In the Kitchen

Those of you who know me well, know that I am not a very good cook, nor do I particularly like cooking. So why did I spend a good portion of my time last week in the kitchen? Crafting of course!





I have been very busy whipping up some new batches of what I am calling "Silky Bath Salts", which are a mixture of salts and oils, as well as making some scented Hot/Cold eye pillows and neck pillows--sewn with my own hand dyed Sateen or Silk/Cotton Radiance fabric!

Here are some of the blends that I've been "cooking up":
Lavender/ Pink Grapefruit
Desert Sage/ Sandalwood
Vanilla/ Lavender
Peppermint Stripe and
Holiday Blend (gingerbread, cinnamon, and vanilla)

What I don't sell at the craft show will make great Teacher Gifts, I think!

Hand Painted and Dyed Silk Hankies

Well, I have several projects that I've made but haven't blogged about. I've been really lazy with taking pictures and posting. But I had some time this afternoon while the kids were playing and the baby was napping (in the Snugli pouch of course!), so I edited a bunch of photos.

Here are a few silk hankies, about 12 x 12 inches, that I had dyed last year. I wanted to play around with adding paint to the silk scarves, so I decided to experiment on the smaller hankies.



The orange one was done with a foam stamp for the rectangles around the edge and a paintbrush for the other parts, using Lumiere paint. I love the Lumiere! My skill with a paintbrush leaves much to be desired though.



On the other hankies, I was using black acrylic paint in a syringe, trying to "draw" with it. But I had very little control over how much paint was coming out of the syringe. I had to move very quickly. I hate the brown one--I'll have to over paint/stamp something on it. But that's how you learn, right?



My DH has been keeping up with my blog--Hi Hubby!

Mixed Media Postcard Class

Something else I've been working on this month is making samples and kits for a class I taught last week--making Mixed Media Postcards--with an emphasis on sewing/quilting. We are using materials like cotton fabric, burlap, hand dyed silk, scrapbooking paper, painted papers, recycled papers, painted dryer sheets, painted batting, sheers, buttons, beads, painted paper towels, yarn, vintage ribbon....you name it! You should have seen the look on some of thier faces when I explained the painted dryer sheet and paper towel bit. It is so much fun to introduce people to new materials and a new way to view art materials. We had a blast in the class. Here are some of the cards I made as samples.

This one features a dyed paper towel leaf on decorator fabric and taffeta.


On my own silk hand dyed fabric.


Great focal fabric, on a gold and orange joss paper, and embellished with beads, ric-rac and vintage ribbon.


This flower and leaf were made from collaged paper fabric and other papers. Dragonfly brad.


Another fun focal fabric, with an African flare.


Dryer sheet leaves with beaded embellishments. I love the translucent effect of the leaves.

Batik Silk and Cotton

Still been puttering around, though less and less with Baby coming soon--just been too darn tired to do much more than work and family. I have been able to get some dyeing done. The 6 pieces here are cotton batik, and a couple of close ups. These pieces are 18 x 22 inches.



I also love to dye silk scarves and yardage. This red and orange one is a small section of a 45 x 108 inch silk piece that is currently on display at the Rio Rancho Esther Bone Library--a project that I am doing with 5 other ladies in my dye group. I am planning on incorporating some of these silk dyed pieces into my art quilting, so I am excited to do that when I have a little time!

The silk fabric dyes so beautifully and feels so soft and smooth, but is a little expensive to play with. I have a bunch of scarves that I've dyed that I will list on Esty as soon as I can get the photography done--that's a whole other challenge--but I will post when I have those ready.