Summit Fever

Two fun adventures collided to create "Summit Fever"! I hiked Wadsworth State Park with my sister and a friend on a bitter cold morning. There was a lot of ice forming along the river and the waterfalls were beautiful. As part of my weekend walk series I wanted to try to create the feeling of ice on fabric. I worked through a number of techniques to get the feeling I was looking for which I'll go into in another post. The reason I mention it is because the fabric was perfect for the Summit Fever piece.

On the same weekend in another state my son summited Mt. Washington along with a couple of his buddies. It's the highest peak in New England and is known to have extreme weather conditions but I trust my son to be smart and to stay safe! Rob is writing about his outdoor winter adventures as part of an internship program with the New Hampshire State Park system - check it out: Hiking Mt. Washington State Park in Winter.

I created a pattern from a photo Rob took at the summit and combined it with my ice fabric and ended up with Summit Fever! Trying to achieve the feeling of cold, ice and snow on fabric is challenging. Have you tried any winter themed projects? Please share!

More Ice Cube Painting!

I had a chance to visit my son in northern Vermont this weekend... wow... did it ever rain! For my weekend walk series I wanted to recreate the feeling of being cold and wet. Thankfully the sun was shining today so I thought I would use my ice cube painting technique to capture the feeling I had up in Vermont.

I was going for a stormy feeling so I mixed up some "storm cloud" paint and

 laid out the fabrics in the beautiful sun! 

 

I painted the fabric a solid blue and then placed ice cubes randomly across the surface. I sprinkled salt across the fabric because it helps the paint migrate creating interesting patterns.

Once the fabric was dry I heat set the paint with a dry iron. I'm not sure the fabric will remind you of my cold and rainy weekend but it was fun to play with paints, fabric and ice cubes!

Weekend Walk Series Returns!

Although I haven't been posting finished product from my "Weekend Walk" series in a few weeks I have been out walking! There is nothing more refreshing then getting out to walk and have the tensions of the week fall behind you and letting the beauty of nature take over. It's taken me some extra time to produce this series because it has multiple layers.

Let me walk you through it...

I first painted a couple of fat quarters using colors that reminded me of how the sunlight dapples through the tree canopy - kind of light yellow-green near the top and as your eye moves towards the ground the greens become deeper and blend with earth tones. Next I stamped leaves I had collected onto the fabric.

The next step was to paint some tree silhouettes. I used a couple of different browns, black, blue to represent lichen and finally I took the fabric outside to lay across a tree trunk and used Shiva Sticks as a rubbing.

The final step was to stamp more leaves as a final layer. It was fun to attempt to create a piece with depth. I was thinking about treating the fabric a mini whole cloth quilt... maybe add some 3-dimensional leaves for interest. The quilting would provide a lot of depth and make the whole piece pop!

I'll add the fat quarters to the hand dyed and hand painted fabrics tab if you're interested in purchasing a piece to quilt for yourself!

Stamping Pine Needles and Pine Cones onto Natural Dyed Fabric

This stamping project is part of my "Weekend Walk Series" (see the above hand painted and hand dyed fabrics tab for more creations). This weekend I found myself enjoying a walk in New Hampshire with my mom. This walk has been special since I was a small child... when I daydream of New Hampshire I think of the rugged granite mountains, the pristine lakes and the beautiful pine trees. On this particular morning I collected some interesting pine cones with pretty colored lichen.

I have an ever growing collection of fabrics I've dyed using natural products vs. powdered commercially made products. I love my powdered dyes but wanted to learn how to use items from my yard and gardens. In today's series I used fabrics dyed with Dandelions, Bladderwrack (seaweed) and grape concentrate. The inks are produced by Speedball and I purchased them at www.dharmatrading.com. 

Step one is to apply ink to one side of the pine needles:

 Step 2 is to gently press the pine needles ink side down onto the fabric. I covered the needles with a paper towel and rolled a Brayer over the top for even pressure (you can also use your fingers).

  

Next up I simply pulled the pine needles away from the fabric to reveal the print:

 I wanted to include the pine cones but had to work through the obvious challenges of their lumpy texture! I applied the ink directly to one half of the pine cone surface.

Next I placed my hand underneath the fabric to "cradle" the pine cone as I rolled it gently over the fabric.

I was happy with the end results! I love my "Weekend Walk Series" as it gives me an excuse to collect things when I'm out enjoying my walks... decompressing from the rigors of my work week.

For details and information on purchasing any fabrics from the "Weekend Walk Series" or other creations please visit my Hand Painted and Hand Dyed Fabrics tab at the top of this page.

1) Fabric is hand dyed with Bladderwrack (seaweed)

2) Fabric is hand dyed with Dandelion flowers and leaves

3) Fabric is hand dyed using grape concentrate

If you give stamping a try please let me know and share your results... it's so much fun!

How to leaf stamp!

We are all so busy during the week between work and family that I always try to carve out time on a weekend morning to go for a walk with my long time friend Sharon! We covet our quiet time together to let our guards down from the demands of business to catch up on our families and just be free to enjoy a nice walk in the woods! Last weekend I collected some interesting leaves on our walk to bring back to the studio for some leaf printing. I enjoyed the results and call the series "Weekend Walk". Give it a try yourself or if you like the results I have fabric for sale - just let me know if you're interested and we can talk about the rest!

Please note for the best results choose leaves with raised veins or texture!

 

Begin by painting the underside with a fabric paint or silk screen ink.

Flip the leaf paint side down onto your fabric. Press gently with your fingers or use a Brayer to roll across the back of the leaf. Gently lift up the leaf - this is fun right!

Keep going until you feel you have enough leaves for your design. 

Next I wanted to paint the overall piece with a wash of fabric paint. I use Pueblo fabric paints because they behave like water color.

Once I painted the fabric I tossed on some Kosher salt (large crystals) and left it to dry. Below is the final result.... "Weekend Walk Series" has been born! I can't wait to see what I collect on my next weekend walk!

Have fun and let me know if you give it a try!