Storms!

About an hour ago a storm blew in which fits my mood; way too many personal storms last week, so the dark clouds and wind are indicative of my emotions. Stacy had a bit of a hiccup; two minor seizures meant that something was amiss in her system. It's difficult to be thankful for a seizure but in Stacy's case it helps me figure out what might be wrong. Her language skills have never developed enough to be able to tell me the symptoms she's having. "I don't feel well," is about the best she can do. My gut reaction was a UTI, but of course on Thursday the kidney doctor wasn't in the office Stacy goes to. And the main concern is always kidney rejection so we needed to go to Loma Linda, nearly two hours away. Would she be admitted? And if so how could I have mom with me? Mom's sister, shock, said that she'd take mom. Huge relief. We spent about eight hours in the ER and happily the UTI didn't warrant a stay in the hospital; her blood tests were negative for potential rejection. Loma Linda University Hospital is a trauma center for most of S.CA and crosses the border to include AZ. so the tension levels there are high and that added to my stress. After receiving a round of IV antibiotics and "the word" from a transplant doctor we headed home on the freeway that always makes me anxious; the I10 is fraught with accidents mostly involving semi trucks.

And there is mom who has decided to become more inventive with how she deals with Alzheimer's. Did you know that bathrooms are "notorious for being able to be used as kitchens?" I sure didn't, but it seems that if you pile used Kleenex on the bathroom floor and try to light it with an unlit candle you'll have a way of cooking food. She had a plate to cook on and a bottle of rubbing alcohol on the counter. Anyone who thinks that Alz is merely loss of memory doesn't have a clue as how unhinged the brain can become! Nothing makes sense to her anymore; she can't problem solve the simplest of things and wanders around the yard constantly trying to make sense of where she is. Yesterday, the gravel in the yard wasn't gravel but had become layers of nuts that she was going to eat; she was angry when I insisted that let go of the handful she was carrying to her room, she'd spent of a lot time getting just the right ones. Leaves on plants are lettuce and abundant. . . . Her latest minute-by-minute behavior problems don't leave me a lot of free time to create anything and that makes Gail one cranky person.

This morning, while attempting to calm myself down, I walked around the garden and photographed some "Nuggets Of Joy." From the top down are Mexican Bird-of-Paradise; the first time I saw that plant was the first spring here in the desert! Brilliant orange on a lacy plant. They grow like weeds here and we had to have them, but they can take over the yard so we decided against them. We now have two in pots near the front door and as soon as mom decides that the blossoms will look better in her room the plants won't be as showy. Mom picks everything including green tomatoes that she was going to eat, everything, even if it isn't food, is meant for her eating pleasure. When the Bird-of-Paradise blooms it opens a little at time. Up close it's really magnificent. The color theme by the front door ended up being orange, not something I would have intentionally chosen, but when we fell in love with an African Geranium, the second photo, we had to have that one as well. It loves heat. And the next photo is of the first Plumeria bloom. They shout tropics to me and seem out of place here, but Roger had to have them. They're thriving so well that I had to move the pots from in front of the windows to walls on the side of the house; they were blocking the windows with their glorious leaves.

   
Our boy, Spencer, who thought that if he had dibs on the table I wouldn't put it out in the garage. Stacy used the well-worn table for a nightstand until her sister brought out the nightstands that match the dresser she gave Stacy a few years ago. I now have the steam pot I use when I dye fabric on the glass topped table. And yes, Spencer is one very large cat! Doesn't he look like he's saying, "Don't mess with me?" He is the greatest cat, or is MizRiley the greatest? Or was Zeus? We've been lucky to have amazing lovable cats.

Sally Huss nails it again: "Tune yourself to happiness and adjust the frequency when you get out of sync.

Sunset

It's hit the century mark of 100+ degrees and is holding there; looks like the cool temps are a thing of the past. I'll have to make do with what I was able to dye and discharge over the last few months. This is one of those OAK pieces that I hate to cut up and use. The white flare-like spots were created using glue as a resist, but I poured on so much dye that they mostly dissolved; the effect adds some texture so that's okay with me.

