Trains

More Trains.  Yes, I like trains.  My Grandfather worked for Burlington Northern, previously Great Northern, for about 40 years and my Dad is an enthusiast.  So I have to do trains. 

Trains are also good for both girls and boys clothes.  I don't find so many cute boys clothes I like and I'm not so big on ruffles and princesses for girls.

Of course it is also cute when the little one can match the grown up.  The husband of a friend of mine got a Pirate vs Ninja shirt from me and their nephew wanted one just like it.  I don't think it mattered what the shirt looked like, the boy just wanted a shirt just like his uncle's.  Since the stencil is one I did it was easy enough to cut a smaller version. 

And where else would you put the caboose but on the backside of a shirt?

Swede Hollow Show

This coming Saturday I'll be at the Swede Hollow Art in the Hollow show.  In addition to the artists that are showing there will be a lot of music throughout the day as well as artists painting and working on other art.  Last year one artist was working on his clay creations and another was demonstrating basket weaving.  I'm interested to see the booth of the person that has science fiction robots and ray guns.  I can't really dye items at the park, but it will be fun to watch others make their art.

The park is lovely and the artists and organizers were fun to meet last year.  I hope to see you there.

Swede Hollow Park is in St. Paul just east of Lowertown and northeast of the 35E & I94 interchange.  Check out the link above, search on 720 Payne Avenue, click here or a map here.

Craftstravaganza

Cripes, how did I forget to post this.  I'll blame being busy in the basement making a lot of new items.

I'll be at Craftstravaganza on Saturday at the St Paul Fairgrounds from 10 to 5.  There are about 150 vendors there this year so expect a lot to look at.

If you are there early you may get a swag bag that will be just bursting with fun stuff. 

Crackles

Yes, some more silk hankies.  I told you I've done a lot of hankies.  They're a lot smaller, cheaper and easier to deal with than scarves.  I could cut a scarf into pieces, but it is nice to not have to deal with the edges raveling.

The one on the left was completely covered with wax then scrunched to get the wax to crackle.  Soy wax doesn't crack as much as paraffin, but it will crack.  I didn't start out to see what it would look like.  But the test  design I was trying to do was rather blobby and unattractive.  So I figured it was a good opportunity to see how it would turn out if I completely coated it on both sides.

The one on the right is to show what color the dye was.  Even though it was in a blue dye bath, the coated one turned out with a lot of purple.  A more extreme example of the color shift of fiber reactive dye on silk.  It is beautiful, but would be an awful lot of wax on one scarf.  I'll try doing some smaller circles on a scarf like this and see how it turns out.  Since the soy wax is degraded by the soda ash used in a dye bath the wax tends to wear off more on a larger item that needs to be stirred more.  But it should still look really interesting.

Crane

Another stencil I cut.  This one is a bit smaller and is a stand alone motif of a crane used as a Kamon.

In Japan, Kamon were used in a similar manner as coats of arms.  A person, family, organization or company would use it as their insignia or symbol.

They're less ornate than most coats of arms and don't have so many elements combined into them.  They typically are cohesive and streamlined.  It doesn't combine different branches of the family.  To me, it is more of a stand alone emblem rather than an ancestor reference.  So I find Kamon attractive for batik work.  Some are more bold than others and a lot of them are stylized.

Another sample done on a hankie to see how the design works.  I've got quite a selection of silk hankies that I've done for practice.  I'm taking a class at the Textile Center next month that uses scraps of fabric bonded to card stock and folded into origami boxes.  I figure these would work well for that.  Then I just need to find someone to give little boxes to.  Hmm.  I took a class on making fabric Kazashi flowers earlier this month.  The hankie wouldn't work as well for that since they need more pieces of fabric.  Or at least larger pieces than I can get to fold.  My fingers aren't as agile as they would need to be for that.

Quality time with my XActo knife

Since my studio is in the basement, and it is still winter in Minnesota, I haven't been working there much.  It is a bit chilly and the batik wax sets up too fast.  Makes it so things don't turn out the way I like.  So I've been doing some work down there, but not a lot.

But I have been cutting some stencils.  We'll see how they work.  The butterfly one is more intricate and with the wax setting up faster it doesn't work as well.  But once it gets a bit warmer, I'll give the full repeat a try.  It is an adaptation of an old Japanese Katagami (stencil) with impressions of grasses blowing in the wind.  So I'm interested to see how it will turn out.  Especially since I spent a lot of time cutting it out.  The overall design is rather large.  This is a 12"x12" hankie.

Wine

Another scarf where the dye didn't move the way I expected.  Although this one was wetter than normal since the dye wasn't wicking across the scarf the way I wanted so I misted it with a bit more water. 

The edge isn't blurry because of the photo, that is the way the pattern worked out.  It really gives it nice visual texture with the contrast of the sharpness and the diffuseness. 

It looks like a nice wine, to go with the chocolate one I posted yesterday.

Chocolate

I really like the pattern that resulted on this silk scarf.  I stretched it on the frame, painted on the dye and sprinkled rock salt all over.  Salt attracts moisture and so the color can move along with the water it is dissolved in.  The more dye collected in one spot, the darker it is.  But different colors of dye react in a variety of ways.  Blue moves a lot more than red, for example. 

It also makes a difference how wet the scarf is or how large the salt crystals are.  If the salt just dissolves then it won't pull the dye around.

The chocolate brown dye I used for this one didn't move in the same way as the blue one in the post here.  It did give a really neat texture though.  Kind of like miniature leopard spots.  It looks like it should have a pebbly texture, but doesn't. 

See, chemistry matters.  And is fun.

Women's Art Festival

This Saturday, the 10th, is the Women's Art Festival from 10am to 5pm Dec 10th at the Midtown YWCA at 2121 East Lake St, Minneapolis.
There will be 125 vendors, music and food.  This is a nice venue, large and with plenty of room in the aisles.  Last year was the weekend of the blizzard.  So we are hoping for better weather this year.  And considering it is snowing right now, it should look like winter.

On safari

And a turtle on their rear end because I can.  At this age they think it is fun that people notice their backside.  As long as they are getting happy attention.