very pale grey green and some interesting jadey teal thread made by Molnlycke. Can't get Molnlycke any more , not here anyway. I always liked it and my new machine likes it too. It is a lovely colour and very even thread.

Now I am at the stage of choosing from TONNES of fabric, the very right colours to make the various layers of this peeling bark. I am not really hung up on exactness here but would like to convey the feeling of thin , peeling layers and that fabulous top layer of biggish  scales of deep purply blue more mature bark. I posted the picture earlier, but in case you missed it, here it is again. Is this not wonderful??

  The colours look a bit faded here where I am typing. Maybe they will be better on the post. well, wish me luck! I am using a LOT of thread : )

Every Inchie Monday

everyinchiemonday.blogspot.com

Well, here is a very feeble first attempt at making an Inchie! I am too old and feeble to work this small. Could we maybe consider Every Yardie Tuesday?? Anyway, I appreciate the sentiment. We all need to maintain our sense of humour and to try to see something funny in as many situations as possible. Keep grinning folks! It keeps the opposition on their toes : )

Well!

...it is finished, except for the binding and the hanger. I THINK I am happy- mostly, at least. I had to crop so you would not see the mess in the background but it IS properly square.  I may end up narrowing the border a bit and will bind it with the same fabric as the border - or maybe do a pillowcase turn. I'll see , but it IS done to all intents and purposes.

Links to Paula Burch

Type in the following

Www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

The home page will come up on your screen. In the top line, there is a wee search box. Type in the word " benzene" and ask it to search. It is the wrong chemical but it gets you to the right place. The very first entry is entitled" What do you have to say about the presence of benzene in fibre..." That is the question I sent Dr Burch and her reply follows.

I am rather comforted by her reply and I feel it is important for fabric dyers to read and to understand. Dr. Burch's website is very very interesting! Enjoy.

Workplace safety

I am going to attach either a link or the actual message which was kindly sent to me earlier this week from Dr Paula Burch whose area of expertise is the chemical composition of dyestuffs. I have been VERY concerned for a LONG time about the inclusion of a chemical called benzedine in dyes we use so I emailed her with a question about it. She kindly replied with a long note to answer my question . I would urge you ALL to read the email she sent me and to be very careful using dyes in your work. Apparently they are much safer now than they were years ago when I did a lot of batik, but you still need to be very careful when using them. As soon as I figure out how to connect you to the link, I shall do so. Watch this space and read what Dr Burch wrote to me. I thank her profusely for getting back to me on this very important issue.

Happy, and SAFE dyeing!