Solar Dyeing Season is Here!!!

Now is the perfect time to start a solar dye vat, all you need is a sturdy glass jar, a lid that'll seal tightly, and some natural dye elements such as coreopsis blossoms, oak bark, onion skins, etc. 

Add these items to the jar, add your scoured and pre-mordanted fabrics, top of with water, seal jar with lid, and place in a hot sunny location.

Depending on the temperature, and the dye stuffs used you should have lovely piece of naturally dyed fabric within one to ten days.

Remove from jar, rinse, and the give a good wash using a gentle soap, dry, and your fabric is ready to use in your next project.

To learn more about natural dyes click here.

Join Me for 60 Days of Birds STARTING May 30th!

60 Days of Birds Mixed Media Challenge

Begins in 5 Days!!!

Learn more here!

Indigo Blues: Surface Design with Natural Dyes

Indigo Blues: Surface Design with Indigo

Starts March 28^th 

Indigo Blues: Surface Design with Indigo is a comprehensive Four Week online course which is a one-stop resource for anyone wishing to learn the art of Surface Design with Indigo.

During the Four Week course you develop a solid foundation of the concepts of Surface Design using Indigo. 

I will teach you the necessary core skills needed to create beautiful art cloth with Indigo!

During this Four Week course you will also learn about the history of surface design with indigo from ancient times to modern times.

Topics Covered Include:

• Immersion Dyeing
• Bound Resists including Shibori
• Potato Starch, Gutta, and a non-toxic glue resist for immersion dyeing
• Fabric painting with indigo
• Mono printing, stamping, gelatin plate printing
• Screen printing You will screen print with Rust and Tannin Patterning Techniques via screen printing as a Final BONUS LESSON.

As part of my private Facebook community, you’ll discover a global community of students, and friends, to support and to inspire you.

My passion is for you to experience the joy of working with indigo, and to learn which type of indigo vat works best for you!

Downloadable videos, which means you will have lifetime access.

Downloadable handouts, so that you can print out the information to use in your studio.

Access to my Facebook Community.

JOIN NOW AT  http://kbaxterpackwood.com/wordpress/online-classes-workshops/indigo-blues/

Basic Blues: Five Indigo Vats, Five Different Ways!

Starts March 20th

Basic Blues: Five Indigo Vats, Five Different Ways is a comprehensive Five Week online course which is a one-stop resource for anyone wishing to learn the art of dyeing fabric, fibers, and yarn, with indigo.

During the Five Week course you develop a solid foundation to start, maintain, trouble shoot, and revive FIVE different types of Indigo vats.

I will teach you the skills necessary to use Indigo safely, and how to create different values of blue from palest blue to the deepest of blues. You will learn the secrets to creating beautiful blue fabrics, that are not only light fast, but the indigo won’t crock off of your fabric, fibers, and yarns.

During this Five Week course I will also teach you about the history of indigo, its origins as a dye, the different types of indigo plants, the chemistry behind the elusive dye, and its applications other than as a dye.

You will work with Rust and Tannin Patterning Techniques as a Final BONUS LESSON.

As part of my private Facebook community, you’ll discover a global community of students, and friends, to support and to inspire you.

My passion is for you to experience the joy of working with indigo, and to learn which type of indigo vat works best for you!

Downloadable videos, which means you will have lifetime access.

Downloadable handouts, so that you can print out the information to use in your studio.

Access to my Facebook Community.

LEARN MORE NOW  

Cretacolor Colored Charcoal Sticks

These arrived yesterday. I was stunned at how well the colors match my earth pigment, ocher, and clay painted fabrics.

My only regret is I wish I had ordered them sooner. Tis okay I shall be streaming in the very near future using these beasts to color fabric and paper, along with my earth pigments and soy emulsion!

A New Series is Born!

A new series has presented itself and has demanded to be created! Last night I painted the first of the fabrics for my new "Fields" series. I live streamed the painting session, and also threw down a challenge if you're interested in participating.

The fabric this morning after it has dried. Color loss of 50% is not uncommon when working on fabric.

First set of six blocks, the fabric is still wet.

Am loving this new series already. I will live stream stitching these pieces next week!

The live stream, and challenge, is available in my community Almost Stitched. You will have to join my community and watch the live stream to get the challenge!

Reds, Oranges, and Golds, are the Colors of My Soul!

Join me in my latest online creation Colors of the Earth! We will paint cloth and paper using earth pigments, clays, and ochers/ochres!!! Unleash the colors of your soul in this one week class!!!

Colors of the Earth

Begins October 17th!!!

Register Today!!!

Just 10 Days!!!

Join me as we explore the Earth's natural beauty in Pretty Pigments!!!!  

Class begins September 6th!

