August 2015, Paper Making on a hot day

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!

July 19, 2015 -Phyllis’s Medal and Overdyeing a Shawl

We had a fun meeting on July 19th, 2015 at the home of Phyllis Karsten. Phyllis just got back from the senior games and won a first place medal in her 90+ class. She just missed the world record by something like 40 seconds.  Way to go Phyllis!

Phyllis at Senior Games 2015.
Sandy Kupper (left) and Phyllis Karsten (right). Photo of Phyllis at Senior Games 2015. Phyllis shown with her first place medal.

Sandy brought the extremely soft woolen shawl that Jean Shoe so expertly and lovingly made, like all her hand work. But we felt the colors were a little too bright for our tastes so Sandy did a quick indigo dip. It muted down the colors wonderfully. We were very happy with the results.

This was the bright knitted shawl before indigo dip.
This was the bright knitted shawl before indigo dip.
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Carol Lewis wearing the indigo dyed shawl.

Frank’s Refillable Cloth Book Cover

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.

 

Frank’s June Shibori Dyeing

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.

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Itajime shibori is a shaped-resist technique. Traditionally, the cloth is sandwiched between two pieces of wood, which are held in place with string

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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

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May 17, 2015 – Shar’s Shibori Resist Cloth

Our indigo pot was strong and hearty. I brought cloth to dip into the pot and decided to put little rubber band resists all over the cloth to see what it would do. I did one, two and three rubber bands in different places. The three rubber band method turned out the best.  Shown in the photos is the cloth after one dip with rubber bands still in and one after the indigo had oxidized.  I was very happy with the results.

One long indigo dip of 20 minutes with rubber band resist.
One long indigo dip of 20 minutes with rubber band resist.
Rubber band resist, indigo dye. One long dip of 20 minutes.
Rubber band resist, indigo dye. One long dip of 20 minutes.

Frank’s May Dye Project

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.

Shibori tied cloth, ready for indigo bath.
Shibori tied cloth, ready for indigo bath.

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.

Piece #1
Piece #1
Piece #2 right after one indigo dip.
Piece #2 right after one indigo dip.

Our dye pot was Strong so I only left the pieces in for 1 to 2 minutes.

This after 1 dip of 1 minute
This after 1 dip of 1 minute

Here are the pieces wet.

Piece #1 wet
Piece #1 wet
Piece #1 rinsed and dry
Piece #1 rinsed and dry
Piece #2 wet
Piece #2 wet
Piece #2 rinsed and dry
Piece #2 rinsed and dry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!