Experimenting with Liquid Rit Dye

Array of Six Mixed Colors

For the longest time I have been of the understanding that one should not apply Rit dyes directly to fabric, but the other day I wanted to see what would happen if I broke rank and applied the liquid dyes directly to wet fabric.  I was more than pleasantly surprised.  I was elated with the outcomes.
In a matter of a couple of hours I had produced over twenty 14" x 14" gloriously dyed fabrics.

A Sampling of the Dyed Fabrics

At the end of the following process outline are pictures of numbered fabric examples and Rit liquid colors that I used.

Let’s see...what colors did I use?

(First , I used the liquid dye, not the Rit powered dye. Next, I used a lab dropper to apply the Rit and since I only had one dropper, I had to clean it between colors. That was a pain in the neck so I am going to look for these flimsy, inexpensive, plastic droppers on-line and stock up on them for future use.)

On many of the pieces I started with Lemon Yellow and used more of that than any of the other colors because it was the lightest and could be overwhelmed by the darker colors.  I didn't measure anything.  I just dropped and swished and squished.  Here were some color combinations that were used in the examples shown:

Lemon Yellow and Tangerine

Lemon Yellow and Tangerine and Sunshine Orange

Lemon Yellow and Sunshine Orange and Scarlet

Lemon Yellow and Wine

Lemon Yellow and Wine and Navy Blue

Lemon and Navy Blue

Wine and Navy Blue

Lemon Yellow and Brown

 

The process:

1. Wash out any sizing from the fabric and thoroughly rinse out any soap.

2. Squeeze out excess water from the fabric but leave it quite wet.

3. Lay the fabric on a protected surface.  (I used vinyl because it cleans up so nicely.)

4. Randomly drop or streak colors across the fabric.

5. Scrunch the fabric to blend the colors

6. Hold the fabric up to see if the majority of white areas are gone.

7. Lightly scrunch the fabric and put it into an oven safe, non metallic container with a cover so that steam can be created.

8. Place in microwave for 4 minutes on high setting.

9. Let the container cool down a bit.

10. Rinse, rinse, rinse until water runs clear.

11. Squeeze out excess water.

12. Roll in towel and squeeze (I step on my roll) to remove more water.

13. Iron, if desired.

 To see pictures of individual dyed fabrics keep reading :-)

The next time I do this, I will have dry pieces of fabric at hand to mop up the colors on the protected surface between color changes. I used paper towels to clean up and the blended colors were pretty spectacular, so maybe they can be captured on fabric. If I do that, I will need to spray the clean-up cloth with water to help the colors blend before “cooking” them.

 Rit also has a mixing chart on their web site and I may print that out so that even more colors can be created from the ones already on hand.

Here are the numbered examples.  See below for the dye colors used in each piece.

Numbered Fabrics

 

 

 

 

Afterthought:  A friend who does not have a microwave asked if applying Rit dye directly to the fabric could be "cooked" in another way.  I have not tried the following, but it might work...

Instead of putting the microwave and oven safe baking dish into the microwave, perhaps it could be put into a range oven with the temperature set to at least 212 degrees (boiling point) and then let it "cook" at that temperature for 3 or 4 minutes.  This is merely conjecture and I have no idea how the fabric might turn out.

WARNING #1: Even though a baking dish might say microwave and oven safe, be very careful when removing it from the heating source.  Glass and glasslike products don't seem as stable as they were in the past.  Let the baking dish with the "cooked" fabric cool off a while before removing it.  These containers have been known to shatter in one's hands.  When creating any art, waiting is the hardest part, but caution needs to be the order of the day.

WARNING #2:  Do NOT use the baking dish for food after it has been used for dying fabric.  

 

"Face Value: It's Not a Black and White World"

"It's Not a Black and White World"

"Face Value" was this month's theme for the Serendipity Art Quilt Group to which I belong.  It seems that when creating a new quilted work, I tend to hand dye and/or paint fabrics but this time I decided  to dig into my stash and resurrect some fabrics that had been ignored for too long.  The background, however, was hand dyed.

A while back I had created a stamp from sticky back craft foam

Original Sticky Back Foam Stamp

but the image needed to be enlarged so that the silhouettes could fill the ground.  I copied the stamp onto card stock at 125%, and then used a craft knife to cut a stencil to use as a pattern for the faces.

