Technique of the Week #28 - Custom Rust Dyeing

Project Hours: 72 hours
Design and Materials: 2 hours
Execution: 70 hours

Before you look at the number of hours this took, be advised a lot of it is WAITING.  If you are not good at waiting, well, this may not be a project for you.

Everyone and their sister is rust dyeing lately.  It's pretty easy to do, and you can find lots of instructions by putting "rust dyeing" into Google, so I'll let you do that, because that's what I did.  However, I did not just want to wrap fabric around the nearest rusty object and hope it came out nicely, I wanted to rust custom shapes.  However that meant finding a steel object and cutting it to my shape and letting it rust so I could use it to dye.  This is a conundrum.
My dear husband's hobby and mine intertwined, because he uses some sheet steel in his Miniature painting hobby. The stuff he uses had a label that interested me greatly: Quick Rust™ Steel. This thin steel can be cut with scissors, and then you follow the package instructions to rust it.   Using the internet rust dyeing instructions, I had a rusted composition that was rusted, and then dyeing within 24 hours.  There's lots that can be done with this using this product as your rusting base!  No more random shapes, shibori method fabrics. Do these shapes look familiar? The templates I used were from a weekly quilt project in 2008.

What people say about sewing through rusted fabric is true.  It's really difficult.  I had a heavy weight needle and it barely wanted to punch through.  In fact, I thought my machine was acting up, when it was just the thickness the material becomes with rusting.  I switched to lightweight sharps, and still my thread broke, frayed, the needle refused to punch the fabric, etc.  I even picked out all of the existing stitches to put in a lighter loft batting to hopefully take the batting out of the equation.  I offer this as advice to you if you try it. 

Technique of the Week #27 - Stuffed Dimensional Appliques

Project Hours: 4 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 3 hours
I love the work of Kathy York.  She is a quilt artist who can think "outside the box" dimensionally.  She's got two rather "famous" works that have seen publication and exhibition that are dimensional.  The first is Little Fish in a Big City, and th esecond is called Synchronized Swimming.  You can see them here at her website.
I'm not Kathy York, and I'm not going to make a bajillion little fishes to put on my weekly quiltlet.  But I wanted to get a sense of HOW to apply this idea to a quilt surface, and I came up with this stuffed tentacle.  I drew a pattern, added about a third of an inch to each side because I knew stuffing it would draw it upwards, and then sewed the fabric tentacle.  I added yo-yos for suckers.  Pretty cool technique, sewing it down was easy using a variation of a blind hem stitch.  The edge of the background quilt is not wonky, but scanning this stuffed sucker was...
I'm amazed that the cephalopod theme continues strongly so far this year!  It's a fun theme.

Please bear with me...

There will be a Technique of the Week soon.  So busy!  I'm like a little bee.  Buzz, buzz, buzz!

This N That #17

I want to say Welcome to the folks who have been using Google's Follow feature to follow my blog.  If you haven't clicked to "Follow" me, see the sidebar at the very bottom and click away.
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The last technique of the week was the "halfway" point for the year if I had been doing them consistently and not taken a summer break.  Not bad, right?  It's still 26 new techniques for you to try.
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Over on Quilting Arts' website, I'm hosting a forum challenge to get your creative juices going!  So take a look over there and join us to win a fabulous prize by participating.  The theme is "Put Your Best Face Forward".  Please join us!
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I'm working on three major projects at once.  One is a secret for now.  The second is 3 gallery pieces for our Fiber Art Diva's show at the end of October.  The third is this and next week's technique of the week at the same time.  Next week's takes some advance preparation, so I'm working on it concurrent to this week's.  I hope you'll forgive my lateness on this week's, it will be worth it. 
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My Houston dance card is filling up.  If you will be there, and want to meet up, I would love to say hi!
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These 3 are rarely in the same room, much less within inches of each other.  How nice of them to make a cute nest on my clean laundry.