So, I had the great idea that upgrading to a new computer with more gb's and Windows 7 would make my life easier. Maybe it will eventually, but we didn't transfer anything from the old computer so everything is on an external drive and is a jumbled up mess. And my camera won't transfer the older shots on the disk to the computer. The Canon prefers to only transfer photos that are new. And, Windows 7 doesn't seem to like my favorite stand-by of Picture It; I do love PSE8, but sometimes Picture It was just easier to use. Oh, and my speakers aren't working . . . and so it goes. I'm trying to live by the following quote: Want a perfect day? Decide to have one. Sally Huss

Reds

The Reds turned out grand if I do say so myself. On the left, mono-printed red print paste. Top is a piece of fabric that I swiped with black print paste before covering it entirely with red print paste, actually, the grid piece is done the same way. In the center top, barely evident is cheesecloth and gauze. On the right side is waffle fabric and on the bottom is a piece of kona muslin that I poured dye over just like I did the waffle fabric, and the cheesecloth.

I seem to be slowing down as the temps rise, but then I do need to get my house cleaned up by Friday. My daughter and her guys are coming for the night and all of Saturday. They need to get back home Saturday night for one of Jack's functions early on Sunday; Jack being my 8-year-old grandson. Hopefully, my SIL and I can get the drip system going well enough so that I won't have to do much hand-watering in the blistering heat. Of course, it's supposed to be around 107 this weekend.

Do go and take a look at the outstanding tutorial Judi did about making your own rubber stamps. She spent days writing it up so do tell her that I sent you!

Quote: A day without sunshine is like, you know, night. Steve Martin

Memorial Day

1943, my dad is second from the left. And, above, with my Aunt Gladys, the only remaining sibling of four; she's now 86.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men (and women)
who died,

who gave that right to me.

~Lee Greenwood

Influences and more discharging

Thanks Joyce, Vickie W. Christina, Caterina, hwfarber, and Lise for leaving comments, your names have been added to the give-away list. (Let me know if I've missed anyone) I've enjoyed your comments!!

I should be out in the garage, the temp is cooler today; it's been way too hot the last two days, but I wanted to get these posted, that's the story that sounds better than I feel like road-kill and would rather be in bed. While I was trying to find more room to stash more fabric I came across the fat quarters that I bought in March when I visited Roger in Greenbrae. There was a fabric store near the hotel, anyway, what struck me instantly is how those pieces of fabric have influenced some of the dyeing I've recently done. I haven't seen the quarters in awhile so maybe it's the other way around? I purchased what I'd like to create in the way of color choices and textures? Over the weekend I worked with avocado and dark green and a variety of white fabrics. Very interesting that I had purchased similar colors a few months ago. On the top example of the greens is mono printing with print paste. On the right is a waffle fabric that shrinks and creates a waffle texture when washed. I've found remants of it over the years. Below that is cheesecloth. The piece in the bottom center is over-dyed over a not so stellar DSP, however, the pattern created by the DSP is quite interesting now. In the center below the mono printed piece is a grid pattern white-on-white fabric.And on the left top is a piece of crinkle cloth and below that is a gauzy fabric. Why the variety? How about a monochromatic art quilt based on a variety of textures? I'm doing the same with rust and grey, and reds.
 

 I finally got a decent black, though, it's not brilliant/rich enough, but it's black with some bluing at the edges. These two pieces are DSP (Deconstructed Screen Printed.) The goal is to get a rich black that doesn't look faded nor has a green, blue, or red cast to it. Something to aspire to, I guess.
 
Quote: “Always aim your goals and aspiration for the moon, because even if you don't make it, you'll always end up reaching the stars”

Discharge experiments continued and Blogaversary

First off, thanks to Kim, Julie, Darlene, Penny, Marilyn, Nellie, Seth, and Joyce for leaving comments for the Blogaversary give-away. If you'd like to be included leave me a comment. (Forgive me for not replying but I'm a bit distracted right now, see below.) Please let me know if I've forgotten anyone.

