Meeting cancellation and results from the Shibori dyeing session

Please note that the 15 December meeting has been cancelled, as not enough people are available. The next meeting will be on Sunday 19 January. See the 'meeting dates' page above for all dates for 2014.

Here are two of my fabric pieces from last month's Shibori dyeing session. I'd be happy to post more pictures if any members would like to send me one or two.

This one was pleated lengthwise and wrapped around a tube, then squashed down towards one end and bound with string. I painted on green dye first, then black dye the following day. I'm very pleased with the feather like patterns (and it is greener than it looks in the photo).

This one is a piece of superliner from Empress Mills (cotton fabric with a backing of polyester wadding). I pleated it and secured the pleats with rubber bands. Orange dye was followed a few hours later with petrol green. I like this one so much, I now think it is 'too good' to use as a bag lining!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's dyed fabric at the meeting in January.

Shibori dyeing session

We had a great meeting on Saturday, thanks to Leah who brought along all the dyes. We were dyeing the fabric we had prepared at (and since) the last meeting. Some fabric was Shibori stitched and others wrapped and tied round resists. There were lots of interesting bundles: Here are fabrics prepared by Catherine

And some by Liz

Then we applied the dye...

Come back later to see the results!

November meeting - Dyeing our stitch resist pieces (and anything else)

At our next meeting on Saturday 16 November, Leah will be bringing along dyes and soda solution so that you can dye your Shibori pieces. She will also demonstrate how she uses perspex plates to form resists (as in the example below) and we can also try wrapping cloth around a pole to create a resist. 

See the 'And then we set it on fire' blog for ideas:

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/shibori-folding.html

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013_07_01_archive.html

 

It will also be an opportunity for you to top up you stash of hand dyed fabrics. Leah will be bringing the seven basic colours (Royal Blue, Turquoise, Magenta, Scarlet, Golden Yellow, Acid Lemon and Black) and will also bring Rust, Petrol Green and Indigo. She will bring soda solution as well as a soda bucket if you want to presoak any of your fabric. There will be a charge of £4 for dyes and soda on the day, in addition to the usual £5 meeting fee. 

Please let Leah know if you will be attending so she knows how much dye to prepare.

Below is the list of things you will need to bring -

 

Salt solution – dissolve 500g of the cheapest table salt you can buy in 2 litres of water. You’ll need to use fairly hot water to get all the salt to dissolve. Empty 2 litre soft drinks bottles are ideal for storing the solution.

Fabric – procion dyes will only work with cotton, silk or viscose. Unless the fabric is sold as ‘prepared for dye (PFD) you will need to put the fabric through a hot wash to remove any dressings. Even with PFD fabrics it is worth checking how easily they absorb a drop of water, it should absorb instantly – if in doubt pre-wash the fabric. How much fabric you need will depend on what you want to do but you can easily dye 5+metres in a day. Don't forget the fabric you stitched in preparation at the last meeting.

Large plastic sheet, an apron or wear old cloths and rubber gloves – procion dyes will stain you and more importantly will stain the floor and we don’t want any accidents!

Plastic poles and string if you want to try that type of resist.

A range of plastic cups and spoons for mixing the solutions as well as plastic bags, trays or a bucket to carry your wet fabrics home.

Lots of containers for dyeing the fabric in depending on what you want to do – plastic freezer bags for dyeing ‘solid’ colours, empty plastic pots for layered or parfait dyeing, trays for dyeing large pieces of fabric and for dyeing threads. Use old yoghurt pots, ice cream containers, soap tablet boxes etc.

Kitchen towel for mopping up.

Scissor for cutting fabric and a marker pen for labelling fabric / freezer bags.

Notebook to keep track of what combinations of dyes you use.

We’ll have a shared lunch and show and tell as per usual.

Preparing our stitch resists - October meeting

At yesterday's meeting we were busy preparing our fabric for dyeing in November, so there's not much to see! Lis brought these samples and explained how each had been done. Believe it or not, these are all created using lines of running stitch, which are pulled up tight to stop the dye getting to some areas.

