Parfait Dyeing and Paper Towels Too

Here are the results from my dyeing playday last week.

This top picture is of the washed fabric that I dyed in the "parfait" fashion. I am happy with how they came out, though next time might use more concentrated dye to get darker colors. This one, believe it or not, is a dyed paper towel! It really looks like fabric. I will use it for mixed media art pieces. The fun thing about paper towels is that they can be sewn like fabric, but also torn, decoupaged, etc and used like paper too.

Another paper towel. This one was wet when I hung it to dry, so the dye started to gravitate down--I like the effect.
Stripey paper towel.
Donna B. mentioned the idea of "wicking" a paper towel roll, so I had to try it! I set a roll of paper towels in a plasic bin, and kept adding a little bit of dye in the bottom of the bin, and let it soak in. It only wicked about 1/4 of the way, so I turned it on its other end, and repeated the process with a different color. Again, it only soaked up about 1/4 of the way, so I cheated and poured the third color directly to the middle of the roll. I let it "soak" overnight, and then unrolled the paper towels on a sheet of plastic to dry outside. This is what they looked like as they came off the roll. So now I have a lifetime supply of orange, blue purple, and magenta paper towels! I want to try it again with some different colors.

More Art Pins

Deja Vu--haven't I seen these before? Well, not the same ones. I just made another batch of art pins. The top 6 pins measure 1.75 x 2.5 inches. I made a base of "fusion" papers, paper towels, and dryer sheets that were painted or dyed. Then I added stitching, glitter glue, beads, charms, wire, more layers of papers, sequins, whatever looked good! The backs are nicely finished with felt, and I stitched yarn on the outer edges.

Pins 7-11 are smaller--about 1.25 x 1.75 inches.

Sorting Hat

See which house the sorting hat would put you in: I am a Hufflepuff, with Ravenclaw close behind.

The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Digory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.

Take the most scientific Harry Potter Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Size Exercises

These are two postcards that I did for the Collage Composition group. The first one is using a large image for the size of the paper, and the next one is using a relatively small image.




The small tree is the leftover cut out from the large leaf. The background is quilted about every 1/8 inch!

Postmark'd Art Postcards

For my current postcard exchange group, we chose the theme "Where I live". These are some of the cards that I made depicting aspects of living in desert New Mexico. The first two are geometric images inspired by the Native American pottery, rugs, and jewelry found here.





This one is a depiction of the desert landscape. There are some hills and mountains between Albuquerque and Santa Fe that this reminds me of. New Mexico is very "brown", but when you look closely you can see all of the different kinds of browns plus shades of reds and greens in the desert plant life that are very beautiful.
I think that the petroglyph one is my favorite. I layered several different beige and tan fabrics, and crazy quilted them. Then appliqued the sheep and added the details with thread painting.

Fabric and Paper Towel Dyeing

What better thing to do in HOT weather than dye fabric outside? These are my "parfait" dye experiments, with layers of yellow, orange, hot pink, and purple/blue. I tried them once already, but they came out too pastel for my taste, so I am overdying and parfaiting again. Then I put down some paper towels, and painted them. These are fun to use in collage and mixed media art. They will dry a little more subtle than shown. I'll post pics when everything is dry.

Funky Flowers

This is a 10 x 10 inch quilt that I did for a "line" exercise for the Collage Compostition group. It is mainly paper collage artists, but I decided to do this one in fabric. I used a variety of fabrics for the background, including cotton, polyester lining fabric, and silk. The stems are torn strips of fabric that I handdyed. Finally got to use some of the colorful buttons that I have been stashing! It is edged with a variegated yarn.

Africa Inspirations

This is my quilt for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge #10. The challenge was to use an item not from a quilt store and costing unde $5 in the quilt. We had one week to complete it.

About a year ago, I made a little quilt using some shark's teeth from an old necklace that I'd had for years. I loved the way that the quilt turned out, but had no more shark's teeth, so then I went on a mission buying shark teeth on e-bay! Who knew they came in such varieties? These are a long, ivory variety--don't ask me what kind of shark they are from! I also have some little shiny black ones that I intend to use someday. The quilt is about 12 x 10 inches. I also used some handdyed cheesecloth behind the shark teeth.