Dye Happy, Session 5

This blog post brings to you photos from Friday's session (and the last of 5 days) of my "Dye Happy" class at Wabi Sabi.

Is this work by Barb not drop dead gorgeous? I used to teach stitch resist dyeing, but stopped because I was never happy with mine. Sylvia, who took my class on a previous occasion, gave a lesson to Barb, and look at what she turned out on her first try! Part of the secret is that it turns out far better in an immersion dye bath than a low-water immersion bath. I am going to give it another try when I have time (haha ... when is that?)

Here are some soy wax batik results.

Nancy's:

Sylvia's:

Barb's:

Everyone seems to love parfaits, and fits them in around other subjects. These are Nancy's.

Parfaits by Chris:

Marion overdyed her folded and clamped piece and is much happier to have covered up the white spots.

The masked woman is Barb!

The topic this day was Painting With Thickened Dyes. You can see a couple of pieces in progress here. This one by Heather.

This one by Nancy.

Meanwhile, I have my own firestorm happening in the dyepots. Trying to up my offerings for my upcoming three days of sales at the Festival of Quilts at the Ottawa Valley Quilt Guild's show on Mothers Day Weekend. 

Dye Happy, Session 4

Friday was Session 4 of my Dye Happy class at Wabi Sabi. It is always gratifying to see the results of the previous class. While we do various dyeing processes in class, students usually have to let them batch and wash out at home.

Several students decided to dye some silk-rayon velvet scarves using the Bomaki Shibori method.

Marion's colours are so lovely.

Sue and her rainbow scarves.

Heather and her rainbow scarves.

Barb tried the rainbow method on cotton.

Nancy's folded fabric.

Nancy's stitch resist experiment.

Marion's soft-toned two colour run.

This is Heather's beautiful stash so far.

Just out of the immersion dye bath, Sue and her pole-wrapped Arashi Shibori.

Friday's topic was Soy Wax Batik. You can see the wax melting in an electric frying pan here, and the many batiking tools we tried. The wax forms a resist that does not allow the dye to penetrate.

Sylvia sent a photo of her soy wax resist fabrics after washing out. 

Dye Happy, Session 5

On Friday I taught Session 5 (my last session) of "Dye Happy" at Wabi Sabi. Students brought lots of inspiring show and tell from the previous class. Lots of lovely soy wax batik fabrics, and some shibori, parfait and low water immersion. I always enjoy my multi-day classes most because they give a chance to get into depth on a topic with a group of students I get to know.

By the way, if you live on the west coast, or can get to British Columbia in August, I will be teaching this class August 18-22 at Cherry Tree Quilts in Summerland. In addition, my "Hosta Leaves 101" class will run there on Saturday, August 16.

Our topic on Friday was "Painting with Thickened Dyes". You can see Ruth here starting her painting.

Mary traces our her design before painting.

I am now busy packing for Quilt Canada! I will be heading out to St. Catharines on Monday. My car is going to be packed to the limit! I will be sure to share details when I can. 

Dye Happy, Part 4 & Student Work

Yesterday was Session 4 of my Dye Happy class at Wabi Sabi, so I'm sharing some photos. By the way, for those of you on the western side of Canada, I will be teaching this 5 day class at Cherry Tree Quilts, in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, August 18-22. My "Hosta Leaves 101" class has also been added for August 16.

This fabric was created by Ruth using black-eyed peas bound with elastic bands.

 

More flour paste resist 

and bomaki shibori

 and a value gradation by Bev.

 Folded fabric by Valerie.

Arashi shibori T-shirt by Bev.

Becky at the soy wax batik station, wearing her arashi shibori T-shirt.

Students took turns at the soy wax batik station, and at other times worked on whatever project they wanted. Becky decided to dye another colourwheel.

I treated myself to a couple of dyed tunics recently. These are actually dress blanks I purchased at Dharma Trading Company. They fall a couple of inches above the knee, and I think will look best with cropped leggings.

On to some student work. Judy took my "In Full Bloom" class several months ago, and made this poppy. She dyed the background fabrics in our Dye Happy class and brought the finished result to class yesterday. Love how the centre picks up the blue of the background and the diagonal value gradation in the background.

Barb Westfall took my In Full Bloom class in Winnipeg back in March and sent a photo of her finished piece. Her work also features a diagonally pieced background. Great job on the values.

This is my original quilt, "Kissing Joy". The poppy pattern that students are using comes from the bottom poppy on this quilt. This photo of Wendy Wood and I was taken at the Manitoba Prairie Quilters show and conference in March 2014. Thanks for the photo Wendy.

I heard a report that several students at the Huron-Perth Quilt Guild finished their poppies and had them displayed at their quilt show this spring. This one, by Thea Rijkhoff-Ramler, was shared on Facebook. I love the little red accents she has placed in the wonky background blocks.

This peony was made by Sylvia Young in my two-day (design your own) "In Full Bloom" class last year.

Heather Williams won a second place at the Common Thread Quilt Guild's show two weekends ago, for the piece she began in my Liberated Radial Piecing class.

Always a pleasure sharing student work :-))