Ice, ice, Baby

Part of my “training for creative strength” over the past three months, is to try things i haven’t done, or at least haven’t done successfully :). I signed up for Susan Purney Mark‘s ice dyeing class, thinking i’d like to add some more colour fabrics to the arsenal.

Good thing it is ice dyeing, because Calgary this winter has had a great dearth of snow. It’s been the brownest one i’ve ever seen. And OH MY, what a difference having proper instruction makes!

I know now that my previous results were extremely wasteful of dye powder—another reason i gave up at that time. Though i know it’s not the last available, any i have is hoarded until i periodically slap myself and wonder what the use is of just storing them 🙂

 

I also am tired of trying to re-ecoprint failures, as they have never worked for me. Once done, they seem to be done, and most of the time if they DO ecoprint again, i end up with a muddy dark ugly mess of a cloth…….This means i have more than a few boxes of fabric that is uninspiring, horrific, embarrassing and with a face like a can of smashed ass****s. Cloth of course should NOT be thrown out regardless, and can always be overdyed. Naturals weren’t cutting it either, so for this next little while, i’ll be winnowing out the deformed and grotesque, and whacking some ice and Procion over it. There’s no rule book that says you can’t combine natural and chemical. And i LOVED the golden yellow and violet Procions bits added to the indigo overdyed grevillea ecoprint in previous posts :).

This is the last week of Jane‘s class as well. I admit to falling behind and must spend the coming weekend catching up—no point in not pushing myself to the limit, and hopefully beyond. I’ve learned more than a few things about myself, the way i work, and why i work the way i do, valuable.