Newly Dyed Fabric
The Last Dyeing?
This past weekend I spent several hours in the dye studio, taking advantage of the beautiful hot fall Denver weather. Today the cold weather is rolling in and this might have been my last dye session of the year*.
I’m always a bit sad when this day rolls around, as to me it marks the real end to summer.
* I need at least 70 degrees for the chemical reaction involved in the fabric dyeing and prefer closer to 90 degrees for better colors.
Stacks
A few weeks back, Seth Apter of the Altered Page, had a paper stack challenge and dozens of artists shared stacks of their papers on their blogs.
If you are looking for a visual feast, check out his post and then browse through some of the participating artists. Yummy colors!
While I don’t have stacks of paper – I do have stacks of fabric. Textile artists – share your stack of fabric on your blog and leave a comment below so others can enjoy our (more informal) fabric stack project.
My Fabric Stack
Finding Veggies in the Stack
With the colder weather, it’s now time for the fall vegetables.
I’m not sure what is in my dirt, but this year my veggies have been abundant and huge. I’ve got some big pumpkins in the garden and a few days ago I discovered some massive turnips with a 5″ diameter.
Kinda reminds me of the Gilligan’s Island episode where they grow huge veggies [I'm sure I dated myself with that comment]. I can’t recall why they were so big, but I think it wasn’t good and I hope my garden just has happy dirt and not some type of radioactive vegetable thing going on.
But, clearly had some of these fall veggies in mind when I was dyeing fabric this weekend:
Big Pumpkin in my Garden
My Pumpkin Fabrics
Monster Turnips from my Garden*
My Turnip Fabrics
I’m loving these turnip colors and would love to work up a small textile painting this weekend with them. I think the weather will keep me inside so check back next week to see what I’ve created.
*Does anyone have any good turnip recipes. I’m having a hard time remembering why I planted these.
Multi-Color Fabrics
Those familiar with my textile paintings know that I use solid fabrics in my artwork. Yet it is fun to dye multicolored fabric on occasion.
Since I have no use for this gorgeous yardage, I always intended to sell them and have a page set up for fabric sales. Some day I’ll get back to that project.
In the meantime, I’m selling the yard of kaufman pimatex* handdyed fabric pictured at the top of this post.
The price is $27 + shipping for the ~1 yard piece. Sold
* Pimatex = a fabulous tightly woven 100% cotton that I use for all of my artwork.
PS – Today is the last day (through tomorrow morning at 7am MST) to take advantage of the early bird pricing for my online Working in a Series Workshop, beginning October 16th. There are only 3 spots left in the class and I’m really excited to begin working with the new group of students to take them deeper into their art practices.
Need more information? Email me or get an inside look at the workshop here.
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{ 18 comments }
Love your veggie colors. Nature did design some beautiful color combinations. Also like your multi at the top. Amazing how that’s tempting, although I have absolutely no use for fabrice. Maybe I could stack all my dyed yarns for a “stack.”
A stack of yarn sounds fabulous!
I laughed when you asked for turnip recipes……just peel, cook in water with a ham bone or chunks of ham, salt and pepper and about 1/2 tsp of sugar until the turnips are tender. Be sure to make a pan of cornbread to enjoy with the liquid (also called pot liquor). Of course, the green tops are also good. They need thorough washing, discard the tough stems and cook as above.
Excellent – thanks for the recipe. I never would have guessed the sugar.
ahhh turnips – not my fav veggie for sure. Usually prefer them sliced thinly to dip raw (quite good with tofu dip) or stir fried with other veggies. Other than that – I generally only eat them cut in tiny cubes in soup or stew and not too many so they don’t overpower the other veggies. They should keep awhile if stored properly.
Thanks for all the turnip ideas Louise. We’ll see if they end up on my favorite list.
My grandmother boils turnips and mashes them with butter and brown sugar. I have also heard that half turnip and half carrot mashed is good, with sugar also I’m guessing.
Carolyn – thanks – I’ll try that as I’ll have a ton of them.
Love the stacks and the pumpkin stacks too. Thanks for joining in!
Thanks for starting the paper stack project Seth.
I finished my lasting dyeing recently, too. You can see them here (http://lisasartmusings.blogspot.com/2011/09/dyed-colors.html)
I always hope I dyed enough and have enough colors to make it until the next summer because I do my dyeing outside as well.
Lisa – what yummy rich colors you have.
May your fabric last all winter.
My last hurrah of hand dyeing of the season was a couple of weeks ago. My stacks pics are on my blog: http://kathleenprobst.com/blog/?p=479
Your pumpkin and turnip color choices are spot on!
Beautiful Kathleen – thanks for playing!
Hi Lisa,
I just posted photos of my stack(s) of fabric on my blog. Thanks for this idea – it’s fun to see other’s colorful stacks!
Fabulous Ayn! Here’s a direct link for everyone to check out: http://aynhanna.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/my-fabric-stacks/
I love how you have interpreted the colours of your harvest Lisa,
Here’s my fabric stack. I use pre existing colours and cloth. Finally they have found a home on shelves and it is lovely to see them. I enjoyed seeing the one’s posted here too- all the beautiful colours and all the potential !
http://maggiewinnall.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=560&action=edit
Hello I am #031 from Seth’s Stack Post :)
Love your beautiful fabric stacks…each and every want
AND
what a wonderful garden you have too
oxo
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