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Deconstructed Fun Tutorial

7/12/2012

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     I had some time to myself yesterday, thanks to my wonderful Mother and Father-in-law, so I was working on my Healing art quilt and had some thickened dye left over.   I try not to waste anything, so I thought about what I could use it for. I have been missing deconstructed screen printing so much, I decided to get in there and have some fun!  Carpe Diem!!  Nothing in visual art grabs me and moves me quiet the way interesting textures and organic shapes do!  And in my work I am constantly looking for new ways to make a new kind of mark.
     This technique was one of the first I learned about as a new fiber artist, but as many of you know, every time you use a technique, you learn something new.  If you haven't done this, try it, and don't have any preconceived expectations when you do.  Just say, "whatever it looks like, that's what it is," and go from there.  In my opinion, this technique produces some of the most interesting designs and patterns EVER in surface designing!  Here's what I did, and how it turned out:
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The first step in making a deconstruction screen (after the actual screen itself is ready--that's a whole other tutorial :), is to decide what flat objects you want on your screen to create the lovely texture you are seeking. I knew I wanted to use leaves in the foreground and something textural in the background, because you want to fill up your screen space if you can. Once you put your items under your screen on a print board, mix your dye color with your print paste (more on this later) and using a Squeegee apply the thickened dye to the screen making enough passes to saturate the screen. Leave everything as it is, removing nothing, but try to see if you can turn it over and let it dry overnight. You can dry it manually with a hair dryer, if you can't wait (I understand :) If you can't turn it over without disturbing it, then leave it upside down on the table to dry. I used tape, because the green safety screening did not want to lay down flat. This is the back of the screen after it had dried overnight. Sorry, I took the other two apart before I thought about snapping a picture.
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Here is my favorite little screen of the three. I think the little leaf trio in the middle is adorable. The background was created using some text filled scrap booking paper that I painted with house paint to make it reusable and washable. This screen is sage green.
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See what I mean about the unusual texture? I love it! This was done with my left over brown thickened dye. This is the screen you see above with the safety screen on it. The safety screen did not show up as well as I had hoped, because it was not making continuous contact with the silk on the screen.
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The final screen was the largest, and contained only a variety of leaves to create the interesting patterns. I love how these look! This one is a muted purple to match my studio where the art quilt will eventually hang.
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Now that your screen has dried over night, you will need pre-mixed print paste (clear is used here, you can also use another color of dye if you wish), a squeegee, your screen and some dry fabric that has been pre-soaked in soda ash solution (combine 1/3 cup of soda ash to one gallon of warm water and keep in an air tight container to be used until it runs out, soak fabric for at least 15 mins. then hang to dry--DO NOT PUT SODA ASH SOAKED FABRIC IN YOUR DRYER, YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY A NEW DRYER IF YOU DO!) Print paste is made in a blender using 4 tsp. of sodium alginate, 3/4 cup of urea and 4 cups of water, you need to make this at least 2 hours before you print with it and keep it refrigerated for best results.
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Pin your fabric to your print board or table with T pins, then pour your clear print paste in the "well" of your silk screen, as you can see that I've done here. It doesn't matter the exact amount, I just make sure there is some all the way across the screen, you can add more anytime you need to.
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Wearing your gloves, hold the squeegee at about a 45 degree angle and drag the clear print paste across the screen, using a pretty good amount of force. You will need to make several passes to get the screen wet enough to transfer the dried dye to the new piece of fabric. As I said before, I used clear here, but you can always use another color of dye that has been thickened also to achieve another kind of look.
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Here is what the printed fabric looks like. Purple was the screen color, then the white areas are where the dye color adhered to the screen and then transferred to the new fabric using the clear print paste.
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Here is the chocolate brown piece that looked lighter in the screen picture because I held it up to the light so that the patterns would show up nicely for the camera.
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Here is the little leaf cutie. Still my favorite. I hope this sagey, olivey green doesn't wash out too much, I really like the color!
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You CANNOT forget this last part, you must "Batch" your fabric after you have done your screenprinting on it. It won't lose all of its color if you don't, but it will lose a lot of it, so don't forget. To batch fabric, you simply want to wrap it in plastic and expose it to heat of some kind, this will increase the amount of time that the dye has to interact with the fabric, making the molecular bond stronger and producing more vibrant and true to life colors. I use a heated blanket to batch my fabrics, I wrap each piece separately in individual pieces of plastic, wrap them up making them kind of air tight, and place them in the folds of the blanket and turn it on high over night. My blanket does not get very hot, so I have to use the high setting, which seems to work perfectly. I have also found it works great to put the wrapped plastic in the rear view window of the car outside, if it is hot outside. You have to find a way to expose the pieces to heat while they are bonding with the dyes. Some people steam their fabrics, but I'm not a steamer, I tried it and didn't like it...
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I couldn't resist sharing this picture that I spotted while I was rinsing out some dyed shirts that I made for the Arts Center. It took me back to the days of when I started working with dyes in the kitchen about 8 or 9 years ago, and when I had to keep my print paste in the fridge upstairs, because I didn't have another place to store it. This is a "no-no," always try to keep your dye materials separate from your eating area, if you possibly can. I am so thankful to have a place now to work, which is NOT in my kitchen and dining room!
     So, there you have it, Deconstructed Screen Printing, it's fun, it's fool proof , and it's very forgiving!  Have a blast, and if you want to know more about it, check out Kerr Grabowski's DVD, that was my favorite place to learn about doing it!  She's the creator of this technique and she is very entertaining to listen to and watch.  Wait for the line, "dirty alginate, sounds like the name of a band," giggle, giggle--she is hilarious! 
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Sunprinting with Ferns

