Tibbits Blue TieDye Quilt

Here's a joyous riot of colors in this quilt made for my husband's father and step-mother.  It features a lot of  fabrics from Keepin U N Stitches at Jay, Oklahoma and the centerpiece is one of my hand-dyed Kona panels.  I machine-stitched the strip pieces and applied custom machine quilting, including a few mysterious words in the stitching.... such as the fact that it was quilted on Solstice 2010.  If you are in this geographical area, rent the longarm machine at the quilt and fabric shop above, for about $10 an hour to do your very own machine quilting--- you can buy back and bat there, and run your backing seam.  Then Keepin U N Stitches will provide you with thread from their choice or you can bring your own tread and bobbins if you have something particularly unusual in mind. 

Bamboo Osage Orange Socks

Bamboo Socks Dyed With Osage Orange Natural Dye

Since you saw the Osage Orange Chiffon Scarf yesterday, you can contrast the color difference with these Osage Orange dyed socks.  These were actually batched for a much longer time (ie over night or all day, vs. about two hours) and yet the color is more brilliant on silk than bamboo.  Plant fibers are great because they are vegan and don't have as much impact on the food chain.  But plant fibers just don't take color the way wool and silk do.  These ladies socks were custom ordered and I can make you a pair in some pastel tone such as peach/salmon or soft yellow as here.  Just send me an email or reach me at etsy by sending a conversation.

Cherokee Syllabary Cherry Silk Scarf

Here's an interesting new design.  I made this silk scarf using syllables from the Cherokee language.  I won a benefit auction for a used working Nacho Cheese heater, and converted it to a soy wax heater.  I keep the was there all of the time, and when I am planning to do soy wax resist batiking, I flip the switch.  Like a double-boiler the water heats the wax to a low melt, and I don't have to fiddle with the dangerous microwave in my utility room-slash-art studio.  I rarely work in reds, but was making a peppermint swirl tiedye tee for a custom order and had prepared the soy wax resist lettering in advance.  This is made using analine dyes of 3 blended shades of red, so it has shading and is not just a solid vat red.

Most of the clothes in stores is made from cloth which was vat-dyed.   The cloth goes thru a batch of dye and is highly agitated (although not mad ) in order to achieve a consistent monotone of color.  If you've a friend who tells the same joke over and over, you can appreciate how I feel about solid monotone colors.  It is just boring.  It is done because vat dyeing looks better when fabric is dyed before the clothing is constructed.  Or, only after clothing is constructed does nonvat dyeing "look right."  Basically, its easy, quick and cheap to vat dye... if you're doing millions of, ie, yards.

Much more time-consuming and thus expensive is anything ombred (ohm-burred) where the colors shift like watercolor, or tied and dyed as in tiedye and mudme.  This scarf was time-consuming because of making each syllable and its pronunciation.  (Not all Cherokee Syllables are there.  My chart shows 13 rows of 6 columns and some columns have 2 syllables as in Ga Ka and Dla Tla.).  The dyeing itself was rather simple compared to some dyes I use which are prepared with exotic stuff like inner bark, heartwood, fungus, bugs and the like.

This sweet cherry scarf is being listed at Island Retreat on etsy.  You will find a link on the right, perhaps to this very scarf if it is listed.

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Mudme Natural-Dyed Scarf

Mudme Natural Dyed Scarf

Mudme is a Thai technique for making great multi-colored tiedyes, by coloring bound objects which are then removed.  You can see I used a roundish shaped object (a rock) for the tie on this one, and instead of the traditional multi center, I used a soy wax resist to keep the white silk.  It is an imperfect process, and that is what makes this work so very intriguing.  Each scarf is a work of art, unlike any other.  There are so many uncontrollable variables which are interdependent.  For instance, the Madder Root dyestuff I was using had been reheated several times and was almost dust and twigs in the bottom of the pot when I sat it outside.  Then it rained and I thought for sure I'd get pale tones because the root was both exhausted and diluted.  But no.  You never know.  This one came out bright and just the color of fresh salmon.  Was it because oak flowers had fallen in?  Who knows!  There is a huge amount of serendipity in the process, and that's fun!