Technique of the Week #26 - Extravorganza

Project Hours: 4 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 3 hours
This is using a product called Extravorganza, made by Jaquard.  They make great paints, and this ink-jet printable organza fabric was high on my list of things to try, because I want to envision a much larger project using this (or a similar) technique.  
I used 2 sheets of the Extravorganza and printed out these gears with the idea that I would layer them like looking into a machine.  I printed them using the advanced printer settings to make the ink "heavy" when I printed them because I knew I wanted them to be dark in order to show through. You also ned to let this dry a while before using it, because your ink will smudge on your organza if not allowed to dry properly. Unfortunately for my little sample here, the bottom cotton fabric layer is really lost color wise, and the first gear is pretty hard to see in person.
It was hard to sew 2 layers of organza on top of one another enough to quilt them, and my motif in the middle developed a bubble that ironed into a funky crease at the top of the work.  
There were a few failures of the overall design, but the product was really easy to use and I had fun deciding what to print and sizing it in my software.  I could see using single layers of this for text and other similar applications, but 2 layers were hard to sew.  Your mileage may vary! :)

The Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago

My sister and I make an annual journey to the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago from our places in the south suburbs.  We got there early, right at opening at 11 am, to a drizzly rain and most of the booths not open and still setting up.  We walked the place once around before the rain stopped and the booths really opened.  

We had a good time looking at the wonderful displays of merchandise and things that I would never make myself and leave to other experts in the field to make for me.

Cory and I noticed that there were fewer of the "shirt" booths from previous years, though they were still in abundance.  We did see a few "hot topics" for crafts this year... Octopus/squids, whales, and owls.  They were everywhere.  Renegade's mascot is an owl, so that didn't help matters.  But we saw octopuses everywhere.  We started to make a joke out of it, and I sort of wonder if I was unduly influenced in my "theme" for this year.  As we walked through, we noticed other patrons mentioning that is was still heavy on shirts.  I thought there were fewer than year's past. 

I also got to chat with so many artists whose blogs or etsy sites are in my saved lists.  It was great to see and buy merchandise that I have coveted online for a while.  (I buy a lot of stuff on Etsy...  I should post more of what I buy, because I score some great things from some wonderful folks.)

So, show and tell time, right?  Here's what I got and who it was from.... 

I coveted this from last year, and she had run out of this in red.  I don't do pottery, so I do adore it when I find stuff that's well made.  From Raquel Masri.

Isette is an etsy shop that's long been in my saved favorites, and this peony necklace has long been sold out but on my saved favorites list.

I love letterpress cards, and I love snarky sentiments.  The Hello adorable robot postcards are from Little Korboose, who had something my sister absolutely loved.  The rest are from 16 Sparrows, the home of the Letter Writers Alliance whose banner you see on the right.  

Blown glass is another hobby I will never get into, and I admire "witch balls" when I do find them.  The price at this booth could not be beat, $12!  I loved this red color.  By Kit Paulson

If you know me, you know I love earrings.  I love any and all kinds of earrings.  But octopus tentacle earrings?  OMG...  So when I spoke with Peggy Skemp, the creator of these earrings, she told me that her great grandmother had a preserved tentacle that was shellacked in antiquity that was the original used for the molded earrings here.  She had gorgeous stuff, all with a story. We loved that.

One thing I don't have a pic of yet is a jersey scarf from Garbella, it's black with neat gears and cogs on it.  Check out the link to see what I mean, she has cool stuff in her shop.

Hope you enjoyed my little show and tell.

This N That #16

Did you see?  Count them... 3 new Techniques from this past weekend!  Hope you caught them all...
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My husband and I are enjoying a whole month of not travelling, which means we are actually in each other's company for more than 2 weeks straight.  
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I thought I lost my list of "Techniques" that I made early in the year of all the things I wanted to try.  Once September rolled around and I was ready to start them again, I could not find the list.  I dreaded having to remake the list, I knew it would be impossible to remember them all. That was why I had the list in the first place.  But after cleaning my studio a bit, I found it under a pile of stuff.
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Speaking of studio, I haven't finished my makeover yet.  I have some shelves to buy, paint, and install and my new design wall to create.  Once I finish those, some rearranging and I should be good to go.  The closet makeover is almost done as well, and I have just a few plastic tubs for storage to buy before I am done.  I saw that OfficeMax had a P-Touch labeler on sale, so I may pick that up to label my bins.
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The weather finally turned cool this week, but I am hoping that I can get one more hot day so I can try my hand at dyeing.  It's on the technique list, so I want to give it a shot.  I also need one more warm sunny day for a photosensitive project as well.
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This is a stitched antique piece at my mother-in-law's house.

Technique of the Week #25 - Screenprinting with Mask Ease

Project Hours: 4 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 3 hours
The product for this technique is called Mask Ease by Scratch-Art.  This stuff is a vinyl mask that you apply to a prepared screen for screenprinting, and it acts as your resist so you can screen through it.  I have some pictures of the process this time, to explain better.  

