stencils

I made some new stencils last week using the method Jane Dunnewold taught us at Art Quilt Tahoe. 

 

Two new additions to my tool box... 

Making Swatches

The bundles we over-dyed Tuesday were ready for the first layer of stamping when we got to class on Wednesday morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Jane provided some great exercises to facilitate our swatch-making:

Tone on tone with a registered repeat stamped over the entire cloth...

Registered repeat in a complimentary color...

and scattered design elements using both tone on tone and complimentary colors. We also covered a silk screen and some cloth with flour-and-water paste resist.

I did my first successful silk screening with Jane’s encouragement and help.  I was ELATED to find that I love this process of getting an image on cloth, and feel so grateful to have overcome my fear!

Other processes we learned included glue resists, foiling and gold leafing, freezer paper screening, and working with Thermafax screens.

At the end of the day today, our last, we all hung some of our completed – or nearly completed – work on the wall.  This is but a small sample of the terrific work that was produced by our class over the four days.

Art Quilt Tahoe was a truly wonderful experience all around, mentally, spiritually and physically.  What I learned here is going to take my work to whole new places.  Thank you to Jane Dunnewold, and all the great women I met during this memorable week. 

 Cat in her workshop, hard at it.

Tool Making

Day One we got our work space set up and got our bundled fabrics into the dye early on so we could get down to tool making for surface design over the remainder of the week.

My work surface is the black felt with orange duct tape in the lower left, with my bundles of silk, cotton and linen lined up along the edge of the table.  The fabric has been manipulated by scrunching in an old nylon stocking, pleating, folding, and binding with rubber bands.

First we dyed the cloth in pure primary colors, including a warm and a cool each of red, yellow and blue.

The cloth batched in plastic bags.  For the first time in my art life, I am attempting to keep good records of what I am doing to each of my samples.  See, I even numbered my bag.

While the fabric was batching we cut rubber stamps...

...and made stencils with interfacing and nylon mesh.  These we hung outside to dry.

Rinse out was challenging with no washing machine, but WORTH IT!  Here is my first day's array, washed out, ironed and ready to over-dye:

We had more BIG time fun today but the moon is riding high and telling me it is time to rest for now.  

Art Quilt Tahoe - Arrival Day

The setting is far more beautiful than I imagined...

 

 ...on the shore of Lake Tahoe...

...which is a mighty big piece of water.

Very fresh and piney air...

  ...with sometimes the smell of wood smoke.

 Lots of boulders and rock formations...

...with ice forming on the puddles.

Frozen flowers...

...and leaves...

 ...still decked out...

...in autumn splendor.

The sound of waves from the white-capped water breaking on the rocks...

 ...and the scolding of a blue jay as the chill wind blew a flurry of snow flakes.

Today my surface design class with the incomparable Jane Dunnewold began - of which I will write more about tomorrow.  For now, good night!