Ese's book - Part 3

Now that we've got the fabric dyed, our next step is to convert it into bookcloth. To do this you have to attach rice paper to the back or wrong side of the fabric using WonderUnder. The rice paper prevents the glue from seeping through the silk when applied to the book board. Take a look:




Once you've got your bookcloth, you attach it to the book board as you would with any other book. This book offers simple instructions on how to do that. Once you've attached the cloth to the board, secure your text block (which you sewed up while the fabric was dyeing) into the cover and place under a press. Voila! You've got yourself a custom made book. Here's the final product:



What do you think?

Ese's Book - Part 2

Today is part 2 of Ese's awesome book. :) Last night, I learned how to embed photo albums into my blog, so today's tutorial is a little flipbook. It goes through the pictures a bit fast, so don't hesitate to hit pause if you need more time to read the captions and look at the pictures. In the tutorial, I explain how to prepare your fabric for a second dye bath in order to yield a tortoise shell pattern. The result can be either subtle, as is the case here, or stunning (like Kristen's scarf) depending on how you choose your colors. I love this pattern. I think it's really beautiful.

Check it out!!

Ese's book - Part 1

I have a good friend named Ese. She loves tortoises. :) Her birthday is on March 12th and she's asked me to make her a thick journal with a cover that reminded her of tortoises. After giving it much thought, I felt it was only right to dye the book cloth myself. I started out with silk crepe, which I dyed using both Ecru and Bronze.

Although the water looks very dark, the color is actually very soft and warm.

After dyeing it the base color, I ironed it out dry to prepare it for the second dye job. See how beautiful it turned out? It's neat because the end paper I chose is almost identical in color and texture to the cloth. I think it'll turn out very beautiful.

Tomorrow I'll show you how I fold the cloth in preparation for the second dye bath (in black) and the end result, which will be the tortoise shell pattern.

Stay tuned!

Indigo shibori

In my new craft room, I put up a piece of Indigo Shibori that I got in Japan. Isn't it beautiful?
I eventually want to make some of my own. I don't have an indigo vat just yet, but it's something I want to have soon. Gotta start with planting those plants in my garden this spring!

Summery silk

Had a bit of extra time a couple weekends ago and made my sister-in-law a silk scarf. She's into orange and pink combinations at the moment, so those are the colors I chose. After making the scarf, I reeeeeally wanted to keep it. :P (That wouldn't have been very nice, though)

It turned out really nice! I love how the tortoise shell design has the blurred edges.

Can you pass me a napkin please?

Made napkins this weekend. My classmates from my surface design class are all making napkins to hold an exchange. We'll each end up with five different napkins by the end of it. (It's a small class) I can't wait to see the others! I'll make sure to post all the beautiful napkins they make. Here are the ones I made:

I don't believe in white or light colored napkins unless they're only going to be used ONCE. Everyone knows they'll get all stained up and gross, right? So I dyed mine indigo with a simple shibori pattern in the center. I also mottled the indigo instead of making it a solid blue. That way, stains won't show up that easily.

I hope my classmates like them!

Arashi Velvet

Pole wrapped some velvet to see what it would do. I had originally wanted to overdye it with a fading (darker to lighter) indigo, but I think the technique I used was not the best, as you can see! You can barely see any difference in the color. Oh well. Now I know for next time! But I took it off the pole this morning and it was soooo pretty!! It took the pleats just like silk does and has a nice fuzzy feel.

Here's the back (left side) and front of the scarf (right side of the photo).
The tips of the scarf. I always like the tips! :)

I'll be posting this scarf on my shop soon. So stay tuned!

Woodgrain indigo

Here are the final results of the smocking process. This type of stitching yields a "woodgrain" effect, which I'm particularly drawn to for some reason. This is the light cotton piece. It turned out really nice because the fabric was thin enough that I could get it to fold and overlap in certain places, creating a more interesting pattern.

The linen piece is much more even because the fabric was much too thick to overlap or fold. Apparently, it also took the dye a bit better than the lighter cotton since the color is significantly darker. You can see the sections where the needles were broken and the fabric remained unbound. Both pieces have a really great texture that I'm tempted to leave and not iron out. It would add a nice feel to the bag I want to make. I think I'd like the bottom of the bag (and a third of the way up the sides of the bag) to be oilskin and the top of the bag one of these shibori pieces. I really like the combination of indigo dyed shibori with oilskin. I've made projects using this combination before and have really liked how they turned out. Plus I think the oilskin will look nice with the bamboo handles and protect the bottom of the bag when I set it down. I'm picturing a bag that has an oval bottom and structured sides, like a bucket bag, but I've never made one like that before so it's all an experiment at this point! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Smocker

Bought a smocker recently to inspire me to make cute summer dresses and to occasionally help me with some shibori stitching. It has 24 needles, which take a really long time to thread as I found out on Sunday! It's super fun though. They recommend you use light fabrics, such as silk organza or Indian cotton, but I decided to try my luck with regular cotton and linen, 'cause I'm stubborn like that. I started with the piece of regular cotton and noticed that it was quite a bit more difficult to turn the cranks than when I did the silk organza. But I continued stubbornly on!

