Am I the only one? A confession of sorts

I have a bit of a confession to make, when it comes to new ideas, thinking outside the box and all that , I jump into it up to my neck and enjoy learning, experimenting, and generally having fun.

But when it comes to things that I see on Facebook,  and on blogs, I have a mental blank. I find I am intimidated and hesitate to try it. I know that I won't be good at it to start off with, that my pieces won't look as good, but still I hesitate to even get started.

Why is that? I know we can't live up to others standards. That we must all earn our experience. But what makes us afraid to try.

So as I ponder this, I wonder what else could we achieve if we were able to break down this barrier.

Iron Lace

 

On my Facebook page I have been posting pictures of my progress with Iron Lace, I was asked today what it was and what I'm going to do with it. This actually ties in with what I was thinking about while I put the next coat on it this morning. This morning a lady on Facebook asked if she should do formal study or study at home herself.  This is something I have been struggling with the last three years or so after making a promise to myself (see previous posts).

There is part of me that wants to go and study art etc. but there are other parts that strongly object to this plan.  Firstly my back and hip often make it hard for me to get around, and sitting studying would be very painful. Secondly I have never fit well into the education system. I don't just want to know something, I want to know and understand why something is as it is, why it is done this way and why if I can see another way of doing something it is wrong.

But that is for another blog or five.


I am doing Iron Lace because I thought of it quite awhile ago. I also like the iron on old houses, grates etc and I wanted to see id I could duplicate it. I never throw anything out if I can visualise using it another way. And I had a picture in my mind of sticking these 2nd laces to an artist board and painting them.

I also thought of sewing them by hand to an artist frame and I will probably try that later.

This time I wanted to do them in iron type colours, and because I couldn't decide which paint would go on first, I decided to do a series and explore different colours and how they work together.

I have not worked with the Derwent Paints before, so was unsure of the coverage, how the colours would stand out etc. I painted the stuck down lace with gesso, and then did the darker red oxide first.

Now at the time I thought about not painting the laces themselves with this colour, but I wanted to see how the lighter Australian Sienna would show up on it, and that's when I came up with the idea of doing a series.
I wanted to know how and why and the only way to find out was to try.

That is the way I am. I want to try it myself so that I can visually see why something doesn't work, not just be told 'you don't do it that way'  Having not used these paints before I wanted to experiment with them. Try out how they work over different colours etc.

And so I have learnt that this colour doesn't stand out as much as I want over the red oxide as I wanted.  So maybe later on I will try a lighter colour.

As for what I am going to do with them? I'm not sure. Keep them as displays of what my laces can be used for I think.

I plan on doing more in pinks, blues etc. Lighter colours for wall hangings etc.

But for now I am just focusing on the darker iron colours, and having fun

 

 

 

 

          

The importance of play dates with yourself

I remember reading a long time ago about the importance of having play dates with yourself.  I wish I could remember where I read it,  but I'm sure that I have read it in a few books, blogs and websites.

So as part of my promise to myself I have decided to have at least one a week.

But there are rules;
1. It must not be for the business.
2. It has to be something new, or something I haven't tried for awhile that didn't work the       first time,  and I had wanted to try again.
3. It must be messy!

The messy bit is about having fun playing with my inner child. To make messes and known that that is ok.
To let go for awhile the rules of what does and doesn't work. Just give it a try for the hell of it, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter.  I had fun.

 If it does then great I have created something that I imagined,  pictured and brought to life.
I have honored my creative self while letting my inner child have the joy of doing something just for fun.


Today we had a sunny winters day, and I planned on making the most of it. I have wanted to stick my 'seconds' laces onto a artist board. Let them dry, gesso over it and then paint in a copper or bronze,  then put a contrasting colour as a rub on.

So today I did the really messy bit, glued it down (had glue all over my hands, am still picking the bits off) and now just have to wait for it to dry.

So today I had my play date, made a mess, sat in the sun and I loved it! Wonder what my next play date will be?

 

Using disperse dyes- or thinking out of the box

I am hoping I can get my pictures off my Facebook page onto here but if not that is where you will find them. Until I get a chance to transfer them the other way


I brought disperse dyes at the Perth Craft show earlier this year.  I wanted to be able to dye polyester based fabric,  and procion dyes won't dye them. I didn't know much about them but was told all information was available on the website.  When I first read about the time it took to boil them etc my first thoughts were very rude to say the least. I thought about setting up a gas stove outside under the carport, seeing we are in winter, and finally getting some rain. But I didn't want to spend hours boiling these dyes. They would be restricted to one colour, and to make any profit, I would have to sell them at a high price, as I often come across the attitude that home made or hand made isn't as good as store brought, isn't as good etc, and should be cheap.

This doesn't take into account any of the hours spent on making it. But that's another post!

