Hand Picked Ferns

 

Today I'm joining Halle of Halle's Hobbies at Art Journal Journey.  Halle is challenging us to think about Botanicals, which is her theme for July. 

It's rather obvious

I named this Hand picked ferns.

This is how I attempted to salvage one of the failed fern sun prints from yesterday (see the post here).  I used two of my spray mists (purchased, not handmade shimmering) on two new ferns.  You might be able to see some of the Titan Buff peeking through in spots.  Waste not, want not.

 

Thank you very much for your visit. I hope you will join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey and maybe even share your own interpretation of Botanicals. 

Second Thursday Tutorial: Dyeing fabric using coffee

 

A few days ago, I noted in my accountability post, that I would like to dye fabric using either coffee or avocados.  Coffee sounded like the easier of the two, so off I went to procure the needed materials.

From left: 

Sanka sludge*

100% cotton fabric cut from a blouse

New cheap instant coffee crystals

Iron oxide (vinegar water and large metal chain)

Distilled water

Glass bowls

(*Sanka sludge is instant Sanka crystals that got wet in the basement and turned into a sticky glob of sludge)

 

Sanka sludge, fabric, new instant coffee, large metal chain in vinegar water.

Distilled water will keep the experiment consistent.

  I don't normally get carried away with my experiments and forget to explain the process or take a photo like that of the bowl on the right as I was adding the fabric.  Sadly, that is what I did.  

If you go on the world wide wonderland known as the web, you will find tons of tutorials that will tell you how to dye fabric using coffee.  The first thing is to make a pot of very strong dark roast coffee.  I only drink dark roast (either dark Sumatra or French roast.   However, I refuse to use my very expensive coffee on a fabric experiment that might or might not work.

The second thing is to heat the coffee to boiling in a glass bowl in the microwave for about three minutes.  If you don't have a microwave, you will need to use your stove or coffee pot.  I personally can't live without a microwave, but at the same time, I see no need for a cell phone.  Be sure to wet (dampen) your fabric before adding it to the bowl of coffee.

See the fabric in the bowl on the left?  At one time, the bowl was well over half full.  However, when I was removing it from the microwave, that's when everything went south.  I dropped the bowl on the floor.  I got boiling coffee on the microwave, my floor, the kitchen table where my camera was located, the counter, and a good part of the stove when the bowl started to roll, rather than sit stationary.  I was so shaken, it took forever to clean everything, including myself.  My left shoe was filled with coffee, as was the front of my clothes.  Needless to say, after I cleaned my kitchen, I had to shower.  Because this took so long, I was able to pull the dyed fabric from the bowl on the right and add more fabric to the bowl of straight coffee and distilled water.

But now it was time to experiment.  I decided I had enough coffee left in the bowl, I could add a bit of iron oxide (rust). 

One half teaspoon of the rusty goodness and I got a big shock.  Before I could barely get the lid back on the rust, the fabric was already turning black.  If I had not been so rattled by the mess I made, I would have realized I should have removed the fabric immediately.

With each passing minute, the fabric with the rust was getting darker and darker.

In the bowl with coffee and water, I was seeing some incredible patterns emerging.  Would they stay once I removed the fabric from the coffee bath?  Only time will tell.

It is late at night and I have not had a chance to iron the fabric.  However,

here's what the fabric looks like on my dark kitchen table when I didn't color correct.

A few close up photos:

This is the large piece from the first bowl.  It received the least amount of time in the bath.

Here it is without any color correction in Photoshop.

I think this will look good once it's ironed.

It's obvious the rusted fabric is still quite wet.  I will update when everything is dry and ironed.

Thanks for joining me today as I dyed cotton fabric in coffee and some with rust added.  Once this goes live I will add it to my tutorials page.  I will also update as needed.  I'm just delighted you had a chance to stop by.

UPDATE:

This is my favorite.  It has bits of coffee and bits of rust.  I love how mottled it turned out.  