7/8/2012

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     After going for a long walk in the woods yesterday, I spotted some beautiful ferns that screamed, "take us home and do some sunprinting with us!"  And so, I did.  I love this technique, it's easy to do, and basically fool proof.  Here's how it turned out.
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I watered my paint down, one part paint and two parts water. Hurried and put my ferns on top of the wet fabric and pinned the ones that had attitudes and didn't want to lay flat (hint: it's a good idea to do this if there is a breeze blowing too), and put them out on my deck to bask in the sun for one hour, that's all it takes--if you leave it longer, it begins to blur the image.
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Here's the whole lot after it had time in the sun and I brought it in the house and took off the leaves. I used fabrics that were given to me by a dear friend. One piece was a soft yellow, another a soft pink and the other a pretty rusty orange. I used indigo, oriental red, and velvet brown paint colors, I'll give you the link to the kind of paint I used later in this post.
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Another shot of the fabrics. You can see that I just did lines of color with my foam brush, just really organic, not trying too hard. Also, I soak my ferns in a bowl of water for at least 15 minutes before I do this, because I think it helps them to relax and lay more naturally on the fabric.
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This is a close-up of the original soft yellow fabric.
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Here is a close up of the original soft pink fabric.
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Here is a close up of the original orange piece.
     Now, I will heat set these colors with a hot iron, making sure to cover all of the fabric.  After that, I could paint on top again, add another layer of leaves and add more depth and texture to the fabric, and these fern impressions would remain; or I could use it as is.  The colors are washable as long as you heat set with the iron.  I used Pebeo Setacolor Transparent paints for this project, in indigo, oriental red, and velvet brown.  Give this technique a try, it's quick, it's easy and lots of fun to do and see what comes out in the end.
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Shibori Shirt

