Sizes of things

I've had a request as to the sizes of the pieces I've posted. These are approximate, but here it is:

The quilt Ventanas III is about 14" x 9".
The pieces of fabric are all around 20" x 20", maybe a little more. Some of the pictures are zoomed so they don't show the entire piece of fabric, but the smallest sections are about 12"x12". From now on I promise to put in the sizes of what I've posted.

And another question: The Procion Black I used is Prochem 602A, and it has a definite blue cast. For the batik, I mixed it double strength: 1 T of dye in 1/4 cup of chemical water mixed with 1/4 cup of print paste. It came out pretty black, but when I diluted it to dye the extra pieces of fabric, those pieces came out greenish. Go figure. And then when I put the bleach on it (the discharge-batik), the colors are sort of tealy-blue and yellow. You just never know what you're going to get.

Discharge-batik

Discharge-batik
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

When making the previous batiks with the thickened Procion black dye, I had some left over that I used to do some monoprints. And then I added some water and stuffed a piece of fabric in to use up the rest. The piece came out as less than wonderful. So then I tried making a paste with rice flour and water, which was totally unsuccessful and got thrown away. Back to the flour paste and the sort of black fabric. This time I brushed it with Clorox Advantage, which claims to be slightly thickened. "Slightly" is the operative word. So this is the resulting piece. In some places the bleach just soaked right in and made the crackle lines wider than the actual cracks. And somehow the entire piece was somewhat bleached - maybe it soaked through the paste also. But I think the piece has some interesting designs on it and has some potential.

Batik using Procion black dye

Batik using Procion black dye
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

This piece was dye painted with Procion black mixed 50-50 with print paste to thicken it up a little. After curing the paint (let it sit overnight, then iron from the backside) and the dye (regular batching process), it's easy to get the paste out by soaking the fabric in water for a short while. Washing removes what little might be still left in.

Batik using Setacolor black paint

Batik using Setacolor black paint
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

I have always loved the crackle created by doing batik, but have never liked working with the wax, in particular - getting it out of the fabric. I found a recipe for creating the batik crackle effect using a flour paste. Use 1 cup plus 3T of flour mixed with 1 cup of water. Mix well and paint on stretched fabric. Let dry overnight still on stretchers. Remove and crunch to create the crackle. On this piece of fabric I painted the dried and cracked paste with Setacolor black paint diluted 50% with water.

Gates3

Gates3
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

On Thursday a friend and I took a bus up to New York City to see The Gates. It was everything we expected and more. The day was gray and overcast, but the bright saffron colored fabric stood out and called for attention in every direction.

Gates4

Gates4
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

It was wonderful viewing the gates as the wind ruffled the fabrics, giving them a life of their own.

Gates

Gates2
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

I like the juxtaposition of the circular archway with the straight edges of the gate.

Gates1

Gates1
Originally uploaded by ckleeman.

In the afternoon the sun came out and lit up the fabric. I wish we could have seen them with a bright blue sky!

Fabric Painting again

This is more fabric painting - 3 different pieces. The blue on the right was placed over top of a gridded mat, then the paint was rolled on. The yellow on the left used the same technique but it was a furnace filter underneath. It's hard to see but what's there are circles. The blue on the lower left is thermofaxed with a screen made from a photo of mud cracks.

Painted Fabrics II

I had to create another blog entry in order to get these images to line up and be readable. So to continue...This piece had been dyed yellow, but there was a lot of white. It's painted with the dark red paint.

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The last piece was cut from the previous fabric and painted. But this time I also used some pale turquoise paint. The problem with this paint was that it was mixed with opaque white, which not only changes the hand of the fabric alot, but it also is not transparent (duh).

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Painted Fabrics I

Today I did some fabric painting - I had some leftover fabric paints that I wanted to use up. The colors to be used were variations of yellows and browns, with a dark red. This fabric swatch to the right is 3 different paint colors over a dyed piece of fabric, golden yellow I think.

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The piece to the left started as white PFD. Used the same colors of paints, but then I drew lines with the dark red paint in a curved tip syringe.

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Ventanas III

Ventanas III

Not exactly sure how I managed to upload this but this is one of the windows inspired pieces.

Day 1

I've never tried this before but it seems like a good way to keep notes and ideas in a spot where I can find them. That's assuming that I have ideas, I guess. Right now I'm working on a series based on windows that was inspired by a picture I took several years ago in Santa Fe. It was a window with a reflection of another window inside of it. The rectangle shapes formed by the window frames intrigued me and I put it in my virtual idea book.

I took a class from Ned Wert at QSDS and took that photo with me for inspiration. I did a group of painted paper collages using the image, and really liked them alot. But, again, I put it away to let it percolate.

Then, in mid January, I was looking for something else, and found these collages, and pulled one out to put up on the wall. I started a series of small pieces using the image. Then made some thermofax screens with window frame shapes. Then painted and screenprinted fabric. Then made a banner sized piece with the fabric.

I think I have to put it aside for a little bit so I don't overdose on this and become sick of it.