 Register Today to receive the Getting Started Bonus Content!

Ask Kimberly Event is Four Days Away!!!

I just wrote up three juicy reminder newsletters for my first ever "Ask Kimberly" Event! 

In each newsletter I have left clues as to what types of Mixed Media with Natural Dyes I'll be discussing!!! 

Not signed up for my newsletter??? You can do so here!!!

June Give Away!!!

June Give Away!!!

Getting Started with Natural Dyeing!!!

This 13 page e-book covers the basics of scouring, mordants, and soy milk preparation for cotton, linen, hemp, and other cellulose based fabrics.

This book covers the very basics of what a Dyer needs to do BEFORE dyeing fabrics with natural dyes!  If you own the other three books this information is covered in those books

That's right it's FREE until June 30th!!!

Stitching Again

It feels good to be stitching once again, whilest awaiting layers of drying paint to cure.  This piece is about 8x10 inches in size, machine stitched with green Aurifil thread, wool batting; I also used my Black Birds in Tree Stencil with acrylic paint onto fabric painted cotton cloth.

I shall stitch a few of the birds next, to bring them forward, and add a few beads and then this piece will be done.

Black Birds in Trees

Working on some Crow Cards this afternoon using my Black Birds in Tree Stencil.

The orange mat is a non-slip artist map, unfortunately there is no label on the mat so I have no idea where it came from.

I started out with a piece of painted timtex that was painted by Seta Color Fabric Paints.  I will be adding some oil bar, ink, and other yummies next, and then it's time for some stitching.

WIP Dusk at the Marsh

I am working on a stitched story piece about one of my favorite local marshes and my stencil Black Birds in Tree are the main focus in this new series.  The marshes, Cooper's Marsh & Larson's Marsh, which is just a few miles east of Ames, Iowa, are surrounded by farmland.  

Seta Color Fabric paint on cotton fabric, I painted this fabric using a salt technique sometime around 2004/05. The orange piece is a non-slip gripping pad that holds the fabric in place while I surface the fabric.

I should be able to get four smaller pieces out of the larger piece of fabric, the piece directly above this photo.

For the purple stenciled areas I'm using Galleria thick body paint as it is less inclined to bleed. I applied the paint using a stencil brush and very thin layers of paint building the image up onto the fabric, why yes my hand is sore now!

Finished, the stencil did stick to the fabric, where it came into contact with the wet paint that soon dried.

I have to admit this is my all time favorite stencil in my series!  I will probably leave this particular piece of fabric as is for the moment and work on the other three pieces.  I am toying with using my inverse stencil on one of the pieces, more to come!

Patternless Skirt

Almost finished, the waste band and hem are next.

Natural, Indigo, and Rust dyed cotton muslin fabric.

It should have taken 45 minutes to construct from start to finish but since I accidentally sewed it together (wrong sides) twice it took about two hours!  So I decided I'll finish the waste band tomorrow and think about how I want to finish the hem.

WIP ~ Plains

Am not sure on the orientation!

Earth pigments on silk organza and cotton fabrics.

Mark Making with Nature Video Series

Mark Making with Nature Video Series

Beyond the Ordinary in Surface Design

Digital Video Series 

Rent ($19.95) or 

Own ($39.95) it 

Today!!!

This video series is available as a digital download from Vimeo.com!

Part One:

• Getting Started
• Painting with Natural Dyes & Gutta Resists
• Creating a mono chromatic painting with Natural Dyes
• Bound Resist

Part Two:

• Other Resists, using tape as a resist, etc.
• Monoprinting with objects.
• Screen printing with Natural Dyes
• Stamping and More with Natural Dyes

Part Three:

• Bundle and/or Compost Dyeing
• Other Bundle Dyeing techniques

• Mixing Surface Design Techniques (painting, resists, etc.,) to achieve gorgeous cloth!

Part Four:

• Making the Gum Tragacanth Binder

• Using textured brayers to make marks on the cloth

• Screen Printing using resists and non traditional techniques (a variation on deconstructed screen printing)

• Monoprinting with found vegetation such as grasses and leaves.

On My Sewing Table

Thinking, contemplating my next move, lots of ideas rambling through my head seemingly too many some times, but then it occurred to me that I can marry several "themes" I've previously worked on for a greater continuity.

More to come later.

WIP All Beaded Up

Now with more beads, and definition.

Auditioning Fabrics

Found some folded points, etc., in a box of vintage fabrics I picked up along the way and am now auditioning them to use in an upcoming body of work. I think I may rust dye some of the red and white gingham as it's too clean and too cheerful.  

The netting and metallic mesh was in a box on my shelf. 

Sandman in progress

Stitching now with indigo dyed linen threads.