WOOL DYING ( CHEMICAL AND NATURAL)

CHEMICAL DYING

 

This course used alot of mathematical equations to figure out the weight of the materials, and how much dyes you need for the material. Also, there is alot of time spent just sitting and stirring the wood pot, and waiting for the next step to commence. I found out that chemical dying was not my thing. 

Here I used a chemical dye to dye this grey wool.

I used a SUPRALAN RED to get this colour. I accidentlly used the wrong amount of ingredients but the end result was good.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Here I am in the boiling process of the red wood      

 

 

 

             In this photo the  wool is drying. If you notice the bottom far right hand wool has felted in the process.     

I Also tried different colours, pink, greens,aqua, dark green, olive green, rusts, light olive green, which you will see in the next picture below as well.

 

 

In this photo is a brownish blanket that I want to dye red.

We chose the largest pot possible to have the room for the blanket to easy move about, which helps it to absorb as much colour as possible.

The blanket was laid out to dry flat. The colour took really well. ( To be honest we where very sceptical that it would turn out)                                                                                               

NATURAL PLANT DYING 

 

 This course was much more interesting than the chemical dying. This is something that I can do at home as well.  I was really surprised on how well the natural plants gave such wonderful colours to the wool. I boiled yellow Tansy flowers to see what kind of natural dye I would get from them.

 

 

 Preparing Porcini mushrooms for dying

 

In the first left hand dyed wool, I used the mushroom colour to dye this. Then in the middle picture I had the Tansy flower ( the reason they are two different colours, are one ball was originally white, and the other was a grey). The right hand purple wool was dyed using Saskatoon berries. (these ones as well were dyed using a white wool on the second to last wool, and the last purple wool I used a grey wool).

 

This photo shows the dyed wool using a different lighting.In the middle section of this photo I used Madder root, to dye the orange. then I used the same dyed water and made a lighter orange, and then once more and got the yellowish colour. I was very happy with the end results.

Porcini mushrooms, Tansy, Madder root, and Saskatoon berries make up all these beautiful coloured wools.

WOVEN RUGS

 

 My first attempt at weaving on a loom, and boy do I wish my dear Äiti could see this, I know my Äiti would be so proud of me. When I was a child I remember watching my mother cutting and then rolling into a balls old sheets, old shirts, dresses etc. She would spend hour upon hour doing this on our balcony. Once she had a large pile of rolled  fabrics, she would then go to the "Matto Lady" who then would weave these into beautifully coloured carpets. As children it was so fun to see my old used cloths woven into our carpets.

So, when I had the chance to try this craft at my school I was so excited. Please do not zoom in too much on this picture. There are alot of mistakes, but hopefully with teaching and practice, I will learn this beautiful craft.
                                                        

                                                                     CHRISTMAS RUG

 In this course we had to make a weaving project of some sorts. Last fall I found this lovely red Table runner in a Kirppis ( used clothing store). I loved the pattern and colours. It was so very traditionally "Finnish". So, I decided that the project I wanted to weave was a red Christmas carpet with the same colours and designs.

In the above two pictures you can see the start of my carpet. It took along time to set up the loom, and figure out the pattern for my design.

 I struggled with making the carpet for the first day. I thought about it over the weekend, and wondered how can I make weaving this carpet easier for me. I went and redrew my pattern on a paper, and then put the right colours to the right peddles, so when I wove I knew exactly which colour I am doing next. When I started to weave on Tuesday morning, the weaving just became so easy and I suddenly was making the carpet much much faster.

 I constantly rechecked my work, to make sure I didn't miss any of the design etc. I did find a few mistakes as I wove, but the mistakes were so small that I decided to leave them. 

So, as you can see in the picture below, the carpet turned out great. I was really nervous taking it off the loom. Not sure what I would find, was my mistakes visible, was my carpet edges going all nice and straight. etc.etc. Anyways, I can't wait to put it on my kitchen floor for Christmas.

CUSTOM MADE BIRCH SAUNA BENCH TOWELS AND SAUNA PILLOW

Well I finally completed my first Silk Screening Assignment.We were to use one of the techniques we have learned and practiced in our Silk Screening class. I chose the Photo Emulsion Silk Screening.

 I first started off finding a design that I wanted to use for my project.Earlier on we had done some silk screening using a flour paste, which we spread on our fabric, and then let dry, one dry we crinkled it up to create a design, which we used as our stencil for the silk screening. I had found that the result that I got from this technique, created a really cool design which looked like a birch tree. Once I had found my design, I then took the fabric, photocopied it and then drew on the paper to make it look more birch tree like. We then enlarged this and the design was created. ( The first photo on your top left shows the fabric design from the flour paste, and then beside it is the photo copied picture with the drawing I added to it).

