Tyvek Experiments

I received some lovely gifts at Christmas and some came in tyvek envelopes!! Sometimes you just can’t think about something too much - you just need to gather up the materials and give it a try. That is how it came about that I spent a lovely hour or so playing with tyvek, some fabric paint, a teflon sheet, an iron and a heat gun.

Trying this out wasn’t my intention; I seem to recall that I was looking for something totally unrelated when I saw the envelopes and something in my head clicked. Whatever it was, I gathered everything up, laid it out on top of the other bits and pieces I was working on and I found myself painting and heating tyvek. 

Everything I have read or seen about this process tells you to work in a well ventilated area. Disclosure - I didn’t and I didn’t use a mask. Bad of me, I know. I tend to be slack about this type of thing, but I do encourage everyone else to take the necessary precautions. I figure after lettering signs with lead based paints and silk screening for years with little or no ventilation...and besides, it was just two envelopes and I didn’t breath deeply.

Lots of fun to be had playing with this technique! And you don’t need to use fabric paints - any old acrylic paint will do apparently. I can see beads and such intertwined with the pieces I have created. There will probably be some bits of over painting, too, and maybe some fibre bits added. Right now I have some of these laid out with a couple of the pieces I sun printed this summer and I am thinking there are possibilities..

Spacey

Over the years I have incorporated much of my childrens’ artwork in my own. When they were quite young, I took a class in Halifax hosted by the Mayflower Guild and in the class we covered using disperse dyes as transfer dyes.

The instructor was kind of a bust, disorganized, very dismissive of our efforts, actually everything you don’t want an instructor to be. The organizing committee was horrified. We made the best of it and all ended up coming home with lots of dyes to try on our own using some basic instructions. The thing about these dyes is that that only work on synthetic fabrics. 

I had my kids complete some painting on newsprint and then I transfer heated these to some poly broadcloth. Outer space was their theme! I then used the resulting blocks to piece this top. Lucky for me I hadn’t had time to quilt it so there was, ripe for the longarm!

I enjoy piecing my backs as well, even as simple as this.....

I used a bright orange thread from Fil-tec for top and bobbin and had fun with some freehand stitching. Best of all, it is finished!!

The faster I go.....

I was determined that this was to be a productive day. And it was, yet I was plagued with dumb mistakes every step of the way.

I have hand dyed and painted fabric for a very long time and although I use these fabrics, I still have a small stack of my favorites that I have been hoarding. This photo doesn’t do this fabric justice - you will have to trust me that is a beautiful, rich red and until today, I have only snipped very, very small pieces off the outside edges. Finally I decided it was the perfect background for a small piece I am working on. Pleased with my choice, I pressed and cut.....and in doing so, cut a hole right in the centre! Yes, I will work around it, but still it made me shake my head in disgust at myself. 

That seemed to set the tone and I proceeded to break machine needles, drop hand sewing needles, chase bobbins across the floor, get paint where I didn’t want it, and on and on.....what is that saying about the faster I go, the behinder I get? I finally got smart, walked away from my work, baked some muffins, went for a run, regrouped and started again. 

Things went a little better after that. Thank goodness.

Because other people have been much more productive and made less work for themselves than I have, I am connecting with The Needle and Thread Network. Check them out!

Stitches that bind

I am not the knitter in our family. My sister knits for her very successful etsy shop Mad About Colour and our Mom had been the manager of the local Wool and Yarn Shop. Mom continued to knit over the years and often helped Jo out. I can knit, but it is only lately that I have taken up my needles once again with vengeance. 

Along with working my way through numerous half or partially finished projects that I am dedicated to completing, I need to keep smaller projects close at hand for those empty moments. I had been working on a pair of socks for my son for a very, very long time and Mom had wondered if I would ever get that toe on the second sock finished. I have a terrible habit of writing notes that I am sure I will be able to transcribe months (maybe years?) later, and then, of course, I can’t. It takes me ages to try to figure out what my notes mean and why I can’t seem to replicate the first sock. 

