CLAIRE PASSMORE textile artist

Preparing for things to come

3/10/2017

 
This week has been busy with all sorts of non textile related things - perhaps the most interesting of which was the arrival of 4 ex battery hens. I've been preparing for their arrival for a few weeks, and here they are.............
Picture
Picture
Picture

They have been a fun distraction - but I have also been determined to get myself organised in the studio so I can resume dyeing fabric once again. Dyeing fabric with fibre reactive dyes (sometimes referred to as Procion MX Dyes) is pretty straightforward once all the right 'stuff' gathered together. If all the things that can be pre-mixed are made up at and at hand it is a quick process.

Late last week I began by gathering various containers ready to mix and keep the different solutions I generally use when dyeing. I raided the recycling bin for a nice big bucket with a lid, a large soft drink bottle, several small bottles with lids, a few jam jars and some yoghurt type pots and put them all into an old washing up bowl.

Picture
 
With all that ready I spent a very enjoyable day measuring and mixing the various chemicals so they are all ready when I need them. Before I carry on though, I need to say that I am not someone who dyes fabric by weighing and measuring precise amounts. I have tried to be exact, make notes, make samples, be disciplined; but after about ten minutes I have lost the plot and revert to mixing colours on the hoof with a bit of this and a few drops of that.  I will never be able to exactly replicate a colour if I love it - or if I run out of fabric in that beautiful shade of crimson I dyed last week, but that's ok with me. I think I get more fun and a more exciting range of colours for my work by doing it this way. It is the way I like to do it - it isn't the only way, but I like to be a bit spontaneous and squirt colours together and try them out.

But before I get to the dyes, I also need some other chemicals and solutions to be prepared. These are the 'recipes' I generally use for most of my dyeing work:
Urea Water: (also known as chemical water)
Mix together 8 tablespoons of urea in 1.5 litres of warm water in a bottle and shake until dissolved. It seems to keep indefinitely. 
​
Soda Ash Solution: (also known as pH+) 
Mix together 1 cup of soda ash and 4.5 litres of warm water in a big bucket. I give it a good stir with a wooden spoon until it is all dissolved, then put the lid on. It keeps for ever in my experience.
​
Sodium Alginate thickener: (also known as Manutex or kelp / seawaeed thickener)
Sprinkle 6 to 10g of sodium alginate onto 100ml liquid. You can use plain water, urea water or liquid dye, depending on the result you want. I usually make mine up with urea water. Whisk it together and leave to stand for at least 15 minutes. I put it into a jar and store it in the fridge. It keeps for a month or too before it goes stinky. 
Fibre Reactive Dyes: (also known as Procion MX)
I like to make up small batches of dye (100ml to 200ml at a time) so that I have some ready to use at a moment's notice. I keep it in small bottles with the lids firmly closed. I label each colour so I know exactly which is which - sometimes the colours can be deceptive!
I like to make up fairly concentrated dyes so I can dilute them if necessary. Some people believe the dyes 'go off' or lose their oomph once mixed, but I haven't found any issues with dyes I have made up and used even a month or so later. So long as there is no soda ash in the dye mixture they seem to last at least a few weeks - if not longer. 
I use 1 heaped teaspoon of dye powder and 2 teaspoons of salt for every 50ml of warm liquid for my concentrated dyes. The liquid is either urea water or plain water. It needs a lot of stirring to get the dye powders fully mixed and sometimes not all the powder will go into solution. I find yellow to be particularly difficult. If that is the case I usually use just plain water and which is just off boiling point. I dissolve the salt in that first, then allow it to cool a little until it is hand hot. Then I add the yellow dye powder and stir and stir and stir. Eventually most of the dye powder goes into suspension, but often settles out once the dye stands. I just give it a huge shake before using and that usually does the trick. Any tips on dealing yellow are much appreciated!!!

SAFETY FIRST:
1. Although not all the chemicals require you to wear gloves and/or a mask whilst you are handling them I find it is just easier to put them on whilst working with the various powders and not worry about forgetting to do so. That way you know you are covered!

2. Remember that any utensils or containers used with these chemicals should never be used for food use. Get yourself a collection of utensils and containers that you only use for dyeing - charity shops are great places to gather such stuff.

3. Label everything really clearly with the name of the contents and date - Manutex really stinks when it goes off!
Picture

With all that prepared I will be able to dye any fabric I want in just a few minutes - with no need to get everything out and mix it all up from scratch (although sometimes that is nice to do too, especially if a big batch of something is required!)

