Seamless Skin

What can I say...I'm just an elliptical kinda woman...

It all started yesterday...I was trying to get the idea out of my head onto a piece of cloth that I was trying to salvage and wondered what would happen if  I wrote with school glue directly on the fabric as the resist and then after it dried, spread a layer of jacquard discharge paste over it.  So today I scurry in to apply the jdp and this is what happened...

before

 after
Discharge paste doesn't discharge metallic fabric markers...a tidbit of info that means nothing at the moment but seems like it could come in handy down the line.

More layers are forthcoming, but I'll not try this again as the dp just bullied the glue and the glue dried overnight.  In the past I applied the glue directly to a silk screen AND for the time involved, because it takes a long while for the blue school glue to dry, (typically a day), I am better off using soy wax which dries immediately.  

And these...(ellipis are my favorite grammatical mark...signifying the long trains of fluid but focused for me thoughts that I edit out to keep readers from suffering through the dips and peaks in my mind.  I've considered trying to refrain from using them as they are in just about every post I write, but at this point, it feels more like my trademark).

are in the washing machine along with a few other pieces.  The one on the bottom is smaller than a fat quarter and I used my new favorite tool (toilet paper insert) as the stamp.  

Oh, oh...another conclusion I reached yesterday...for batching dye painted fabrics, I prefer steaming the fabric versus laying it out in the sun, has less loss of colour/dye.  I've been tracking this for the last 3 months.  BUT, the steaming creates a strong odor when it is immediately unwrapped and rinsed but dissipates very quickly under running water.  So I now put on a mask for gasses when rinsing out.

 

Low Technique Yields High Results

One of the suggestions Claire Benn gave us in May was to push the limits of one single tool...just commit to using one mark making tool everyday for a week in your studio.  A couple of weeks ago I did just this using a plastic card and did these...

But my new awesome favorite tool is this!

 click to enlarge.

The insert from toilet paper is a fantastic stamping tool.  I shape it into a pod, square, rectangle or odd shape  and just stamp with my medium of choice.  I must give a shout out to the fabulous Joanne Weis (toward the bottom on the post) for suggesting this in a LAFTA workshop she gave last year.

Stop hitting the repeat button in my mind

I can't believe it is after 1am.  I was in the studio for  3 hours today.  Three hours of bliss.  I applied a second layer to the fabrics shown...the dye colour is brazilnut....looks black, so I'm eager to see what they will look like after the wash out.   My mind bounces between thinking about what comes next for the fabrics and imagining new quilt designs for them.  I try to lay down to sleep and end up wondering about any studio time tomorrow (today) and what will come next.  If I'm not thinking about this, then I'm being consumed with the upcoming garage sale and fielding phone calls and emails about items listed for it.  Its been this way all week so far...over and over and over my mind goes on like nothing else exists...I read/watch the news and it immediately gets pushed back.  The only thing I've given some thought to besides what I've mentioned is an agreement our public hospital has entered to honor the Catholic doctrine of being against tubaligations and will no longer perform them.  The article didn't mention vasectomies, but I'm assuming they will not do them as well.  This is OUR PUBLIC hospital...the one that cannot turn you away for not having insurance.  It is associated with University of Louisville and thus has a stellar reputation for being a public hospital.  I know there is a petition that has started and I will contact the person tomorrow, but this pisses me off, to put it mildly.  I mean couple this with the debate insurance companies are having about paying for birth control and there is nothing subtle about the erosion of human rights.  

I walked into the mother's garage today for the first time in over a year and thought I'm so in over my head because the place is a mess! It is not the mess I can see that bothers me as much as the messes I don't see...you know, the disorganized closets, attics, garages, etc.  But come what may, we're going to do this and get it done somehow, someway!  

overlapping writing in darker value

soy wax resist irregular scrapping stamped dye paint

Not sure how the day will go tomorrow but the one thing I'm really looking forward to is picking up my first crop of veggies and fruits from the organic food co-op I joined!  Woohoo! So I'll let you know what I score!

Okay, it is now almost 2 but writing this helped me to empty my mind...thanks you for stopping by...I believe I'll sleep now. :)

I'm engaged...

Mad Crazy Love for this piece of cloth.