Well, something finally clicked and the original pattern became reasonable. I had somehow convinced myself that the yarn company had made an error and I had to adjust the pattern.....I am shaking my head as I write this.....Anyway, I did finish that pair and went on to complete the blue striped pair pictures above for Gabe. I also knit two pairs of socks for my sister, a pair of mitts for my daughter, the hat pictured above, plus one for my sister, and that cute pair of mitts in the upper right corner are for my little grand niece! I have a matching pair for her Mom on the needles now (I thought since the yarn was so pretty and festive that a little mother/daughter matchy-matchy would be fun!). And as soon as my son sends me a scan of his hand, I will start a pair of mitts for him.

Mom and I cuddled up in her big bed, knitting and watching the Home and Garden Channel.

I still haven’t finished binding those two quilts. And I am only half way through the latest quilt on my longarm. But, like many of us who work with our hands and create with our hearts, I need to keep a lot of irons in the fire and I need to mix it up, working in a variety of medium. Inbetween the knitting and the quilting, I am working on designing pantographs, some fabric painting and some quilting on my domestic. As well, my sister and I are in the very early stages of collaboration on a project which threatens to be loads of fun and a whole new avenue to explore.

Snow dyed, then buffed and fluffed

In the end, I added three different shades of blue setacolor transparent paint, one at a time to the pieces I had scrunched on that piece of PVC pipe.These pieces are the ones pictured with the latest sock I am working on...notice the similar color way? Honestly, it is subconscious; I don’t realize I am choosing like colors for the different projects. I find it amusing.

I took a selection of the other snow dyed pieces and after wetting and manipulating the fabric, I did a bit of microwave over-dyeing. Microwave dyeing is a quick, easy way to get fairly strong colors. Over the years I have taught this method in dyeing workshops and organized sports team t-shirt dyeing sessions multiple times. My daughter and her friends have dyed t-shirts and socks as entertainment at her birthday parties. All it takes is 4 minutes in the microwave, a lot of rinsing and a hot water wash for almost instant gratification. Perfect for kids, and impatient people like me!

At this point the fabric is fairly saturated with dye so over dyeing achieves a crystal, uneven effect. Also, this is the first time I have used this brand of Procion MX dyes and I found the blue didn’t dissolve well in the solution. Consequently the dye sits on top of the fabric and looks grainy in some places.

However, I am wanting some fabrics to mimic the ocean and underwater areas, so I think these will fit the bill nicely. All in all, I am pleased with the results. Cut up into smaller pieces, they should work well.

Snowing shirts

I have been a sewer of clothing for many years and one of my biggest beefs over time has been how poorly made some clothing lines are. If I buy an item of clothing, I expect strong seams with a sensible seam allowance, buttonholes that do not unravel, top stitching that lasts, and buttons that stay on. I think some of my expectations rubbed off on my son.....I just finished altering 7 dress shirts for him and 4 more that were his for his Dad. The boy choses clothes well and I can’t say I am sorry to be done. I gotta say, Calvin Klein knows how to construct a shirt!

To give myself a bit of play time while doing that, and since we have had some substantial snow falls here, I tried some snow dyeing. I used the instructions for Procion MX dyes from Pro Chem. I have been dyeing fabric for years and I aim for strong, bright colors. I have to admit, I am not completely satisfied with the results of my efforts with this method. I did get some great, crystal effects and some interesting lines where I folded and pleated. But, my pieces are too pastel for me.

Various stages of process

Fabric manipulation, dye solution and dye powders

I did figure out a couple of things I could change to get the results I prefer: I will use a thicker layer of snow although I used more than the recommended; I will pour the blue dye first as I was hoping for more blue and green than yellow; I will use less water than they recommended for my dye mix; and I will try mixing the dye directly with the snow rather than making a dye solution. The one thing I did do was toss in a piece of fabric soaked in soda ash in the bottom of each dishpan to catch all that draining dye solution and those pieces gave me the intensity of color I was looking for.

A variety of the results

So, I am currently trying layering some Setacolor paints after completing some fabric manipulation. We will see how that goes.

Drama Days. And nights....

"Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.” Bob Thaves


As I chuckled over the absoluteness of that statement, I was immediately lost in visions of dance routines and the tap, tap, tap of tap shoes. I am such a fan of musical theatre, and most especially water ballets! I have watched and re-watched all the Ester Williams movies I have been able to find. I love all things synchronized, and glitter and glitz make my heart race!! When my daughter joined synchronized swimming as a young girl, I was thrilled to be on the sidelines, ready to assist in glueing and sewing sequins and other shiny things. I didn’t do so well on the hair side of things though and after her head had been turned into a solid mass of hair with thickened gelatin, I resorted to glue gunning her bun cover to the back of her hair and making her sleep with it this way for the 2 days of the competition....I have never been good with hair. Or flowers.


My daughter was to spend a lot of time on stage and I was an adoring stage Mom. I learned early on when to interject and when to let her do things her own way. But, by the time she got to grade 8 and her Middle School Drama group produced Romeo and Juliet, I was involved. Her Drama Coach had a vision and allowed me to assist, so much so that I shared a NB Excellence in Costuming Award with her and another parent. Although I produced numerous costumes for that production, my favorites were those for my daughter as I had to develop the patterns myself. My daughter played the Nurse and I created her many layered costume including 2 elaborate head pieces and a “fat” suit based very loosely on the one in Mrs. Doubtfire. 


High school brought numerous roles for her to fill as she met a teacher who was to become one of her strongest mentors. Under his tutelage, she learned so much, and in tandem, so did I. I have lost count of the number of productions produced in her 4 years and also lost count of the hours my entire family spent spent building costumes, constructing and painting sets, lettering stage pieces, organizing the costume storage room and dressing rooms, compiling costume bibles, taking photographs, putting up and striking the sets, and transporting all of the above! 


Her time in Drama was a great training ground for life. And while she was busy learning lines, dance routines, songs, monologues and helping back stage, if I wasn’t painting sets, I was usually found in front of the cutting table or sewing machines building one of many necessary pieces. Probably one of my earliest and biggest accomplishments within this scope of theatre work was constructing 3 genuine corsets for Into the Woods. Each corset took me 21 hours - after I had first figured out how to create them. 


When building stage pieces, you need to consider so much more than when you are simply sewing garments. They need to be made so that they will accommodate a variety of sizes of actors, be strong enough for multiple costume changes and performances, allow for ease of movement, allow the dressers to get actors in and out of them easily during quick changes, and maintain a fresh look. There are many times you have to look outside the fabric store box to find exactly what would fulfill these needs. 


In order to keep the corsets shape intact and to help make sure they in turn kept all the body parts where they should be, I ended up using stripped electrical wire for the boning. It was difficult enough to use, but in doing so, I also had to make sure each piece was the perfect length so that the actor wearing it wouldn’t be stabbed during a performance if she happened to move a way that made the boning shift! For some of the first performances, I sat ready with my wire clippers so I could quickly adjust the lengths when one of the girls came off stage! 

When I was looking at photos from my daughter’s drama years, I realized she had worn one of the corsets again in her final year of high school in a production her Drama Coach wrote for her and that yielded her a NB Provincial DramaFest Outstanding Actor Award. That was the wonderful thing about building pieces for the Moncton High School Drama program - all pieces became resource pieces for other schools and theatre groups and many were integrated into other MHS productions. 

Stamping again!

My current employment situation is affording me the most time I have had in 12 summers to really stop and enjoy the beauty of this season. I am outdoors as much as I can without totally ignoring some of the more basic household duties. Since my two children went off to university, I have become a very lazy cook, so I eat lots of raw and basic when my hubby is not available to cater to my every culinary whim. Today was a day of iced tea by the potful and I am thinking popcorn would be a finish to my salad. That is as much cooking as I will do.

Everyone should have offspring who buy them a lovely tea infuser and keep them supplied with tea bags!

When my son came home for Christmas in June, he brought with him two large sheets of Safety Kut that I had asked him to pick up at Curry’s Art Supplies. This material is so soft and easy to use and I was itching to try it out. Today was just the day for it and I carved two simple designs and tried them out on some dyed fabric. I can see there are some modifications that need to be made to the hat, but the large open area will allow me to paint in the color of brim I want. Am really enjoying my stylized snail. 