It was 100 degrees last Thursday but a cold front moved through and we were near freezing yesterday, well freezing for us! A low in the 80's on Sat. and 70 degrees yesterday. Nothing left to do but take advantage of it and if my energy and physical strength had lasted longer than it did I might have dyed and discharged bolts instead of yardage. But I'm happy with the results, some of which I'll share. A few pieces have blown me away and when I create something from them I'll share them then. Suffice it to say that I'm mystified and in awe of what discharging can do. The variables are the key and my notes aren't helpful. I have to do better at immediately jotting down things like the temp in the garage and the age of the discharge paste and dye. . . . and so it goes.

A few pieces are both discharged with bleach and Thiox. (no examples on this post.) And, yes, I'm getting browns, greys, cream, and some white all on the same piece of fabric. Amazing. I've screen printed some and brushed on discharge paste on others; I've only scratched the surface.

Sometimes blogger can drive me crazy! None of the photos are in the right orientation or placement! Oh well, today I don't feel like coping with that as I have an appointment with the garage that I don't want to miss. It's supposed to be in the 80's again today and 90's the rest of the week. Bah!

Quote: Want to have a perfect day? Decide to have one. Sally Huss

Discharge experiments and blog anniversary

Five years ago on June 20Th I started this blog. This post is number 479; you'd think that I'd have more posts than this in five years, wouldn't you? Since keeping count over two years ago this blog has been viewed about 16000 times and that amazes me! Huge Thanks! So, to commemorate the anniversary I'll be giving some things away around June 20Th. All you need to do is leave me a comment starting today and please add your email addy. I tried to respond to some comments today and blogger must be off-kilter because a lot of profiles don't exist; I know they do because I've responded before. So, if I haven't emailed it's Google's fault.

 In the next few weeks I'll announce the give-aways of which a few books will be included along with some art work. If you don't wish to be included in the give-aways leave me a comment. Thanks!!!

The first piece is dyed and discharged on black kona cotton and isn't finished yet. The second piece is thiox discharged and an effect I'm hoping to do more of when I can get back into the garage. 100 degrees today; there is a rumor that it might drop to the 80's over the weekend. Fingers crossed here!

Quote: When you think that all goes well in your world, it will. Sally Huss

Discharge experiments

Thiox has entered my life, thiox discharge paste that is lest you think something else. I couldn't get my head around the information that I read on-line and in numerous books but Dear Rayna gave me a simple recipe and if I had followed it the first time, well, I needed a break from the broiling garage, 95 yesterday and even standing directly in front of the portable AC I wilted. I assumed, incorrectly, that if I put the fabric with the discharge paste on it under plastic that it would remain damp enough until I could steam it, after all I do that  with DSP. Wrong. The discharge paste only worked in small areas where it was heavily applied; the brownish/tan areas evident in a few of the examples are from the first go-around. The fabric was rewashed and a new batch of discharge was mixed up and rather than take a chance that it wouldn't work again I erroneously doubled the amount of thiox. Over-kill isn't necessary in this instance. The steaming worked fast and, what? I was expecting white or off-white due to the fact that the few bits that discharged on the first experiment had gone white(ish). A yellow cast? Not too thrilled about that but okay, maybe the discharge paste will improve some Kona muslin that was part of a parfait batch; I'm not impressed with the Kona, very lackluster. Stripes are interesting, aren't they? There was a little bit of discharge paste left so I sponged some onto a fabric that had laughed at bleach; who knew that bleach doesn't work on all fabrics? The Thiox worked but the discharged color is a green/grey, not particularly appealing. Around 12:30am I tossed the fabric into the washer and watched some TV. Some sort of documentary about the Rolling Stones was on Jimmy Fallon, is that the guys name? He follows Leno, anyway during a break I pulled the fabric out of the washer and surprise, the yellow cast from the Thiox was nearly gone and only white, tan, and little yellow remained. My guess is that only a little Thiox is necessary in order for the discharge to work. The fabric is from Dharma, they claim that it will discharge and it does. The recipe is:  1/2 tsp thiox and 1 tsp of soda ash to 1/2 cup print paste. Dissolve the thiox in a bit of hot water first; ditto with the soda ash and add them to the print paste. (apply to fabric and immediately steam or iron; from what I understand the iron should hover just above the fabric, it's the steam that activates the discharge paste. I steamed the fabric for about 10 minutes.) It's good to use a Darth Vader mask, though, I didn't! Claustrophobic here, I did use a dust mask and might break down and use the DV one. I did, however, open the doors in the garage and pray to the Dyeing Gods for good ventilation. I use Rayna's print paste recipe from her stellar book, "Create your own hand-printed cloth." Info about Thiox can be found here:

Odd dreams last night, from the Thiox or from watching a film about the Stones when they were in exile living in France? In any case, I'm in love with thiox and am hoping that the temps allow me to experiment some more. The weather report is that by this last year there had already been 5 days of 100+ temps and so far we've only hit 98 twice. Gosh, like I can tell the difference!

Quote: You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need. Rolling Stones

Rust dyed

Dharma sells table runners ready for dyeing or embellishing, love that! After this one was washed it was dunked into vinegar before placing steel wool randomly over the surface. Then the table runner was rolled up and put into a bag. Magically, two days later the organic patterning happened.

Thanks for the comments about the flour paste resist. It seems to be true that one person's trash is another person's treasure; I wasn't pleased with the FPR over the screen printed fabric but now I'm starting to look at the results in a new light. A similar thing happened when I parfait dyed another 10 pieces of muslin. Even though Dharma cautions that each bolt can be a lot different than previous ones I still expected the same results and I didn't get them. There are so many variables that can go wrong and one can go nuts trying to determine exactly what they are or one can accept the results and know that every piece of fabric is useful in some way. After scouring the heck out of the fabric, maybe the fabric wasn't accepting the dye as easily, and dyeing a small piece to check if that worked I finally came to the conclusion that I'm being too frugal. Dye mixed and used within 3 days was glorious, but dye left to sit in the broiling garage for longer than 6 days lost its vibrancy. Lesson learned, stop being so frugal! Or, try freezing the mixed dye after 2-3 days. I'll let you know how that goes.


Quote:Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers,
and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of
life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are
inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex.
- M. Scott Peck

Flour paste resist

Others have written about this resist including Judi so check out her blog for some info.  The first example is of what not to do, at least for me. I had great hopes that the crackle would save some really bad glue resist screen prints. Nope, now they're even worse. But if you take a closer look at the right edge on the blank muslin there is a possibility that I might be able to get something great.

 The black crackle is a bit overdone, but it's great. A light coat of FPR was applied over canvas fabric and once the FPR was dry and cracked black Dye-na-flow was painted over the surface and allowed to dry. To heat-set the Dye-na-flow the back side was ironed about 5 times, then I soaked the fabric in cold water for about an hour before rinsing it under cold water and then tossed it into the washing machine to remove any remaining FPR.

Happy Mother's Day

I believe that mother's are courageous.

This digital image is still in-progress, but for now it's gone as far as I know how to take it. The background is a scan Parfait dyed fabric and the cactus bloom is from my garden.

Quotes:

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont
The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
~William Goldsmith Brown   

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De Vries

Parfait Dyeing part 2

Rather than show the individual pieces this time I thought that it would be fun so see how the progression of Parfait dyeing. Upper left, deep yellow/lemon yellow dye. Upper middle, fuchsia. Upper right, turquoise. Middle bottom, Avocado. Bottom, charcoal grey/pewter dye.

Also in the same jar are: on the left, scarlet/Chinese Red dye. Upper middle, Palomino. Upper right, dark green. Lower middle, purple. Bottom right, black combo of #44 and #300 from Dharma.