Silk, hand-dyed with natural madder root using vegan soy wax resist in a nontraditional mudme technique.  This scarf will be for sale at Oklahoma Food Coop and perhaps on etsy.  To buy it you can notify me by email.  $18 and that's a bargain!

Sanskrit Gibberish Scarf

Soy Batik Silk Scarf

I can't write in sanskrit, so I just scribbled something that I thought seemed a little bit like sanskrit when I was doing the soy wax batik resist for this scarf.  Here's sort of a how-to:  Start with a silk scarf and prewash it.  I like to give mine a strong scrub in the washer, but avoid soap or detergent.  Let it dry flat or hanging.  Then it is ready for the resist.  "Resist" is a term used for making part of the fabric where it won't soak up any color.  You melt soy wax and apply it to the scarf.  Where ever the wax soaks in, it will keep the fibers from taking any color.  Next, apply alum.  I keep a batch of alum made up for this purpose and made mine a year ago, so I don't recall the recipe.  It can be looked-up online.  Allow your article to dry in the air.  You can see already that this process takes several days.  The next day, place your scarf in the dyepot.  For Rose Madder as in this one, I made up a dye batch several days ago.  I happened to leave it under the roof dripline and it got some rainwater in it.  Every item and every dyebath is different, so there is always a huge range of possibilities .... all of which are uncontrollable.... when you do this.  You can gently and slowly heat Rose Madder Root dye bath, but don't let it boil.  It should steam and simmer but not boil.  Boiling is very bad for silk.  When you've achieved the color you like, turn off the heat.  Next day it will have cooled, and you can squeeze the dye out of the scarf and hang up the scarf some place on a towel where it can get bone-dry.

  

By now, you're going to start seeing clumps of soy wax flaking off, but that is OK.  Now, for the ethical question:  Do you wash it in the washer in a lingerie bag, or hand wash it in the sink?  Either way, use hot water of about 140 degrees to melt the wax.  Choose to do this in the drain you would like to stopp upp.  I like to alternate, hoping that there's enough routine family traffic in those drains to avoid a bad plugging.  Allow your silk scarf to dry completely.  There are two alternative methods for the step of ironing away the remaining soy wax.  You could place the scarf between layers of tissue paper (white.... not purple) and iron on the silk setting.  Or you could gum up your iron anyway by not using paper to absorb the wax.  I use the latter method (having taken a vow of ironinglessness many years ago which I have faithfully kept).  But if you actually use your iron like an ironing person, then don't be like me.  Otherwise your spouse will have strange blobs of what only you know is soy wax on his shirt, and you'll feel remoreseful but never admit you done it.  This code of silence can damage even the strongest love----  I know.  Four husbands and I am still making mistakes.

Now your scarf should be colorfast, clean and ready to wear for some quirky adventure..... geocaching?  Time travel?  Visiting a client in jail?  Probably best not to wear such a scarf to jail, as it would make a fine hostage leash if things went badly.

This scarf is for sale, $18 and can be purchased by emailing ktibbits@lrec.org .  It will probably be available thru Oklahoma Food Cooperative and on etsy soon, so you might look for it in one of my shops by clicking on one of the images in the righthand margin of this blog page.

Adventures in Natural Dye Methods - Rose Madder Scarf

Silk Charmeuse Scarf

Soy Wax Resist Batik,

Hand-Dyed in Natural Rose Madder

Oklahoma Food Coop is full of fun people, and this month among my co-op orders was a request for natural-dyed bamboo socks.  I've dyed bamboo, and it is my favorite type of sock because these socks wick better than acrylic but have the same level of softness.  Like cotton, only better.  So, I was up for the challenge to create hand-dyed socks using Madder Roots.  Trouble is, every fiber takes dye differently, and with natural dyes the results vary from wildly unpredictable to extremely unpredictable.  The socks made from the same batch of madder roots were a softer pinky salmon in final colour.  I had hoped to list this scarf earlier during co-op's order cycle, but with taxes and all I just tossed it into the Madder Root for an experiment.

