25 - 1 - 25 , pomegranates and doves

January is nearing the end
but I've been busy stitching on a new Stitch Club piece,
a workshop by Dijanne Cevaal
For many years now I've seen her work,
but never was able to do a workshop with her
(until now !)

The lino printing was fun !
I had all the materials at hand so that was no problem, just finding a design
A book I was reading solved that.

Finished, but not yet mounted on a canvas (30 x 30 cm)

I did a try out of my first prints on tea bags
and that gave me the fun opportunity to flip them over
because the print was on both sides nearly as good.
The piece of fabric I choose was too white so I painted it
with the textile paint I bought last year in Rijswijk.

Hmmmm a bit simple those four separate prints

Then  solution was cutting more prints to make a kind of border,
some of the lino and some of the thicker soft blocks.
The good part of using the blocks is that you can cut out
the shape on the outside as well !
That's handy if you have to make a weak print twice :
because you can place it at exact the same spot.

There was only one rather big problem :
I did the stitching with perlé thread (8) as Dijanne had suggested,
but my hands didn't like the difficult process of pulling
the needle through the fabric . . .

That's why I changed to the thinner perlé 12,
less impact of colour but much easier to work with !

Well, I still had my doubts about the polka dots fabric
until some sweet Stitch Club member told that they reminded her
just of pomegranate seeds !!!!!
Ohhhh . . . YES, why hadn't I thought of that myself !
And the pink colour ? Also pomegranates !

better . . .

It's always best when you make something
to leave it, standing alone
where you can see it from time to time
. . . . .
Often you know after a while
that there is still something
that need to be added,
removed
or altered.

I was not totally satisfied
with my print-and-stitch collage.
The white tissue paper with the printed twig
was definitely too white
and drew the eye too much

So today
out came : my wonderful, much loved Karisma pencils !

(ohhhhh I'm still so sad that they don't make them anymore
and so many pencils (of the 72) are so very short !!!)

Done ! and with an extra bit of sunshine
to see the stitching better !

Now and then, next to each other

eco - printing

Almost ten years ago
I did a felting workshop with the Australian felter
Pam de Groot
combined with eco-printing.
I loved Pam's work and didn't think too much
about the eco-printing.
It turned into a real flop, a failure
and it took quite some time
before I finished the little waistcoat I made there.
Later I tried on my own
but never had any great success with eco-printing.

Until this Stitch Club workshop of
Caroline Nixon
came along !

Wonderful thorough explanations
in her long video !
A LOT of preparations were needed before I could start.


preparing the second bundle
(with the first I was too busy to take pictures hahaha)


A big old pot from the thrift store

Unwrapping the first bundle later that night,
picture with and without leaves.

And the second one,

on two long strips next to each other.

Still wet (so darker) but definitely :
PRINTS !!!

When washed and dry
there will be some stitching on them !!!


But before I had time for that
there was first another bird to finish :
my colourful Jay !
I love that shy bird that visits the peanut garland
in our garden.
(and surprises us with new little oak trees
of forgotten acorns !)

(a little bit brighter, but why not !)

dye

Last Saturday daughter and I visited the "Handwerkbeurs" in Rotterdam

(a crafts fair)

Daughter bought some lovely yarns for new knitting projects,

I, a book with patterns for tiny "Waldorf " dolls,

some beautiful variegated DMC,

some fat quarters of quilt fabric

and I collected a bag with stuff for Procion dyeing

that I had ordered in advance.

Today I had ( another ) fun day dyeing

with my friend W

( long ago she learned me a few bits and tricks about quilting )

On the first day we mixed the procion dye

with the thick gel, prepared screens with it

and let them dry for a couple of weeks.

Today came the second part : the actual printing on fabric

... on a well protected table !

The "break down" printing was fun !

The fresh gel dissolves by and by the dried dye on the screens

and gives prints that become gradually weaker as you go  

 After the screens were totally "worn out" we cleaned them

and also tried

printing with paper resists. 

Later on we have to steam iron the fabric

and wash out the excess dye.

( first mission accomplished ! ! )