I recently finished a rather large dying project. I wanted to share some tips, experiences and results.

I learned a number of things with this project. One of the greatest ones is that you don’t necessarily need a washing machine to dye large amounts of fabric. I used a 32 gal sturdy rubber trash container along with a metal pole. I would recommend a wooden pole instead and I can tell you more later on that decision. A large plastic tarp and old bath towels come in very handy. Playtex sturdy rubber gloves are great if you can stand wearing gloves and don’t want to be noticed for the lovely colors that your hands have changed to. Oversized plastic tubs(not laundry baskets) for transporting fabric or holding fabric are helpful, empty gallon water jugs, and an oversized stock pot help make the process easier. I must also add, a very supportive boyfriend or husband is a must!

This isn’t detailed completely, more of an overview of the project. To back track slightly, I was dying 133 yards of fabric, approx. 118 inches wide by various lengths, into 6 different colors. I have to say that the HEAT we were having helped greatly in my drying process as it helped keep the fabric from shrinking compared to if I had placed it in a dryer. I was able to keep wrinkles to a minimum also which was very helpful overall. If drying fabric outside, be aware of mother nature and of animals that might find your project of interest.

I have to say that I think the RIT Dye company has a great website. I am used to working with RIT Dye and that is what I am comfortable with. They have color charts on their website to get you started if you need a recipe which I found extremely helpful. They have several pages of other helpful hints that are great. I copied those that I felt I needed and highlighted the specifics that applied to my project. Once I had my ballpark color I of course had to figure out how to translate that to 28 gallons of water verses 1 cup of water. One important note for me, you may find that some colors in powder form may give you different results from those in liquid form. I discovered this when recreating formula’s where a powder was used originally and I switched over to a liquid. I did not have the results I was looking for. Trial and error got me back on track. Just keep that possibility in mind when cooking up the real deal. I want to emphasize how important it is that you have extra fabric to test your colors for different dye baths, which may also include multiple timing increments. I was cutting my sample pieces into about 8.5 x 11 size approx. I used a lot of small index cards, safety pins, pencil for notes, stainless steel measuring spoons and stainless steel measuring cups. Smaller measuring spoons that include a pinch and dash are helpful. If you are dying for art sake, much of this may or will not matter. If you are doing this where large amounts of yardage need to be as exact as possible you may find some helpful hints.

I was using a scrim type fabric that needed to be prewashed. If using a cotton that has any body to it, most likely it has sizing on it that may interfere with achieving  a desired color. This takes more time but the results may be worth it. I found that after my fabric was washed, it helped to be sopping wet when I placed it in my dye bath so that I achieved an even color throughout my fabric piece. This was especially true with the longer lengths of fabric that went up to 18 feet long or 6 yards long.

When I was dying my first batch of fabric the metal pole was fine. What I discovered with an OMG! moment is that water(colored water) may fill into your pole without you realizing it. This was not good when one color emptied onto fabric in a new dye bath. Luckily I was able to deal with the moment and take care of the situation. Always use a wooden pole for stirring or agitating your fabric.

I was pretty happy with the final results in this project. It was such a great learning experience in many ways.

1. It will always take you longer than you expect. At least double your expected time.

2. Pay close attention to what you are doing if trying to be exact. It is so easy to lose track of 1 Tbsp or was that 2 Tbsp of red dye for that purple? Keep pencil for notes.

3. Have a good timer, one that counts seconds can be crucial.

4. Your small sample will not dye the same color as that 4 yard piece you are about to put in. It will take longer to achieve the same color as your sample. It may be a minute longer than your timed sample or it may be several minutes, trial and error. Keep notes on your cards for future reference. A hair dryer can dry your samples quickly for color referencing.

5. Don’t throw out that dye bath until you know you are happy with your results. Check your results when they are completely dry. Not close to being dry, but completely dry. Colors are always darker with wet fabric. The opposite for when you are painting with acrylics, so don’t confuse yourself. You can always re-dip your fabric, even if the bath water is cool. Make sure your re-wet your fabric just as when you first started, making it sopping wet so that it comes out even in coloration. If you have a oversized stockpot you can place some of the cool water in it and reheat it on your stove top and then try to warm up the dye bath that way if needed.

6. Colors will look different outdoors from what they appear indoors.

7. Be patient and have fun. Know that everything will not be perfect no matter how hard you try. Just do the best you can because this is a science project and there will always be a moment or two that will make you scramble. I discovered some great color recipes that I can use for other projects. I am keeping color samples and the recipes for those that I especially like.

If I think of other helpful hints from the project I will include those in other posts. I am open to any questions from this experience.

Because of the crazy heat here in Texas, this summer has been terrible. So terrible that I can’t get into my craft storage room that is in my hood. The heat and dryness have made the building shift just enough where I can’t get the dead bolt to unlock! I should have known something like this was going to happen. Last year it was only that I couldn’t get the arm on the lock to close for me to use my pad lock. This year that is happening also. At the moment I am having to do without a few things I would like to get my hands on. Thinking cap time for improvising.

