Wednesday 21 September 2011

Trial and Error

Remember the Shibori class that Kirsty and I went to in the summer?  Well we loved it so much that I decided to splash out and buy all the necessaries for us to be able to do more of this at home.

The lovely ladies from the Diva Design Studio (who were our tutors) were very happy to pass on their advice and encouragement via email, and we set about creating some more pieces.

Lots of time was spent stitching, wrapping marbles and dying the felt, and everything was going well although we were lacking in one piece of kit - a steamer to fix the dyes.  The instructions for the dyes said that a microwave could be used instead, so we gave it a go...


... I suspect that whoever wrote the microwave instructions wasn't expecting the dyes to be used in conjunction with marbles and beads!! 

One large marble burst or melted or something - hard to tell exactly what happened, but the felt was burnt all around it and several small charred holes had appeared.  The smell was awful!

When rinsing out the dyes the charred areas fell away with a bit of rubbing, and after removing the marbles and other stitching, it didn't look too bad (from the front at least).   


The holes were not intentional (but I quite like them!) and a large chunk is completely missing.  I do like the colours though, and I'd already spent a long time on this piece, so I decided to finish it off with some beads.

 

Needless to day, next time I'm near the shops I'll be buying a cheap steamer!

6 comments:

  1. Isn't it strange how some mistakes end up being the thing that make a piece that little bit extra special. I think the holes add a certain organic feel to it and the beading adds just the right touch. What will you be doing with it now?

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  2. Thanks Linnhe! I thought I may hang it from a small piece of driftwood.

    I think the next time I try this technique (with a steamer of course!) I'll be putting some deliberate holes into it as I do like that effect.

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  3. I like the hole too!! Shame it was the flower that disappeared into it tho, as it looked like a lot of work had been invested in it! The colours and beads are pretty, and like you say trial and error...all adds to the learning process!

    I'd love to see it hanging - I'm having great difficulty thinking how to mount my flat pieces...in the urban absence of driftwood I'm considering bamboo cane...but don't know how to attach it yet? I should follow the example of your last post and just dive in!!

    Ali x

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  4. The melt down could be because there was some metal inside the marbel? But, the end result is beautiful .. loving it!

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  5. Love it - even loved the pic with the burnt pieces as from a distance it looked like ablack faced ram with horns _ how clever are you !!!!!!
    Sharon x

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  6. Error or trial , it's a fab piece
    Anne x

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