​

And finally.............starting work on a project at last!


I need some 'wood-like' fabric. In 4 pots I mixed up some of the alginate paste with dye concentrate and soda ash solution - each pot has a different colour dye. Once the soda ash goes in the clock starts ticking! Around 4 hours is the advised time you have to work with the dye, although I find the working time lasts much longer in the cool British climate!

4 big paintbrushes and some bold brush strokes later - this was the result. 
Picture
I made 3 large pieces of fabric, rolled them in a huge sheet of plastic and left them to sit in a warm room overnight (called batching).
In the morning I unrolled them, rinsed them in the sink with tepid water to get rid of the excess dye and then put them into the washing machine on a hot wash. And this is how they turned out. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
So, now I need to figure out what to do with them next!

​But while all that was going on, look what else happened.......................................
Picture
Thanks for reading.
Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please click here. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.
 

Making use of garden flowers

7/3/2017

 
Hibiscus bush Claire Passmore
We have a beautiful hibiscus bush in our garden. It was only planted last year but is growing like crazy. The bush is absolutely covered in huge flowers that are so large the stems can barely hold the bloom upwards. The flowers last for a few days before fading then falling to the ground. I've been collecting them in a bucket and drying them for the past few weeks ready to use.

In the past I have made hibiscus tea, a slightly tart drink that is very refreshing and is nice hot or cold. I have also read about using it to make ice cream, sorbet, meringues and jam but the problem is I know the plant was sprayed with pesticide earlier in the summer as it had a bad case of blackfly - so I definitely don't want to use them for anything to eat. That leaves me with another great option.............

​I'll use them to dye some fabric.
Dried hibiscus flowers ready for dyeing by Claire Passmore
The dried flowers from the bush

To make the dye I started with about half a bucket full of dried flowers and added just enough cold water to cover them. They were very buoyant and I had to squish them down to get them to start absorbing the water. I left the bucket out in the sun all day to stew.

​
Dried hibiscus flowers ready for dyeing by Claire Passmore
My bucket of dried flowers
Creating red dye from hibiscus flowers Claire Passmore
The water very quickly took on a beautiful red colour
Hobiscus flowers soaking in water Claire Passmoer
Add cold water to cover the flowers
Soaked hibiscus flowers for dyeing Claire Passmore
After 24 hours the flowers were completely saturated and squishy

The next day I let the sun warm it all up again then squished the whole lot though an old sieve. The flowers had completely broken down into a silky mush, but the water had taken on an incredibly dark red wine colour. 
Picture
The squished flowers after straining
Hibiscus flower dye
The liquid dye (still a few flower bits left in it)

Before I added the fabric I decided to mordant it in the hope that I would get a better result. I didn't want to use anything toxic, so I chose to use vinegar. All I did was make a mixture of water and vinegar (1 part vinegar to 4 parts water) and simmer the white fabric in it for an hour. After 1 hour I left the fabric to cool in the solution and then squeezed it out ready to dye. If I had been scientific I would have tried a mordanted piece of fabric and a non mordanted piece to see the difference - but if I'm completely honest - I forgot. 
Dyeing with hibiscus flowers Claire Passmore
Simmering for a hour in my dye pan
Hibiscus flower dyed cotton fabric Claire Passmore
Both fabrics looked like this after soaking for 24 hours
 As I had a lot of dye liquid I decided to see whether simmering the fabric in the dye would give a darker colour than simply leaving the fabric to soak in the in the sun. I cut the the squeezed out fabric into two and put one into my dye saucepan and simmered it for an hour then left it to cool overnight. The second piece I just put into the dye bucket and left it out in the sun. 

The next day both pieces looked exactly the same.

Finally I put them both into the washing machine and washed them in cold water with a little delicate washing liquid. 
​
Picture
Fabrics washed and dried.
The photo above shows how the two pieces of fabric turned out. They are both almost identical (so there was no need to use any electricity to simmer the fabric at the end - and quite possibly I could have done without simmering the vinegar either - something to explore in the future) and have a very pretty pale pink with a hint of greyness. I suppose I could call it mink. I still have a piece of avocado dyed fabric from last year so I have included that in the photo too (on the right). That has a similar colour but has a little more brown in the pink. It actually goes very nicely with the hibiscus dyed fabric. (You can read the post about dyeing with avocado pits and skins by clicking here and here. 
As delicate as the fabric is I think it needs a bit of a kick to create something a little more interesting - so I mixed up some procion to dye some more smaller pieces of fabric to co-ordinate. I used fuscia, golden yellow, charcoal, pewter, my current favourite, cobalt. And this is what I now have - I think it look great. 
Hand dyed fabrics by Claire Passmore Hibiscus flower, avocado and procion mx dyes

​Thanks for reading.
Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please click here. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.

