Hand dyed embroidery thread and another Goodwill Find

Here are 5 of the about 12 bundles (what is the right word??) of yarn I dyed in my dark gradations.  It is lovely.  I am already using several of them in my quilt for Interpret This!

This is an ice cube tray found at Goodwill that is going to be used to make soy wax blocks for rubbings.  Won't that be fun!

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites are late this week because I was so busy having fun dyeing with friends!  No apologies.

Wen Redmond, who is one of the SAQA Coordinator for my region, has  posted this awesome article on making collages.  I want to try this technique with the Five.    It ties in nicely with Jill's post below.

The Quilt Rat posted a great review of TAP.  Doesn't seem like a product that I need to go out and immediately buy. That so totally works for me since I have already spent my quilt/art budget for the month.  My budget always seems to be spent by the 3rd or 4th day of the month. Then by the 15th of the month I am starting to eat into my grocery shopping budget to buy those things that just can't wait till the next month's shopping spree.  Dear Hubby will be happy not to have to eat bread and water at the end of this month (for a change).

I'll give you the link to Dark Gradation again.   I posted my dark gradation results yesterday and later today or tomorrow I will show you some of the embroidery thread I dyed at the same time.  It is luscious. 
The link to dark gradation led  me to the Lazy Dyer.  The lazy dyer tells you all the shortcuts that she takes in dyeing and that do not seem to make a difference. They were a good read.  I have tried several different recipes for how much of this and how much of that to add.  I am starting to develop my own preferences now. Wooo Hooo!  maybe there is hope for me to become more than an accidental dyer.

I know that I have loved other stuff this week.  It seems like I have learned a lot this week. But let me end with a quote from Margaret's blog that I love.  

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....it's about learning to dance 
in the rain"  ~ Anonymous

Dark Gradation

Beth found a great blog on dark gradations so that is what we did on our Five playdate Thursday.  Here are my results in fabric.  I also dyed some embroidery floss but it is still rinsing.

Decolorant

These two are experiments using a clear and a mustard decolorant, Beth's thermofax screen, and I think it was Rosalita's fabric.  I really liked the decolorant and it didn't smell at all.  I have some on order for more playing.  Beth designed the screen herself and I adore it. And sorry, Rosalita, but the fabric is mine now!  LOL

Five Playdate

Three of the FIVE got together this weekend and  played with a faux batik method using soy wax and textile paints.  Beth has a tutorial for the technique on her blog.  She is in love with the technique and I must say, with see-through fabric, I adore it too, but love is a bit more restrained when it comes to heavier weight fabrics.

Let me show  you first the see-through piece.  Isn't it fabulous? And believe me, it is even  better in person.

The other batiks are a bit muddy  looking to me.  Perhaps it is because I started out with a light blue dupioni silk.  Perhaps I am just not comfortable with my mark yet.  Margaret said it took her  a while to get comfortable with the marks she made--kinda like gettting used to the sound of your voice on a recorder or the picture someone takes of  you.  And perhaps I just need more skill at mixing marks and colors.  Anyway, here are the pictures. 

This one is of the back of the fabric.  I did not take a picture of the front.  Every paint I used in the 4 layes was a metallic.  The front is so reflective it just hurts my eyes.  Lesson learned--one layer of metallic is glittery (good) but all layers of metallic is reflective (bad).

 This one has only  one layer of metalllic paint and I like the sheen much better.  The marks...well that is another story.  The blue squiggles you see are the original color of the fabric  perserved by soy wax.

 In this fabric there is a huge difference between the front and the back--we were using paints rather than dyes.  I folded the fabric so you could see the difference.  I didn't do that for the fabric above because the paints were more watered down so the front and the back are much more similar.  Another lesson learned.  I don't think there is necessarily a right and wrong on this lesson--it would all depend on the effect you wanted.  Another lesson I learned with this is that working with that orginial blue by staying in the same color family works better than trying to make it turn green or purple like I did in the previous pieces.

 These last two pictures are just details of the front and the back.  I  like this fabric. The marks on it are less distinct and blend better for me.  I like that.