Silk scarves are tough for a couple of reasons.  Long skinny things don't wash by machine very easily.  Um, silk hardly is machine washable at all because silk is delicate.  It must not get too hot in the natural dye batch, which has to simmer but not boil over 2 hours in a process that takes about 24 hours from start to finish.  Add batik wax, and that's not only slow and likely to give a resist failure... but also clog the plumbing with wax.

Those are just some of the reasons that I was so pleased to produce this first natural dyed scarf from madder root and soy wax.  It has a delightfully uneven shadowy color tone, and the wax held up fine.  (No comment on the plumbing.  I'm the plumber these days my own self.)

This gorgeous silk scarf will be for sale in time for Mother's Day on Island Retreat... click any item in the Island Retreat Etsy gallery to see everything there.  It will be posted in a few days, or call me for direct purchase 918 797 5016, about $18. 

Madder Root is a natural plant root.  It doesn't seem to be indigenous as a Cherokee dye plant... Cherokees used a different root which is rare and sacred with a beautiful flower.  I don't dye with the Cherokee red plant because it is reputed to be a cancer remedy and I think it should be preserved in the wild for this more important purpose.  Dyeing clothing and accessories takes plenty of roots, unlike dyeing basket reed which takes far less wild flower medicine plant roots.  I like Madder because they say you can twist the shade depending upon what you add to the roots.  And I've heard it does not require a mordant.  I use Alum to presoak and Cream of Tartar to balance the PH so the molecules form a chemical bond.  You may have Madder Root in your paintbox, for it is the precursor to Alizarin Crimson... my favorite red in oils.

Today, Madder isn't used because analine dyes have taken the place of these older colors.  I love it because I know it is a part of the color rainbow of centuries past.  Its use dates back to the Pakistan area B.C. and is common widely around the world as recently as the 1900s.  How nice to know that women in Chinese silk wore this color for more than a thousand years!

Civil War Replica Quilt

Civil War Replica

Here is a fun quilt that I'm making possibly for inclusion at a Cherokee Nation facility.  Legislation passed into the Cherokee Nation Code states that when buildings are constructed, a percentage of the budget is for Cherokee art. 

I'm a Cherokee history buff.  This quilt is interesting because I've utilized replica fabrics which existed during the Civil War era.  See how the colors of red are turkey red?  See how there are two shades of blue... conrflower blue and indigo?  See how the green is more of a bronze color?  Greens back then were made in a two-stage process where indigo was overdyed with something producing a yellow.  Greens were transient colors, and if you ever look inside the seam of an old quilt, you can see what the original color more closely resembled.

The cream "blank" squares are natural unbleached muslin, but I then overdyed them with a camel color to sadden the fabric and give an aged appearance.  A quilt from the 1860s, now 150 years old, would not remain this bright.  Beth Herrington has a quilt from this time period, which was once featured in a Thompson House quilt show about 15 years ago.  It was a quilt that a soldier had carried with him in the war.

This one consists of four four-patches grouped together.  And while I have never seen a 16-patch, it is typical because it is geometric, pieced, contains squares of about four inches.  The sewing machine was invented or sold about 1824 or so--- it is a contemporary of photography and the industrial revolution in England.  But very few homes had treadle machines and almost all sewing was by hand.  This one was machine pieced (and when quilted, it will be machine quilted).  Unlike quilts from the 1860s, this one is retrospective.  The squares contain images (such as quilt block patterns) from the Civil War era, and also facts and information about the Cherokee condition in the Civil War.  Most of the facts were gleaned from Emmet Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians.  You would find the last names of some of the soldiers who fought together; some names of battles in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory; information about impacts of the war; and some quotations; treaties; casualty summaries, and the like.