But I wasn't thrilled with the idea.  So as usual I decided to do it my way. Already doing my own dyeing with the procion dyes, I decided to try using this dye the same way, as what I wanted was multi coloured fabrics, and boiling wasn't going to achieve this.

So I wet my material in water, wrung it out as much as possible,  and then scrunching it up, placed it in an pasta microwave dish, one specifically used only for this type of thing. Using a squirt bottle I squirted colours over the top randomly.

It didn't look much, but disperse dyes work on heat, so I wasn't too worried.


Now this is the good part, unlike procion dyes that need to sit to obtain depth of colour, disperse dyes just need heat so it seems. So I took them out to my outdoor,  non cooking of food microwave. (Please don't do this inside,  or use your food microwave,  this is very important!  I have a microwave specifically kept for my dyeing and craft. And there are fumes so take precautions). And I was able to microwave them then and there. I so love this!

To start off with I microwaved in 5 min bursts to see how the fabric reacted, then as it was ok I did it in 10 minute bursts, and the fabric was still ok.

I then let it cool,  and drained it. My research showed that once dyes are used and heated they become non toxic, so are safe to dispose of, and as I was only using a small amount I felt it was ok to drain down the sink . Then I just put it into the washing machine and hung out to dry.

As I only had a small amount of dye powder I couldn't experiment more, but the results were very satisfying.

When I get more dye I will be using a filter system I set up for other liquids.

I have a large/tall bucket with holes in the bottom. I cut out a round piece of flywire and place in the bottom. Then a deep layer of sand, another layer of cat litter, also deep and then shredded paper or scrunched up newspapers,  I then tip any liquid waste into this.

This filters out as much scraps,  rubbish etc as possible.  The paper/newspaper is put into the rubbish and replaced. I replace cat litter and sand when needed, more often if I am doing a lot of dyeing.

I was very happy with the results and this meant I could now dye material made with polyester.  And as most of the silky, satin etc types of material are made from this these days, I will be able to sell this type of material now at a reasonable cost. and best of all I have many satin type fabrics to use in my own work, which was the point after all.

I also tried them using spritz bottles. I wet the material took it outside and placed it on a tray. I put peaks and folds, scrunched and generally made it look like my bed in the morning. I then spritzed it with the red/pink colour and the blue as I wanted shades of purple in it also.  Don't panic if you cant see much colour, again its that type of dye. I then placed them into the microwave dish and heated/cooked them for 5 min.

The results were just glorious. Marbled fabric!

WARNING. Not all polyester material will work like this. There are some which seem to have a plastic type cotton and will melt. Try all materials first in small amounts or in just a few minutes at a time, and let cool in between.

Ps, I also do my procion dyes the same way.
Except I use icecream containers, rubbish bags in the containers, and leave them for a few days, depending on how busy I am. I heat set them by microwaving them for 10, or 15 minutes,  depending on the amount of material in each batch.

At all times I am careful about the powders when transferring them into the containers for mixing. please do this in an area that has no breeze or on a windless day. In winter I do it in my kitchen with the fan extractor going.

First and second picture is the spritzing. The multi coloured is the batching in the containers. The third one is a large piece done (table seats 10) which is for sale.

 

 

I'm spinning around, move out of my way........

This is a draft that I forgot to post at the time


I posted yesterday on facebook that I had not kept a promise made to myself 3 years ago, to honour my creative self.

I have been feeling discontent, frustrated by small things, dreading each morning, and longing for bed at night just to escape.  On the weekend I had a grung Sunday. For our family it means, help yourself to food, lazy around in grungies, etc.  On these days I set myself up with paper, pens, computer, books, magazines etc and I dream. I write notes, plan out ideas.  Or I read all day and just be. 

Last Sunday I found old notes, went through my fav websites, scrolled Facebook and came to the unhappy conclusion that I was slowly dying of supressed creativity.

I had infact let myself get swallowed up somehow by trying to live up to others expectations for my business.  It was never meant to be anything but a small home business.  I brought the embroidery machines to make my own Free Standing Lace for my own quilts and textile arts etc.  I thought about selling it to get a bit of money to help pay for supplies. I started hand dyeing also for my own Art Quilts, because I couldn't get what I wanted.

 I had promised myself that now I was unable to work as I had, I now had the opportunity to follow the 'Path not taken'.

Since posting that message I have felt such a feeling of happiness and freedom I haven't felt in a very long time. My mind has freed itself and I am constrantly grabbing pen and paper as I write down ideas, plan and draw designs.

I can look at my stash and know I don't have to 'wait' until I have the time.

So now I will make a poster or wall hanging with this promise on it.

I will no longer turn my back on my creative self.
I will bring to my life the joy of expressing all that is within me.
I will give my imagination the freedom to fly, and I will set my Creative Spirit free.
Each and every day I will shine a light on what I hold inside, and know that I bring to light my passion,  joys and sorrows.
They need no longer be hidden, and I need no longer hide who I am truly meant to be