Back in the classroom and ready for more. Wednesday is always a short day so the participants can go on a tour of the many Art Quilt exhibits that are always in the Columbus area during June. I confess that last year I went and was so overwhelmed by all the wonderful art and quilts that it made it very hard for me to go home and do my own work. Too much input and inspiration can be paralyzing at times. So, this year I elected to stay in the classroom and focus on what I came for. We had demos in the morning of some great embellishment techniques. The most wonderful new skill for me is free-motion machine embroidery (I still need lots of practice!). I decided this was much easier than free motion quilting because stitch uniformity is not part of the equation - cool!

I also worked on some more fabric and mark making techniques. Adding to existing ones and two new pieces on black silk noil; discharged, painted, silk screened, and (believe it or not) expandable paint. I was very happy with these. Much stronger contrast brings me back into my comfort zone even though I rarely use black in anything. I love the drama in these two fabrics (click to biggy size).

.

And while the rest of the class went on the tours in the afternoon a few of us dye-hards (pun and spelling intended), stayed to play a bit more.

Finally, my board at the end of Day 3.

All this creativity is exhausting and I could hear the Siren Song of a glass of wine and my bed, so I found a Bell Hop and a luggage cart and had myself rolled up to my room for the night. Thursday we started to put it all together, just give me time to process all my photos.

Deb H

BTW, have you any idea what all of this does to your finger nails?

Ack!

OK, Day 2 was Tuesday and it’s now Friday, but keeping up with all the great things I’m doing in my QSDS workshop, getting enough sleep (in spite of the best efforts of the Thunder Gods and the tornado sirens - no tornadoes, just the sirens) and Blogging too were more than I could be coherent for. But I can start doing catch-up now.

This is my design board at the end of Day 2 (click on the images for a closer look).
The same fabrics as yesterday; plus a few more, and some papers. All have been layered with more batik, more paint, and more dye. The results are much better! The pink is now mostly purples and teals (no surprises there) but I’m trying to make myself tone it down a bit from my usual bright and gregarious colors. I look at classes and workshops as a good place to work outside of my comfort zone and do a little exploring. Muted colors are a bit of a stretch for me. I’ve decided I like batik, even with the work of wax removal, for the great effects.
The metal bar is not part of my artwork, my board is tucked behind the railing on the steps. Just in case you wondered

.

.

.

.

We also learned more ways to mono-print and some wonderful ways to “print” on fabric and paper with simple tools to get complex effects.

My favorite mark making tool? A spiral potato masher.

Truly.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The third photo is of my two favorite pieces for the day; the top left is watercolor paper that I dyed and painted. The bottom left is silk organza, also dyed and painted.

A successful day and more fun on Wednesday!

Deb H