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!