Monday, July 7, 2014

Summer of Color 4, week 5: Red, Royal Blue, and Light Blue

For week 5 of SOC4, Kristin, our incredible host at Twinkle, Twinkle has chosen Red, Royal Blue, and a splash of Light blue.


My contribution this week is some hand dyed fabric I call Poppies


I began by creating a handmade stencil.  Of course, with my lack of drawing skills, I picked the easiest thing I could think of, which is a poppy head.  I used both scissors and a craft knife to cut the pieces apart.

That way I could have both a stencil and a mask!

My supplies for this one included 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, Staz-on reinkers, foam brushes, my cut poppy head, two cups (one for each color), and a piece of old bed sheet torn to size.

If you recreate this process, be sure you are using 91% alcohol, which can't be found in Europe without a prescription, I've been told.

I wasn't sure which of the blues I would use to get royal blue, but I started with midnight blue.  Of course, I have always contended that "cherry pink" is more red than "Blazing Red," so that's what I decided to use.

I was surprised when the midnight blue had a touch of pink with it, but I liked it, regardless.  You can see I used the mask to determine where the poppy heads would go.


Using the stencil, I outlined the poppy heads.  I began by using watered down (with alcohol) ink, but realized I needed to apply the red full strength so I didn't lose the entire image.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.  What started as not-so-bad poppy heads, turned into abstract blobs.

And because I have NO feed dogs on my machine, the abstract heads took on a mind of their own after the batting I added didn't want to turn the fabric.

A couple of detail shots

showing the mess I created with the stitching and painting, has encouraged me to call this abstract "Poppies."  I now intend to use it on a scrappy journal cover.  Now I just need to get busy sewing a few abstract flowers to go in that journal!

Thanks to everyone who visited last week.  I tried to keep up, but with company over the holiday weekend, I ran out of time.  I also discovered that once the challenge was complete, I couldn't access the links.

Don't forget to visit Kristin for others who have joined this weekly challenge.  Now we have only one week to go!

44 thoughtful remarks:

froebelsternchen said...

A gorgeous project!

PaintingWrite said...

I like how it turned out quite abstract - looks like a really complicated process!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Gorgeous colours! Your drawing skills look fine to me! I love your poppies and this will certainly make a fabulous journal cover! Chrisxx

Tammie Lee said...

love how you are using fabric for the SOC. sweet piece.

Halle said...

Love the abstract quality of this. Love poppies!

massofhair said...

LOVING your abstract poppies, a beautiful creation. Always love working with fabric, you had done an amazing job :-) xxx

Paper rainbow said...

I love watching what exciting things you create each week, this is fabulous!

Becky Dunham said...

What a fun project! Can't wait to see what you do next week :)

Karla B said...

This is adorable Elizabeth!

joy said...

LOVE your abstract poppies! Your fabric creations for this year's SOC have been so amazing, Elizabeth.

I, too, cannot keep up with commenting on all of the entries. Thank you for your sweet comments on my blog.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Love your beautiful abstract Poppies! I think this piece will make a beautiful scrappy journal cover!

Deborah Weber said...

Your poppies are fabulous - I want them in my garden. Of course on a journal would be wonderful as well. Have a colorful week!

Linda Kunsman said...

ah, my favorite flower...of course I just LOVE this challenge piece!

TwinkleToes2day said...

It looked like a lot of fun creating that Elizabeth. I wonder, do you wear gloves, or are you a, 'love me, love my rainbow fingers', gal? I am the latter. I love the finished abstract poppies and hope to see them in-situ when the journal is done :o))

GlorV1 said...

Very nice job. Love the way your piece turned out.:)

gma said...

That is going to be awesome as a journal cover. LOVE that you try all of these interesting things.

dawn said...

You are so fast with these SOC each week, YAY!! How sweet your idea was, these colors are so pretty together too. I like how yours came out and happy it will be the cover of a journal. Great idea cutting out the stencil too, it looked good. Not sure I could even come close to drawing one.

Dianne said...

I quite like your abstract poppies!...I'm interested to see if they become a journal cover or something else! beautiful colors...love the nostalgia piece in the previous post too!

peggy gatto said...

Outstanding!!!
Loved seeing the process!

Kristin said...

xo
(And thank you for your sweet message!)

Unknown said...

I've not tried dying fabric as I thought it difficult. Your tutorial makes it look "easy". Will have to add this to my already lengthy list of crafts to try!

Unknown said...

Wow, Elizabeth, I am really impressed and oh I want to do that too (making scrapbooking with cloth) and ofcourse it is abstract Poppies :) - Splendid!!!

Kind regards
Mariane
http://cordes.re/blg/wind/?p=1243

Laila said...

I'm always impressed by people who take on such projects as you did. It turned out lovely, and I actually feel quite inspired. Perhaps I'll have to try myself. Thanks for sharing.

Mary Ann Potter said...

Pretty! I'm impressed; I don't often work with fabric. Maybe it's time to do that!

CERULEAN said...

Oh yes, I do like your poppies!

Valerie-Jael said...

Great project! Valerie

Cindy McMath said...

Elizabeth, this is wonderful. I really love your abstract poppies. Funny that your Blazing Red ink is so pinky - I have it in pad form and it is red as red can be! Your Cherry Pink made a great red in this piece at any rate.

I forgot to mention I got a good chuckle when you mentioned my upside down stamp (4th of July ICAD). I had JUST noticed it was upside down right after I posted it and your comment came in shortly after. I placed it the way I liked the look of it and never gave it a second thought. Oh well, I've had worse faux pas (word to the wise - always check your torn dictionary pages before you use them in your art unless you're sure no one can read them!).

Anonymous said...

this is fabulous...and I am glad you are going to use it! It will be perfect for a journal cover.
Anything that involves poppies is a winner with me!
Thanks for stopping by my blog too.

Iti Fox said...

I have never used fabric dyes, but I used to love to paint on fabrics with fabric paints, loved it. Nice to see this, love how it turned out.

Christine said...

Lovely abstract piece!

sheila 77 said...

Your post was fun to read and I enjoyed watching your fascinating process.

Annie Claxton said...

Beautiful piece, a real inspiration! I love the colours and the flowing shapes - where on earth do you get your 91% alcohol from? :o)

Sharon Fritchman said...

What a great idea to use this as a cover for your scrappy journal! I love how everything became abstract here and I especially love how you stitched it, too. Simply genius! Thanks so much for showing us how you do your work, too!

Anonymous said...

Very nice yours.

My firs start out was disaster too.

So I had to make some alterations or sink.


I am new in this challenge.

I did manage to get something up on my blog today.

Deepa Gopal said...

I love the flow and liquidity in your art...there's a sort of elegance to it...love how the colours have merged :)

sue :) said...

I love your abstract poppies and the process on how you achieved the end result. Thank you for your encouraging words on my blog I always look forward to reading your comments when your name pops into my inbox. Sue 😃

itsamistry said...

I like abstracts and I like poppies so I LOVE this piece. It's always a challenge to control paints/sprays on fabric or anything that is really porous. You did an excellent job with the colour palette.

Nan G said...

Cool poppies!

linda (dots n doodles) said...

Love your abstract poppy heads and how you show each step of the process. Your whole process seems very fluid. I would never remember to stop and take photos!

Caz said...

I love that you hand dye your fabrics! It's such a great way to get the colours that you want!!

Virginia said...

Gorgeous work, love how you built up the colourS!

Virginia said...

Gorgeous work, love how you built up the colourS!

Denise said...

Fantastic! I thought I saw a hummingbird appearing at first.Did You see it at all ?

BJ said...

Gorgeous. BJ