Fashion Show and on to the next

We had our fashion show and it couldn't have been better. Every garment was great.
Thank you all so much for your support and participation. I don't have photos yet, but Judith Baer took them and will have a CD ready when we go back to class.

Speaking of "back to class" we start again on June 2 so I will now go off and baby sit and post more information later.
See you!

Breakdown

I didn't think I would like this technique all that much, but it was awesome and everyone had a ball.
Breakdown Printing

Materials:
Blank silk screen
Squeege
Thickened dye
Made with Sodium Alginate and dye powder
Fabric Silk for Acid Dye Cotton for Procion Dye

Pre-preparation:
Mix Sodium Alginate
Into a quart of warm water stir 1 to 2 Tablespoons of Sodium Alginate powder.
Stir until dissolved or use a dedicated blender to mix (It will still have a few lumps)
Let it sit for at least 1 to 2 hours or overnight. If it is too thick stir in warm water to thin the solution. If not using right away refrigerate until ready to use.

Soak Cotton, Linen, or Rayon
Make a Soda Ash solution of 1/2 cup Soda Ash with 1 gallon water and soak the fabric at least 15 to 30 minutes. Hang to dry, press lightly with warm iron.

Silk Printing:
Mix Acid dye powder with thickened Sodium Alginate (1 or 2 teaspoons dye powder per 1 Cup thickener). Mix well the day before using. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the Screen:
Lightly coat inside of the screen with a couple of colors of thickened dye, leaving some open spaces. Let it dry upside down. This needs to be done far enough in advance to be completely dry before printing.

Printing:
Iron the silk fabric smooth and place on a padded surface. Lay the prepared screen down and use another color thickened dye or clear thickener or more than one color thickened dye and squeegee it across the dry dye. As you print the dried dye will breakdown and each print will be different. This is the magic of this technique.

Setting the Dye: The silk will need to be steam set. Then rinsed to remove the thickener and any excess dye. Damp dry and iron until dry.

Cotton, Linen, or Rayon Printing:
Mix Procion Dye powder with thickened Sodium Alginate ( 1 or 2 teaspoons dye powder per 1 Cup thickener). Mix well the day before using. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the Screen as above and let it dry upside down.

Printing: Lay out the smoothed Soda Ash treated fabric on a padded surface and print as above; however while the print is still wet cover with plastic and roll the fabric and plastic up and place in a plastic bag for 24 hours to “batch” and set the dye. After 24 hours rinse and rinse again then dry until just damp and iron dry.

Try again

Last week when I tried to put in a blog it said I had to update. So I tried what it said and it didn't look like it worked. This time it looked like it always had. Oh well, what do I know about a computer? Not much that is for sure.
We only have two more classes in this session. One more of discharge and then one using the break-down printing. I you have not prepared your silk screen bring it next class and put the thickened dye on it so it will be dry for the next week.
Also on the 12th bring the things you are planning to show in the fashion show so I can get the commentary and show order put together.

More Seta + Marbling

We are going to continue with Seta Color and adding shaving cream marbling with Dyna-flow Paint. You will need to bring a few things.

Shallow pan (broiler pan, cookie sheet with a rim, plastic bin lid, etc.)
fabric cut to fit the pan you are using cotton, silk or blends okay
paper towels

I will bring the shaving cream and the paint plus a few tools to use.

I'm Back

I have returned from baby-sitting duties. Thank Goodness it is warm here. When we got to Utah it was snowing and there were 4 inches by morning. Cold!!!
It was nice to see kids and grand-kids and to get away for awhile. Sara had a wonderful experience working with a photographer, a food stylist, a florist, and the lady who runs the whole show. Everything looked wonderful when it was set up and styled.

Now we will get back to class and see what we can create with paint.

Bear in the Woods

I just finished this quilt and love it! You will see it on Wednesday.
Be sure and scroll down to see the posts of the things we did in class.
Let's have another great day of dye.

Layered Silk

These are the results I got from layered silk painting. They looked like a mess before steam setting and washing them out. Once they were washed and ironed they were really very lovely. I was experimenting with colors I usually do not use that much. I have gone on to create enough fabric to make something with these very stunning colors. I'll show you the results next time. We will be doing this same techinque again on Wednesday so you might want to add some silk screens for interest and texture. See you then.