Round Robin Solo Style - Epilog from Judy

 

As promised, I spent some time studying my fabric after round 5.  The first thing I decided was that some of my colors were not as bright as I had hoped for, and I decided to use some Dye-Na-Flow to over paint the areas.  I have not used Dye-Na-Flow much, but have seen how well it works for some other fiber artists, so I dug out my yellow, orange and pink.  Here is how it looked afterward:

I was very pleased with the increased brightness, and glad I decided to give it a try!  At this point, I still wasn’t sure how I would use the fabric, so I studied it awhile longer.  Finally, I decided I didn’t want to cut it up… it was a good candidate for a whole-cloth art quilt.  I rummaged around and found I had enough batting, and a large piece of black hand dyed muslin for the backing.  So with not too much else in mind, I set about to start free-motion quilting.  The first area I stitched was the section just above the middle where the yellow stripe has black on either side (remember how the dye migrated after I painted it over the batik?).  I just followed the zigzag design across.

Then I went to the section just below and followed the black stripes the same way.  Next, I outlined the organic shapes made by using a lotus pod to apply wax.  So far, I had been using black thread (which, by the way, drove me crazy because the thread was slubby and kept breaking!).

When I finished those three sections, I studied the piece a little.  The batik swirls had not come out too clear, and I thought maybe using contrasting embroidery floss to hand stitch the design might be fun:

L-R: Running stitch, Couched floss, and a straight stitch across the swirls using some hand dyed variegated floss.

Next, I studied the screen printing I did towards the bottom.  I decided using free-motion to follow the lines would be best – I really didn’t want to interfere with the screen design:

Above, the section on the right has been stitched.  I did a little creative fill-in in some areas where the screen stopped, and will probably do something similar to join the sections where one print ended and the next began.

I’m not totally sure yet what will be done to the rest, but wanted you to get an idea of how I am using the fabric  I hope you have enjoyed watching this piece come together so far, and I also hope you have been inspired to get out the dyes, paints, wax and whatever else you have waiting to be put to use!

Tomorrow I will be discussing some of the techniques I didn’t use for this piece that were mentioned in my first post.  I have some examples to show you  where I have used some, and a challenge for you as well! 

Round Robin, Solo Style - Round 5, More Stamping

I studied my cloth on the design board for awhile.  Then I decided to use a hand made stamp to finish off the edge that had not been touched since I did the original dyeing – see bottom edge of photo below:

This happens when the fabric is larger than the project board… edges are folded around and clamped in place. I had a stamp made of bamboo skewers that resembled the stamp I used for my batik round, so I wanted to see if it would work.

 

Using black screen printing ink for fabric, I created a row of impressions, then changed the direction of the stamp and created a grid.

Here it is on the design board:

The first thing I noticed here was that I had an area above the grid print that had not been covered with my Thermofax screen, so I have to decide if I want to go back and add that in, or simply plan to crop that side:

I folded back the edge to see how it would look – I think this will do just fine!

So now, what?  After studying the piece, I find that it is an interesting study in color and pattern, and if I go too much further I might just lose those features.  So for now, I’m going to say this piece is done.  However, I think I will leave it up on the design board a spell for further contemplation.  Meanwhile, I would love your feedback and ideas! 

Over the remainder of the month, we have Laura McGrath and Beth Berman joining in the discussion, with possible input from a few others, so stay tuned!  Meanwhile, I think I will give some serious consideration to what I might do with my fabric.  If I come up with a project in time, I will post about it later in the month.. Hope you get lots of inspiration from our posts to try your own Round Robin, Solo Style!

Round Robin, Solo Style - Round 4, Screen Printing

I decided to use one of my Thermofax screens to add pattern to one of the remaining sections from the original dyeing round:

Here is the section of fabric I will be printing on, along with the screen, laying on the left.  I will be using Speedball Fabric screen printing ink.  I have stretched the fabric over my padded project board, and pinned and clamped in place.

This was my first time using this screen, and I decided to print one section, then reverse the screen to print the next section.  I was not sure how close to place the screen for the second and 3 pulls, so I had a bit of a gap between the sections.  I’m not worried… I have no idea what I will use this fabric for, and it is always a learning process, isn’t it?

 Here is the fabric back on the design board, so I can give it further study before proceeding.  

Round Robin, Solo Style - Round 3, Stamping

Since I laundered the fabric last time to remove the wax, I needed to either re-soak the fabric in soda ash solution if I wanted to use thickened dyes, or switch to fabric or craft paints... I decided to use craft paints for the stamping round, but you can do either way... faster!

I studied my fabric for awhile before I decided on my next step.  My previous round left some of the original dyed areas exposed, since the fabric was larger than my project board.  No problem!  I am totally in play mode here, and don’t really have a plan of action, other than to combine various techniques to see what I come up with.

I did decide for now to use stamps that resemble those used in the batik step, only now I will be using fabric paints. 

Shown above is one side of the fabric, and the stamp I will be using to print with.

 

Here is the fabric after I stamped the row.  Note:  I did not measure to make the stamps even… just eye-balled the position.  One thing that makes this stamp nice is that I used plexiglass as my back, so I can see through it to position the stamp.  I learned that little trick from Melanie Testa… thanks, Melly!

So what next?  Stay tuned... I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!

Round Robin Solo Style - Round 2, Batik

For my second round, I used soy wax to create batik patterns.I used 3 objects to stamp the wax on, followed by an application of Procion MX dyes.

Below are the stamps I used to apply the melted wax:

A dried pod with a bamboo skewer attached

Cotton string glued to a block of scrap wood

A foam swirl glued to cardboard layers, then glued to a block of scrap wood.

All of these were made or adapted by me for this project.

I spread the fabric onto my wax paper covered project board and attached using Spring clamps and T-pins. 

Here is the fabric after I have applied the wax coated tools.  I let the fabric set for awhile to allow the wax to cool, before removing from the project board.  I then left the fabric to rest overnight before proceeding to the next step.

 

Here is the fabric after I painted on some black dye over the waxed areas.  Then I covered it with plastic to batch overnight.

This is how the fabric looked the next morning… note how the dyes migrated into the unwaxed area, creating a nice organic pattern… totally unplanned!

After washing in hot water and synthrapol to remove the soy wax and excess dyes, here is the fabric, ready for the next round:

Tomorrow, Round 3... what would you add next?

Round Robin, Solo Style - Round 1, Applying fabric dyes

My first round was to dye a piece of muslin fabric.  I used a 26” x 37” piece of bleached 100% cotton muslin, pre-washed and soaked in a soda ash solution for 15 minutes before folding and dyeing.

I folded the fabric in an accordion fold, tied and then applied hot pink, lemon yellow and soft orange dyes in a stripe pattern:

Here it is, tied with cotton string, batching in a plastic tub after being dyed.

I allowed the fabric to batch for several hours, then rinsed and washed out with Synthrapol Textile Detergent.  Here it is after it dried:

The pattern isn’t all that exciting, but I was just aiming at getting some color and pattern on the fabric, knowing that several more layers were to come.

Next up will be Round 2 – soy wax batik.