"Eden"

I'm much happier with this version of "Eden". No aliens. It will need much work, but at least now I am feeling positive vibes and that the new direction is so much better. Thank goodness for those God moments. I keep my Bible on my table and between it and my Bible App, the answers often jump out and surprise me. I have learned to listen. It's fabulous to have real answers to prayers. 

 

Changed my mind. Again.

 I was struggling with what I thought was going to be "A Child's Garden". It just didn't feel right. As I pondered, it came to me. This needs to be "Eden", and what I thought was going to be "Eden" is now in the bin of somewhat rejected fabrics. I'll tell you why... The background for the original "Eden" was an ice dyed piece that when I showed it to my son, his response was:  "look - there's an alien!" I had already seen it too. 

At first I saw a butterfly. Seemed like a good thing to include in "Eden"

And maybe hands holding something with a tulip emerging:

But then... the alien popped out!

So right away, it seemed like a reject.

Mary / "the blue one"

 The photo needs to be on a lighter surface. For now, I am pleased. I think it needs more danglies on the bottom edge. For now, it can rest. Later, I can go into detail. For today, it moves upstairs to "the pile". 

A Child's Garden

 My current work is a natural dyed collage of abstract florals. It is still in the design and deep thought stage. I am using bits from a shredded doll dress, a small wool sweater that was quite chewed when given to me, and lovelies from my basket of avocado pit dyed thrifted fabrics. 

Earth

 My current read:

While in Peru on the Amazon a few years ago, I soaked a white shirt in the muddy waters and purposely stained it to a lovely mud color. I let it dry, then once home I simmered it for a few hours to set the mud. The color is very light, but it reminds me of a place and a time in my history.

No swimming in the Amazon for me!

Early in childhood, we lived in Amarillo Texas for a few years. The beautiful red clay stained my panties when my bother and I swam and played in a creek that ran thru a canyon near our home. I remember my mother being a little upset, but it was my first dye experiment! No pictures, just a memory from 55 years ago. 

Now, I want to play with dirt. The soil near me is dark rich soil, but I am now on the lookout for iron rich shades of red. They have to be here, somewhere! When I leave for New Zealand in the late fall, once again I will take a while shirt or fabric to hopefully find a place to stain and bring home a new treasure.

Gelli plate / fancy potholder

 This was a reason to keep things. Until this printing session, I had no idea why I had left this in my stash. A decorative crocheted potholder with no function other than hang in a retro kitchen. It made great prints!

Acrylic paint with fabric medium on fabric:

Textile paint:

Acrylic paint on paper:

Acrylic paint on fabric:

I am most pleased with the textile paint. I had a jar of blue, but it had been watered down for another project and just didn't work. I think I globbed on more paint than the other experiments. I imagine that if I  continue to make prints with this potholder that it will not absorb paint off the gelli in the same manner - I could end up with a mess or an even better print!

Gelli project

 I've been asked to demo gelli plate printing at the Mississippi Valley Quilter's show in October. Most of my previous printing has been on paper. Some experimenting and program planning is  on my to do list. 

My first prints used yarn on the plate with acrylic paint. Both pulls using paper look good.

The second set is on fabric. Again, both prints look good. 

I plan to do a few prints each week to come up with a good sampling to show and do some stitch work for examples. For now, my studio is a bit too warm to work in for long. Summer is most certainly here!