Albuquerque Folk Art Festival

I almost forgot to post about this--did forget my camera, so had to have a friend send pics. Two weekends ago, my dye group--Dye Fusion--and I were invited to display our work in the Fine Arts building at the Albuquerque Folk Art Festival. The five of us were able to hang about 20 quilts and our 3-yard pieces of batik and dyed silk. I think the room looked great if I do say so myself!

We got to meet a lot of nice people, and talk to them about our work. I also met a very nice local business owner who is interested in having me teach dyeing classes at her shop, so when I work out the details I will let you know in case you are local and want to come play! Here is my friend Lynn, a member of the dye group, setting up our pieces, and a picture of a few of our quilts.

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.

Shibori Hand Dyed Fabric

As I was loading the pictures for the last post, I saw these pictures that I don't think I posted before. These were done with my dye group friends--the top ones are batiked and dyed fabrics, and the bottom one are various fabrics done with several traditional shibori techniques--fabric folding, pole wrapping, etc. I have had too much fun dyeing fabrics this summer!

Soy Wax Batik

A few friends and I got together for an art play day and experimented with Soy Wax Batik. The nice thing about the soy wax is that it is water soluble, so it is easier to remove the wax than having to iron it out as with regular batik. We melted it in small electric griddles, and used a number of different things to stamp with: wooden stamps, metal items, foam stamps, egg beater, thread spools, whatever we could get our hands on. We also drew free form designs with an eyedropper or traditional tjanting. After you do the wax design, you paint the cloth with thickened dye. The dye has to be thickened since the soy wax is water soluble.

Here are some pictures of what I did. These are about 36 x 45 inches, and there are a few detail shots. I have only done one layer of batik and dye, and I am trying to decide whether or not I will leave them as is, do more layers of batik, or perhaps enhance with paint.