Then we all sat and stitched industriously with neutral threads and fabrics (or with coloured fabrics). The gathered fabrics don't look like anything at this stage.

We also saw samples of other resist techniques which we could try at the next meeting: pleating, wrapping with string, wrapping round a pole or tube and the photo here is of a piece over dyed using a clamp resist.

Keep stitching! You have four weeks to prepare lots of pieces to dye in November.

Prints from September's meeting

Before we have another meeting tomorrow, here are a few photos from last month's meeting.

This one uses children's building blocks to produce a cityscape.

The rest use homemade print blocks.

October meeting - Shibori Stitching

Our next meeting on Sunday 20th October will be lead by Lis Binns and will be on Shibori. 

 

Shibori is a method that uses stitch as a resist to create wonderful patterns when you then dye the fabric. Traditionally it is associated with indigo dyeing but can be used with any liquid dyes. We will be doing the stitch part at the next meeting and the dyeing part in the November meeting.

You will need:

 

Fabric - As we will be using Procion dyes in November you need to work on cotton or silk. Please prewash your fabric if it is not prepared for dye. A slightly open weave, such as in calico, is easy to work with. Dense weaves such as poplin will be difficult to sew so best avoided.

Sewing kit – You will need strong thread, needle, and scissors.

Other stuff – a fabric marker that washes out. If you have circles or other shapes to use as a template then bring them along. Or bring card, pencil and paper scissors to make them on the day.

 

We’ll have a shared lunch and show and tell as per usual. If you have done any Shibori in the past and have samples you can show please bring them. 

Please let Leah know if you will be attending.

September meeting - Playing with print

At the next meeting on 21 September, we’ll be investigating the different materials that you can use to make printing blocks. Leah will also bring along some acrylic paints and fabric medium so that we can try printing onto paper or cloth. Depending on the materials used you can make blocks that will last for years and can be used with acrylics, screen printing inks or thickened dyes.

You will find it helpful to bring along a design source to inspire you ... a photo or an object that has strong and interesting lines. 

 

These were based on paintings by Hundertwasser and were made using sticky backed foam and offcuts of mount board.

Please bring along -

• Anything you can find that can be used to make a print block! This list is not exhaustive but ... commercial stamps and blocks, lino sheets (or the softer plastic pieces sold as safer alternatives) and lino cutters, foam sheets or thick cardboard that can be cut and mounted, old packaging such as polystyrene or foam inserts, polystyrene circles from pizzas can be drawn into with an old biro, potatoes(!), offcuts of wood and a glue gun if you have one, interesting shaped items like buttons that can be stuck to a cardboard mount, string of different thicknesses that can be wrapped round a roller or glued to card, foam rollers that you can cut a design into the surface ... Or any other ideas you have!
• Thick card or similar on which to stick combinations of 'bits'.
• Pencils, ruler, scissors and craft knife or other cutting tools, glue such as PVA or double sided sticky tape to hold things together.
• Some old newspapers if you are going to use your blocks to print on the day or a print board with a cloth cover – you get a better print if your surface is not completely hard.
• Paint brushes, rollers or sponges for applying paint. A piece of plastic or an old dinner plate to use as a palette.
• Acrylic or fabric paints – Some acrylics and fabric medium will be available if you want to print on cloth but only a limited range of colours, so if you have any please bring them.
• Plastic cups and spoons to mix acrylics / fabric binder etc.
• Paper or cloth to print on. If using cloth you will need to pin it to your print surface or bring duct tape to hold it down. As we are using acrylics you can use any type of cloth – maybe you could overprint some hand dyed fabric from a previous session? Although you can print onto cheap copy paper to test your block you generally get more interesting results by printing onto paper that is a bit heavier and has a bit of texture.
• Old clothes if you’re messy!

As normal we will have a shared lunch. We’ll also have a show and tell so please bring along anything you have been working on that you’d like to share – it doesn’t just have to be stuff done in one of our workshops.

 

Please let Leah know if you’re coming to the meeting.

I hope to see you on the 21st.