Week at cottage

We had a week of vacation last week and I made a few things at the family cottage.  The weather has been very hot which has made it a little difficult to be outside.  I dyed some silk scarves with Colorhue dyes.  I ordered these from G&S dye and thought I would try them out.  They're instant set meaning that as soon as you put the colours on they stay where they are.  Even trying to brush another colour near it the colours won't really mix which is surprising.  Once the fabric is dry the colours are set.  Here are a few silk scarves drying on the wash line.  I did some folding and shibori techniques on silk crepe scarves.

I also did a bit of sunprinting.  I tried making a more patterned background on this one.  I usually just brush on some colour and then put on the plants.  This time I printed on some colour with a sponge and then put on the plant.  I did add some salt at the bottom.

I also did a flour paste piece.  Although I had done some before, this is one of the techniques that I learned more about in a workshop with Gunnel Hag last September in Ottawa.  It takes a little more work.  I made a paste with white flour and water and put it on a piece of white cotton fabric.  After it dried I scrunched it up to create cracks.  I painted on some fabric paint.  I let it dry.  Then I scrunched it again and added another colour.  I did this a few times.  It all takes time to dry.   The sun was luckily hot enough to set the colour.  Then after leaving it overnight I finally soaked it in warm water and washed out the flour paste.  Below is the fabric with flour paste and paint on it.

And here is the finished piece hanging on the line.  The crackling was quite successful.

Here's a close up of the crackling below.  Thanks for stopping by!