In full retreat ... at Boonah

Three days of magic time spent with friends at The Outlook in Boonah last weekend let me finish a quilt top (that has travelled with me to at least three retreats), share the SAQA 25th anniversary exhibition of art quilts, hand dye about 14 yards of fabric and collect enough scrim for a gorgeous bowl. Thank you ladies.

Tea bags and rust

A precious day with Ankie yesterday - and her WMBM - where 50 tea pot bags later (with the assistance of some Sulphate of Iron and Caustic Soda) we had rusted our way through old hospital bed sheet, organza, various weights of silk, pelon, interfacing, PFD cottons and anything else that would stay still long enough to be "dunked and dipped".

We started with 50 pot bags and two huge jugs of boiling water left to draw and cool while we caught up on all sorts of others things - like State of the Art Quilt 12 and Beneath the Southern Sky - both of which are due in another 5 weeks or so - then it was back to the tea bags.

The recipe and process we used can be found at http://essellesbabble.blogspot.com/2006/04/rust-solution-dyeing-tutorial.html  and the results are limited only by the order of dipping, length of time in the solutions and ... it's an endless supply of outcomes.

Nothing better than a heap of fabric drying on the line - in another week they'll be ready for washing. The interfacing came out like sheets of tanned parchment - so there's the foundation for journal pages - which will be made into a book of ... textile art samples. Thank you Ankie - a great day.

Aprons and rubber bands

Ankie gifted all the dyeing participants a "blank" apron + pockets to dye in any one of the methods we learned at the retreat. I chose rubber-band-strangle and jam jar dyeing as two techniques for a colourful result (Apron 1).  I also picked up some more felt balls at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane last weekend. Thanks to Jenny Hunter from plumeart in New Zealand (where I first saw this great idea) made another bowl before retiring.
Today I'm off to the Art Gallery in Brisbane for  a real treat with Mum -  can't wait!

Ready for action

All the pieces dyed over the weekend are now airing in the study. Some delightful patterns and colours emerged especially since the focus was on using primary colours + black or combinations thereof.  I cannot wait for our dyeing workshop in June. Closer to home, 2QAQ meets tomorrow @ 44 Esher Street Wellers Hill (Brisbane) and we are kicking off at 12.30pm with Scapescrape followed by Ankie Kings beautiful Indigo exhibition "The Lady Dyed the Blues". 

Dyeing and Printing Day

I dyed again today.  I still get a laugh from people when they ask what I'm up to on the weekend and the reply is a version of  "oh, I think I'll be dyeing".  Had a great time transforming fabrics with prints and finger-painting-on-glass mono print.  I learned how to combine black pigment with yoghurt-like goop (there is a technical name for all of this but I love goop)  and printed four different designs. Upper left is finger painting on glass and pressed onto PFD poplin, the middle black and white banner is created from 4 different wood blocks, the dark strip is actually black pigment and gold finger painting on glass pressed onto aubergine dyed poplin and the bottom piece is the same blocks used on hand dyed silk. It was a transforming experience on a number of levels and I had such a hoot of a day I forgot to have lunch! Now that is saying something .....

Dyeing for the World Quilt

A great day dyeing and these are the last pieces drying. Some were pre-rubbed with shivas and others not - all will now be enhanced with more shiva and some gorgeous play stuff I got recently from The Thread Studio. The World Quilt entries are due by 20 May 2011 - so I'm getting a wriggle on - all the details are available on Sue Dennis' website under the tab World Quilt.

And now it's back to the studio after finishing the WMBMs muffins for the week ... flavours in use included apricot, currant and mysterious other ingredient in jar ....