I am an Island girl without her island so all things ocean/beach are in my blood

I also did some sketching and even pulled out my travel watercolor set and painted a bit. Must be summer!

I love berries so much that I actually have a handmade pottery bowl that I only use for eating berries! Raspberries are my all time favorite with blueberries running a tight second.

I am not used to so much free time so I am not settled into a schedule or routine as yet. I am enjoying rediscovering projects and ideas and just looking over my sketch books is getting me inspired. I also have so many quilting and drawing related books I want to read that I have a hard time making myself put them down at bedtime! I have no clear idea yet of one specific project to work on but am enjoying working piecemeal on odds and ends.


Today I am hooking up to the The Needle and Thread Network and wishing all my fellow Canadian quilters a belated Happy Canada Day!

Gradually the components seem to be coming together. I tend to work on pieces intuitively and simply enjoy the process though I do love when the light bulb moment arrives! For now I am enjoying all the experimentation that is going on.

Foam sheets can make great stamps very quickly! I use adhesive sheets for the stamp design and a block of the thicker non-adhesive foam sheet for the base. All are easily cut with scissors.

Adhesive foam sheets are great when you want to cut a stamp with fine detail, like the grass stamp I have cut above.

I brushed Seta fabric paint on this stamp but you could use a stamp pad or roller to apply paint or ink as well.

I especially like the grass stamp on this sky fabric I painted for another project.

I think I am going to need to do some more sky painting! That is obviously going to be the next piece of the puzzle. And painting skies is so easy and fun! Although it really is an activity for outdoors, I don’t think I can wait for the skies here to clear up....the kitchen table will do!!

Time has been freed up in my life, totally unexpectedly. If and when this happens, it takes me a while to settle down, to relax and to enjoy it. I have also found that I have been starting to wake at the crack of dawn (and I do consider anything between 5 and 6 am to be the crack....) and madly rushing to get things accomplished. I have been taking part in some long put off cleaning and organizing and sorting and purging. One day last week I was vacuuming my bedroom at 5:50 am....who does that?? Apparently I do, but I really think it was a one time experience. Really.

I am trying to get a grip on my situation and understand what is going on in my subconscious. I think....and this is sheer speculation on my part...that I need to tidy up what has been a very busy life for the last 20 plus years before I can feel free enough to settle down and spend my time creating. I need to sort through the bits and pieces that have gathered and decide what I need to keep and what can be passed along to someone else for their use. As you can imagine, my husband is thrilled and is cheering and smiling with each bag or box that heads out the door. (I expect to see him out measuring the foundation soon to see if the house has risen up any with the weight that has already been removed!) I got a huge hug for deciding to give up the winter coat I wore when we were first married and living in Goose Bay, Labrador. That would be 26 or so years ago, so you see I do tend to keep useful things, until perhaps they are no longer useful. Then I need help breaking the bond I have created and letting them go. 

As I pack up more things, I feel a weight lifting from my shoulders and a freshness to the space we occupy. I have a lot of reasons to downsize and this seems to be as good a time as any to start the process with vigour. And taking breaks here and there to spend a few minutes doing something fun and creative seems to be all the more pleasurable.

One of the things I like to do when I feel the pull to create something and don’t want to start a big project, is to draw simple pencil sketches in my handy dandy 5.5 x 8 inch moleskin. Sometimes I complete a whole sketch, ink it and then slap on some water colours all in one sitting. Other times I just get the pencil work done and leave the ink till later. I seem to complete those two steps most often and leave the painting for later because for some reason, I prefer to use my water colours in the summer on the deck in what I like to call my “summer office”. My summer office is where I can put my feet up under the shade of an umbrella, or under fun dangling solar lights with lots of candles burning and sometimes, a moon and stars to keep me company, and I can paint and dream that summer lasts all year round. 

Continuing to be inspired by the fiddlehead ferns growing off my kitchen deck, I sketched and inked these stylized fiddleheads.

Pencil sketch, inked and water coloured

Pencil sketch, inked and water coloured