Avocado dye part 2

2/5/2016

 
I hope you will be as pleasantly surprised with the results of the avocado dyeing experiments I did last week. You can see the results below. After soaking overnight in the dye bath, I laundered the fabric and the result was a beautifully soft dusty pink (it is the fabric in the centre). The other wonderful thing is the fabric had the most lovely smell - a slightly perfumed citrussy freshness. I wish I could bottle it!

I think the 3 fabrics below look beautiful together don't you? - The original white, the avo dyed fabric and then the walnut dyed fabric I made a few months ago.

Picture
Left: original white fabric; Middle: dusty pink avo dyed fabric; right walnut dyed fabric

Adding the iron after mordant
 If you have ever tried working with indigo or wode then you will know about the magic that happens once the fabric comes out of the vat - well, a similar thing happens with avocado dyed fabric once it hits the iron after mordant. It is like magic! ​
Picture
The iron after mordant - effectively rusty water!

​I think the best way I can show you what happens is in pictures..............

I decided to try a folding technique and dip the dyed fabric into the iron after mordant to see what would happen. I folded the fabric following the instructions in this video 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTaAl4us8aY

Picture
Fold the fabric accordian style into pleats
Picture
This is how it looks when it is opened up.
Picture
Start by folding the corner up into a triangle
Picture
Then fold the triangle back on itself to make a new triangle
Picture
Keep going until the whole strip is folded up
Picture
Secure with elastic bands to stop it all unfolding

Once it was folded I poured the iron after mordant I made last week into a bowl and briefly dipped the edges of the fabric into it. As soon as I took the fabric out and the air hit the fabric it began to change colour.
​
Picture
Picture
Picture

​
The whole reaction takes place in a matter of seconds, and the more of the iron mordant you add the darker the fabric becomes. I had not realised quite how strong or quick the reaction would be, and unfortunately on this occasion I think I rather overdid the dip! Still - it was a great learning experience, and next time I will be much more light handed.

I have also experimented with other methods of applying the iron water by painting lines and dripping it onto the fabric. There is a lot of opportunity to experiment here.
​
Picture
The results of the dip dye
Sadly the lovely smell is now gone, replaced instead with that curious metallic smell which reminds me of blood (that'll be the iron!) Still, it turned into a pretty interesting piece of fabric.

And to my friend k3n - you are absolutely right - 'saddened' is a very good adjective! (see the comment k3n left at the end of  last weeks post) I Hope you have fun if you have a try.

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please click here. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.

A new discovery in the park today - avocado trees laden with fruit

26/4/2016

 
It is such a beautiful autumnal day today I went for a walk through the park; it is the same park as the one with the walnut trees I visited a month or two ago. The walnuts are falling now and I have a great big bowl of fresh (and free!) walnuts on the table.

Just a little further along in the park there is another group of trees that I took a look at. Imagine my delight when I looked up and saw this.......
Picture
Picture

All 3 trees are absolutely covered in the biggest avocados I have ever seen! I wished at that moment my nephew and niece were visiting - they are the best tree climbers I know and would have certainly been able to gather us armfuls of beautiful fruit. As they are not I had to make do with windfalls - but fortunately it was a breezy morning - and there were plenty of avos on the ground.
​
Picture
 
Here are just a few which I collected - the dark ones are ready to eat, the bright green ones are now ripening in my fruit bowl. I also collected up all the very ripe and bird pecked fruits. (You'll see why soon!)
The amazing thing about avos is that they are incredibly good for you - apparently a complete super food with the most amazing health benefits. When I got home I made my favourite snack - avo on toast. Yum!

Read more about the wonders of avocados here:http://healthnfitnesshops.com/health-benefits-of-avocado.html/ 

Picture
Image courtesy of the NZ Avocado Facebook page
Mine didn't look quite this beautiful - but I promise, it tasted just as good.

Of course, after my lunch I had a lot of avocado skin and big pips left over, and together with the spoiled ones I collected I put them all into my big pot on the stove. 
​
Picture
Picture

I'm sure you can guess what is coming next! Being not at all scientific, I covered it all with water, the simmered it all for an hour or so. Because the large avocado pips contain a lot of natural tannin I didn't worry about any mordant at this stage, (I am taking a direct dye approach here). Only time will tell whether this was a good idea or not!

