part 2 - Cathi's summer art camp

Okay....so our fabric has been sitting in plastic bags with all manner of rusty things, and hopefully it is becoming fabulous. I rinsed out my two smaller pieces that were scrunched up on the cookie sheet by the end of the day Saturday and they had already been sufficiently rust dyed. I used a white on cream fabric and after rinsing it out I laid it in the sun to dry and then stenciled over it with this cool timepiece stencil  that Karen got from Karen Pharr Studios, a vendor at our recent local quilt show. I used a brown/bronze color Shiva Paintstik and a stencil brush to stencil the designs.

Linda's rust dyed and stenciled piece

This really cool looking piece is Karen's. This is the piece she wrapped around the rusty piece of rebar. It looks like fish bones or a fossil of some crustacean sort of creature....very cool

Karen's rust dyed fabric

 
I think she waited until the following day to rinse hers. Karen any insights???? Can't wait to see what she does with it....no pressure. :)

These are the other pieces Karen did and they turned out very cool too.

I really like this one of Karen's too. A lot of depth to this piece.

more of Karen's ..... see the safety pin design at the upper right.

This is the piece I wrapped around the rusty chain and put in a large plastic bag. The fabric I started with was a mottled pale yellow/pink. 

no distinguishable chain links, but a lot of great rust dye.

This was the piece I had setting under the rusty gear thingy....... it was done on a tone on tone fabric.

Linda's gear thingy piece......hmmmm

I don't have Cathi's pix yet. I can't wait to see them. When I took a peek Saturday it looked like they were rusting up good. Will post them as soon as they are available.

Cathi's summer art camp - part 1

WOW...... what a fun-filled day of fabric play at "Cathi's summer art camp" Last Saturday, me and 3 of my bff''s spent the day at bff Cathi's house where she hosted an awesome day of creative play.
We have been trying to plan this day for months and it finally came to fruition. Cathi had her large cutting table all set to go and we protected it with a large canvas tarp she purchased. This is the before picture.....

We had numerous techniques we all wanted to try and we decided to begin the day with rust dyeing as it takes awhile to produce results.
We had all collected interesting rusty pieces.....

we also had a helper..... this is Clancy, Cathi's adorable dog. Maybe "helper" is a bit of a stretch, but he seemed to enjoy the day.

The technique of rust dyeing is simply arranging rusty items onto fabric that has been wet with ordinary vinegar. You then place it in a plastic bag to keep it from drying out and then it is left to stand. From what we had read it takes up to 24 hours for it to set in. We used old cookie sheets to arrange our rusty pieces onto, under, and around our fabrics. The rustier the better. We sprayed them with the vinegar and bagged them up and waited........

This is Cathi's rust composition, can't wait to see the results

This is one of Karen's compositions

This is one of my compositions, (I scrunched my fabric)

Karen also wrapped another piece around a rusty piece of rebar, and I wrapped a piece of fabric around a  large chain and those we put into a large ziploc bag to "stew".
Rust dyeing fabrics is a safe alternative to "powder" dyes although you are limited to rust for the final color. We did come out with some interesting pieces as I'll show you tomorrow........

Creative cravings.....

OMG, I should finally have my taxes finished this week (yes, I know) and then I have plans to do some major stitch-a-thons in my studio. I think my new sewing machine must think I don't like it, as I have not been spending much time with it.

The "season" in S. Florida is always a busy time for everyone, between visitors, extra hours at work, lots of seasonal events, and the holidays. Although the weather is now turning towards the summer heat, I do look forward to the slower pace of summer in Florida. Also find that I am more creative in the Spring & Summer months. I suppose because things are a bit less hectic. Do you have a time of year that you are more creative?

Next week 2 of friends and I will be spending a day at at my friend Cathi's for a day of creative play. We plan on trying a whole bunch of surface techniques. I will remember to take pictures to share with you.

Have you tried any new techniques lately????? What were they???

Check out Leah's (the free motion quilting project ) creative play that she posted recently.

I am also working on a little handmade piece for a giveaway, hint.....if you have grandchildren or little ones at home stay tuned.

Well, I better go back to my paperwork.....groan, because the sooner I am done the sooner I can play!