After a few hiccups..... our first blog

Welcome to the first blog for our developing group working with textiles and mixed media  

The first Diversity project for 2013, called Lucky Dip,  was suggested by Jenny at the end of last year.  All those taking part chose a subject and colour and wrote them on a piece of paper these were then put into containers.  They were picked out in turn by participating members, along with a technique/medium which had been selected previously by Yvonne and Jenny.  This was a lively and noisy process as the themes, colours and techniques we each pulled out took most of us out of our comfort zones, as was intended of course! The only rules laid down were that the technique picked has to appear in the project somewhere, and that the colour selected has to be used in 40% of the project.  Jenny suggested we work methodically and set us target dates by which to research our themes and recommended we begin sketchbooks to follow our progress, with the intention of these eventually being displayed at our next exhibition.  We would discuss our research at a meeting in January, work on samples to the end of April and have our projects finished by the summer.

The Group meets regularly to discuss progress on current projects and discuss how techniques, new to some members, might be incorporated into their work.  The second week of February saw the first of this year's "play-days", using transfer paints, dyes and crayons to print onto fabrics.

Despite the dismal wet weather we all turned up with cars loaded up with boxes and bags of papers, paints, brushes, irons, heat-guns and hair-dryers etc., everything we might need except the kitchen sink really! Tables were set out with paints in one area and two different mixes of dye solutions on others; a drying area was set aside and a printing station set up.

Helen setting up one of the transfer dye stations

We started with a general overview of the techniques from Jenny, Yvonne and Rachel with samples being shown of the different results using paints dyes and crayons.  Play soon got under way with the suggestion that we first each make a sample sheet of all the colours and types of paints and dyes as a future reference. 

Gill deciding which colour dyes to try out first

We each produced colour swatches for future reference

The girls then produced many sheets of colour trying out different techniques under Jenny's guidance, including using salt on wet papers and cling film. 

 Carol, enjoying her first play session our newest group member, using the thicker paints to produce abstract papers ready to dry and transfer later.

while Yvonne practised using a resist and mono-printing, also stamping with transfer paint onto a previously transfer-dyed fabric.  Yvonne also tried out a stencil she had prepared on freezer paper, using it as a resist, then used coloured paper to transfer onto white fabric.  She envisages maybe adding fabric paints to the flower and using her favoured hand embroidery stitches to further enhance the piece.

The girls were all eager to see how their samples appeared on fabric, but it seems that maybe the damp conditions and the electricity supply in the hall wasn't sufficient to allow the irons to heat up really well so the transfers were a little disappointing.  We decided to continue the transfer process at home later and will have a show and tell meeting the following week to compare results.  We fixed a further date, April 17, to explore more avenues using this medium.

Prior to this day, Diversity held an "experimenting day" at the end of January so that newer Diversity members could see samples and demonstrations of techniques they had not used before, but would be using in their "Lucky Dip" projects.  Yvonne demonstrated screen printing and a couple techniques using Lutrador, Jenny demonstrated methods of making various papers such as silk paper, and tissue paper fabric, Ann showed samples she had worked previously, using transfer paints and dyes together with samples of heat-distressed Tyvek, and Rachel demonstrated free motion embroidery techniques using soluble film and fabrics.  

Gewn heat distressing a piece of Tyvek fabric

Gill trying her hand at paper making watched by Yvonne and Jenny

Jill getting to grips with free-motion stitching on soluble film

Yvonne demonstrating screen printing

We hope you will enjoy following our group as it develops, it is our intention to blog every couple of weeks or after meetings.  If you would like to see other projects both finished and in progress by this fledgling group of ladies, then please follow this   LINK

We hope to see you again soon.