02 March 2015

A day of experimenting

Judith, my muse, came over today (Feb 14) and we had a mad thickened dye party. She was working on an intense design which I hope to link to. It took her 5 hours to make her piece but then it had to lay flt on the 4' X 8' table I set up in my kitchen. It's a good thing Judith is so important in my life because Brian and I had to dance around that table for 24 hours being careful not to smear any of the thickened dye. She ended up doing another "has to stay flat til dry" piece on the floor of the apartment living room. Both dried nicely and she and her husband picked them up two days later.





Yes, that is the second blizzard going on out the window the next day.


Some linen slacks. This is half.



Above is the fabric face down after I heavily misted the fabric with soda ash solution. It had not been pre-treated. Sorry about no "right side up" pics - just a peak below.



I used Lexan and a cheap plastic vegetable chopping mat from the dollar store. The Lexan didn't bead up as fast and I could do 2 circles before the beading started. Good to know. I got the Lexan at the Glass store as "scrap". It was about 14 X 20. NICE! Now you know where you can get scrap Plexiglas.



A "failed" attempt at a monoprint from a gelli - not with thickened dyes!


Did you ever wonder about using a permanent gelli plate with thickened Dyes? NO! This was washed within an inch of it's life but I can still use it for paints.


Yes, I heated up the soy wax for batik. Told you we went mad! From left to right. A 2" notched (with scissors) foam paint brush, a stamp made with 1" bits of rope glued to a wooden block and right is an antique potato masher Marcella bought for me.



Yes, in my frenzy, I grabbed a bottle of boysenberry liquid dye from my refrigerator and wildly squirted it on the fabric.


The Lexan


Green strips were painted on with a brush


One of Judith's stamps that got too close to me!


All my goodies wrapped in plastic, batching.


Judith had some black with soda ash already mixed in that had to be used or discarded - heavens no! Recognize this fabric from my deconstructed screen prints in January? 




Batik tools I didn't use


The potato masher and rope stamp. The foam paint brush is resting on the upper left edge of the basket.


Before washing batiks, you have to remove the soy wax. I put them in a bowl of boiling water then dump out the "colored" waxy water in my yard since it it biodegradable. It slipped and fell in a huge snow bank (hehe).














2 comments:

  1. You were busy. Looking forward to seeing the results.

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  2. Fun stuff! I love the rope stamp... need to make one! And I recently got an antique "ricer" that I tried out... love antique metal kitchen tools!

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