Textile course weeks 2 & 3

WEEK TWO

The second week of my course was looking at using Disperse Dyes.

 When Gina (our Tutor) talked about using dyes  I immediately 

thought of Dylon or natural dyes such as woad so this was all totally new to me.

Disperse dyes only work on made fabrics such as polyester and are painted onto  paper first.

The paper is then put face down onto the fabric and you dry iron over the top to transfer the dye.

Once the dye is in place it is indelible.

This piece I did by starting with 2 solid colours  which were cut into strips and woven into 

a check and then putting lace between the paper and the fabric so it acted as a barrier.

It doesn't show up very well in the photo but was really quite effective.

This  design was painted straight onto the paper

and then ironed onto a voile so you could see right through it.

This had to be my favourite piece.

This one had leaves as a mask under  solid blue,

then they were moved slightly before putting  red

over the top  so it looked a bit like a shadow.

The background fabric was grey and I think it would have looked better on white

but it was fun trying things out and seeing what effect you ended up with. 

WEEK THREE

The third week we moved onto mixed media and using different techniques

to attach fabrics to each other.

We again used the beams etc of Dragon Hall as our inspiration

looking back at the Marks we made in the first week

before choosing materials to make our picture.

I will explain the idea behind mine as it really isn't very clear.

It is supposed to be windows above beamed walls

and this picture was taken some way through.

So far I have used wood veneer, buttons, wool fleece,

and about 4 different weight fabrics some of which I have pulled threads out of to them a different texture. I have also embroidered some bricks onto it.

This was the one Sue ( my course friend) was doing. 

I like the colours she has chosen better than mine.

Sue had an embellishing machine that we had a go at 

to attach the hand made wool down the centre of the piece

and I did some free machine embroidery in the arch.

Although it has been fun to do it I can't say I like the results or the colours of this one.

I keep thinking it needs something more but I have no idea what.

It's a good job this is just for fun and I don't have to make a living out of it isn't it. 

: ))

On my next piece I would think about what I want a bit more before I start

rather than jumping  in with both feet which is how I approached it this time.

Tomorrow is week 5  and we're using dissolvable fabrics so I will show you how I get on 

with that  and what we did last week soon.