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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 18, 2014 19:44:04 GMT
Great results Teri! What are your plans for all those yummy prefelts? Are you going to use soy wax for the batik? It is much easier than the traditional batik methods. I started a batik sample this afternoon but I'm not holding out too much hope, I'm using a cold liquid wax (it's my favourite for use on cotton and silk) but it wants to sit on the surface of the felt, I tried pushing it into the felt as I was applying it but I'm not convinced it will provide much of a resist. It's drying at the moment, I will dye it at the weekend and see what happens.... Has anyone tried soy wax on felt? I'd be interested to know if it is worth investing in a pot.... No fixed plans for these felts just yet, although I have used some of the purple felt to jazz up my Pollock piece (more on that later...), for the moment I am still busy drooling and stroking them every time I pass the airer.
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 17, 2014 21:27:34 GMT
Thanks Luvswool - I posted the instructions for both woolly methods and a link to Ruth's method on my blog : teriberrycreations.blogspot.co.uk/Let me know if they don't make sense...
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 17, 2014 19:13:09 GMT
I have been having a play with ice dyeing this week, firstly using procion dyes on muslin and silk: But also on wool prefelts which may be of interest to the woolly fanatics on here I used a method adapted from Ruth's post on the felt and fiber studio blog, which I have described in my blog: teriberrycreations.blogspot.co.uk/I also tried another method that wasn't so pretty: Perhaps batik on prefelt next.... (it worked beautifully for Koffipot)?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 15, 2014 17:04:26 GMT
I think there is a place for everything; needle-felts, natural dyes, heirloom breed fibres are just tools in our arsenal. Personally I would rather a purchase a piece that has been beautifully designed and skilfully made from needle-felt than a poorly made / designed piece made from heirloom fibres. It's not what you use but what you do with it IMHO. I'm on the fence when it comes to natural dyes, I don't have a great deal of experience with them but that is largely because I keep reading how they are not light fast, so anything you dye with them will fade over time. I would not be happy to sell something that I thought would deteriorate just from exposure to light. But then the commercial dyes are carcinogenic / toxic for the dyer....
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 9, 2014 23:50:18 GMT
Just a suggestion, perhaps adding just another color stitching or yarn that runs through the whole piece would pull it together a little more, if that's what you feel is missing. Thanks Marylin, that's a good suggestion and what I was trying to do with the yellow and blue embroidery (I was trying to bring the 2 halves together and give it more cohesion), maybe some red / pink will help. Maybe I should get my sewing machine out and just let it wander all over the piece a la Pollock style....?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 9, 2014 23:43:15 GMT
I have some old blueberries in my freezer I intend to play with, but it's such a small amount I wonder if it's worth the effort. I've read all the natural dyes fade. But it might be fun to try. :-) If my limited experience of dyeing from plant material is anything to go by, I guarantee the colour will be anything but blue... my money is on some shade of brown... Beetroot on the other hand gave quite a nice shade of pale blue though... Would love to see the results if you give it a go though
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 9, 2014 19:04:42 GMT
Here is my (?first) offering for the Q1 challenge. I've been tinkering with it for weeks now and I'm still not sure I like it but I don't think turning it into an embroidery sampler is going to make me like it any more..... I also can't decide which way is up for this piece, this orientation is closest to the original that inspired it but part of me thinks the blue should be at the bottom and the yellow a sunset above water...?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 9, 2014 18:59:30 GMT
I'm not an expert but have done a bit of free motion embroidery, I think the best pieces of advice I was given when starting out were: - run the machine moderately fast but move the fabric / felt slowly (if you have a speed control dial on your machine this will be a great help) - try not to keep stitching over the same area, this is particularly relevant if you are "painting" blocks of colour with machine embroidery, less so if you are sketching lines when I find running over the same lines 2 or 3 times helps to give definition and tidy up minor wiggles.
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 9, 2014 18:41:58 GMT
Thank you Halay and Judith. I would much rather have an alchemist in my circle than a chemist... far more interesting experiments On Judith's advice, I will be a good girl and follow the instructions in the book, I just need some flowers to play with... Sounds like I will have to just accept that the colours will fade Thanks for the link Haylay - the instructions are remarkably similar to the book (making me wonder if the web author was copying, very naughty!)
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 21:43:18 GMT
Thanks Ruth, did you find your colours faded over time without the alum?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 20:56:12 GMT
Your owls are stunning Amanda, they are sooooo cute! Are the eyes needle felted too?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 19:37:23 GMT
My new library card arrived last week (something of a novelty for me as I haven't been into a library for over a decade) so I spent an hour mooching through the craft section of my local library and found an interesting book titled, "Flower Pounding". The author describes how to transfer the colour from flowers and leaves to fabric by bashing them with a hammer.
This book suggests cooking your cloth in an alum bath for 40 min and then rinsing it thoroughly before drying and then flower pounding. This strikes me as a little odd, surely if you rinse it thoroughly you remove the alum and therefore it no longer acts as a mordant? I know some of you are chemists, can you comment on this please?
My experience of eco dyeing is pretty limited but I'm sure we added the alum to the dye bath with the plant material??
Has anyone tried flower pounding? What were the results?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 16:51:47 GMT
Thanks, I will have a look at that dyeing technique. I bought the scarves already hemmed because I have no sewing talent at all. Being able to make seamless (no sew) garments was one of the things that attracted me to felt in the first place
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 16:47:54 GMT
Thanks Judith, I have a couple of pieces with deadlines on them to finish first but will make the bracelet a priority after those....
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 8, 2014 16:46:31 GMT
Teri - those came out great. I think the cuff idea will be amazing with beads added to it. You really got some good texture. Was this what you were looking to achieve? Hi Ruth, they're not quite what I had in mind when I set out (your suggestion of shibori dyeing a laminated felt came the closest) but they all have such fantastic texture that I'm sure these techniques will get used in future pieces. I think I will give your suggestion another try but with just a single, very fine layer of merino to see if I can get the folds to be more "crisp".
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