Saturday 2 February 2013

Still on the terrracotta & blue theme


 Ok, it's still just a pile of unfinished work, but I'm moving on....slowly. The 3 small pieces at the top of the pile if you can see them are a sample for the sketchbook, behind that a 'spare' piece & behind that a smaller piece, that will become 2 brooches. Underneath those is a book cover, a purse & cuff sized piece & below those are 2 hangings to be, one with a half moon, heron & trees to be thought about the other, well, without ;) I should have looked up in Thesaurus for an alternative to 'piece'. I do hate repeating one word 4 times in a paragraph.



The most exciting achievement this week is that i have finally got my very own 'hand dyed' cloth! see above Oh, my, I've joined the big boys! How I've longed to be a dyer, I've managed a bit of rusting here & there, but the word 'procion' fills me with horror. But, I found myself thinking, 'I don't have enough of the right blue in my collection of recycled fabrics' & I answered myself, well I can use silk/fabric paint. OK so I know it's not real dyeing but it's close, using what I have ;)

I brought it painted & dripping  into the house to drape over the Aga & horror of horrors thought I'd either made a mess on the (very clean) oven door (it is a turquoise Aga tho, ...of course) or burnt it, as it stuck to the door. I didn't realize if you 'applied heat directly to 'dyed' cloth it drew the color to that spot so, while he wasn't looking I roughly folded the cloth & put it on the warm plate under the weight of an oven glove & left it.....he didn't notice. & the above happened. Nobody anywhere has said you could use an Aga for resist dyeing!  Half of it, a piece of cloth about 5 x 12 has gone into my 'pieces' & I've just noticed the look of a stand of birch trees..... Can you tell I'm excited?

 Anyway, here are a few pic that were drying from my class last week. Do just scroll thru quickly!

 Chine Colle


 I'm not normally one for 'seeing things' but there's definitely an otter swimming in my clean up print!

 More turps
 using up ink
 cleaning rollers
 more ink cleaning
 more turps. Some wonderful makrks

one of the other students lino cuts, wish I'd done a tree!

 We did  lithographs in perspex this week. Boy, I thought I'd found a new career, with perspex being accessible & no acid involved, & just a sharp tool but apart from the teeth itching noise I could barely scratch the surface without wanting to wearing wrist, elbow & hand supports! It is my very first time, scratching - I couldn't call it sketching - for a lithograph, but still, my 'sampler'  which is laying on it's side with exhaustion, looks like it's been done by a 5 yr old, very naiive ;(


These above are by 2 other students, lovely, the nude was traced directly onto the perspex from a book, but still! As the DH said, 'very different' to mine. It was fun, tho. Right, off to stitch into those pieces!

17 comments:

Cate Rose said...

I do love that blue cloth you "dyed" (and everything else here). Good work! xo

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Wow you've been a busy girl and what good results! Love them. Suzy x

Anonymous said...

Advenutres in dying, love your Aga story...really like your fish pieces!!! xox

Suztats said...

That otter is staring at me! Love your dyed cloth, Emma, and all those lovely pieces. It's wonderful to be excited about what you're learning.

Iz said...

OOOH! Lovely blue, and I can see the trees in it - fantastic stuff! Wish I had a turquoise aga for resist dyeing...it works really well!

Julie said...

I wouldn't have thought of folding up cloth like that to get the resist so I shall have to try that next time I paint some cloth. Procion isn't really scary, you'd love it if you had a go. The worst part is wearing a mask against the powder and your glasses steaming up! If you get the chance to try a dyeing workshop it's worth a go. The other thing against it is the rinsing, yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn, it drives me mad and I hate the cold water.

Beverley Baird said...

Love all your work! The blue cloth is lovely as is the piece at the top! Sounds like a great class.

Robin Mac said...

Love all those pieces. I have alsways been put of procion dyeing too, and I have cheated with silk paints too. I do love dyeing silk with acid dyes though, and you don't have hours of rinsing to do. Your fish are fascinating. Cheers

ju-north said...

The dyed blue piece (!) is wonderful - definitely looks like branches. Can see you using that method again!

sue said...

the blue cloth is gorgeous and the marks left by the folds are great. Looks like it is full steam ahead for the printmaking - can't wait to see that skill translate to fabric ....

Jan said...

I guess I haven't been by in awhile, I see you are keeping busy as usual, doing your wonderful work. Congratulations on trying the fabric dyeing, your piece looks great although I'd say it looks more like bamboo shoots to my eye.

Carole Reid said...

Isn't it all so exciting....learning, exploring, mucking about! Have fun, Emma!

MulticoloredPieces said...

Hi, Emma. Very fun post--I love seeing all the stuff, yours and others. The dyed fabric is beautiful and has so many possibilities. I've pretty much resisted dyeing as there are so many other sewing and stitching projects stacked up and waiting for me. I'll see what you do first!
best, nadia

Heloise said...

I too have a pack of Procyon dyes but have shied away from trying them. I love the piece that looks like birch trees.

artymess said...

yes me too I have procion dyes I bought EONS ago and they sit in my drawer ......yours looks great ........and I didnt know you could scratch into perspex ...genius !!.x

Anonymous said...

The fish is still my favourite and he's lovely in all his various incarnations! It's so interesting and inspiring to see what you're up to on this course.

Linda Vincent said...

Wow...this is all amazing stuff Emma. You are a constant source of inspiration! Love the fish... 😀
Procion dyes? It a foreign language to me that Maggi speaks occasionally....
Xxx