When I made this quilt before I added the war data, it seemed too new to be authentic and didn't tell much of a story except via colors.  Now with the fact squares, it 'speaks' about its historical context.  I'll be posting more Cherokee art quilts of this nature in the future from time to time.

I am seeking a Cherokee hand-quilter who would like to collaborate on this project, but my time frame is short.  If you would be interested in hand-quilting it (or know of someone who does that), then I would be delighted to hear from you.

Happy Lunch Sack

I was feeling guilty about using paper sacks for my daily lunch,.  So I made a tree-free lunch sack with some mojo of its own.  I started with a plain muslin duck cloth commercial lunch bag, then made it "Fluffy-ized" with tiedye colors of fuschia and turquoise, chartreuse and cherry and lemon.  Then I added a batik soy resist hemp peace sign, also hand-dyed.  I beaded the seams with commercial bead fringe and a few scraps, then embrioidered a ribbing along both edges, adding ribbons to make it funky... and beads across the top.  Ooh-la-la.  It makes any food wonderful.  And yes, I do toss it into warm water and hand-wash it, but don't run it thru a rigorous machine cycle.

For many art things that I make, I don't even try to sell.  That is because the hours involved would make the cost so high that no one could afford them.  So I just make and keep some pretty things for myself and to enhance our home.  Or it gift it to family members.

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Friedrick and I are going to see Eric Clapton in concert on Tuesday March 12th, so stand by for a real-time review on Wednesday.

Gracie Discovers Mudme

 

It makes a world of difference to be able to create hand-dyed fabrics during the day, when natural light helps with color decisions.  Last week I was preparing  fat quarters for a custom order, and found that I had stockpiled some white cotton squares.  It was news to me.  I'd forgotten that I was prepping them for the dyebath.

When I had leftover chemicals that I didn't want to waste, I made up these great cheery color squares.  They are not sewn together... they are just laid out in a possible pattern for a quilt top.  Buy all 9 for $40 and sew them together yourself as a weekend project.  Or pick out which one you'd like for a quilt focal point, just $4 and mailing costs of $1.75.  Note that these are not fat quarters... they are squares, about 21 inches.

My cute lil model is Gracie Piddlewhiskers, our Selkirk Rex female teenager cat and art muse.  She's always nearby to help with art projects.  Your squares will be again prewashed before mailing, so you don't have to worry about allergies.

Look for these squares at Island Retreat or via Oklahoma Food Cooperative, or email me about purchasing.

Citrus & Raspberry Charmeuse Silk

 

Citrus & Raspberry Charmeuse Silk Scarf

I have mixed feelings about silk.  I love the texture and it is divine to hand-dye because one never knows what will happen.  It is unpredictable--- or maybe I just have not worked with it enough to know what to expect.  I've almost never had a bad experience with it.

But then, it is made from the destruction of silk worm cocoons.  I've bought them before, the pecan-sized white cocoons that would pass for papier mache.  Unwind the threads or tear them apart, and inside is a withered little caterpillar.  That's the creepy part.  How can something so beautiful come from a background of destructiveness?

So yes, I do wear silk sometimes.  And I work with it professionally as a textile artist.  But somehow the ugly little secret about silk's origins is always there as a sadness in the back of my mind.  Shifting to vegan products is certainly a possibility.

This gorgeous silk charmeuse scarf is big and wide.  I'll be listing it soon at etsy, if I haven't already.  It is $15.

Mad Hatter Bandana, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland

 

Here's a quarter-section of detail from another Alice In Wonderland-inspired fun piece of wearable art.  It is a soy wax batik resist cotton bandana in a dreamy kaleidoscope of colors.  Everyone should have a bandana.  tie it on your backpack or day sack and you'll always have something to carry pretty rocks in.  Stop by a mountain stream and wet it down for a neckerchief cooler that is good as an air conditioner in the backwoods.  Gather radishes and baby greens in it.  Clean a geocache with it.  Summon a helicopter when lost.  Wave it at a Saints game.  Wear it to Alice in Wonderland.  Pull your hair back.  Or, if you don't have hair, then the curls on this bandana are a colorful suitable alternative.

