I’ve been dyeing fabric this weekend for a project I want to work on using Jane Dunnewolds method of folding and wrapping with elastic bands. These pieces are all about 1.5 metres square and were dyed in black Procion dye. I think the next thing on my list is an Indigo vat and I shall definitely be calling on Neki if I do, she’s a master of Indigo dyeing.This weird looking close up shows the variations in colour where the fabric is folded, lovely grey/green colours.And you can see where this ‘leaf’ shape repeated itself along one side – bet I couldn’t do that again if I tried!I put a piece of folded heavy canvas in the same dye bath and used it to cover these box canvas frames. I’ve got some ideas on what I want to happen with these so will try them out next weekend. Its amazing how they look more indigo than black and its not just the photo either.I also used a piece of this for this months Calendar Girls postcard – a bit of a Japanese influence on this one.
This is the uninspiring picture we had to work on this month. Take a look at the other Calendar Girls postcards and see some of the wonderful interpretations they have come up with.Firstly, I coated the fabric with Polymer Medium.I wanted to use the Japanese symbol, a Kanji, for the word friendship and Google found me this.I printed it out on dressmaking pattern tissue in red ink using a laserjet printer, cut a postcard template so I could postion it correctly and used the Polymer Medium to fix it to the fabric.The fabric was laid on a piece of Pelmet Vilene then the symbol was stitched round in black thread.
I did this first as I wanted to work out where the rest of the lines of stitching would go. I marked these on the pelmet Vilene and stitched them in black thread.I cut and pasted the row of single flowers from the picture and used the photocopy filter to get an outline which was then traced onto Stitch ‘n’ Tear paper using a Light Box.I placed the tracing in the correct position and stitched around the flowers in red thread.Once stitched I removed the paper. Another two coats of Polymer Medium were put on top before fixing the piece to watercolour paper. I then used a couple of rows of zig-zag stitch around the edge to finish off.This months card will be on its way to Susan.

I made a start on the first exercise in the book ‘Find Your Own Visual Language‘. I set the timer for an hour and off I went. The idea was to choose a shape, cut it out in card then cut it into pieces and rearrange it to resemble the original shape, not adding anything and not taking anything away. This is first of the pages from this exercise - very cautious. :)You can see I got a bit carried away here, not quite sticking to the instructions, but luckily the buzzer went off – thats when I stopped. I found it a very absorbing exercise.I will post the rest of the work on the Finyovislan blog during the week. I should have mentioned last week that if anyone wants to join in with us just drop Wendy an email or a comment and she will sort you out. Exercise 2 in the book, which I shall start on next week, is cutting designs from erasers.

Also managed to do my screen printing for the Dye Hard Surfacing group this weekend. I used freezer paper to cut the designs from which I then ironed on to the screen. I used Jacquard Lumiere paints in Gold,Crimson and Metallic Rust - a fabulous colour - on Silk Noil and a polyester fabric. Some turned out well and some not so well. I would like to try a different method of screen printing in place of the freezer paper as it only lasts for a few prints. The swap is for eight fat quarters. I made the mistake of cutting the fabric into fat quarters before printing, I think it would have been better to have worked on a much larger piece and then cut it down. And I could do with more than one screen too!Not related to textiles now, but we have this Passion flower growing against one wall. Started off as a very small cutting we bought with us when we moved here four years ago and it has now grown up one side of an eight foot wall and right down the other side – we have to keep cutting it back to keep it under control. The flowers and fruit are really beautiful.But what I wondered if anyone knew is, can you eat/cook the fruit? And if yes, then any ideas how?