AWOL and Studios

Well I admit I've been awol for a few days, well actually I was right here at home. I managed to get quite a few orders sent out, http://www.prairiefibers.com I have been so tired since I returned from the funeral I decided I needed to rest. I just hope my faithful customers understand this need to rest (well one actually did not and proceeded to chew my butt accordingly, apparently deaths in the family are to be supersceded by everything else).

So I finished cleaning my studio, I need to get the carpet cleaned, my darling sheltie "Angel" has ruined it, I've been calling her "Angie" can't imagine why! I can't seem to get anything else done so why not clean, right.

So I guess I haven't really been AWOL, I guess I just don't know how to quit working. Now to just get back into my studio, I"m dying to dye some fabrics.

Here are some updated pics of the design studio, cleaner than before.

I'm Back

It's been a long strange and traumatic week. I woke up at 3:20 am Easter Morning to my sister-in-law telling me "I'd better come home now". My mother was in severe crisis, needless to say she didn't survive the aneurysm; she was 57.

I made an ATC while I was there, basically I started looking for any small object I could find that reminded me of her. It's rather 3Dish so the color doesn't look good on the scan. But I think it fits her well. The only things that is missing are the fishing hooks and other fishing objects, I'll probably add some of that later from my own stash, that she gave me. It's also in dire need of orange and I'm not sure why.

Dyeing Silk Cocoons & Carrier Rods

Yes you can dye the silk cocoons with the catepillar still inside. However that being said you need to get the cocoons dry as soon as possible to prevent rotting (the catepillar rots). You will get one or two that are stained due to the critter inside, but out of a batch of 60 cocoons I dyed only two were stained.

I dye my cocoons using natural dyes, if you remove the sericin from the cocoons, after they have been dyed, you will loose the color. The cocoons float on top of the dye bath, if you don't cut them open, I turn them frequently using a large skimmer I have.

Once they are dyed I remove them, rinse them right away, and the run them through a dedicated salad spinner. Make sure all of your dye equipment is for dyeing ONLY! I then put them on a cooling rack to dry. You could use a hair dryer on them as well.

You can also dye the cocoons in the indigo vat, good way to get greens. I take my salad spinner basket put the wet cocoons into the basket and submerge it carefully into the dye vat, now you know why I said dedicated equipment. I leave it about 30 seconds bring them out quickly so as to not get dye liquid back into the vat, let them oxidize and drain into my sink. I do this as many times as necessary until I get the desired shade of blue.

This also worked with the silk carrier rods I dyed last night. The carrier rods take dye differently, there are areas that are bright blue, form the indigo, and other areas that are still that silvery natural color. It's a very interesting effect. They also softened up a bit in the dyeing process, that may be due the high pH of my indigo vat and all of the soda ash in the vat.

Indigo stains on your equipment? Clean it off with a baking soda paste.

Pictures coming soon.


A post card in progress, 4 x 6 inches, using my compost dyed fabrics, the dark rust color and the lighter mottled yellow. The red violet strip was dyed with brazilwood, and the backing in indigo 2 dips. It is hand stitched using YLI Silk thread, Rajamahal Art Silks and Aurifil Wool thread.  Posted by Hello

An Hour A Day

I've decided that I need to spend more time with my two loves, aside from my dearest hubby. My passion for textile art, and God. So I"m taking two hours a day out of my schedule, an hour for each one. I need to go clean out my chair in the spare room so I can read and do my quite times.

I've already taken an hour for my stitching today, I started working on a piece I'm calling "Gypsy Girl". My rules for myself are I cannot run out an buy anything for the project, other than needles for sewing with (my sewing machine loves to eat them) and/or thread, because sometimes I do run out. I"m hoping by imposing this limit on myself, which will probably last until garage sale season, I'll use up my ever burgeoning stash of fabrics, buttons, trims and the like. I have some fabrics, from my paternal grandmother, that I would like to make into something special.

I also have a collaborative project I need to get busy with. I now have all of the materials necessary, except I still need to get my argon tank back, to make my sculptures.

Ranger Inks

I heat set and washed the piece of fabric I have been working on, see previous posts about Shiva Paintstiks. I had sprayed them with the Adirondak Inks, by Ranger Inks. The bottle says it can be applied to fabric, just heatset and cure. Well the reds and yellows work fine, they do tend to crock off a bit. The greens however leave something to be desired, most of it either crocked or washed off after heatsetting. The color called "lettuce" is the worst of the bunch. I will be contacting Ranger Inks tomorrow to see what it is I'm doing wrong, if anything.

This is really too bad because I really liked the color of the fabric, see previous posts. Now it's almost washed out blah. I'll post a pic tomorrow, along with the Payne's Grey fabric.

Payne's Grey

The Payne's Grey came out beautifully! I will take pics tomorrow, the silk dupioni that I dyed Payne's Grey is to dye, I mean die, for. I'm so glad I dyed extra of this color I can't wait to play. This fabric was a special order for a customer, all done with natural dyes, highly mottled as per request. It's so yummy!