After a good long simmer to extract the natural pigments I then strained out the debris and added a large piece of pre- wetted white cotton fabric. At this stage the hot dye bath was a pale pinkish tea-like colour. Pretty, but not terribly promising. For good measure I simmered it again (with the lid on) for another half an hour, then turned off the heat and let the fabric sit in the cooling dye bath.

Picture
Picture

Interestingly, as it cooled, the dye bath became darker - I'm thinking that perhaps it is oxidising - just like avos do when you cut them open. I don't know if that is actually what is going on, but it sort of makes sense.

In the second picture below you can see I have put a plate on top of the fabric to keep it fully submerged.
​
Picture
Picture

I'm going to leave it in the dye bath for a few days to see whether the fabric becomes any darker. There is one further thing I am going to try...... I have read that I can apply an aftermordant which will modify the colour of the avocado dyed fabric. For avocados an iron mordant  is said to change the colour to a dark bluish purple, so I am preparing an iron mordant (also known as iron liquor) ready to try once I remove the fabric from the dye bath.
​
Picture
Picture

To make the aftermordant I have put a few rolls of steel wool into an old milk carton and added a weak solution of vinegar and water. I intend to leave this for a few days to allow the steel wool to rust, thus creating an iron rich solution. This iron liquor can be stored indefinitely in a properly sealed and labelled bottle.
​
I'll finish the process this week and post my results next week - fingers crossed I will have some lovely fabric for a new idea I have for a quilted poem. 

Thanks for reading.
​
Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please click here. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.
​
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Dismaland? Not here!

24/8/2015

 
                            COLOUR FEST
Picture
So this is what has been keeping me busy this week!

 I took advantage of a beautiful sunny day and set up camp in the garden;  and this is what I ended up with..... 10 metres of jewel-coloured  gorgeousness.


Can you guess what it is all for?

sunflower
sunflowers
poinsettia
poinsettias
poppy
poppies
blue waterlily
blue waterlily


yep! .... the nesting flower bowls!

Over the next few months I will be teaching how to make these beautiful flower bowls at several workshops - 2 at Midsomer Quilting and a few for some quilting and embroidery groups. In preparation I have been creating the patterns for each set of bowls. Now I am testing them to make sure everything works out perfectly. Here is a sneak preview of some of the bowls under construction.


Picture
Blue waterlily
Picture
Purple poppy
Picture
Vibrant sunflower

I just love making these bowls - they are so bright and cheerful - you can't help but smile as you stitch!

For more information about the different flower bowls click here.

For the brochure on the flower bowl workshop, click here.

Thanks for reading.

Have you ever wondered about trying the fun of dyeing your own fabric?

It isn't difficult and you don't need a lot of fancy equipment...
Picture
... most of it will be in your recycling box.
Picture
Picture
And it needn't be expensive either. You can buy all the chemicals you need to get started for £14 on Amazon (free delivery too, it is a really good deal).
http://goo.gl/py2vhK
Picture


Got the dye and not sure what to do with it? No worries. You can find a really straightforward explanation of the 'how to' of dyeing in my book, Quilting Originals'.

Picture
I  have used lots of photographs to show you exactly what to do and clearly explain several different methods so that you can explore a variety of different results using the same dyes.  

My book is available directly from me  £18.95 or from Amazon uk for £24.95. You can see a preview of it here.
Picture
Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please click here. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.

What the heck is Dismaland? Click here.
    BACK TO WEBSITE


    

    Click here if you would like to receive an e mail when I add a new blog post.
                       OR

    Follow my blog with Bloglovin
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    QuilterBlogs

    Categories

    All
    Challenges
    Colour
    Cool-ideas
    Courses
    Designing
    Doodling
    Dye
    Exhibitions
    Experimenting
    Festival-of-quilts
    Flower-bowls
    Gelli-plates
    Hanging-sleeves
    How-to
    Inspiration
    Line
    Lino Blocks
    Making
    Marbling
    Mending
    Mono Printing
    Mosaic
    New-products
    Purchasing
    Quilt Gallery
    SAQA
    Sew On The Go
    Sketchbooks
    Software
    Stencils
    Stitch
    Surface Design
    Talks
    Thread
    White Horses
    Workshops
    Yarn Bobming

    Archives

    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    RSS Feed

    BACK TO WEBSITE
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.