Hot Potatoes!

Maybe we shouldn't throw out the Hungry Man just yet. I finally sprayed bleach on the black fabric that I took home that was covered with mashed potato resist. I think the discharged fabric turned out quite nicely. Maybe the key is to let the mashed potatoes dry REALLY well on the fabric before dyeing or discharging? I'm not suggesting waiting as long as the two months I waited but...we, RBOG art lab scientists, aren't known for our patience. :)

First Embellisher Experiment

RBOG's, we must have an embellisher day! I tried it today--it's really fun and spontaneous! The top of the photo is my project, "Seashell" and the bottom of the photo is the inspiration photo. I used canvas and tear away stabilizer for the foundation, then fabric for the background with organza on top of it. I cut out a shell, felted it on to the background, then did some thread painting. After that I used some Inktense pencils and fabric pens for definition, then did some quilting and put an edge on the piece! Fini!

Mashed Potato Resist

"It was a mash, it was a monster mash." Actually, it was an RBOG day gone haywire. We thought we would try some mashed potato resist. I think Reva did a fine job cooking the Hungry Man potatoes, but the dye results were less than successful. I think the dye mix was the culprit. Not enough thickener and not enough saturation. Arghhh. Fortunately, we had bean soup for lunch followed by flan. Yum. Good company too. So, we made ugly fabric. Always an opportunity for over-dying.

"Bend Don't Break" (10"x16")

I thought I'd post my Fast Friday challenge piece here. The fabric was made at an RBOG discharge day. Yay - another piece emerges from the stash. The leaves are the kind that you purchase from the scrapbooking section of the craft store. The challenge was to incorporate transparency and either a high horizon or a low horizon. This is the first challenge piece I've done since (gasp) February.

Tiger Eyes

The "Tiger Eyes" project is finally complete. I really enjoyed the Tsukineko Ink process and I want to do more and more! We must schedule a meeting of the RBOGS!

Outrigger at Sunset

Here is my tsukeniko ink project.  Done!  Off to hang it this morning at the Rancho Buena Vista Gallery, so I needed a pic before it left home.  Can't wait for our next lab project.

Cistern

I am posting my Fast Friday quilt here since so much of the work was accomplished this week thanks to my lab partners, Reva & Laura.  The quilt image was Tuesday's drawing class assignment.  The whole cloth quilt fabric was created on Wednesday in the RBOG lab.  Without Laura's example, I never would have taken the time to hand stitch the fabric to yield the shibori design.  I painted over the dyed fabric with Tsukineko inks and bumped it with InkTense pencils.  What a productive day we had this week dyeing fabric.  Can't wait to see what else emerges from our new fabric.

An Apple A Day

        

 

  

All RBOGs have completed the apple project!  Yay!  This project was fun!  It seems even more fun, now that it is finished. :)

This little apple now hangs in my kitchen to remind me to eat my apple a day!

Cheers to good health!

Laura

GOMEN KUDASAI

I'm sorry that it took me so long to post my bag.  I needed to post this before the next project set makes its debut.  Thank you Reva for giving us so much guidance.

DOMO ARIGATO!!!

I learned way too much to mention here. Bottom line: If in doubt ask Reva! Domo Arigato!!

GEISHA BACKPACK

All RBOGS completed the Geisha Backpacks this week! Mission accomplished!

BACKPACK PROJECT PROTOTYPE

Finished! Finally! There were some mistakes on the cutting information on the pattern--which I discovered after cutting the lining. Fortunately, we have lots of lining fabric. I did note a couple of other things on the pattern that weren't exactly clear but it worked out. (There is a tiny line on the pattern that says to check the website in case there are mistakes on the pattern......of course, I checked it...after the fact.) I put two pockets in the lining--why not? The most nerve wracking part, for me, was putting the grommets in for the straps. You have to mark and cut the hole to fit the grommet and it was not fun. I was afraid I was going to mess up the final step after all that work but--yippee--it worked.

DISCHARGE FABRIC JACKET

Front and back views of the Vogue Pattern jacket by Marci Tilton made with some of the fabric that we discharged on that fun day at the Southern California Art Lab. That was another fun day--we may decide to do more discharging one day! RBOG's are always looking for new things to do with fabrics!

APPLE PROJECT

This is the finished apple! It was a challenge and took more patience and time than I expected but I like it!

PILLOW

This pillow was done with samples and scraps from one of our days of digging through the remnants at UFO! We needed some fresh color in the living room and this was the answer! RBOG's know how to find the bargains!

Ellen Lindner technique

Last week the RBOGs worked through Ellen Lindner's e-book to learn her double reverse applique technique.  This is the quilt that I made from Ellen's pattern.   Buy the e-book at

www.adventurequilter.com

Glue Gel Resist Results!

Here are the glue gel resist pieces washed and ready for the next layer of fun.  The funky flowers in the vase are Della's and the calm analagous landscape of flowers are Reva's.  Stay tuned for more art.

Tub Dyeing and Glue Gel Resist

Wednesday was a studio day.  Laura was happily visiting with her parents, so she was unable to join Reva and me.  We tried not to have too much fun without her!  A couple of hours before our great adventure, I soaked our silk fabric in a soda ash solution and hung it on the line to dry.  After Reva arrived, we used Elmer's Glue Gel to paint resist designs on the fabric.  We tried to use the metal tip as recommended in the recent issue of Quilting Arts, but we found using the Elmer's straight out of the bottle was much easier.  While the resist was drying, we decided to start on our next project, tub dyeing the rayon and silk scarves.  After much deliberation, we decided to dye the scarves my favorite color, Sapphire Blue.  We followed the directions for tub dyeing that are listed in the Dharma Trading Co. catalog.  OK, the scarves are soaking in the dye and we returned to our resist project.  We mixed up 5 colors of Procion dye and started painting our resisted panels.  After painting on the dye, we covered our projects with a plastic bag to let the dye cure overnight.  I will post a photo of this project tomorrow after the dye and resist is washed out.  Next we shifted gears and rinsed the scarves out with the garden hose and then popped them in the washer.  It seemed like a good time for a break, so we ate snacks and visited.  For our 3rd and final project for the day, we worked with Shiva sticks.  Reva used a gingko stencil and I used a bamboo stencil.  We applied the paint with stencil brushes.  I was using a pouncing motion, and later figured out that Reva was sucessfully brushing on the paint with way less effort. So, I adopted her technique.  Check back tomorrow for a photo of our Glue Gel Resist project.  Photos are of Reva modeling the dyed scarf and Reva working with the Glue Gel Resist.  What a sport she is!

Cyanotype Sun Prints

Yesterday, at the Southern California art lab, we made sun prints on cotton squares using cyanotype technology.  What I learned was that flat objects printed better, since we were able to use the glass over the top of the print.  Objects printed included leaves, artificial leaves, lace, scissors, paint brushes, stencils, human hands, etc.  Here is my square made from a tulle/freezer paper stencil that I had on hand for other printing methods.