Decolorant Experiments

I decided to try decolorant ( a type of discharge paste) again.  I used it during the summer but with little success.  Can't just discard it with only one try, so I pulled out dark hand-dyed fabrics and some stencils and tried again.

These worked very well.  The fabric didn't discharge to white, but that wasn't whaat I wanted anyway.

The discharge was to a much lighter tint of the original fabric, on the red/violet, brown, blue/violet and medium green, the olive green discharged to a golden brown, interesting.  The red, orange, and fushia to a creamy color.  I could have kept ironing the paste fabric but I found that the paste spread out and haloed after about 90 seconds.

The next set didn't come out as clearly, all but the yellow probably could have been ironed longer, the yellow just wasn't dark enough.

I'm not sure what more I'll do to them, probably some paint sketching or threadwork on the discharge areas. 

I also tried decolorant plus.  This is discharge with paint added to it.  Needless to say, it comes in quite a few colors.  I started off trying a three pack of orange, lime green, and purple.  Then while I was at Quiltfest of NJ last week I bought 2 more 3 packs - persimmon, brown and autumn yellow and orange ice, robins egg blue and carnation.  I would have liked to get the primaries - red, yellow, and blue, but they were out - another time. 

Mostly they came out well.  I used stencils again.  It takes the color out and leaves the paint on top.  I do have to watch out what colors I use on the fabric so that there is a good contrast, otherwise it doesn't show up very well.

These are some that didn't work out so well, my color choices on the red fabric weren't all clear, I shouldn't have used orange and brown, they just don't show up very well.  The yellow fabric with sunflowers just look like I painted them.  The bottom fabric is a commercial batik that I used the white decolorant on, I'm undecided on how that turned out.

All in all I'm happy with the outcome.  Now I have to think about how to use the blocks in a quilt or quilts.  Ideas are starting to formulate in my mind.

"A World of Quilts" Quilt Show

Saturday, I went to the Northern Star Quilt Guild's annual quilt show. It's one of the local shows I enjoy going to. I went with Eda, Carol and Marie and the first vendor we hit was Jane Davila's booth "Flourish". She has the best art quilt supplies. Her web site is www.countryquilter.com . I found some new products and restocked on ones that were low or used up.

Next stop was "Batik Tambal" web site www.batiktambal.com , where I had to buy another tjap.

Many stops at other vendors, then finally went to see the quilts.

I was very impressed with the "Best of Show" quilts. There were 2, one for large quilts, won by Diane J. Evans called "Pieces of Dreams

and one for small hangings by Deborah J. Bein called "Reel Life" Mona's Party.

Both were original designs.

This was the first time I saw a show with 2 "Best of Show" quilts. I'm still undecided as to whether I like that idea. Shouldn't "Best of Show" be the best of the show and not shared with another quilt. Share your thoughts in the comment section at the end of this entry. I'd really like your thoughts.

Below are some other quilts I really liked, as you can see my tastes run to landscape quilts.

"Acoma Ladders by Barbara Browner Schiller won 2nd place in Art-Pictural catagory. A lot of applique and thread painting. I thought it was beautifully executed.

"Sonoran Spring" by Georgia Heller is a photo image with thread painting to accentuate the picture. She won a 2nd place ribbon in the Special Techniques catagory.

"Succulent Succulents" by Norma Schlager is a photo manipulated transfer. She won an honorable mention in the Special Techniques catagory.

Well----- with all my purchases, I can't wait to get into my studio to play.