Ice Dyeing and is there ever enough time in the day?

 

Spring 2021 started for me in March as I prepared ice dyed garments for the Hayward Gallery & Gifts. I knew I had plenty of time to dye the 35+ pieces I had ordered to prepare for the gallery. I was ready. 

Not so fast pardner! 

I had a not so surprising call from a person affiliated with another gallery. She had talked with me several times over the past year and a half asking if I would like to submit to their gallery. This year the timing was better for me personally and I said yes.  

They liked the look of the garments, gourds, and journal/sketchbooks that I make and so I became a member of the Arts in Hands Gallery in Spooner WI.  

I anticipated a slow start for my things to sell and for people to have the time to get used to my style. I was seriously wrong about that. They love my work and the customers have purchased enough of my things that I've had to refill and make more to replace the sold items. 

This means after being in both galleries for about 6 weeks for the 2021 season, I've now had to process 3 different batches of additional garments. Last year I made 1 batch. I'm honestly flattered and also wondering if I'm causing a time problem for myself. 

I'm in for a ride. Good thing I don't require a lot of sleep.

Perfect time of the winter for ice dyeing

Today I started a first batch of ice dye fabric. I started with 1 yard pieces of prewashed muslin presoaked in soda ash hot water. I use ice cream buckets for each yard of fabric which is crammed to the bottom of the bucket then it's filled with granular ice from the snowbank outside. I work with 10 buckets per batch. I've put the powdered dye on top of the ice/snow and then it gets to melt at room temperature for 1 to 2 days. After this, I will rinse it out, wash with a fixative, dry, press. I hope to list these yard pieces for sale this summer at the gallery.

Hunkered Down in the Cold

Waking up this morning at 5:30am for the first potty run of the day for the dogs, it was -30. It's crisp and squeaky when outside walking and the dogs need their boots and coats. The saying not safe for man or beast makes sense when the sharp air hits your face. 

Best way to deal with it is to keep plugging away at  the table runners to sell. I have 7 yet to do for my goal for quilting. The stack for bindings is getting thick also. 

Angus, Shelby and Duncan are loving this week because it's too cold for their guy to work outside. That means more play time and a few naps. 

Shelby doesn't have boots for her feet like the boys because she has massive feet and is a tougher breed. In this bitter weather even wearing boots, 15 minutes is a long time out there. 

Hurry up! We are ready to go.

 

Multitasking

Everyday seems like a busy day to me. 

Yesterday I had a friend renting one of my longarm machines to quilt her quilt top for a granddaughter. I decided to finish the next batch of journals. I now have 54 journals completed. 

Each one is a treasure to me and I love each one. 

In between the joys of working with fiber and color, there are necessary duties of a dog mom. Yes, I'm talking poop duty. With three big dog butts, that means big poop sickles. I hate stepping in it so I pick it up as much as possible.  

Today is the start of fiber art table runners. I prefer to work with batiks for the tight weave of the fabrics and the saturation of colors for the backgrounds. I then layer on yarns, ribbons, nettings, angelina, silk flowers or leaves and then a little wool dye cut shape. In this case it is a dark brown dragonfly. I try to use recycled wool that I've gotten from the thrift shop. It's usually thicker and well felted if it comes from a coat.

The quilting will be freeform and fairly dense. I try to quilt around 6 of these on the same backing with each being different. It saves time pinning and wastes less backing fabric. For the runners the binding is the same as the base fabric on top.

 

The end of 2020 and Taxes

Today is January 31st and it's the day sales taxes are due in Wisconsin for the year 2020. Because I'm talking taxes I thought I would share a few furry happy faces. 

They don't care that I hate sales tax day or that I also hate fed tax day on April 15th. All they care about is eating, playing and getting to go potty. If only our lives were that simple. 

This year had the challenge of forced business shut downs and strict guidelines for individuals out in the community. Working primarily from home as a self employed craftsman has been to my benefit I never had to shut down. I did see fewer items come to me for quilting and I was able to keep up with the work that had been brought to me.

I also was able to find extra time to keep my fiber art supplies up for stocking at the gallery. I'm still working on the fiber layered journals and sketchbooks with another dozen to finish tomorrow. After that, I start on my fiber layered table runners that sell very well in the summer. 

As we lead into the beginning of 2021, my helpers send you greetings. Angus, Shelby, Duncan, Abby, Pepper and Willow (she was camera shy).

 

End Goal

This is the result of the fabric making. There are 26 finished journals and sketchbooks. After a serious online search, I finally found a source for journals with nice faux leather covers that I can buy in bulk. As much as I wish I could live without Amazon, it was the answer to my problem. Now I have 32 journals in 2 different sizes coming. 

At the rate that I'm going with these, I should have enough to last all through the summer and fall this year.