The finished tree piece from an earlier post, April 12. I seem to have dropped the ball on the Passage Challenge. I'm racing against the weather and until I can no longer dye fabric in the garage I don't imagine that projects will be completed.It was 95 in the garage today. The portable AC was whining and so was I. Components: deconstructed screen printed background. Transfer and the red shapes are painted fusible web. There is a little machine stitching and the 9x11 inch piece was edge stitched.

Parfait Dyeing

I'm sold on Parfait Dyeing! What a great way to get a variety of fabrics with luscious colors to choose from. This time I did it a little differently than I did the first time with the browns. (a few days ago) I cut up 8 fat quarters and either folded, twisted, or scrunched the pieces. Because the mixed dyes were under 4oz each a bundle of fabric was placed in a tray before dye was squirted on. I tend to use small squirt bottles. Then the color was massaged through the fabric and the bundle was placed into a plastic jar. When all of the bundles were in the jar mixed soda ash was poured over all of the bundles until they were all submerged. Twenty-four hours the bundles were individually removed and lightly rinsed before they all went into the washing machine for a proper removal of excess dye. It's a bit shocking to see the soda ash turn murky in the jar and trust that each dye color is doing its magic; the results speak for themselves. Some color combinations are better than others, but I think that each piece has possibilities.

The first layer above is deep yellow/lemon yellow that was mixed 1:1. Raw colors can be a bit harsh thus I mix a lot of them.

Fuchsia warmed up with a pinch of brown.

Turquoise warmed up with a pinch of brown.

Scarlet/Chinese Red, 1:1. (this combo usually looks more orange, but the neighbors on either side of the bundle played a huge role this result.)

Charcoal grey/pewter, 1:1.

The same yellow combo as layer 1.

The same dye combo as layer 4, scarlet/Chinese red.

Black. Procion dyes from Dharma #44 & #300, 1:1

Eight bundles in this Parfait batch.

Nugget of Joy

The duo who is busy building a nest in the grape vine. Aren't they sweet? More of them here on my photo blog














Quote: Since childhood she had walked the Devon rivers with her father looking for flowers and the nests of birds, passing some rocks and trees as old friends, seeing a Spirit everywhere, gentle in thought to all her eyes beheld. Henry Williamson

In the Studio

Sometimes the mop-up cloth, left, is more interesting to me than the intentional pieces are. Just a few folded and dyed fabrics. The deep orange, I thought, might be toned down some with Camel as it's neighbor, but instead "yuck" happened. olive green and deep orange! Maybe over-dyeing will improve the strip of fabric, or? I do like the design though that was improved by some dribbles of black dye.

Rust Brown and? Khaki perhaps? Nice for something.

Purple and Palomino. The colors in this piece are richer than shown  here, so much so that I toss this one over my sewing machine as a dust cover.

In the Studio

Parfait dyeing of which can be found by googling it, or I think that Vicki Welsh has some outstanding recent examples of on her blog. Strips of fabric were dampened and I only used a small amount of from left to right rust brown, medium brown, and camel. The middle piece looks grey, but it's not, it's brownish. The camel color turns more olive than I care for, but the rust brown is a color I like to use. I folded the first two fabrics, left to right, and twisted the one on the right. Why only a small amount of dye? I wanted to use up what some remaining dye from a recent dyeing session. This is a technique worth pursing. So, it seems that using dry fabric and lots of dye are the way to go; we'll see.

What happens when you use Honey Brown, Terra Cotta, Burnt Sienna, and some black acrylic paint on wet fabric? Well if you smoosh the colors together and allow the fabric to dry in a tight ball you might get this. Just playing around, but I like the textures. The fabric is stiff, but will be great for a few things.

Deconstructed Screen printing. I adore the serendipitous of it!

