Over the weekend, I took my supplies out to my mom’s place in the Hill Country to play around with dyeing. We had a blast. It was so much fun to share with her techniques that I’m still just figuring out. My daughter looked on with amusement, I think, as the “what about trying this” comments flew all afternoon.

We ended up with some great pieces, some of which are pictured. The ones that came out more subtle I brought home planning to unleash myself with paint, stamps and bleach. I must say we figured out a great set up outside and this was the first of many more play dates. While this time my mom was patient with my tendency to follow recipes as a guideline and move way “outside the lines”, next time I think we’ll focus one one color (well, ok, maybe two) and attempt to get a gradation of color. As a former art teacher and exceptional quilter, mom has always mentioned the wonder of seeing those graded hues others have produced. It will be fun to put our heads and skills together and “wow” ourselves. Though, without wanting to gloat, we had an ample share of “wow” already.

What a great workshop I attended. Pictured is a portion of the cotton piece I was most pleased with. The goal of the workshop for me was not to come away with tons of pieces to use but to get exposure to as many surface design techniques as the Susie, the instructor, was willing to throw at us. And that is exactly what I got. The pictured piece was first dyed. I used rubber bands to do a classic circulate tie-dye pattern but did it loosely thinking there wouldn’t be much white left. When I pulled it out of the reddish dye bath there was, so I rinsed and promptly plopped it into a yellow. That softened the contrast a bit from glaring white and red.

Next was soy was batik. As I learned, this is much cleaner in terms of the removal afterwards than using paraffin or bees wax. Using a mix of paint brushes, kitchen tools, and indonesian tjantings, I wrote words and created designs. Once hardened, I painted dye across it - a slightly deeper red and it was allowed to dry. A second working of batik wax onto the cloth allowed for additional layering of color. After that another painting of dye in a deep plummy purple. The soy wax was then washed out in a washing machine with mild detergent and voila, my piece was complete.

In addition to dyeing, overdyeing and batik, I gained a bit of knowledge of sun printing, stamping, painting, and thermofax screening. Just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Since the workshop I’ve experimented on my own with sun printing and today ventured into dyeing. Once my batches are ready, I’ll continue to apply and stretch what I learned with experiments in discharging, overdying and more stamping. It occurs to me though that I need to make some time for quilting, too. Wow, now I really realize how much there is to do and how little time to do it.

What is pictured is 2 yards of white cotton and 1 yard of white silk. This is the “before” photo of the raw materials I leave with tomorrow on my way to my first textile workshop. The theme of the workshop is “Words on the Surface”. The first time I thumbed through the Kemshall’s The Painted Quilt and saw examples of text on art quilts I was hooked into the world of art quilting. Up ’til now I’ve been reading and looking through book after book of inspiring works. Many of the techniques and materials sound tough to figure out, at least to me. What the heck is thermofax printing and what do the results look like? I keep thinking about the fax machine at work and I know that isn’t right. I guess I think of it as I did when I discovered Photoshop. I recognized the powerful possibilities of it, but was just way too overwhelmed by all the options to figure it out on my own. My goal with this weekend’s workshop isn’t to come home with a masterpiece — let’s be practical — but to have someone experienced demonstrate techniques and how to use some materials and then actually get to try them out myself. It’s rather exciting and regardless of the results, I’ll post the “after” when I return.

One of the first skills I learned was coming up with a light table for pattern tracing. If I had worked on this during the day I could just use a window, though ink pens and my less than iron-woman arms can only function that way for so long. As a working mom, though, time for this type of project comes after homework help, dinner making and/or clean up, and chatting with hubby before I can make my escape to the studio. (Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and spending time with them. I just sometimes have to be creative and be alone.) It honestly didn’t take long for me to find an alternative and it is in moments like that when my packrattiness shines. An old wooden frame I picked up at Goodwill did the trick. I simply removed the backing, taped white paper to the glass and positioned it like a bridge between the end of the ironing board and my cutting table. I then put my bendable desk lamp on a chair under it pointing up. Ok, a little ghetto but it worked.

The thrill of victory soon faded, however, as the rather tedious process of tracing and then cutting shapes for two fish appliqués dragged on. Determined to follow directions I kept at it. Two sets of labels and one set of card stock “windows” later, I began to think there really is a reason why I’ve shied away from precision in quilting projects. And I don’t think it is ironic that the word ’shy’ also means to throw with a swift sudden movement. I realized if I didn’t take a break for the night my Aries nature would take over and I’d shy things all over the studio.

That was last night. With renewed spirit I jumped into the next steps. I used the card stock ‘windows’ to find the area of fabric I wanted to use. My mom calls this ‘fussy cutting’. I’m not crazy about it because I think it can waste fabric, but I checked all my judgments at the door. I actually think for the right project, this is an interesting way to do it. Trying to create fish it was helpful to position the windows to pick areas of tonal variation to give depth. What I wish the instructions had said is that if you use a fabric that has overall the same pattern, spending all the time on the windows and labels is unnecessary. Rats. The idea with the sticky-back labels is to stick it on top of the area in the window “to capture” it. An interesting idea but I wonder why you couldn’t just use a disappearing marker instead to trace the window edge? That would save the time and material costs for the label paper, though it does commit you to getting it cut out before the marker fades. At this point, I started to wonder how many more steps are ahead of me that I’ll realize could be streamlined. (sigh)

Well, at least one more. Liquid “glue pins” is a mess. If only I had a bottle with a long tube so I could deliver a thin bead exactly where I wanted. My options were one and none at the store and there is probably some better packaged stuff out there. However, my frustration led me to my daughter’s glue stick which seems to have worked fine thus far. And it is at this point that I stopped to again avoid any shying.

Yet, I realize I’m learning and that is the point, isn’t it. As a working-outside-the-home mom, hours in the studio are few and far between. I’ve long been cursed with the need to have that be productive time, productive in terms of completing projects. I realized last year that the biggest thing holding me back from really advancing in my skills is the lack of experimentation. Yet the frequent failure and sometime success of experimentation is how you learn and how you can come up with something truly great. No matter how much it may feel like a waste of time, I’ve got to recognize I’m gaining something behind the scenes, something that will be more meaningful to me than a finished appliquéd collage. But for now, back to those damn fish.

*lining a uncooked pie crust with parchment paper and then filling it with dry beans helps keep the dough from falling in on itself until it is cooked.

The nights when I’m too tired to even think about going in the studio are sometimes easier. Then I don’t have to juggle helping with homework with design time, I don’t have to balance kitchen chores with measuring material, I don’t have to balance feelings of guilt and selfishness with the understanding that it is ok to take some time to work toward my dream. Those are the nights I have more family time and feel more present in our home. But I still feel a bit of yearning to have my hands on cotton and to press open a seam and turn it over to see a vision become reality.

To keep my sanity I have to let go and not fret about how time rushes by during the week. I have to be thankful for the hour or two I do spend in the studio. Period. And I need to be less demanding of myself, and to remember to breathe, relax, and appreciate where I am right now.

But the Aries in me is locked in. I’m going to keep struggling and soon enough my head will be above water, and then I’ll be all strokes and attitude. But for now, pardon my bubbles.