Dyeing - the lazy way

OK. I did mention that I don't deal well with deadlines. Instead of looking forward to studio play time I dread it. For no good reason. No good reason at all. What is wrong with me!?!? 

A beautifully hung show at the Craft Center on campus at NC State University.

Then again - I never seem to get anything actually finished without a deadline to push me to completion. I have numerous works that are very close to completion but I seem to lose interest. I need to find me some discipline!

So I need to dye this fabric for a couple of wearable art pieces I've agreed to make for an exhibition. I've known I needed to get them done. I know it won't take more than a couple of hours of dye time. While I love the results of dyeing cloth, the process, to me, is simply work. Ah - there is one reason for my reluctance. I'm lazy.

So - because I know that I can be entirely flexible with my results I decided to dye this cloth the lazy way. Maybe the lazy way will be fun.

Dyeing cloth the lazy way:

1-Throw the cloth onto hangars. I'm going to experiment with drip/dip dyeing. Dump everything in the sink to soak in hot water. Decide I'd really better change out of my nice clothes. I like this shirt. Except for the really boring color that I usually only wear in winter. Hmmm. Take it off and dump the shirt in the water too.

2 - Get out the buckets. My hubby asked last night if I still use my stack of buckets in the garage. OF COURSE I DO! Just once every year or so. (Note to dear, darling, almost nearly perfect hubby: Please stop trying to throw away everything in my one corner of the garage. Pretty please?)

3 - Don the gloves and mask and dump some urea in one bucket, some soda ash in another and fill them with hot water. Nope. No measuring for me today.

4 - Mix two containers of dye. I got out all the blues I have and one named raspberry that might make a nice purple. Dump dye powders into containers and mix with urea water. Again, no measuring. My dyes are really old. Who knows if they have any ooomph left? I think about that and just dump in a little more dye powder. (NOT lazy on wearing gloves and respirator! No taking chances with health my friends!)

5 - Hang the cloth up on the garage door brackets, buckets underneath. Toss the shirt into one of the buckets. Mix a little tiny bit of dye water with a container of soda ash water and pour it from the top of the cloth. Hmmmm. Interesting.

5.5 - Swat mosquitoes. Go get my "Afterbite." Love that stuff. If you are a yummy, sweet blooded, mosquito magnet like me - go get some!

6 - Every once in a while mix up a little more dye concentrate into some more soda-ash water and pour it on the fabric. Hmm. Not as pretty - kind of splotchy. I should have mixed it into the bucket and dipped it.

7 - Mix more dye into the bucket and dip the fabric. It's heavy. It's hot. The blue is looking OK and the purple - not so much. Grayish dusty sort of purple instead of a clear pastel.  

7.5 -Give up on trying to dip dye (weight a hundred pounds and gets dye all over me when I try to lift if back up) and dump the cloth into the bucket. It's hot and sticky humid. Of course it is. I live in the South.

8 - Sigh. Rinsing is going to have to happen at some point. I don't look forward to the rinsing. Our washing machine is upstairs. Good for laundry - bad for dyeing. Especially because you can only get to it by traversing stairs and rooms covered with white carpet. Put off rinsing until tomorrow. (Note to self. Stop Whining.)

9 - Dump out dye water into outdoor drain. Be careful not to get it on the grass this time. Keep the hose running to dilute it. Wash out big deep buckets and put wet dyed cloth in the bottom. Carefully wash off entire bucket, dry it too. Very, very carefully carry it upstairs to the wash. Soak in cold water - run the washer. Soak in hot water - run the washer. soak in hot water with synthropol - run the washer. Again. Go to bed.

10 - Dry cloth. It looks better than it did. I still the the purple is  - dusty. I can work with it. Now I have to clean off the drafting table so I can do some printing. Maybe I'll use the dining room table instead.

Artist Spotlight part 2: Diana Trout - upcoming teaching events

When I introduce you to an artist who is also a great teacher I love to get out the word about where she is teaching next. Diana Trout, who I introduced recently, teaches some wonderfully fun classes that I want to jump right in and take.

I asked Diana the big question - WHY she teaches.

Diana: I started teaching kids in my studio when my kids were young. My neighbors and friends were after me to set it up so I did and discovered that I love it. A lot of what I was doing with the kids was to foster creative problem solving along with good foundations in art and confidence in art making. After a bit, it seemed to me that adults would benefit from my teaching style. 

Teaching feels like a mission. I had no guidance as a child or adult and had to find the path to art without any encouragement. It feels like a privilege to be able to help guide and encourage adults and children and foster their love of art making.

Anything coming up you'd like me to promote?

My DVD, Playful Paper Backgrounds, from Cloth Paper Scissors is now available. It is loaded with techniques on watercolors, paste paper, inks and a section on designing and carving your own rubber stamps (emphasis on design). 

I’ll be teaching at 

Art Is ... Wickedly Good, Danbury, CT

October 7-12, 2010. This is a relatively new art retreat that I’m very excited about. I’ll be teaching 

Rescue Book Journal, ColorWheel Journal Quilt, 

Acrylic Glazes & Collage, Journal Spilling Watercolor, 

Journal Spilling Layers 

and Port Townsend, here I come! 