Update on my mentoring sessions. One word, slow. I am not use to working with teenagers and I am trying not to be too pushy with moving forward in finishing one project so that we can move on to the next. My goal is to be encouraging. I have suggested to Leslie that we hit a museum, The Madi Museum, here in Dallas. It is small and intimate but totally different from your usual type of museum. My other thought for Leslie to consider, attending one of my art groups where I will be hosting and teaching the workshop. The project is a simple but cool bird pin, made from an old pair of denim jeans. I came up with this idea last month and have received positive response to it. Right now I am waiting for a “yes” from Leslie’s mom on both of my proposals.

Latest update on my art life…I submitted 10 pins to Somerset Studio on Friday for their Belle Armoire magazine. Nothing like the last minute. I had my dates confused as to when the deadline for submissions was. I thought it was on Friday and had already blown the idea off earlier in the week about having time to get some items mailed. Friday morning, I realized I had time. I had until Monday. With Priority Mail and Californina only being a few states away, I scurried all morning, finishing a few pins that were almost done and then the dreaded instructions and labeling everything as requested. My box made it to the Post Office before the 2pm pickup on Friday. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed as to what they like and what they are looking for. I really wanted to get something submitted for the Stuffed magazine but that just wasn’t in the cards this time. I will have something for next time.

Today I just received notice that I will be a vendor at the 2011 Jingle Bash, associated with the EtsyDallas group. I am very excited about that. Another thing to put on my list of GET BUSY with. I have been thinking about what I can do for the  Bash Bag items. They give away 50 bags to the first 50 people in the door. I want to make something that is cool, something that truly represents me as an artist, and something that will not take me forever to finish. If I could only clone myself or work while I sleep. The link to the event is www.handmadebash.com. I look forward to seeing many familiar faces when that time comes.

This morning it was raining lightly. We are looking forward to a day that is not 100 degrees of hotness. It may be 99 degrees of hotness along with a large slice of humidity to make it all worse.

Time to run, time to get busy…

I just wanted to talk briefly about my mentoring with Leslie that started this last Monday, the 18th.

I walked down to Leslie’s home last Sunday to make sure she was up for this idea of me teaching her some of what I love to do. I told her to show up at my place Monday morning at 10am with three doodles or drawing about 5 x 7 in size. We would then go from there. I showed her a small sample of the kind of doodles I was looking for.

She was very prompt and I was proud of her for that, plus she showed up with three doodles. There was one that I thought was perfect for the project in mind and we got started. My plan was for this first session to last around 1-2 hours at the most and then send her home with homework, so to speak, and continue next week for the next part of this project.

Well, to my surprise and hers, I believe, she was at my home for 4 hours. I had a great time and she said she really enjoyed our time together. Briefly, I started off my lesson asking whether she had breakfast or not to start off her day? I didn’t lecture her, I just said that my mother always told me that breakfast was the most important meal of your day and for me, that is very true. I looked over her pictures and she had one that I thought was perfect for this project and explained why. My idea is for her to create a mixed media art quilt where she can then use the concepts learned to create other art pieces and start to build her portfolio. She picked her colors and we talked briefly about the layout of colors and options in arrangement. I decided at the same time here, we would create a  book of embroidery stitches with samples that she could go back and refer to. It is an accordian style canvas book with 12 pages for each sample stitch. When she is done, we will connect the pages to make a regular style book and she can then decorate the cover any way she likes. Learning curve for both of us here, she is left handed and I am right handed, tricky for teaching embroidery. I think she did great! We each have a book that we are working on, and we put 5 different stitches in our book. The fifth was put in as I, the teacher had a bad choice of materials used for this project. For fusing her fabric down to the base piece of muslin, because I had plenty of it and thought it would be fine, used Heat & Bond Lite. Well, if you plan on doing any hand embroidery on a piece, this is not what you want to use! Plan B had to come into place here and I told her I had made a big mistake and was sorry. I told her she would have to get out some pliers once she got home. In essence, the 5th stitch put in her book at the last minute was the ’couching’ stitch. Hence why this class lasted a bit longer than originally planned, other than we were having a good time. Her mother called shortly after we realized her time at my place and was wondering if she was coming back home? I sent her home with some extra embroidery floss, a needle, pins and extra fiber so that she could work on her piece at home. I told her that if she had any questions or problems to either call me or come by and we would take care of them.

I dropped by her place the other day to see how she was doing and to give her her next assignment. She had not worked any more on her piece because a friend had dropped by the next day and at that moment she was having an allergic reaction from a walk she had just taken, yikes!  I told her that once she was finished with her couching stitches to give me a call. Her next assignment was to find several items that she might want to include in her piece to make it a mixed-media piece. I told her about a great spot for sticks that might work well to help hang her piece. Off I went.

