Sharing the thread of life
Sandy and Shar lead us in a hot day of Ice Dyeing.
These are pictures of Frank’s work.
I was surprised how light the final colors are, especially on the flower sack towel. I let the pieces sit damp in a plastic bag for 24 hours. I rinsed by hand and then washed in the washing machine with hot water.
I liked the affect when I folded the flower sack towel into quarters. It made the quarters look similar.
My favorite was the pleated and rolled piece. I think it is the strongest design.
We learned kumihimo braiding. Kumihimo is a traditional Japanese technique of braiding to create intricately colored cords. The cords are strong but slender, and have a multitude of uses. Samurai once used kumihimo as laces for their armor.
Today I got up and made 23 sheets of recycled paper. You guys inspired me with your use of color last week-end. This is 3/4 of the colored paper I recycled today.
A post from last August when Frank lead a day of recycling paper.
Next month we make books out of the paper that was made!
We used a 2-layer technique to paint on a piece of paper with different colored paper. Yes, painting with paper pulp not paint.
Paper was drying everywhere, even in the bird garden. Lots of paper was made and will be made into books next month!
I finally got the right size refillable book cover to fit 2 signatures in!
I increased the pattern by 1/8 inch both in height and width and things fit better.
I like the contrast of the sunburst on both inside covers
Note that the signature fit so much better that only one strand of yarn was needed to hold it in.
Materials : cloth, fusible interfacing, thread, signature booklet, sewing machine.
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I used hand spun yarn to hold the single signature in the cover.
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If You wanted to have 2 or 3 signatures in the book, the cover would have to be wider and you would need more yarn loops to hold them more signatures in. These are minor adjustments once you understand how to make the single signature book.
Saturday I folded and sewed. I found ironing the folds on the clamped pieces made for more accurate folds. I also found ironing the straight pleats for sewing made the sewing easier.
Itajime shibori is a shaped-resist technique. Traditionally, the cloth is sandwiched between two pieces of wood, which are held in place with string
Nui shibori includes stitched shibori. A simple running stitch is used on the cloth then pulled tight to gather the cloth
These are my results
I decided to do 2 small pieces 18 X 11 inches. These will be used for covering the covers of handmade books.
Piece #1 I accordion pleated the long way with 1 1/2 inch pleats, giving me an 18 inch strip 1 1/2 inch wide. Then I pleated the the other direction in 1 1/2 inch pleats. This gave me a cube that I tied several times around both directions.
Piece #2 I accordion pleated the long way with 1 inch pleats, giving me an 18 inch strip 1 inch wide. Then I tied the strip about every 2 inches.
I then dipped them in the indigo 3 times; The 2nd and 3rd time I dipped Piece #1, I opened the folds on the corners slightly.
Our dye pot was Strong so I only left the pieces in for 1 to 2 minutes.
Here are the pieces wet.
Very little dye rinsed out and there is no crocking. As you can see the darkest blues are almost as strong dry as they were wet!
Knit a bag and 16 yards of I-cord (for the strap
Fold the bag height into 4ths. Then fold bag width into 3rds. Clamp center with 2 dowls
Dye in indigo.
Wad strap and grab tightly. Dip into indigo 3 or 40 times. Dip folded bag 3 or 4 times.
Unfold bag.
Soak in vinegar water for 12 hours
Felt in washing machine in very hot water for 15 minutes
Felted straps
Add the straps
Felted bags.