Quote: The richness of friends cannot be overvalued. Sally Huss

Mail Art

"Embrace Mistakes," Seth tells us in the current article at MMCA. And I couldn't agree more. One of the mail art pieces I've been working on absolutely refused to behave itself. I should know better than to use StazOn ink over top of dyed fabric, the ink prefers a clean slate. The Fleur de Lis was barely evident. Okay, now what? I painted some wonder under, stamped the Fleur de Lis image on the back of the dried fusible, cut it out and ironed it over the stamped image on the fabric. Oops! left the iron on the wonder under too long. Okay, now I'm annoyed, but wait, the result is something that would never have happened if I hadn't kept making so-called mistakes. I'm fond of the distressed effect, so much so that I attempt to achieve it in  nearly every piece, perfection is over-rated, at least that's the way I see things. I'm hoping to over-iron some wonder under on another piece that I'm working on. Wish me luck!

Quote:  The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.
Pierre Bayle

In the Studio

Just portions of larger works-in-progress. I will say this though, they're both break-down screen prints except for the tree and the red found-objects stamping.

In the 88 temp range again today, no complaints from me! I can't get enough of sitting on the patio watching the garden grow, of the lizards stopping by to check me out, and of the birds taking baths in the fountain. One of the larger lizards seems to greet me every morning while the smallest one can't scoot away fast enough; I understand the feeling.

Quote:
You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.



Ken Kesey

The wait is over

The book "1000 Artisan Textiles" arrived yesterday and these are the two out of four pieces of my work that were chosen. I was pretty certain that 713 would be in the book but I thought that perhaps one of the other two would be in the book rather than 714. To see all the 52 creations go here: The one following these two, #32, is the one that I assumed would have been chosen, and the other piece I entered for consideration is in the process of becoming something else.

Kudos to Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown for putting together a marvelous book; the volume is truly beautiful and very inspiring.

A  mono-print from this weeks marathon session of screen printing and fabric dyeing. The results from spending hours in the garage studio have left me in a quandary. What do I do with all of the screened and dyed fabric? I have vague ideas that most likely will become solid ideas when the time is right to work on them. Right now I need to get in as much time as I can before the desert heat keeps me indoors of which it nearly did today. I wanted to shout at the universe, "Not yet! Bring back some cooler temps!" It's been about 88 degrees for a couple of days now. And if that isn't annoying/worrying enough I was awake after 2am when a gentle aftershock from the earthquake that hit 6 days ago reminded us that the earth is still shifting on her axis. So, if you feel a little out of balance it could be that Mother Earth is having a difficult time finding her balance.

Quote: Our primeval Mother Earth is an organism that no science in the world can rationalize. Everything on her that crawls and flies is dependent upon Her and all must hopelessly perish if that Earth dies that feeds us.

-Viktor Schauberger

Challenge

The challenge following the word Puzzle (see below Feb 28th) is Passage, in case you didn't figure that out. How to get letters onto fabric? Well, one way is to use sticky back foam letters that were purchased for $1 from Target some time back. I took a gamble that they would work and ended up more than satisfied. The thickened dye seeped under the letters just enough to color the white fabric that remained from printing the same screened design twice on the same piece of fabric. The tree design was applied to the screen with blue school glue gel and rather than thickened dyes I used textile paints on the screen. Why only a detail? The reveal isn't until the week of April 24Th. Besides, I'm not sure if I'll even use this beginning for the challenge.

So, if you've heard about the 7.2 earthquake in Mexico yesterday that was felt in CA you  might wonder if this area shook as well. Yes it did! I knew from the rolling of it that we weren't in the epicenter but if the rolling didn't stop when it did I think there might have been considerable damage here. The floor looked like waves.  The wind was starting to blow around the fabric I was working on and I was reaching for the button to close the garage door when the earth started moving. My but that's a strong wind!  The rolling lasted about 45 seconds and a few things fell but happily nothing broke. It's believe that we what felt was around 5.1 which is enough to get our attention. Rocking and rolling yesterday and strong monsoonal winds today.

Quote: as artists, we run the risk of staleness if we close ourselves off to fresh experience. Each day must remain an exploratory expedition. Julia Cameron