C'est Parfait

My latest experiments with the Emo dyes have been parfait dyeing, but without ice cubes (which I blogged about here). The first version wasn't a great success (I will add images later after the fabrics have been dried and ironed), but the second version, which I whipped up tonight, looks more promising. Yum!

Thanks for dropping by! Stay tuned for the results!
- Annika

I Can Dye Happy Now

One of the dyes that I frequently refer to on this blog is Procion MX dye. It's an easy and versatile dye that I enjoy using. There's just one problem: I can't find it in Finland. So I've looked at some of the dyes that are more easily available to me, and one that seemed well suited for the techniques that I have explored with Procion MX dye is a cold water reactive dye (based on Remazol) by the Finnish company Emo-tuotanto Oy. I have also mentioned this brand before on this blog.

To be honest, when I first started exploring the Emo dyes, I was rather disappointed. I did exactly what I did with the Procion MX dye, but I didn't get the effect I was looking for. What I got was something like what you see on the right, but what I really wanted is what you see on the left.

I assumed that the dye was so different from the Procion MX type that it just wouldn't work in the same way. However, after doing a bit of reasearch and making a few changes to the way I work, I have discovered that it is after all possible to achieve similar effects, and now I can dye happy.

First I did a 12-step gradation with the three primaries:

Then I did a 7-step gradation with a split complementary colour scheme:

And then I did a 5-step gradation with tints and shades:

And I love the results and the simplicity of my new method, which I'll get back to later. For now, I'll just let you feast your eyes on the rainbow that I have created. Looking at my stacks of ironed, neatly folded and colour co-ordinated hand dyes fills me with happiness and calm.

Yes, I was (am) one of those kids who will find great enjoyment and satisfaction in putting all the crayons and coloured pencils in the right order in the box.

The warm half of the rainbow

The cool half

Thanks for visiting!

- Annika

For Some of Us It's Perfectly Normal...

... to look at the baby wipe we just used to clean up our work surface after painting some paper fabric and wonder...

Could I use this for something?

I bet I could. I'll put it aside to dry, and then we'll see.

I'm dyeing to bring you more news soon!
- Annika

Teaching Schedule Autumn 2013

Please note that I've updated my teaching schedule, which you will find under the tabs above. My courses are at the moment held in different locations in Finland, and mainly in the Swedish language. However, I also welcome students who speak Finnish and English to my courses.


Undervisning hösten 2013

Observera att jag har uppdaterat schemat för min undervisning, och du hittar informationen under fliken uppe till vänster. Mina kurser hålls för närvarande på olika orter i Finland och främst på svenska. Deltagare som talar finska eller engelska är dock också varmt välkomna.

- Annika

The Calling of the Harebell

After a week of artist’s block... well, to be honest, it’s felt more like a life block, I had enough. I wanted to do something creative and fun, but something that wouldn’t be too demanding on my uncooperative brain. So I picked out a favourite image by the fairy artist Brian Froud (from the book Faeries. Described and illustrated by Brian Froud and Alan Lee) and started  working on a pretty purse.

The original image, slightly cropped

Ingredients for a fun time: rayon embroidery thread, zipper, iced parfait hand dyed fabric, image cropped, enlarged, modified and drawn on tracing paper

 Free-motion quilting/embroidery through tracing paper

 Image sewn, removal of tracing paper (tweezers are a girl's best friend)

Tying off threads and painting in the silhoutte with a Zig brush tipped fabric marker

 Silhouette finished

Background quilting started. Let's see how this develops. These weird and wonderful flowers weren't planned. They just invited themselves in. I'm letting the magic of the fabric decide how I quilt.

I'll post more images as I progress on my little fairy purse.

Thanks for stopping by! - Annika

Gammaldags torg 2013

This is an announcement mainly for my Finnish readers, but if you scroll down I'll provide an explanation in English too.

* * *

Mamma och jag kommer att delta i Jakobs dagar i Jakobstad genom att vara med på Gammaldags torg lördagen den 27.7 mellan 9 och 16. Observera att platsen har ändrats och att torget i år hålls mellan Stadskyrkan och Skolparken. Även om du inte ska handla av oss, så får du gärna komma förbi vårt bord och hälsa på! Vi kommer bland annat att sälja

Hemstickade pulsvärmare

(se mammas blogg för flera modeller)

t.ex. med pärlor och paljetter

eller volanger

Börsar i linne 

med mina egna färgade och trycka tyger som accent

 

Mobilfodral i linne

med mina egna färgade och trycka tyger som accent

Påsar för smarttelefoner

i linne och med mina egna färgade och trycka tyger som accent

Välkommen förbi!

 * * *

Mum and I are participating in a fair ("Olde Time Fair") during a yearly festival in Jakobstad called Jacob's Days. We'll mainly be selling beaded wrist warmers and the purses, pouches and cases I've made this summer. The last ones are all in linen and with my own dyed and printed fabrics as accents. It'll be fun, and I wish you could all come and meet us there!

Here's a link to Mum's blog, where you can see what she's been up to in front of the telly.

- Annika

Iced Parfait on the Menu

Today was supposed to be a sunny day, but something obviously went wrong in the weather department. So I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow instead. Meanwhile, I'm going to share with you a cool technique I tried a few weeks ago on a sunny day: ice cube dyeing.

I followed Carol Ludington's directions for iced parfait in issue 57 (June/July 2012) of Quilting Arts Magazine. What you need is soda soaked fabric, ice cubes, fiber reactive dye in powder form and a tall container with a lid. Scrunch, pleat, fold or twist the fabric, and place it in the container. Add a layer of ice cubes and sprinkle dye powder on top of the ice cubes. Then add another layer of fabric, ice and pigment. There was room for three layers of fabric, ice and pigment in my container. This is what it looked like with all three layers:

A close-up

 

One more close-up, just because of the yumminess

At this point, when all the ice had melted, and there was a lot of muddy water in the container, it was time to feel a bit worried:

But there was no need for worry (top layer):

 

Ok, admittedly the middle layer is pretty wild:

The bottom layer, to my surprise, wasn't mud coloured:

Iced parfaits will definitely be on the menu again. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by, and more fun stuff soon! - Annika