Stencil from Stamp Image

 I then traced around the stencil onto freezer paper and ironed the freezer paper onto the fabrics.  Next, I ironed Misty Fuse to the back of the fabric (using a release paper to keep the fusible from sticking to the iron.  The next step was to use scissors to cut around each shape.  After the faces were cut, the freezer paper was removed and the images were ironed to the background.

Next I layered the top to batting and another square of hand dyed fabric for the backing.  Because I had already planned out the quilting pattern and I knew that it was going to be dense stitching, I used Sullivans Original Quilt Basting Spray instead of pins to keep the fabrics together.

Once the fabric was "sandwiched", I chose threads close to the colors of the faces and satin stitched around each image.

Satin Stitching Around Faces

The quilting is a scroll design that I wanted to be fairly consistent, so I drew the scroll lines onto the backing with a dull #2 pencil to guide me through this stage.  I used a fine, light yellow thread in the bobbin and metallic gold by Superior Threads for the top thread.  Because I wanted the background to suggest tapestry, I stitched over the quilting lines twice.

Quilting Design

The edges were finished by couching twisted cording with the same gold thread that had been used for the quilting design.

 And here it is, again, finished with a happy sense of completion.

Six Inch Mounted Fiber Art is Addictive

Once again, today I turned to the swatches of fabric that Deborah Stanley gave to me.  This time I wanted to experiment with a quilting design for the Quilts on the Wall "Maps" quilt theme that will be submitted in March, 2013.  I had been in a quandary about how I should quilt around the figure in my quilt, but when my eye fell on the print in one of Deborah's swatches, I figured I could adapt it and that it would be just what the doctor ordered.  The scroll quilting around the flower in this 6" mounted quilt is what I am now using,  The scrolls in this piece are cut off due to the size of this work; however, they will be full and connected scrolls in the larger "Maps" quilt.

More frequently than not, my freemotion quilting "practice" pieces are turning into little works on their own.  Now that I've refined the process of making 6" stretcher bar frames, I may never again look at practice pieces as only practice. 

Gallery Wrapped Fiber Art on Stretcher Bars

Six Inch Fiber Art Gallery Wrapped on Stretcher Bars

Yesterday I posted a note about using a Craftsman Band Clamp to square up stretcher bars.  Here are two examples of how fiber art can be gallery wrapped onto the 1" x 2" stretcher bars.  I cut 4" strips of black fabric, folded the strips in half, and ironed the strips for a sharp mid-line crease.  I then stitched the strips with a 1/4" seam as facing to the  6 1/2" square fiber art.  Finally, I mounted the art to the stretcher bars by pulling the facing to the back side and stapling it securely.  Waalaa--gallery wrapped fiber art ready for hanging.

As a reminder, here is a picture of the Craftsman Band Clamp that made this mounting project a quick and accurately squared one.

Craftsman Band Clam -  Squaring Stretcher Bars

 

 

 

Great Clamp to Square Up Stretcher Bars

Bar Clamp Squaring Stretcher Bar Frame

For anyone who makes his or her own stretcher bars on which to mount art, the band clamp by Craftsman is an invaluable tool.  Recently, I've been making 6"x6" works with facings that gallery wrap around stretcher bar frames but have been unable to find stretcher bars with these dimensions.  I use 1"x2" lengths of wood, miter the corners and then wood glue and staple the sides together.  Without this band clamp I'm afraid nothing would be perfectly square.  The bonus is that once the sides are glued and tightened in the clamp, the corners can be stapled while still in the clamp and even before the glue is dry.

In the picture above, you will see one of the stretcher bar frames with the band clamp squaring it.  Tomorrow's post will have pictures of two new work that were mounted on the stretcher bars I made.

Sketching with Thread (Continued)

Embellishments Added

As I looked at the piece I posted yesterday, it dawned on me that it might benefit by the addition of a representation of animate life.  I put some red fabric with stabilizer in an embroidery hoop made for use with sewing machines and freemotion embroidered a ladybug image and then stitched it atop one of the flower petals.  Then beading seemed appropriate, so out came the beads and on they went to the quilt sandwich.