Finally, if you would rather dye paper instead of fabric,

I have two tutorials showing how I created these watercolor papers.

UPDATE: Deb asked in another post if I would use this fabric in clothing or crafts. I DO NOT make clothes, but I make little art quilts I call quiltlets.  The fabrics have been washed in baking soda water to neutralize the rust.  They are now safe to handle without gloves.  I use my sewing machine to create the quiltlets I often send to friends.

Sunny weather

 

It's time once again to join Chris of Pearshapedcrafting, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.  She has chosen All Kinds of Weather as her theme this month.

The forecast for today is sunny weather, unlike what I've given you in the past few days.

On a sunny day, we need to protect ourselves from the sun, as this vintage beauty has.

In case you need this translated, it reads "Let your umbrella protect you from the sun."

I had some leftover dyed ribbon and cheesecloth, so put them to good use.

I even assembled this rose 

that I hoped would compliment the lady's bouquet that looked more like poppies than roses.

As you can see, the cheesecloth is stretched behind the entire focal image.

Note both the lovely young lady and the background.

I started this journal page by coloring 110 lb cardstock with pink Staz-on reinker and 91% isopropyl alcohol.  To that I added the computer generated sentiment I outlined using a pink gel pen.  The ribbon and cheesecloth had already been dyed, or I would have done that at the same time I colored the page. I adhered the ribbon at the top and bottom of the page, then stretched the cheesecloth out from ribbon to ribbon using fabric glue.  I adhered the focal image using pop dots to raise it above the cheesecloth.  Finally, I assembled the rose and adhered it using my new tube of E6000.

Bleubeard and I would like to thank you for dropping by today.  We also hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own interpretation of All Kinds of Weather.

 

This is Day 10 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM) and I created a journal page in my art journal.

I have an appointment today to get my J & J booster.  My city doesn't want people under 65 to get a booster IF they have received Moderna or Pfizer, but they recommend anyone over 18 to get the J & J booster.  I'm hoping I don't get a bad reaction.  When I got my first shot, I felt nothing.  No pain, no muscle ache, no swelling, no getting sick, NO NOTHING.  Some felt it didn't take on me, so I hope I feel the same again this time and I hope it DID take this and the first time, too.

 

Signs of October

 

Today I'm joining Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.  Her theme is My Favorite Color is October.   I'm also joining the lovely ladies at Creative Artiste where their mixed media challenge for October is always Anything Goes.

 I started this fabric journal page by dyeing the background fabric and the cheesecloth with coffee.

Back when I actually had color ink in my ink jet printer, I printed this lovely young lady on fabric backed by freezer paper.  When I was ready to use the image, I removed it from the freezer paper backing.  I have found these images store better if you leave the backing on the image until you are ready to sew it on the substrate.

You can see the cheesecloth matches the colors in the focal image, but the yellow in the ribbon is a bit too bright.  Then I realized I had forgotten a layer.  I really hated to rip out my sewing, but it was unfortunately necessary.

I apologize for these photos, but the lighting in my home is horrible now that the sun is moving to the south.  It's even worse that the lace I added was cut off from the lighting.

 I tried moving my camera.  I was able to show the coffee dyed lace, but I still had a shadow.

Here are a few close-up shots.

Note to self: next time iron fabric before assembling.

To qualify for Creative Artiste's mixed media challenge, I needed at least three different mediums.  I believe this qualifies because of all the layers I created.  The layers are white on white fabric dyed with coffee, burlap/hessian, dyed cheesecloth, ink jet printed focal image, coffee dyed lace, and burlap ribbon, all sewn together using variegated thread.  The flower was attached using E-6000.  And yes, I finally ironed the finished entry before adding the flower.

Thank you ever so much for visiting today.  Bleubeard, and I are delighted you joined us and hope to see you at both Creative Artiste with your mixed media take on Anything Goes, and Art Journal Journey with your journal take on My favorite color is October.