JournalFest, Port Townsend, WA

October 27-31, 2010

Journal Spilling Watercolor, Rescue Book Journal, ColorWheel Paper Quilt

There are still spaces available at both of these retreats. If you are in the area go check them out! And..... I'll be giving away a copy of Diana Trout's book, "Journal Spilling" to one lucky reader next week right after I review it for you. Leave comments on this post, on the upcoming review, or on the first spotlight I did of her.

Getting Ready to DYE

Kids on the bus. √

Get preschooler into car. √

Go back inside to find preschooler's shoes. √

Medical form dropped off to doctors office. √

Put preschooler's shoes back on. √

Find classroom and meet new preschool teacher. √

Gather up purple glitter play dough preschooler has scattered all over floor. √

Put shoes back on preschooler. √

Bring home a couple extra kids to keep preschooler busy for the next two hours. √

Open the 100 yd bolt of sand-washed Tencel twill. √

Drool a bit. √

Listen to preschoolers tattle on each other. √

Ignore preschoolers tattling on each other. √

Rip about ten yards of yummy fabric. √

Lunch - getting there.

Naps - can't come too soon!

Almost time to DYE!

Photo-Transfer Fun on Bonnie McCaffery's Vidcast with Lyric!

Last year in Houston Bonnie McCaffery, who is one of my favorite people, took a little time out to film a few moments of fun and photo-transfer. You can see the results this month on her website here:

bonniemccaffery.com

Bonnie is also a wonderful teacher and a very creative artist. One of my favorite things is to see her teach a roomful of fearful women how to paint an absolutely gorgeous, and realistic looking face. Faces can be the hardest thing ever to paint. But she makes it easy. AND - she has a book and DVD that can show you how to do it yourself! 

So pop over and laugh with me through the vidcast. We'll take a peek at my book, "Art + Quilt" and play a little bit with some fun imagery. Say hi to Bonnie for me while you are there.

For Your Inspiration: Another RED Day

by Philipp Klinger on Flickr

by Pierovis'ciada on Flickr

by Dennis Jarvis on Flickr
Why is it I'm thinking I want to get away? I've just spent two weeks away. Perhaps it is the very long list of deadlines I have to meet over the next month. I don't deal well with the pressure of deadlines. I'd rather run away and hide. Of course it would be nice to do it somewhere far away and beautiful. With my sketchbook. And paint. And fabric. And machine and thread and beads and more paint and maybe even all the rest of the stuff in my studio. (grins)

Artist Spotlight part 1: Diana Trout

I'd like to introduce you to another artist whom I admire, the lovely and talented Diana Trout.

Lyric - Have you always known you wanted to be an artist? How did you come to where you are now in your artistic development.

Diana - Oh boy, this will be a long answer. 

In a word, no. Apparently, I loved art as a child but my parents were pretty busy since there were five of us kids and my mom was sick. I remember being given a paint by number set. I loved the paint and hated the numbers. I wound up doing my own thing which led my mother to believe I wasn’t much of an artist. I spent a lot of time in our small town craft shop and used to spend all of my allowance there.

We didn’t have any art in school (mid to late 60’s, catholic school) but we did have plenty of music - all that choir practice! I love music, so decided that was my calling; all through high school and collage, I played guitar and sang in coffee houses. It was a good part-time job! 

D - And so it went. I went to several different commuter colleges, bouncing from one major to another and paying for it myself. Eventually, something snapped in my head and I went to art school and took a few classes. After building a portfolio, I applied to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Everything I did there was magical and I immersed myself completely in painting and drawing the figure. That was it: 35 years later, I’m still sticking with it.

L - I agree - PLAY takes practice. It’s good to think through your work but it is so helpful to take the time to be free. 

L - We have so much in common! Large family, started out and paid our own way through college as musicians. You were lucky to find art early… it took me a while. It's never too late right?

L - Stranded on a Desert Island - what's in your art shoebox?

D - My watercolors, definitely and embroidery/sewing kit. I could make my own paper and find fibers there to stitch on. There would probably be berries for ink and sticks to draw with and I could make charcoal sticks easily enough. Better have some matches to start that fire, though. How long would I be there, exactly?

L - Hey we should hang out there together. I could teach you how to make a flint and steel fire and set a game trap for food. Let’s keep it easy though and just spend a few wonderfully isolated days with our art and plenty of food before the yacht comes to pick us up.

L - Your journals have an intriguing balance of rawness and beauty. I have trouble getting too tight in my work. Any hints for staying loose?

D - Oh yes, that is difficult! Practice is the solution, though. It’s a funny thing that adults need to practice re-learning how to play but we really do! Thank you for noticing the “raw/elegance” aesthetic, Lyric. It really is something that I’ve consciously nurtured for a long time.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Diana as much as I've enjoyed getting to know her. Diana's blog is titled Hububbery. Go visit her there and say hello. 

You've got to love a woman who uses the word Hububbery.

Student Spotlight: QU Screenprinting

Just two more days to register!

 QuiltUniversity.com

Freeform Screenprinting

four lessons, one opening each week beginning August 27th

Charlotte Robinson

Sue Price

Maggie Birchenough