Closeup of Embroidered Lady Bug and Beading

What started out as a practice piece became a stand alone mini art quilt.  Now I need to decide whether I am going to bind it or it on put a facing on it and wrap it on a 6" x 6" frame. 

More to follow...

Sketching with Thread

Ever since I read Twyla Tharp's book on building the creative habit, early every morning I sit at the sewing machine and practice freemotion quilting, even if only for a few minutes.  More often than not I do not have a predetermined idea of what I will make, but today it was different.  The fabric that Deborah Stanley gave to me last Saturday was calling for something more than random freemotion stitching.

I began with a  7" x 8" fabric sandwich of commercially printed fabric .  It was very light and had tiny little blue and green dots on it.  Because it was so light, it was almost invisible here so I didn't  post a picture but you will see it as you see the process develops.

T

 I also had some left over water thinned Setacolor fabric paints that I had used in another project and wanted to see if drawing with it might produce a painterly effect..

Thinned Setacolor Fabric Paints

Stiff Fabric Painting Brush

First Application of Thinned Fabric Paints

 After the fabric paint dried, I used an Ultra Thin Retractable Sharpie pen to do a loose floral sketch.

Loose Sketch with Sharpie Pen

 I then dropped the feedogs on my sewing machine and set about freemotion sketching a more detailed floral image.

Thread Sketching

 Sharpie now has a product called "Stained" markers for use on fabrics and I deepened each of the floral units near their centers with the pink marker.  The red was much too dark and would have made for a contrast that was too stark.  Here is the unbound finished practice piece. 

Close-up of Stitching and Highlighting.

Until I have used all the fabric swatches that Deborah gave me, I just may continue to create freemotion sketched practice pieces that have a semblance to something that is recognizable, even if nature may never produce anything akin to my loose application of color and line.

Log Cabin e-book from Fons and Porter

E-Book Cover

I am happy to report that I have been given the opportunity by Fons and Porter to review their Log Cabin Quilt e-book.  I received the book today and am quite impressed with this publication.  It provides a variety of illustrated examples of traditional log cabin, courthouse steps and chevron blocks with layout options.  Strip widths needed for block sizes that range from 4 ½” to 13 ½” are provided in easy to follow charts, as are color coded and numbered assembly diagrams.  Moreover, materials needed for a full quilt are clearly listed, along with cutting and finishing directions.  Thread types, quilting pattern suggestions, and even a trapunto feather design that approaches a tutorial in itself, are explained in pictorial detail. 

I am not only impressed with the clarity of the directions but also with the very valuable tips so that a finished log cabin quilt will be picture perfect.  There is also a tremendous, step by step illustrated description of how to end binding in a way that is “lumpless”—almost invisible.  This is the best description of how to do this that I have ever seen and I will definitely follow this process when I bind the quilt that I am presently working on.

Great thanks to Fons and Porter for the opportunity to review this e-book.

Artistic Expressions: A Random Act of Kindness

Random Act of Kindness - Fabric Gift from Deborah Stanley

 Sometime ago I wrote a blog entry about how the writings of famed choreographer, Twyla Tharp, in her book, The Creative Habit:  Learn It and Use It for Life, had motivated me to start every morning with the practice of freemotion quilting.  At our last meeting I shared a growing work of joined practice pieces which was beginning to take on a life of its own. I always have a stack of 6" square sandwiches of fabric and batting sitting at my sewing table so that I don't have to fish around for practice fabric each morning.  Today, much to my amazement and delight, Deborah Stanley presented me with a fantastic array of pre-cut fabrics and batting to use in my freemotion practice each morning.  Not only is Deborah a fine artist but she consistently seeks to mentor others.  She is penultimately smart and kind, characteristics that do not always walk together in one human being

Under Deborah's leadership the Southern California Artistic Expressions group met today for an inspirational three hours to share our exhibits, the current delphinium group project that has been accepted into the Mancuso Houston show, and to discuss various topics that centered on creativity and artistry.  This is my rendition of the delphinium floral theme that will be with the exhibit.

"Floral Lure"

To visit the Artistic Expressions site, just click on the flower on this blog's sidebar.  It looks like this:

Or click here--Artistic Expressions http://5artisticexpressions.blogspot.com