I did not have a screen around, so I used some sheer cotton fabric and a wood embroidery hoop that cost me 99 cents.  I wrapped the inner hoop with floral tape to make it sticky and pulled my fabric tight and put glue around the edges once I was sure it was taut.  I then used the circle of the hoop to make my pattern. 

I drew my cuttlefish onto the yellow vinyl surface.  He's going to be reversed in print, so keep that in mind.
Then you cut the vinyl with an X-Acto knife to expose your lines.  I followed the Mask Ease Instructions from here, adhering it to my screen and printing as usual.

One other note is that this needs to be used with good thick print paste or ink, as the large open surfaces can get runny onto fabric.  I'm still not a good screenprinter and I had several runny attempts before I thickened up my print paste. 
I do like this little guy. I wanted him to be a little bigger to fill the space of the quilt a little better, so I think next time I will add borders or get an actual screen for screenprinting or a bigger embroidery hoop.  (It is a cheap alternative)

Technique of the Week #24 - Scratch-A-Print Screenprinting

Project Hours: 3 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 2 hours

This is was one of two screen printing techniques I tried using a new product.  This product is called Scratch-a-Print2, which I got from Dick Blick.  The idea is that these very thin sheets of tissue paper are wax coated on one side, and you "scratch" your drawing into the front, rubbing the wax off onto some paper underneath and opening up the tissue for your paint to go through.

The size I bought meant that my pieces would be very small, and I could try several designs in one quilt.

I found this stuff super easy to use.  It comes 10 to a pack, and when the directions say to "press hard" do indeed press hard and go over your lines twice to make sure they are opened up.  I had to clean my screen and redraw the lines again, as my first ones were not open enough.

One thing that I did before I printed was to take clear packing tape and tape over the cardboard edges of the screens so that if I tried to wash the screen the cardboard would not disintegrate.

I was able to get a better result not be "screening", but by using a tissue and gently patting the screen ink through the tissue.  Each one was immediately rinsed.  These were the best of my attempts and I know I am not very good at screening.

As you can tell, my "year of the cephalopod" continues, and this is called "Cephalopod Party".  There's a dumbo octopus, a regular octo, a cuttlefish and a squid.  Yay!  I do these designs because I don't have to do much thinking ahead of time, which saves time as I am trying to get myself caught up from my summer hiatus.

Technique of the Week #23 - Multi-part printing or Faux Screenprinting

Project Hours: 5 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour
Execution: 4 hours


This week's technique is from this month's issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.  Melanie Testa had hinted that this technique was something she helped test for a friend, and turns out that friend is her road-trip roommate from CREATE, Patricia Gaignat.  I had the pleasure of meeting her at CREATE as well.  
I am not going to give away how this was done because you should really get the magazine and give it a try, but I will say that I did this with sticky-backed fun foam and fabric paint.  The fun foam was cut into my multi part print, and then mounted onto clear template plastic to help me align the pieces.  I varied from the magazine only in using fabric paint on fabric (not paper) and the mounting on plastic.
This technique is so much easier than I had thought when Melly was showing her results way way back at IQA Chicago in April.  I could not fathom how to line us the pieces, until I realized you could do so on acetate or plastic.  
This little Octo is one of the first for me to have his legs cross over one another, something that made this project a little tougher.  
I didn't do that good of a job registering my plates, but there's next time, and I have the plates forever.  They wash up nicely.  This would be great for ATCs.

With a Cherry on Top

I was given this adorable bloggy award by Kelly of Maxi Fortend!  Thank you Kelly!


Rules:
1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be? 
Well, for me the answer is no.  I'm in a pretty decent spot in life, and wouldn't change anything.  Could things be even better? Sure.  But I can accomplish those things going forward, not back.
2. Secondly, pick 6 people and give them this award. Make sure to inform the person that they have gotten this award!
Oh boy!  Here goes!
Someone who really inspires me to grab onto my art dream: Melanie Testa
Someone who is a kindred Halloween spirit, and I love her style: Kelli Perkins
My fellow moderator for Quilting Arts' forums: Belinda Spiwak
One of the strongest women I know: Toni K
My roomie for our ATC retreat adventures: Dina Haskins
My other ATC retreat roomie: Carolyn B


3. Be sure to thank the person who gave you the award.  
Thank you Kelly for being  along time reader and supporter of mine!!!! *Mmmwaaahh!*