Saturday, January 14, 2017

An Experiment....

I got an idea for a new project - maybe a class - using a piece of jewelry I found on a jacket I was getting ready to donate.  I also wanted to use a die I have had for a matchbox.  I first cut it out in chip board but the material was too thick.  Tried a thinner board but still too thick so went to card stock and though it was still a little tight, it worked.  I had to re-do some of the folds, but it works.  I covered the outer slide with embossed metal tape then added a medallion on the front with that lovely pin.  I also added some rhinestone chain from a flea market find necklace.  The top piece of the box is a metal filagree medallion I folded in half and the bottom embellishment was from thrift store find and it included the chain!  Perfect.  Decided to put a little fold out album inside with pics of the grands.  Now that it is done - NO WAY will I do this as a class!  took too much time, too fussy and a bit frustrating with the die!  But overall, pleased with the final results.


Monday, January 2, 2017

Fairy Book in Progress

Here is the second thing I am using some ecoprint fabric for- a Fairy book! (the first was the base of Dorothy!)  First pic is the pages cut out and the second is the second set of pages I have finished.  I am trying to work within the seasons for the dress design and the adjacent flowers.
 The first pages are Summer with Daisies and Dandelions.

 The secons set of pages are Spring and have Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinth, and Lily of the Valley.  All the lace is hand dyed or painted from my collection.  I recut these pages from some of the Eco Fabric with the Blueberries.  Subtle color in the background.  The leaves in all the pages are cut from sheer fabrics, dyed or painted with watercolor paints,  then stitched down

Eco-dyed Fabrics

i saw pics of fabrics on FaceBook that were dyed using leaves and flowers!  I have lots of high count 100% cotton fabric and some old 600 count cotton sateen sheets that would be great to experiment on.  I did two trials.   Gathered leaves from my backyard and added a few blueberries and sprinkled of tumeric and cayenne.  Here are the results. Left is with Blueberries on Southern Belle natural cotton, second is with the tumeric, cayenne and no berries but leaves dipped in iron water, fabric a pale yellow green 600 ct egyptian sheet.  Fabric soaked in soda ash with  an iron blanket on both.

I have since made a few more using different mordants and copper water, boiling in a bath and also steaming for hours.  Have to admit like the steamed ones better.  The colors and leaf definitions are much finer.  Here are more pics.



Next post will show what I am doing with some of the fabric!