Dipping into ice cube dyeing...

I wanted to have fabrics that tied in with my eco printed pieces, so decided the best way forward was to dye my own. I have dyed fabric before, but not for ages, so read up on all my books beforehand, and left my fabric to soak in soda ash overnight. 

fabric soaking in soda ash

Then I had fun and miraculously not ended up multicoloured myself!

I followed a couple of people's ideas on ice dyeing, layering up the previously soaked fabric in the bottom of a bucket, covering with ice cubes, then sprinkling with reactive all in one dye. Repeat the layer, and leave the ice to melt for 24 hours.

This is more experimental than might be useful for the piece of work I have in mind, but you never know, serendipity might call.

ice dyeing

For more useful fabric I tried the plastic bag method, pouring the mixed dye into the plastic bag containing the pre soaked fabric. I'm really please with the appearance so far, but rinsing the fabric might really mute the colours more than I'd like. Time will tell, the proof is in the curing overnight I guess.

plastic bag method

While I was in the zone I quickly dyed a few skeins of thread, to use with my slow hand stitched piece of botanical print work shown in the last post.

dyeing skeins of thread

All rinsed and washed, now a blow on the line, quick iron and then stitch...almost reminds me of black currant and pistachio ice cream!

dyed fabrics

Thanks for reading,
Debbie

Exploring eco-printing...

My work for our next theme has been inspired by the root of the word textiles. In relation to this I've been exploring eco-printing, using vegetable and plant material to produce prints on cloth. I have had such enjoyment from these play sessions: selecting plants from my garden, which I love; then steaming them (using a steamer given by a friend) and trying to be oh so patient waiting the required few days for the prints to cure before peeping!

I have been like a child on Christmas morning waiting to unwrap and see what unfolds from within these tightly tied rolls of smelly vegetation! But well worth the wait in most cases, not all. I've tried to be good and record the process as I go along.

Here are some photos, hopefully my background tablecloth does not impede too much!

eco-printing ready to unroll

eco-printing result

Thanks for reading,
Debbie

Books, books, books and a little extra from Sue...

Just our altered books to share with you this month...

Jenni 

Jenni

Jenni

Debbie

Debbie

Debbie

Debbie

Jane

Margaret

Rosemary

Rosemary

Rosemary

Repairing and Restoring Antiques was the latest altered book I worked on, lucky for me there was a page on repairing a broken plate. For our Cornwall.Collected Exhibition in 2016 I made vessels using the English Paper Piecing method, drawing around the broken china my daughters collected when they were small.

I thoroughly enjoyed making those vessels and it was a great way to re-visit this method. I drew a pattern knowing I wanted to incorporate the pictures of the broken plate, intending to attach to the work once it was finished. It may seem strange to put so much time and effort into a piece that's going to be sat inside a book, but I love paper piecing and the restfulness of the method. This allowed me to use some lovely softly patterned fabrics which replicated old china.

Once it was sewn together I attached the paper cut-outs to the appropriate shapes then sandwiched with wadding, free motion stitched and hand embellished. Finally, trimmed and zigzag stitched the edges. A little gold paint was added to replicate the gold edges on china.
I painted the page the same colours as the piece ready to insert, but being quilted it was too thick and bunched up when I tried to close the book. I decided to cut a jagged edge down the middle like the broken plate, zigzag stitched, painted the edges as before and laced the piece across the centre of the book. I think that little bit of extra detail made all the difference and worth the effort.

Sue

Hope you enjoyed our post and our new header picture, back soon.
Sue

Cornwall Hospital exhibit...

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hanging some of our work in the corridors of Treliske Hospital, Truro. The hospital exhibits a variety of art such as paintings and photography and now textiles. 

We will be there until the end of September, quite a long time so hopefully give pleasure to staff, patients and visitors. 

The work is for sale along with our printed and handmade cards, all helping to raise funds for the hospital.

Here are a few snaps to share with you, sorry Jane and Jenni's had to be photographed from the side but there was so much glare on the glass...

Jane

Sue

Rosemary

Debbie

Margaret

Jenni

Jenni

Back soon with an update from our last meeting.

Sue

Getting to grips with The Written Word...

The Written Word pieces are blossoming as everyone stamps their identity on their work. It took a while for some to get to grips with their chosen theme so some are a bit behind and have not finished the first piece yet and some have forged ahead and have two pieces! It is lovely to see what changes have been made and, as always, the caring and sharing and generosity of the Maids with needles, thread, gold foil and advice and on this occasion Strawberry Trifle and Cream!

Debbie - work in progress

Margaret - work in progress

Liz - work in progress

Debbie - lino cuts

I feel we are really hitting our stride with the altered books now. The books are bulging with goodies with more to come! We all have a different approach to the alterations which, of course is what makes it so interesting. The book on Astronomy is glorious with fabulous colours, stitches, beads and sequins, The Nature Book now sports superb watercolour paintings, The Pests and Garden Diseases manual is stuffed with insects and bugs of all descriptions and the Fashion Guide will now teach you how to lace your trainers with suitable rhymes included. Great stuff.

Altered books

Thanks for reading
Margaret

Bulging books and a little extra from Jane...

We had a super meeting in February with lots of encouragement, sharing of ideas and even more chitchat and putting the world to rights. 

Our work on The Written Word is progressing nicely with ideas coming together, sketchbooks are beginning to look interesting and a few Maids finished their first pieces. I have a few snaps to share with you, but I'll save them for another post. 

It was encouraging to read the comment from Jade in our last post, saying that our altered books are not boring you, but looked forward too. I have to say yet again that we are enjoying this project and Maids who were apprehensive about defacing a book have joined in with gusto.

So, here's our snaps...

  

Debbie

Debbie

Jenni - working on her page

Jenni - working on another page

Margaret

Margaret

Rosemary

Rosemary

Sue

Sue

We thought it may be interesting to share a few of the techniques we use in our altered books. Jane has some really good ideas about her subjects, here are few words she's written about her method for...

The Encyclopaedia of Garden Pest and Disease

I was immediately enthusiastic about working on a few pages in this book. I looked out a wooden block print of an insect and a couple of bug mono prints I had done but not found a use for. 

I rounded off this selection by doing a Lino cut (with some new tools I got for Xmas). I made each of them into postcards by mounting onto pelmet vylene. I coloured some of them with sharpe pens. Added some text and finished with embroidery and sequins.

Jane

I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to seeing Jane's bugs inserted into the pests book next time we meet.
Hope you enjoyed that little extra, we'll be back with more soon.
Sue

More Altered Books...

I've finally started my first piece for our next project, so while I'm waiting for the paint to dry I thought I should catch up with the blog. 

I do hope we're not boring you with our altered books each month, but as I've said before we're enjoying this project and our show and tell sessions are an inspiration to each of us, perhaps we've inspired you to start altering a book!

Here are a few more snaps to share with you...

Jane

Jane

Debbie

Debbie

Debbie

Sue

Sue

Rosemary

Rosemary

Rosemary

Margaret

Just a quick post this time, my paint should be dry.
Back soon
Sue