One only.  $15 includes shipping.  Artisan original.  Look for more items of this nature at Fluffy's Compleat Boutique in the Oklahoma Food Co-op.  Or visit some of the 3 etsy shops by clicking one of my items for sale in the righthand margin of this blog.

Mad Hatter Scarf, for Alice in Wonderland

I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp as an actor, because he brings so much depth to his roles.  Thus I'm in major suspense until Alice in Wonderland comes out, in early March (about the 5th).  Again he teams up with Helena Bonham Carter, who was just delightful in Sweeney Todd.

So here, we tried to make up costumes for Halloween last fall, based on the film trailers that had just come out for the movie.  But alas, a costume error on my part for the Red Queen costume plus dreadful weather and not enough time... and we gave up our plans.  However, I did manage to simulate that great Mad Hatter bowtie in a china silk scarf.  It was batiked with soy resist and then hand-dyed.

I am going to be listing this great little ditty at my Island Retreat etsy site when I get around to it.  If you'd like it, email me at ktibbits@lrec.org .  It is $15 and can be hand-washed in warm water and towel dried.

I love to hand-dye custom pieces, so if you have an inspiration, just let me know and I'll make it up for you.

Cherokee Syllables Quilt Top

Back in Fall, on a beautiful sunny day, I took this quilt top outside for a natural light picture.  It is comprised of commercial cotton print strips and hand-dyed discharged batik strips with Cherokee Syllables and the pronunciation of each syllable.  Cherokee language has about 84 syllables, so this is just a sampling.  I've made quilt tops of all the letters, and I have posted a sister to this quilt.

[This one is twin, $75 as a top, and can be expanded with a couple of border strips in a color of  the purchaser's choice.  It is $350 fully finished if you'd prefer, with the buyer's choice of batting, backing material (solid or print), thread and choice of whether freehand quilted or quilted with a recurring pattern.] 

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To my Sweetie, Friedrick:
(You know him as Dennis)
Happy Anniversary!  Five years ago today, we stood on Sun Beach in Jamaica at sunset, and vowed to cherish each other for so long as we both shall live.  Never have I regretted loving you, and every day I love you a little bit more.  You're my best friend and partner, my confidante.  I thrive in your love, and I thank you for being the kindest and most tender, funny, talented person I know.  Don't turn 'roun the vehicle... we've got a ticket for the Strange Loop!  Life has many fun adventures for us yet.
~Luv Fluff

Hopscotch Quilt Top

In Summer after 2nd grade, my mother was a college student at Northeastern State College.  (Today it is Northeastern State University).  There, I attended a Summer School program, the students of which were mostly comprised of the children of professors and the children of students.  My mistake-- I traised my hand when they asked which students were third graders because that is what I was going to be.  Apparently, that got me into the class of students who would be moving along to fourth grade.  For a couple of days I attended in the older classroom, and then realized I was in with the older kids, so the teachers moved me back to my age mates.

That was the summer that I learned to play hopscotch.  We'd draw boxes on the sidewalk of the Old Bagley Building at NSU, and hop as many squares inside the lines as we could.

This is a quilt top I named Hopscotch.  See the alternating footpath?  Our hopscotch grid was never this simple or regular.  This top features a good bit of fun hand-dyed cotton fabric.  Imagine that each square is sort of a full-color rohrschach test.  I see one that looks like Earth, Cherry Fudge Sundae, Stormclouds, Looking Into Water.  I make up names for the tiedyed and hand-dyed panels and strips that I create.  It helps me to keep them straight about what might go where when I am quilting.

(This small quilt top is for sale $75 as-is.  If someone would like to buy it fully-finished, the price would be $350 to include a choice of batting, backing, thread color,  machine quilt pattern (or freehand) and shipping.)