A Peek Into My Sketchbook

Posted on by under sketch book

I had quite a bit of waiting time this week, so I worked in my sketchbook while I waited. It always makes the time go by faster.

I showed you this leaf page before but I wasn’t happy with it. Teri suggested that I add a darker value to the background and it was an excellent suggestion. I like the end result much better.

The rest of these were all done in the same manner with soy wax and paint first. Then once the soy wax is removed, I add in more color. So it is easy to work on when I’m waiting as all I need to do is add in whatever color I’d like. It’s kind of mindless but keeps you occupied. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Quick Update

Posted on by under wet felting

I worked all day today on the First Quarter Challenge for The Felting and Fiber Studio. I didn’t get finished but you can read more about it on my post tomorrow over at the studio site.

This photo is in the middle of the process. And it’s not finished yet so you’ll have to wait to see the end result.

The other thing I have been busy with is my online screen printing course. This week starts the fun stuff so I am looking forward to seeing the prints that the students create. Have a good weekend!

Playing in my Sketchbook

Posted on by under sketch book, Sketching

I always take my sketchbook with me when I travel and I recently took a trip to the east coast. These are a few of the pages that I worked on during my travels.

The top two were rusted already and I added the blue. The other two colorful ones had a layer of paint and soy wax and I added a bit more color to them, filling in the areas that were white from the soy wax. And the last one is a sketch I did at my sister’s house. This is a seed pod from a Sweetgum tree. We don’t have them in Montana so I picked up one on my walk and sketched it.

These two I did at home. I like the one on the right but I’m not so sure about the one with leaves. And thanks Teri for your suggestion of adding some black pen. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Ice Dyed Silk Gauze

Posted on by under Dyeing, surface design

When our surface design group met last week, we did some ice dyeing. I dyed 6 pieces of 5mm silk gauze that I am going to use in nuno felting. I did a quick tutorial on how to do ice dyeing several years ago on The Felting and Fiber Studio. Louise had us all set up outside to do the ice dyeing so we worked pretty quickly in the cold. I did one jar with more purple dyes and the other with reds and oranges.

Ice Dyeing

It’s simple to do, just layers of ice, fabric and dye powder. Then you let it melt and rinse it out.

Here are the 5 pieces that were white to start with and then ice dyed. It was interesting that several of these had bands of color on them as I just wadded the silk up and stuck it in.

Silk dyed by Ruth Lane

This piece was already dyed with eco printing to start. It was pretty sad to start and I was hoping to improve it but it didn’t take up much more color.

Silk dyed by Ruth Lane

Here’s is a close up of one of the scarves. They all have some very nice patterning and mix of colors. Now to get the right color merino to go with each one and start some nuno felting!

A Present for my Other Sister

Posted on by under nuno felting

This is a nuno felted scarf that I made for my other sister for Christmas. It didn’t get completed in time but since I am going to visit her soon, I will just take it with me then.

Nuno Felted Scarf by Ruth Lane

The silk scarf was actually a gift from Shepherdess Ann several years ago. I finally got around to using it. Thanks Ann! The scarf was dyed gold and purple. So I added a grey purple merino, slightly more purple merino and a gold merino. I also added some silk fibers and silk thread that Paula gave me. Thanks Paula! Very useful to have generous fiber friends.

Nuno Felted Scarf by Ruth Lane

Here’s a closer look of the silk fibers and silk thread.

Nuno Felted Scarf by Ruth Lane

The thread is loose in places so I hope it doesn’t catch on things. I thought about stitching it down but I like it the way it is.

Nuno Felted Scarf by Ruth Lane

And here is the silk side. I hope my sister likes it. You can click on any of the photos to get a larger view. Hope you have a good weekend!

 

P.S. I forgot to say that it was snowing when I took this photo and if you look closely, you can see a few snowflakes.