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~ Registration is Now Open ~ Class Begins March 20th, 2017 Learn More Here!!!

More Crow Panels in Progress

If I counted correctly there will be a total of 26 panels in this new series, and once these are done I'm off to rework some encaustic pieces from a few years ago to include my crows, Queen Anne's Lace, and the marks I've been putting in these pieces.

I wasn't sure how these pieces were going to come out, while they have similar colors they are not exactly the same... but where's the fun in everything being the same, right!

I've allowed the distractions of the past few weeks beat my confidence levels down, it doesn't help that I've had a nasty head cold, or that my dad has had ongoing health problems.

I did get to see my brother last Monday, the first time since my mom died in 2005, they visited for a whole hour and forty five minutes before they had to leave again. 

So tomorrow it's back to drawing and painting crows, ravens, and blackbirds and if they are horrible then they are horrible.

But, the secret to mastering anything is to keep at it until... until well you've mastered it!

With that said I've decided to seriously edit the information I've compiled for my Natural Dye App, and just create the app!  A simple app that is accurate and usable is much more enjoyable than one that doesn't exist!!!  Feet of clay, I think that's the name for this syndrome, the whole "what if they hate it???"

There will always be haters, and they are not my audience anyway... so onward I will push this week!

Bjorkboda Progess

I've started stitching on this piece again, this time with a renewed vision.

WIP - Crow on Yellow 052313

I worked a bit more on the crows feet last night and started this side of the branch it is perched upon. 

Today it's all about finishing the app, which is taking longer than I anticipated simply because as I go through my old natural dye nots I find myself adding more plants and more categories about the colors, fastness, etc.  Phew... that was a long sentence! 

It's starting to look like a bird!

Natural Dye App Update

The new natural dye app is taking way longer than I had anticipated, I thought I would be done with it this afternoon but that isn't happening.  The good news is I discovered, thanks to my best friend Brenda, a much better way to present the app that will make it compeletely searchable, so the experience for the end usuer will be enjoyable, instead of a headache! 

Sample of Wonder

This sample piece is working on becoming something special, after dinner I will retire to the wet studio to surface the pink piece which may or may not be of the same colors as the one in the lower left hand corner.

Dyed and painted cheesecloth that coordinates beautifully with my sample piece.

A basket filled with coordinating threads, trims, constructed yarns, etc.

Natural Dyeing eBook Super Sale!!!

Natural Dyeing eBook Super Sale!!!

Own them today!

 

 

Rust and Clay Dyeing! 

 

Compost Dyeing and Other Fermentation Dyeing Techniques!

 

Mark Making with Nature: Surface Design with Natural Dyes!

Getting Started with Natural Dyeing!

Practice No. 2

Well since I lost my orginal practice piece I whipped up another one this evening. 
Cochineal dyed cotton fabric, machine stitched, wool quilt batting, aurifil threads.

I couched down more sisal to pratice some stitches with, this "x" shape I bobbin stitched using aurifil wool thread.  Above view is the back side of the sample that was facing upwards when stitching. 

Top side after bobbin stitching, the aurifil wool thread doesn't like to feed through the top on my 6500S so I bobbin stitch with it instead.

I've couched down more sisal since this shot was taken, now I will experiment with hand stitching over the sisal and then machine stitching over the hand stitching to see which effect I prefer.  This all in anticipation of finishing Bjorkboda.

Shop Rags

I have started giving John fat quarters whenever he stains or paints a new frame for me, the marks that are left behind are quite interesting and definately have some potential.

My shop rags aren't so bad either, these need a little bit more abuse and they will be ready for stitching.

Now to just find some time to paint and dye fabric.

Canyonlands No. 2 - WIP

Cutch and compost dyeing on silk chiffon crepe type fabric. Wool quilt batting, natural dyed cotton batting, Aurifil Threads, machine stitched.

Untitled WIP

Natural dye painted and rusted silk organza over cochineal dyed wool batting.

I'm off on a couple of tangents, now that I know I won't be entering Quilt National.  Hopefully the next time QN rolls around they will have either changed the image requirements, of 300DPI or I will have a new camera capable of taking that high quality images.  Until then I'm content working in my studio.

If you'd like to learn more about dye painting fabrics with natural dyes check out my eBook Mark Making with Nature!

WIP - Bjorkboda

I'm almost ready for the hand stitching, I filled in a bit more of the piece with machine stitching to reinforce it's structure.

The forgotten dye note text now dealt with which resulted in more brown scraggly stitching being added to the piece in a random manner. 

Some verticles.

I've started thinking about the cottonwoods and how stoic they look when shrouded in the ice fog of deep winter. 

WIP- Hoodoos

A new piece for my canyonlands series.

Madder lac on silk fabric, wool batting, cotton backing, machine stitched. 
Approximately 12'x14"

WIP - Untitled

Work In Progress from sometime around 2002. 
Natural Dyed Silk and Cotton Fabrics.  Natural Dyed Silk Cocoons.  Indigo Dyed Cotton Fabric. Machine and Hand Stitched.

WIP - Big Blue Stem

Here it is hanging vertically, I started this piece many moons ago, as in like sometime around 1999 many moons ago! 

This piece has always bothered me, there's a thread over on the Quilt Art list about cutting up a piece.  Well I've been tempted to cut the dark side of this quilt off for some 12 years now!  Now that I have Adobe CS 6 I've started experimenting with this piece

Here it is without the marks, I'm thinking some additional stitching and or embellishment is needed to make this piece really sing.

Experimenting 061112

Experimenting with some digitally printed silk and cotton overlays over natural dyed fabrics.

WIP - Corn No. 52

Corn No. 52 (Eclipse) - Getting closer to done!

No. 45 Redux

Corn No. 45 - Redux, I didn't like the original grain bin so I undid some of the stitching and turned it into a short fat silo, I'm much happier now!