more dyeing with black walnuts...

The black walnut dye keeps giving. I've done a few more pieces ... some shibori style.

click on the images...

top left piece was folded in half and then in triangles. the binder clips I used give nice marks

shibori style....wrapped with string

shibori style....circles of stitching pulled taught on cotton/linen

kokopelli imprint on silk linen

I did some more printing on silk like I showed last week. First the watercolor on paper; scanned and printed on paper; doodled with ink pen; and finally, silk ironed onto freezer paper and printed. I should have washed it to test it but I didn't. I'll remember to do that next time....and maybe, try to print on cotton next.

pink silk, hanky, and watercolor painting on paper

mandolins drawn on printed watercolor and then printed on silk

I've started putting together a couple of small pockets....mini pouches....hope to have them finished by my next post....lots more stitching to be done.

the beginnings of 2 pockets

using the printed cloth for a mandolin shape and some hexies. fine piping cord used to mimic mandolin strings.

Ready to go out and put some more seeds and plants in the garden. We already have had days in the 80s and it's getting too warm too fast. I prefer the 60 - 70 degree range, but the plants seem to be happy.

Have a great week.

another pin cushion...

The watercolor play that I showed you last time wound up as part of a pin cushion. A fellow student in Karen Ruane's class suggested I try printing the watercolor on silk cloth....so I ran with that suggestion and wound up with this....

click on the images...

hand dyed silk and damask cloth and watercolrs

I started out by enlarging one of the watercolor images....

watercolor image printed on dupioni silk by ironing freezer paper to the silk and running it through my ink jet printer. I did paint over the print with some intense blocks to brighten up the color a bit.

I used a fine line Sharpie to draw the design onto the silk

I cut out hexagons and circles and stitched them together. I also cut out prairie points that you can see on the finished cushion.

I chose some hand dyed fabric for the background and it all came together quickly.

 Feel free to try this technique if it appeals to you. I think I will be running silk through my printer again for future projects. Thanks to Jann who suggested it.

I finished up another Sally Doll. I tried doing Intarsia  and stranded color work on this one and gave her an embroidered skirt covered with tulle. I think that's it for dolls for awhile.

There's been more dyeing with the black walnuts but it's all being washed out right now so I'll show you that next time. I've also been playing with repeats for fabric design after watching the first 2 sessions of a five week workshop on Creative Bug.....lots of fun.

The radishes and cosmos are already up in the garden and a few more vege plants are in. It's going to be a rainy weekend so all the plants will get some wonderful rain water.

Hope you all have a great weekend.