Discharged

After soaking in vinegar for 24 hours, I finally decided to hang the discharged fabrics outside to let Mother Nature have a go at them.

Yesterday was the first time I'd seen all the fabrics hung together - those that had been discharged in 2006 with the more controlled discharges done with a bleach pen. Actually, I'm quite excited to work with them now. Need to write down all the ideas.

Since our weather this week calls for lots of sun with slight breezes, I think a kinetic art installation of sorts in the back yard is the perfect way to celebrate Spring's arrival, don't you?

Help!

I have a problem. It's a smelly one at that.

After taking Dorothy Caldwell's workshop, A Book of Marks, at Peters Valley Craft Center in 2006, I spent a good portion of that summer outside discharging black cotton with bleach. I've dabbled with this on and off since then, mostly using a bleach pen.

Because I couldn't figure out what to do with the discharged fabric, it has been in a plastic bin in my studio closet. Before going into storage, the cotton was washed and dried (via washing machine and dryer). At that time, I thought all was well.

Fast forward to Wednesday when the muse finally struck. The bin came out of the closet. The lid was removed. I breathed in and sort of choked on the fumes. A thought that is not suitable for public consumption ran through my mind. The gist was that this fabric just cannot be used for art unless the smell can be removed. 

To make this story shorter, I washed and dried the cotton twice yesterday all to no avail. Today, I tried soaking it in a mixture of vinegar and water for...hmmm...about 4 hours. Rinsed it and it still smells.

Help! Please! Is there something to be done? I'm off to the grocery to buy more vinegar to try a straight vinegar bath, but am open to other suggestions. 

Artist Retreat

I'm visiting my friend and fellow fiber artist, Pam Sullivan, for a week. We've dubbed it an artist retreat and have been locking ourselves in her studio to play, laugh, experiment, get our hands dirty, forget the outside world and just enjoy being friends, artists and the act of creating.

Upon entering Pam's studio on Sunday, two collections caught my eye.

Spools of thread in vibrant colors.

Remnants of my fabrics from our project eXperiment. 

The top rust fabric is Pam's.

Pam has a this funky material that she found...well, I forget where she said...but it has holes punched in it, a grid of circles in places and is like Tyvek. She mentioned that she thought it would be fun to have words printed on a piece to cut up and play with so I stamped on story on it for her.

First I colored a bit of cotton to lay under it to catch the letters that fell through the holes. This is my piece and I love it.

We decided that we both are in dire need of yardage so that's what we've been concentrating on. Pam has been screen printing on very wide fabric and I've been monoprinting with her leftover paint.

The long pieces on top are Pam's. The little square beneath is mine.

During an excursion for supplies, I thought I'd found an inexpensive black cotton that would discharge to white. So far, it has discharged to grey. We wondered if it could be over-discharged in places to white so before retiring for the night, I went over a few spots and left them. Hopefully, I'll have a nice surprise this morning.

Of course, I can always do as Dorothy Caldwell says she does...take the bleach pen along to the fabric store, get samples cut, take them to the parking lot to discharge and see which what happens before buying.

Stay tuned for more fun and creativity.

Sidetracked by a bleach pen

Dye update - no dyeing has taken place yet. I got sidetracked by a bleach pen, black cotton and mark making.