Results of my dyeing experiments from this morning

I now have ten lovely coloured fabric squares. Here are eight of them.

1) A lovely bought stencil mask has left small rectangles on the fabric.

2) A doily mask has left very pale marks. I'm afraid this piece hasn't photographed well.

3) The folded fabric is actually quite brighter than the photograph as the yellow is not showing up very well.

4) This is the piece that was twisted and scrunched leaving the edges flat.

5) A beautiful scrunched up mop-up cloth

6) Another scrunched up mop-up cloth

7) A salt diffused mop-up cloth. I don't really like the red but it will be OK for what I am going to use it for.

8) This is the big disappointment. It should have had some leaf and flower prints but it has not worked. I probably chose the wrong leaves and flowers - not much chance of a decent selection in the UK winter.

There were a couple more pieces that again did not turn out as expected but can still be used for my next project. I'm not sure when that will be as while making dinner tonight I've burned my right hand. My middle finger is quite sore and I don't want to risk an infection, it's wrapped up in clingfilm and I think I will have a big blister.

Playing

Having seen a lovely blog by Dyed and Gone to Heaven I started to play. I wish we had lots of sun here in the North East. I've tried to do some of the techniques from the video in my 15 minutes creative effort this morning. Because of the lack of sun I substituted my large work light for the sun but the fabric is not drying quickly enough. I'm not very hopeful for the results. Here are my 15 mins efforts while they are still wet.

 

Can you see the difference between picture 1 and 2?

Yes there are a few more fabrics, they are the mop-up cloths - 4 of them using up the rest of the dye as I hate throwing it down the sink. There are also a few kitchen papers with remnants of dye on them. I really didn't use very much silk dye for all these pieces. 

The two purple, blue and red ones are the colours I love but I have quite a bit of green and yellow silk dye from a previous project so I am trying to use it up. They will be good contrasting pieces for what I intend doing with them.

Above you can see my small ATCs, you can just see on the top one what I used as the base - my train tickets from my York trip on Monday. 

Last night I was playing around with them, adding a few pen marks. As I played with them I discovered that the dominant brown sections  could be placed next to one another. By playing around with the placing this is what I got. I love the look.

Below are the two postcard sized pieces I created at the same time as the small ATCs. I'm not sure that I like them as much, they need a bit more working into.

 

Yesterday I went to get my pots remember last week's post this is how they turned out. Aren't they sweet?

 Above is the inside of my birthday pot from DS. The colours are my second favourite colour combination.

I lashed out and got some new shoes. Sorry L I just had to put the pink laces in and looking closely at this photo I realise that they have already been christened. I wore my old fleece and an apron while doing my dying this morning honest! 

 

My hands also suffered from the dying as I forgot to put on a pair of disposable gloves - typical!

York

Yesterday we went for a day trip to York. It was an early start and a late homecoming. So a long day and I was quite tired by the end. 

I got quite a lot of pictures of trains although not quite the ones you would think. Here are just a few.

At least one of these photos is for a project I am working on.

The Railway Museum took up much of the morning then we went for a walk round part of the walls. I took a few photographs while walking but I bet you can't tell me what they they were of! 

OK I'll put you out of your misery, one was of a squirrel.  There were lots running around but taking a photograph was very difficult. This was the only one I caught. Really funny to watch.

However the others I am not going to show you now. Have a go at guessing first and I might just share them with you.

The afternoon saw me take a trip over to The Quilt Museum. Some beautiful inspiration there but I couldn't take any photos - not allowed. Some of those old log-cabin quilts are brilliant. Also some beautiful contemporary quilts as well.

One last thing to share is that DH bought me an early birthday present - a purple Kipling bag - I just love Kipling bags (blame my DD for this obsession.) I can't show you it yet as it has gone away until next week. 

More Creativity

I was once again about to lie down to sleep when BUTTONS shouted out at me. I just knew where they had to go. This is the Journal page I had made earlier in the day with buttons attached.

And here are the buttons on my needle books.

They took me no longer than half an hour in total, including choosing the buttons and deciding where they were to go. I was able to watch 'Air Force One' again while doing this.

Yesterday was busy

Sorry there were such a lot of posts yesterday but there was a lot to show you. I am taking part in a Be Creative weekend and have been doing a lot of 15 minute creative activities. Some of which I showed you yesterday.

Last night I did some quick pages in my art journal. with Koh-I-Noor water based paint and sugar water. Now they are dry I can show them to you.

They took me no longer than 15 minutes to create. 

The two acrylic pictures below are made with bronze and red acrylic paint and my trusty bubble wrap to create a texture. Sorry Myfanwy I do have a bag of fruit bags, but the bubble wrap was handier. The second piece has a few accidental white marks as I was in too much of a hurry - as usual - and they came off onto my piece of baking parchment. I quite like them so they may stay. And yes, before you ask - they are still wet!

New needle books

Yes a change came over my thoughts as I knocked back my fabric journal pages with chiffon and the embellisher. I was working away when I suddenly thought needle books, so here they are completed
.

Yesterday's sketchbook paintings

4 dry pages. Note the subtle marks left by the salt

A sponge was used for this one and sugar was involved. It really looks better in real life

This one is my least favourite. It may have more colour added later.

This really does show the effects of the salt. I only put red dye on this one, honest no orange!

Thanks Myfanwy, Off to look at our challenge prompt for today.

Creative Day

Well today has been quite a creative day. Well not so much creative as a learning process. Thanks to Lindsey I had made two small pots on her wheel last week. These are the pots I made. I know they are not quite centred properly but they were my first try!

Today we had an afternoon of glazing and here are my pots now before they are fired. I'll have to wait until next week before I get my little pots back and see how they turn out.

Tonight I have made a few new background journal pages thanks to the prompt from Creating Something New Every Day. You will have to wait until tomorrow before I post pictures when the pages are dry. All I can say is that sugar and salt were involved.

Fabric book signatures

OK the fabrics I found last night (early this morning!) have been turned into some signatures for my fabric book. They aren't completed yet and I'm not sure if the stripes should go horizontally or vertically. What do you think?

The next one - I forgot that the velvet was stretchy and I only had small amounts.

Then cat number one decided she wanted part of the action.

When I went to the machine cat number two was there padding around the desk and then she followed me to the cutting mat.

It must be getting near tea time as they are now having a great time chasing one another around the couch. My wool has been moved out from there as we are decorating and they are both a bit unsettled because things are not where they should be.

Sleepless

Why when trying to go to sleep does the mind start wandering and I thought about my newest journal. How could I use it to inspire a new project? I had a thought and just had to get up and dig out a few pieces of fabric. In only took a few minutes. felt from the felt box and a few scraps from the first scrap box I put my hands on. Well I just had to audition them and now I'm wide awake again. This is the result. Now I just have to think of a way to combine them - the embellisher might have to come out or even the sewing machine. I'd like to make a fabric book this time.

Last Saturday I got together with some of my Guild friends to learn a new skill for some - needle weaving. We did some of the basics first then started a bigger project - guess what it is! It takes a long time to wrap the wires. Tonight I finished one wing. I've made a few mistakes but hope that I have been able to disguise them.

New beads and a Journal

Well last night I made 3 new beads with some viscose knitting ribbon and I think they go very nicely with the dark purple ones I had already made - perhaps they will make a new necklace.

Also my papers have been made into a new journal. Thanks to Colouricious for the Elephant and my new printing blocks. Also to Frieda Oxenham who pointed me to a lovely journal making YouTube video by Jennibellie.

My journal is quite small and I should have reinforced the cover a bit more. Anyway you might recognise one or two of the papers shown below.