Days 4 & 5 of the Discharge Class plus Home Again

Well I made it home very safely and without event. I had a very pleasant drive down from Ohio. The driving time is about 6 1/2 hours, but when you've worked hard all week that meant making several stops along the way and taking a couple of naps to keep me going (winding roads through West VA mountains can be a bit hypnotizing.)

I didn't get a chance to post pictures for the last two days of the class because it actually took two days to complete the projects. It was a three step process and rather than rushing around and trying to finish, I just finished it up on the last day. Here are some pictures and if you are really interested in fabric and dyeing you can email me privately for a link to the full photo album at Kodak Gallery.

There are basically two methods to discharging, one using household bleach and the other using a chemical called thiox or actually, Thiourea Dioxide. It's all a bit more techinical than that.

I took 8 pieces of fabric and using the same code, I dyed up a set of each family from Carol Soderlund's book of colors. (For those who took the class you would understand, others don't worry about that detail.) I used number 356. After I got the sets dyed, then I folded them with a fan fold and then folded them in quarters and put on rubberbands and clips to hold them in place. I then discharged one from each set with bleach and the other one from the set with Thiox. I wanted to see what the difference would be. After the discharge took place, I neutralized them and left them folded and bound. I then over dyed them with various colors. This part I didn't keep constant because by this point we were using up the existing dyes and I didn't want to remix any. I might redo part of the experience and use the same overdyes to see what happens. But with discharge and overdying, it is very very unpredictable so the results may or may not be repeatable. Just enjoy the outcome!

This is Earth 356 discharged with Thiox and then I think some red and and golden yellow over dye.

This is Earth 356 discharged with Bleach and then I think some fuschia and and sun yellow over dye.

It was a great class and Carol Soderlund really knows her stuff when it comes to dyes, over dyes and discharging! She takes time to test various aspects of the process to find what is predictable and what might be more trial and error until one gets a feel for how to manipulate the ingredients to get individual outcomes. Nancy Crow's Barn was great, but I think ProChem was just as good and a bit cheaper. I just chose the barn because it's closer and I could drive up thus not having to pick and choose what to take. I was able to throw it all in and go.

Well that's all for now. Back to daily life and chores. We are perhaps heading out to a local Barbeque cooking class this week-end so from dyeing and discharging to cooking barbeque in one week.

Discharge Class Day 3

Day Three in the Discharge Class was fantastic! At first we were making samples and then processing things, but today we got to unfold some of our pieces and it was wonderful! Discharge is not an exact science because you're dealing with commericial fabrics and then the timing is an issue. I was not too hopeful that anything beautiful would come from all of my work when I left on Tuesday, but then when we unwrapped our bundle packages it was a wonderful surprise to see the results!

Here are two of my favorites and to see more, send me an email and I'll send you a link to my Kodak Gallery album.

Well that's all for tonight, it's midnight and for those of you familiar with Carol Soderlund's classes, I need my rest to keep up with her pace!

Discharge Class Day 2

We worked hard, and still not too much to show yet. Things take much longer with discharge than just dyeing. There are many more steps involved in the process. Today we worked with pieces that we had applied Potato Dextrin to the night before. Then today we either applied a bleach discharge or dye paint depending on what we had chosen. I chose one of each. This was very labor intensive. We also folded and manipluated fabric for discharge. Discharged then and then applied another layer of dye. Those we get to wash out in the morning to see our results.





This is my one piece that is finished and it's just a trial using the potato dextrin and then applying a thickened discharge solution, both were my first experience with this process and I have a fairly good piece that might be hard to see on the computer. If you click on the picture you might be able to see the crinkles which is the effect that the potato dextrin produces. This was just a sample, so hopefully I can work on the technique to inmorove my skills.

This was originally solid black material that has not turned a brown color.

That's basically it, and not I haven't had any time yet at all for sightseeing.

Another Workshop

I have a very wonderful husband who encourages my hobbies and art and this week I am in Baltimore, Ohio taking another class on dyeing, but this time we also use chemicals to take the dye off the fabric. So yes, I spent time and money last fall taking two classes to learn to put dye on the fabric and now this spring I'm taking a class to learn how to take the dye back off the fabric. The class is being held at Nancy Crow's Barn Nancy is one of the pioneers in the area of Art Quilting and she does wonderful art quilts. She is actually in our class as a student herself and she is so friendly and wonderful to talk to!

The other wonderful thing about this trip is the place I'm staying. It's an old silent movie theatre. The lady who owns it renovated it into a place for her to raise her two school age children while worked down the street and they could walk back and forth to school. She remarried and she and her husband continued and still continue to renovate and make improvements. Her husband, Bill Morgan, is also an awesome photographer. Click on his name and that takes you to his website. Then click on the menu button on the top left and go to "our theater home" for pictures of this place. It's really unique and I'm glad I chose to stay here. It's only open to the students taking classes at Nancy Crow's Barn and only during the few weeks a year when Nancy Crow is offering classes. Great choice for me even though I am using the bathroom located down the hall, but it reminds me of Europe!

Ok, so for pictures go to the links. Now I'm heade off to sleep so I can get up early and put in a full day of dyeing and un-dyeing!