Once you've got a bit of fabric scrunched up on the needles, you have to slip it off onto the threads to make room for more fabric:
Here's what the fabric looks like as it's being fed through the machine. I continued all the way 'til the end (since you can't really back up once the fabric is on the machine), scrunched it all the way up and tied the threads. Now it's ready for dyeing.

I went on to the next piece, the linen, which proved to be even more difficult to crank. But I trudged on and made it to the end. Unfortunately, there were some casualties. I broke three needles, which resulted in this funky piece. You can see that two needles broke side by side, which resulted in this slight mound of unbound fabric and then the third missing needle left that faint line running through the piece. Should make for an interesting dye job though.
Both of these pieces are to be indigo dyed and I'm hoping to use them to make a small purse. I bought some round bamboo handles a while back and now that spring is just around the corner, I'd love to make something with them!

Pictures tomorrow of the dyed fabric!

The Baltimore Craft Show

The Baltimore Craft Show yesterday was really fun. It's always amazing to see so many talented people all in one room. Glass blowers, quilters, shibori artists, wood turners, furniture makers, embroidery artists, knitters, jewelers, and many many more. I tried taking as many photos as I could, but believe it or not, I was rejected by some artists because they thought my only motive was to, "send my pictures to China to market their ideas and make a fortune."

????????

I couldn't believe it! After the third time I was accused of sending my pictures to China, I told the artist that I didn't even HAVE contacts in China. He said, "India, then?" And gave me this look of, "I'm on to you!" I was enraged. I decided to put my camera away before I said something I would regret!

Soooooooooo....on that rather strange and annoying note, below are pictures I was able to take. Amazing artists whose work I saw after putting my camera away, include Laura Hunter, Kathleen Lamberti, L. Oneill Design, Jonathan Winfisky, Jeung-hwa Park (my idol), Jane Sisco, Britt Rynearson, Peggy Loudon, Jerry Kermode, Cordwainer Shoemaking Workshop, Pat Flynn, and Messina Designs.

And now those forbidden photos...Just so you know, I updated my Etsy shop this weekend. My latest scarves have been posted, so I hope you're able to grab one!

Oh yeah...and...um...don't market the above ideas in China, ok? ;)

Dye Pots Part IV - THE FINAL RESULT!!!!

Thank you for all the wonderful fabric suggestions! I loved the last two options: Etsuko Balance and Etsuko Scene. Very beautiful! This fabric is also GORGEOUS. It's from India and it's embroidered so it has a great textured look to it. Kind of pricey though...
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! Last night I checked my scarves and they were completely dry (yeah!) so I removed them from the poles.

As you can see, the side that was hugging the pole is still the original turquoise or fuchsia color, while the side that was exposed to the dye is now purple or black. Aren't those wavy ripples awesome?

This unique dye distribution makes for a very cool diamond pattern once the scarf is opened.

They look even cooler on! The pleats in these scarves allow you to arrange the scarf any way you want. It can never look "bad" or as if you put it on "wrong". There is no such thing. I just threw it on for the pictures so that you can see that you don't need to mess around with it for a long time to get it to look cool. I did this twice for each so you can see two different possibilities:

I hope they were worth the wait! Let me know what you think!

Dye Pots III 1/2

The pole wrappings aren't quite dry, so I thought I'd play it safe and leave them on the pole for another day. I want those pleats to be nice a crisp. BUUUUUUUUUT, I did take a couple pictures that give you an idea of how cool they're going to be! Hee Hee :) The first one is the pink one with black over it and the second one is the turquoise one, with purple over it. If they feel dry tonight, I'll take them off the pole, and photograph them. But since I know a lot of people are anxious to see some results, (me included!) I did take some pictures of the green organza that I dyed along with these, remember? I sewed quilting grade thread in rows along the fabric, scrunching as I went. You just do a running stitch all the way across. I did that in two sections. Here's what it looked like partially scrunched up:

I then over dyed it with a darker shade of green, removed the thread with a seam ripper (if you wait until it's dry, it's a lot easier), and ironed it flat. It's a very subtle pattern, but I think it would make a nice lining for a bag. I've been itching to make totes and bags for my shop using hand dyed fabric, so this green organza may be just the push I needed to get started. Anyway, here are pictures of the final result!

Pretty, isn't it? :) What fabric colors/patterns do you think would go best with this lining? Any suggestions for the outside of the bag?