Art math - the answers

Roses {fresh this time} + 

a crock pot +

 

a stained t-shirt =

 a shirt given a new life.

The paper bundles are drying and will be shown tomorrow. Needless to say, given the great colors of today's batch, fresh roses are far preferable to frozen ones.

Kim over at Letting in the Light has been cooking in the studio too. Rather than boiling, she's been steaming her bundles with wonderful results. Take a stroll over to see.

Art math

Red roses

+ a stained, yet in good condition t-shirt

 + rusty bits [of course]

 + more rose petals

+ 300 lb watercolor paper

and more rusty bits

= 2 bundles of paper and 1 of cotton.

Submerge the small bundle in the cauldron,

add a few more rose petals

 then put the larger paper bundle in

and add more rose petals [of course].

 

Don't forget the t-shirt...it yearns for a new life.

Oh! And a plumb bob for weight.

{Thanks for the idea Pam!}

 Top it all off with...what else?...more rose petals

and 2 more plumb bobs, just because.

Put the lid on the cauldron, 

set the heat to low and walk away. 

Try not to get too curious throughout the day. 

Lifting the lid too often may just hinder things.

I'm wondering when my little urchins are going to realize 

that the roses have disappeared from the kitchen counter.

Dancing on the wind

We had a bit of breeze here yesterday.

Formerly white t-shirt #2. More on that soon.

Brown vs bleach

Along with the two black t-shirts and a couple yards of black cotton, the other thing to get discharged yesterday was a brown t-shirt that I'd been thinking about doing something to. It had a small stain right in the middle, like where food had been dropped...yep, I'm clumsy...which just refused to budge to any laundry chemical. Discharging it yesterday was a spur of the moment decision, but one that I am very glad to have made.

The top shot is of the front, bottom is the back. Haven't decided what color was dyed over, but there's a bit of olive green and very pale mauve/gray/lilac-ish something along with the glorious deep purple. Knowing as little as I do about the chemical make-up of commerical dyes, all those colors could go into making brown for all I know. This really is one case where ignorance is bliss because this shirt made my morning yesterday.

In case you're wondering what else has been happening in the studio, maybe this shot will give you an idea.

Bleach vs black

Why is it that whenever you accidentally get even the tiniest little splash of bleach on what you're wearing, that spot immediately turns the brightest, purest white? The kind of white that can be spotted from miles away? You know what I mean. There's bound to be a law of nature that governs the whole thing and I would have liked that law of nature to have been on my side this morning.

Well...now that I think about it, maybe the problem this morning is that I wasn't wearing either of the black t-shirts that were being discharged...on purpose actually, not accidentally.

You see, I'd have loved for either of these shirts to have discharged to white so that my closet would have a bit more variation than rust/orange artsy shirts. They're currently in the washing machine having a good soak...along with a brown t-shirt that made my morning. Photos of that soon!