Today I plan to do some sewing per a request of some Fluffy Stuffy birds that I showed at one of the DAFA meetings earlier this year. I need to pick some great colors and see what happens. I think these birds are really sweet and look forward to working out the idea’s that I want to incorporate into them. I am off to sew.

Here it is Thursday already. I’ve been out to the garden to give the plants and flowers a wee more water. I took a new picture of the sunflower as it has opened all of its petals.

Yesterday I was busy posting on Etsy and taking some more pictures inbetween the sun poking in and out of the clouds. I accomplished my task there. I was behind on getting more of my Halloween inspired Fluffy Stuffies up on Etsy. Then of course I got tangled into a few places on the internet, meaning instead of some quick on and off moments for certain sites, it was I was here and then went there and then had to print off this that I had been looking for and thinking about. You know how that goes.

I am also taking or listening to the Lesley Riley “Seek” artist event. I have been taking copious notes hoping to log some of this into my brain at this current time. It has been interesting listening to the different women speak. When I have more time I want to check out their websites as that to me is a luxury of time right now. I was on Stampington’s site yesterday trying to find an exact email to no avail. That did take me to some other spots on there that I had been wanting to search on. So at least that part was good. I did get side tracked into some Utube video’s, something that I never do. That was informative in its own right. There is so much information out there that I have no clue about. I try not to be totally with my head in the sand about what is going on in the world. Anyway, yesterday was a busy day in ways that I had not innitially planned.

I did go and check with Leslie down the street to see how her art homework project was coming along. I will post later on how that first class went. She had not really worked on it any more, but I did see it sitting on the table there when I first walked in. I asked her if she enjoyed herself and she confirmed that she did. I gave her another homework assignment for when she finishes the first part, and that was to find or come up with 3 or more other elements that she might want to incorporate into her piece that she is working on. The plan is to make it a mixed-media piece. I told her down the street, just a few houses down, about a house that has some great sticks by the sidewalk which might make a great rod from which to hang her work. I told her that I had already been there and picked out some pieces that I liked the other day when I took the time to dig around. I added it to my birdhouse collection of stuff.

I am off so that I can go wash off my car from all of the birds. Yuk! and then I am off to water some more flowers beds and some crunchy grass. This heat is something else.

Let me start, this was not a good OMG! moment. I am not the most computer savy person and have to have cheat sheets for some of the things that I do when there is a time spam between the next time I may be doing that task. The other day I was uploading some pictures, used my cheat sheet, and then was trying to remember how to name a folder for some specific pictures. Well, next thing you know, I have 2 folders and neither of them have a name, of course. The next moments are somewhat of a blurr as to exactly what all happened, but I was trying to delete the second folder because I thought I had my selected pictures in the first folder. I pushed a button to delete what I thought was the empty folder and all of a sudden before my eyes a box popped up and said it was deleting 86 files. I panicked and pushed the cancel button before it showed that it had finished its task. I thought I was safe because I moved fast enough, right? Wrong! I then went to reload the pictures as there were some new pictures that needed to go into specific folders that are established on my computer. Nothing was popping up to load! I mean nothing! I took the disk out of the computer and placed it back in the camera and it showed no pictures on file. WHAT! How could there be no pictures, I know that there were a large handful of pictures that are on this file. Needless to say, I went back onto my computer and looked around to see where those missing pictures might have gone to hide. After looking around for a short time, remember I am not savy here, I came up empty handed. Long story short here, my boyfriend was able to retrieve the lost pictures the next day for me. Only problem now, pictures I had taken hoping to print out at a photo kiosk are no longer on the camera disk. I am hoping that he has a solution for that situation also. Lesson learned, have your boyfriend or husband around when playing with objects that you are not completely familiar with. I still don’t know how I managed to do this, I didn’t even know that you could erase photo’s from a camera disk on your computer. Hopefully I won’t be doing that again. I took some new pictures this morning, will see if can upload so you can see some of what I am currently working on….I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Here I go again…..trying to blog and to keep it up. Not sure how this one works but will just jump in there and see what happens.

Tomorrow I start a new quest so to speak and am kind of exicited about it. I am going to call it the start of a mentoring program. Hopefully I will be mentoring, teaching, and encouraging a young girl, Leslie, about what I know and my love of fiber art. We will be starting at 10am on Monday morning. I have given her a homework assignment for tonight and we will see what tomorrow brings.

This all began with Leslie’s mother, Tracy, asking me to teach her daughter some things I know in regards to sewing or other art forms in exchange for a space I use to store my extra art stuff. I thought this sounded like a sweet deal since I enjoy this kind of thing plus it gives me more experience in teaching at a different level. Leslie is 14, and wanting to work on producing an art portfolio that she can use on her application into Booker T. Washington for next year. I only hope that this all will work well for her in that endeavor and if not, that our time together will open her eyes to other art forms that she was unaware of before.

Look for new photo’s soon for finished art work that will be going up in my Etsy shop, and that will be available for sale at the Random Shop in Dallas. If you have never been in there, it is a fun place to see other local artists work and just fun stuff. It is a great place for funny cards.