Confetti and Ice

On Saturday I had the pleasure of demo-ing my iced parfait for the CFAC at Carol Eaton's home, along with two if my Sisters in Cloth, Diane Wright and Barb Adams. It felt good to have my hands in the ice to cool down as it was very hazy, hot, and humid.

In the first picture is I scrunched the fabric and used a limited palette. The 'green' picked up some red and blue from th e next layer. Almost have that coral I'm looking for.

This next set is folded diagonally and on the short side with several colors used. Still looking for that coral.







Carol then demoed her Confetti Dyeing and although I had reservations and concerns about the potential drippy mess, I forged ahead. Fabric was soaked in soda ash, laid flat and sprinkled with dry dye, hung up and sprayed with soda ash.

All I can say is WOW!! It was amazin gto see how the colors mixed and mingles as they flowed down the cloth.  There are actually two seperate pieces here and if you look at the right one, you can see the shadow of a figure in the middle , and on the left one, i see a figure and building lights framed by to trees. Ok, I know I needed some fluids and  a hit of caffine at that point and to get out of the sun. But I can still sort of see them after the fabric has been dried and ironed......or maybe I need some caffine now. Can't wait to try this again....on a cooler day.....no humidity.

Experimenting

I have been intrigued by the Confetti Dyeing of my friend , Carol Eaton, and while I had the makings for Iced Parfait out,  I thought I would finally give it a try. Of course with a few variations.

I searched for my strainer and found I must have tossed it out onto the great beyond in my last kitchen cleanout. Having thought about what to use to spread the dye , I decided to see if a salt/pepper shaker would work. I'm not so crazy of spraying the soda ash on and drip drying and  decided to layer with crushed ice and plastic and see what happens.

A little to heavy on the red here ( will I ever learn )and not enough yellow. But I can see using it somewhere.






So on I go to the next layer. I can see the speckling but I might still be a little heavy handed here with the shaker. I also scrunched the fabric slightly.

And the final piece. I do have to say, being summer and hot does really make the process go much faster than in the cooler/cold months.

 That ice melts way fast!!

I might be getting the hang of this but I still feel I need remedial lessons. Or at least a little direction but it was a fun experiment.
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Dyeing in the Shade

My art group, Sisters in Cloth,  held an Iced Parfait dyeing sessions at Diane Wright's home recently. Of course it was warm and a touch humid, but the shade from the trees made it delightful! Here are some of the results from my containers. I do have to say it was different than dyeing during the much cooler (colder, indoor) months and the results are interesting and different..

I'm thinking a lighter hand on the dyes, more ice to the layer, and watch out for the red and darker colors......very light on them. And watch your color combinations.

This last group looks a little better in person. I also think the weight of the fabric has played a part in this. I used a cotton silk blend on some of these which may have caused the dye to take faster. I do have some really nice ones I love that I will save for the reveal this coming Friday!!

It's Finally Here!!

I am so excited to be featured in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts Magazine !! My Iced Parfait Dyeing is one of the featured "Staycation' activities for this summer. A fun and unique way to get great one-of-a-kind fabric.  I hope you check it out and create some of your own Iced Parfaits!

Here are a few other pieces I have
 made. I can't seem to stop once I start!!



I hope you try this fun dyeing technique and send me your pictures, links  and/or comments. I'd love to see your work.

More Iced Dyeing

I"m happy the Easter holiday went so well, with all my children and grand children coming for dinner. But the planning and executing of dinner left me longing for my dye pots and a little creative time.

I finally was able to do some more iced dyeing on a few pieces. It felt like I'd  been away for ever, but  I perservered and created some interesting pieces.

This is a little softer in color than my usual, but I like the movement of the dye. It reminds me of spring and approaching summer. Blue skies, warm sun, and my flowers starting to bloom. Hmm, I think I'm ready for the seasons to change.

I have another piece I also like, more in my color palette. Scrunched fabric is becoming my new favorite. It has a lot of surprises and great ice movement. Although my absolute favorite is still the diagonal folded fabric.  Kind of reminds me of shibori, but without the stitching.

You can see a few more pieces over at Sisters In Cloth, a group I belong to. I plan on doing more today.

A Little Ice With That DYE Please!



Fan-folded Diagonal

It's been a while since I last visited here having had an 'interesting' and busy year.  I am finally back into the swing of things and my creative juices are perking along.

I had the itch to do some snow dyeing, but there wasn't any snow this year in the North East. Horrors!!! It certainly is strange to have winter with no snow when I was ready to dye.
So I decided I needed to play in the dyes and produce something and found my  August/September issue of Quilting Arts and the article on ice dyeing. Ice is related to snow, right , so why not?

I did enjoy the process and found waiting for the dye and melting ice to do its thing the hardest part.  My first few pieces were exciting to watch as I rinsed out the fabrics.

Fan-folded Long edge

 And ironing them after they dried left me amazed. Who knew I could get such bright colors and those little ice cubes would produce glorious blends of color. Each piece was so different than the next and just as beautiful. I am hooked!!!

I couldn't stop and did some more, loving every minute spent getting the fabric covered in ice and dye.  And then I spotted an empty vase on my counter and parfait dyeing came to mind.



Could this work???? Well, let's just see how it goes. It went even better than I thought possible.  Five pieces stacked in one place, all the ice and dye scattered and  I'm a happy dyer!! I believe I have found my new favorite ice treats.

Parfait Diagonal Fold