At school, with my photocopied design, we then did the process needed for the Photo Emulsion Silk Screening. Once this was done, I had to chose the fabric on which I wanted my design. I chose a pre sewn 100 % Linen fabric. I wanted to make a Sauna Bench towel, and Sauna Pillow.

I was very very happy with the final result. I also make two hand towels with the same print. The hand towels were 50% linen, and 50% cotton. 

 With all the extra sample pieces I had from making this pattern, I made a set of birch pillow covers for our living room.

BLOCK /RESIST/TEMPLATE AND WAX PRINTING

Today we tried some more styles of " fabric printing". This one was done with a homemade block of wood. If you look really closely you can see the wood print in the Orange Black blocks.
It was fun to do, and I am looking forward to trying out more of the different fabric printing techniques.

 Yesterday, we did fabric printing using a flour/water slurry which we painted on the fabric, we let it dry, and crunched up the fabric, to make cracks in it. Once we had the effect we wanted, we painted it with a choice color, which had an emulsion in it to make the colour permanent.We let dry overnight, and then this morning I washed the dried emulsion, and flour mixture off my fabric. Unfortunately mine didn't work out the first time, I either had added to much flour- water mix, and didn't let it dry properly, which didn't crunch, to give me a lot of the lines and cracks. So, I retried the whole process, so we will see tomorrow if it worked out. I will post pictures of it tomorrow.

So, in the picture above you will see the effect of the flour slurry. I was thrilled with the results. I liked it so much that you will notice the larger photocopied picture. I just photocopied my fabric and then blew it up to a larger size, and then with black marker drew lines on the copy. Presto you have a birch tree. This print is going to be used in a future project that you will come to see.

Today I tried Silk Screen Printing again. I tried to use two different colours this time.( they required two templates) in this technique I first made Red balls, and then used a template with the stem, and sponged on the template the black stems.

They turned out okay ( for my first attempt at this), but  I need to learn how to do this by rote, and I'm not there yet. I guess that is why they say " Practice, Practice, Practice".

                                                                     WAX PRINTING

 

 This week we finally started our Textile course. The pictures that I have posted earlier on my blog are things I made at the different " workshops" we have had for the past four weeks. These " workshops were meant for us to get to know the other courses that are being offered at our school. Also that we get to know the other teachers, and students.

Anyways, as I said this week we started Fabric Printing, and the different mediums that can be used in Fabric Printing. This is my first attempt at using Wax in our Silk Screen Printing. The wax was a bit tricky to work with, it dried up so quickly, and because there was no colour to the wax, you weren't sure if you got a proper coat of wax on the screen.

 I tried in this picture, to overlap the pictures over each other. That is why some darker area's show up.I'm not sure yet if i like the effect. It's kinds cool, but I wish I would have looked more carefully how I placed the darker area's. Next time I will be more careful. I guess that is what this school is all about. Learn from your mistakes.

 It will be so interesting to see how my work develops. 

 

TEXTILES

We also had a Sewing Workshop. There I made this tote bag, and then in the Textile Workshop I made the printed the Birch tree picture. To create this effect I used the bark side of a piece of wood. I started with the Black mixture, and then shaded with a paint brush,and then added a very little moss green. To give an effect of the moss that often grows on the birches.

This was a fun workshop, and I can to realize that the sky is the limit for printing on fabrics. So many many different tools could be used to create lovely designs. branches, fruit, vegetables, dishes etc.etc.

You will come to see that I just LOVE Birch trees. This type of design you will probably come to see alot of in my work.

WOOD SHOP

I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy working in the "Wood Shop" at school. I was very pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed working with wood. It's a wonderful living breathing material.
As you can see, I found many different things to make for our home. I always wanted a " egg holder" for my counter. ( Here in Finland the eggs you buy from the grocery store are not refrigerated so, they can be left on the counter).

I Also made the wooden couch coffee cup\drink holder was something that's super handy. Lastly I made the wooden tray for serving. Boy, I sure wish I could spend more time in that workshop, I have a list a mile long of things I could make for our place.

METAL SHOP

In these above pictures you can see the steps that are involved in making the monument. I first drew a plan, then cut all the metal rods, then welded them together.

I have never welded in my life. My dad was a welder, and my son has gone to Welding school, so when I had the chance to weld at the Artisan school I am attending, I jumped at the opportunity to try this craft.

We were given metal rods to design and to make into small easy wall hooks ( we were also given the option of either welding the rods together ourselves or get the teacher to weld for us). Well, I decided that I wanted to weld something a bit bigger.

Boy oh Boy...  the time I spent hand sawing and cutting all these rods, and then sanding them all down, the rest of the class had moved on with new projects. I truly did not think I would get this monument finished by the end of the week.

But, I did finish it. I even welded the whole piece "all by myself".

I have to admit, that even I am pleased with my first attempt at working with metal and welding.


Once at home, I put little mini lights in the tubes, to light up my "monument".