Discharge Dyeing

Right now I have dye buckets and dishes and measuring cups and dish pans and PVC pipe and measuring spoons and ice cream buckets of soda ash solution and colorful rags and all kinds of other fabric dyeing paraphernalia “decorating” my dining room, kitchen and maybe a few other spots in the house..When I get a few minutes and the urge, I mix up a bit of dye, manipulate some fat quarters of fabric and do a bit of dyeing. However, my last batch reminded me that using less than the perfect fabric is a waste of my time.

To say I was disappointed those results is about right. So, for now, those pieces  have been set aside until I feel ready to deal with them by over-dyeing, discharging or using some sort of stencil, stamp or brush on them.

In the meantime, to make myself get over that annoying sense of failure we Type A’s sometimes suffer when our results are not up to our own sometimes impossible standards, I decided to do a little discharge dyeing. Discharge dyeing is always a success because you cannot predict the results and what you get is always a wonderful, useful surprise. Or, at least that is what I tell myself!

I have a “reasonable” collection of fabrics so I scrounged up a hunk of black cotton from the stacks and using a 50/50 mix of water and bleach, I tried some folder and pleating and brushed my bleach solution on each piece. When I discharge fabrics, I watch closely for the process to start and then quickly rinse the fabric in a pan of cold water, then toss it in a stop bath of vinegar and cold water. Afterwards I wash it in hot water with Blue Dawn dish detergent, dry them, press them and then dream of where I can use these lovely fabrics.

 

As a point of reference, all these fabrics originated from that same piece of black in the photos. Which is one of the fun things about this process - the unpredictability of what you will uncover.

Covering journals

I like my journals covered, and it turns out there was a simple way to achieve that without taking a huge chunk of time. These days it takes a while for the lightbulb to pop on inside my head and I would like to think it is simply because I am so busy that the obvious just isn’t obvious. But, really I believe that little voice of reason and sensible solutions has been silenced and left me to figure this stuff out on my own.

While working on something else and pondering how I could make some covers, I glanced at a stack of discharged and batiked fabric on my shelf and suddenly was struck by the idea that perhaps the fabric in itself was enough.

Turns out I was right.

The small journal is covered in a piece of black cotton discharged with bleach which I squirted out of a repurposed mustard bottle. The other was covered with fabric made with a black cotton base on which I freehanded leaves with soy wax and then painted with multiple colors of opaque fabric paint. Once dried I removed the wax to reveal the black outline. This requires a fair amount of elbow grease as the wax is well covered in paint. This results in a fabric with a fair amount of weight which is exactly what I wanted - a fabric with the substance of a suede or leather. I also used some red had dyed fabric for the inner pockets.

Done and done!

Cleaning makes me a little bit owlie

I had nothing but great intentions and a very long list when Friday arrived. I had the house to myself for the weekend and that usually means a very loose meal plan and lots of chick/artsy TV (total confession! I love LA Ink, NY Ink and Pimp My Ride!) as a background to whatever it is I am working on. That kind of schedule and environment gives me lots of time to get my “stuff" done!

After a busy day and armed with yummy beverages, I made a direct path to my longarm. I worked steadily and finished a quilt that had been on much longer than I anticipated. Tired and happy with my progress, I proceeded to fall asleep on the couch cuddling my bowl of popcorn aka supper.....

I still don’t know what happened Saturday. Early on I made my way to the kitchen for a hot cuppa and five hours later I was fully immersed in cleaning said kitchen. I never spring clean. Don’t get me wrong, I do clean. Just not on a regular basis, or following a schedule. My windows got cleaned when my Mom was here and gently suggested she and I should tackle them. Walls get washed when we paint them. Floors? You don’t want to know.

So. It’s clean now. I even sorted and re-organized my spices. This is big for me. I would clean for my Mom at the drop of a hat. For myself? Well, there is always something else that needs doing.

The thing with me is that once I start, the activity grows. I get an idea in my head and I can’t rest until it is done. Ideas I didn’t want to entertain were sneaking unbidden into my head. I started cleaning more of the house....sigh.

So, the weekend went by and granted, a lot of stuff round here sparkles now, but, I did finally manage to give my head a shake, move away from the scrub brushes and mops and back to my sewing machines. Finally I whipped up a couple of cushions for my son using his drawings. I have used my kids artwork in my quilting since they were able to hold pencils, so it feels really great to do this with current artwork! 

I printed the drawings on Jacquard fabric sheets, backed them with fusible interfacing and then added some borders. I found it fairly serendipitous that fabric I painted in the last few weeks was perfect as a border. 

Jacquard offers two methods for securing the color on their fabric sheets. You can rinse out the excess ink with cool water, or use Scotchgard spray to seal it. I tried both and the result is that the owl on the right is lighter in color. Next time I will just use the Scotchgard without rinsing.