 

These are a few of the stitched layered fabrics for the journals and sketchbooks. 

My stitching method is not complicated. I usually make swirling circles to cover the whole fabric to hold down the fibers. I stitch on the flower petals to make sure the petals stay on and do not fall off or are loose when the stabilizer is rinsed off.

My goal is to have a variety of colors and themes. Not everyone likes what I like so I do force myself to work with colors that are not "me".

 

Needing a day of Color

Today was one our first really cold days of the new year and that calls for some personal color therapy in the form of fabric, fiber and stitching. I decided to spend the day layering yarns, ribbons and silk flowers or leaves on batik fabrics. 

I use these complex fabrics for my fiber art sketchbooks, journals, jewelery, pins and magnets.

While putting these together I listen to the news of the day and try not to get too mad. Today's distraction was following the viral Bernie memes which are hilarious.

My little quilt sandwiches are all a little different and some are pre cut to sizes for the books I cover. 

The finished pieces will be for sale this summer at the gallery in Hayward.

I have taught this method in the past and it's always been a good class. 

I have about 20 pieces to finish sewing before they get rinsed with warm water to remove the solvy film that traps everything on the top. After they dry, I will iron them very flat.

 

Exploring New Art Techniques

Exploring new to me art techniques has helped me this past year to work through a mild funk of depression after my mother passed. I wasn't depressed to a point of causing serious problems, but more of a malaise with my day to day need to create things that are usable and marketable.

I researched gourd making as I was sitting on a large quantity of gourds that I had purchased from an online local auction. I had played a little with acrylic pouring and had a bright idea to try the technique on the gourds.

I searched for examples online but found nothing. Maybe I'm the first person the do it. It is incredibly messy. My first dozen finished pieces sold very quickly and I've expanded into using alcohol inks for the outside of the gourds to achieve a different look. 

With the success of the alcohol ink use I was able to format a class to teach at the gallery I'm in. 

This was a great therapy for me and I was able to produce far more useable pieces for sale last summer. 

This also led to raiding my husbands deer antler box he had been saving for years. I'm fortunate he saved the smaller pieces and not just the monster bucks horn.

 

The Boys and the Loss of an Industry

April 2020 was going to be a glorious month, but that was destroyed with the announcement of Machine Quilters Expo being cancelled along with many other quilt shows across the country. I had 5 quilts entered in this wonderful show and was planning to attend it in Manchester, New Hampshire. The pandemic shut everything down, cancelled flights, cancelled hotels, cancelled classes. Refunds were given by the airline and hotel, but the event didn't give a refund at that time. Prepaid attendees were told their money spent would be rolled over to the next event April 2021. 

The MQX April event was cancelled late fall of 2020 with the news that there might be a refund of attendees prepaid fees. Many of us were not pleased with the announcement that our prepaid fees might or might not be refunded and that it depended upon the event owners expenses. In December it was announced that refund checks would be sent and we would only get a percentage of our money back. 

The event kept all fees for entering the quilts in the show. I entered 5 quilts and lost $125. The event kept all fees for the core class enrollment of $45. The event kept 50% of all class fees prepaid. I received a refund check for $190. I prepaid $575. 

This has left a very sour feeling regarding a show that I loved. It wasn't the show owners fault the show was cancelled twice. It wasn't the prepaid attendees fault the show was cancelled. It shouldn't have fallen on the shoulders of the prepaid attendees to cover the loss. It was also made known that the prepaid vendors lost all of their fees. Those spaces are incredibly high priced. I've heard those spaces can run $5000. The convention center made it known that because of the cancellation the event wasn't charged the event fee and that it was refunded. Events have to have insurance. 

Every other large and small quilt show event has been cancelled in 2020 and some in 2021. Like many quilters, I'm fearful that this will set back our industry years before it can recover. 

One of my show quilts entered in MQX is "The Boys". It is a wall quilt made from a photo I had taken of Angus and Duncan, our golden retrievers. It was made using a raw edge fusible technique and free motion quilted. I'm very pleased with how it truly represents the boy's expressions. Even though it hasn't made it to a show, I feel it's a winner.

 

Learning new things and new tricks

 

This past week I learned a new to me technique. I was inspired by a fiber artist that I follow on social media named Susan Lenz. She makes amazing things and displays in museums. 

I worked with yarns that were dense. Twisted multiple pieces together and sewed them with a wide and long zig zag on my machine to make long roping of the yarns that could then be sewn together with the same zig zag to make bowls, vessels and a tote. 

I'm very pleased with the results and plan to have these at the local gallery that I sell at during the summer months. 

It's creatively invigorating to try new things and stretch your skills. 

Please look for more of my blog posts in the near future. I also encourage you to look at my past blog posts to see other creative things that I've made in the past.