5/7/2012

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I had a really comfy white shirt that I liked to wear a lot!  One day, I looked down and saw an ugly stain of unknown origin.  I immediately thought, "I think this shirt is 100% cotton and I could dye it," (light bulb over my head).  Then I thought, I could do a neat Shibori technique, stitching and gathering, on it and turn it into a one of a kind piece of wearable art.  So, here is how I did it...
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First, I sketched some random leaf shapes with long, wavy stems with a light pencil. Then I hand stitched each part of the shape separately, this is important. Notice my stitches are uneven, that's okay, it really doesn't matter. I stitched the front and back of the shirt at the same time, so I have a design on the front and back of the shirt, you may choose to just do the front if you'd prefer.
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It's important to use a strong, heavy weight of thread, because if the thread breaks, you'll have to restitch it. I've used double strands of a hand quilting thread, which works great. Another important tip is to begin and end your stitches on the same side of the shirt. In other words, if you come up from the bottom/back of the shirt for your first stitch, then go back down to the bottom/back with your last stitch, you thread must begin and end on the same side of the shirt. Also, leave a little tail long enough to make a knot hanging down on each section.
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See my ugly stain! It's best to start on one side, right or left, and work your way to the other. Less @#*!!**& that way. Remember, stitch the leaf shape and the wavy stem separately, otherwise the design will not be distinct. Once you've stitched each section, pull the threads and bunch the fabric up as tight as you can. Holding the fabric tightly, tie your ends together with double knots, then trim your excess thread away.
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Once you have stitched and tied all of your loose ends, you will think, "this looks awful, I know I've messed this up." If you think that, you will probably be very pleased with the outcome. If you've stitched the elements separately, pulled the fabric tightly together and double tied the ends, then you've done it correctly, and now you're ready to dye it. The areas where you have stitched and gathered will remain somewhat white or at least lighter.
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I love the color of eggplant, so I wanted my new-old shirt to be that color in its new life. I put about three teaspoons of urea in warm water, added about 1/3 cup of non-iodized salt and shook it up in a sealed sauce jar until it was all dissolved, I then added about one table spoon, plus a little more of fiber reactive dye (all the eggplant dye I had left, probably would have used twice that if I'd had it), and shook that equally well in the jar and added it to about four cups of hot water in the bottom of my bucket. After stirring for a while, I added my stitched and gathered shirt. Now, I didn't care if I had even color or not, so I stirred the bath only a few times during the hour and a half that it was in there. If you want more even color, stir it every five minutes or so for that amount of time. After about 20 minutes in the bath, I was ready to add the fixative to make sure the dye bonded with the shirt properly. In the same sauce jar, I mixed three teaspoons of soda ash, I use the kind from the swimming pool section of Lowe's--click on the photo for a link to that supply--it's cheaper than from dye suppliers, into a half a jar of hot water, and shook it up until dissolved. I moved the shirt to one side of the bucket and carefully added the soda ash mixture slowly into the bath. You don't want to pour this in on top of your shirt, as it will cause splotching, and not in a good way. Once it is all added in, stir the bath and your shirt well. The shirt stays in the bath for a total of at least one hour to one hour and a half. You can go more, but you don't need to.
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Here's the finished piece after I rinsed it well and washed it with Synthrapol textile detergent in the washing machine. Notice that the stitching around the collar and across the bodice of the top did not dye the purple color, that is because this shirt was not stitched in cotton by the manufacturer. I like this look, but if you don't you'll need to consider this when you give your old shirt new life like this. Notice the leaf shape to the far left is a little less distinct than the others, that one did not get tied as tightly as the others, so more dye seeped into the gathered places. Now I can wear my favorite old tee again, but now she has a fresh new look. I'm pleased with the outcome, and would definitely recommend trying this.
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Here's a close up of the stitched and gathered effect. Send me your pictures of your stitched and gathered shibori shirts/wearables/fabrics--whatever. Remember, if it's cotton or silk or rayon or viscose or linen, or any other natural fiber, it will dye with fiber reactive dyes. I'd love to see your projects!
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This is an excellent book about Shibori techniques done by Lynne Caldwell! Tons of excellent pictures and step by step instructions. An excellent resource to have on your shelf to refer to over and over. The technique I used on this shirt was featured in this book.
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Messenger Laptop Bag Tutorial

4/11/2012

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I've been working on a laptop bag the past couple of weeks.  I wanted something quilted and soft and "me" to carry my laptop and "stuff" around in, so I set about making the fabric (with some help from my four year old) and designing/sewing a neat, messenger inspired tote.  Here are pics and detailed instructions, if you'd like to make one for yourself.  Sewing experience is recommended, but not required if you are a brave and determined soul.

Materials:
2 yards of PFD cotton fabric
Soda soak solution
Procion MX Dyes in the colors of your choice
(I used #25 turquoise, #20 dusty rose, and #300 new black)
1-1/2 yards of Pellon interfacing
1/2 yard of PFD cotton fabric for inside divider
1 yard of thick batting of your choice
Matching thread

         **Hover your mouse over each of the images for detailed instructions**

I hope you enjoy this fun tutorial.  It will take you some time to complete it, but once you have, you will truly have a one of a kind, very unique, and custom made messenger bag to fit you and your laptop.  I like the simplicity of this design, but you may choose to keep going by adding a button and some cord for a closure, or doing some hand stitching, or adding beads....the sky's the limit!  The main thing is, HAVE FUN!
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    kimberly ollis

    Forty something artistic soul finding her way through life discovering new insights almost every day through the gift of "making."

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