The Waiting Game

Yesterday, I showed you the fabric with the flour resist that I did using Jane LaFazio's tutorial.  I painted over the flour resist and took pictures while the paint was drying. 

 I let the paint set for 24 hours, then gave it a good rinse to get rid of the flour paste, and then washed it in the washing machine. almost like it better before rinsing off the flour paste, but I'm pleased with the outcome.

Some details:

I debated giving the strips another coat of resist and another paint job, but decided to leave these.  

Today I worked on two more pieces using a thinner coat of resist.  Not sure how they will turn out, but I think I'll try putting them through the process again, just for comparison.

Below are some of the cabbage leaves that I showed you the other day, now wrapped in silk around the coffee can.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the prints will work.  The bundle is silk wrapped around the cabbage stalk.  Will I be able to refrain from unwrapping for a month?

 See how sheer the silk is?  You can see the 

leaves right through it.

Finished bailing out the fountain for its spring clean up this afternoon.  Lots of leaves soaking in there from the recent thunder storms, and some gravel and stones that Bryce Eleanor added on various occasions.

Glad that job is done!

Tuesday Thoughts

After pulling up the exhausted ornamental cabbage plants and throwing most away, I found two that I'd left in the front bed.  Hmmmm.  Wouldn't they be good for eco printing?  And why didn't I think of that before?

I guess because my current projects aren't leaving me much time for thinking about going through all the reading and preparation for eco dyeing and eco prints.

I tore off some of the leaves and am flattening them out in an old phone book.  Isn't the stem beautiful?

So now there is a little bit of silk soaking in a mordant bath of alum and cream of tartar.  

Something I just realized after getting out the silk -- on all of the prayer flags that I said I used habotai silk...I meant raw silk.  I do know the difference, but for some reason, "habotai" is what I typed on every prayer flag where I used silk.  And ALL of them use raw silk.

The texture, rough and nubby, of the raw silk appeals to me, and while I do love the sheer silkiness of habotai silk,  it must be the word itself that I love.  I'm not going back through all of those posts to change it, but habotai silk  is in the mordant bath, and all of the prayer flags use raw silk.  Duh.

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My friend Thomas has gotten me hooked on a Korean television series,  A Tree with Deep Roots, and now I'm having to do much slower stitching because I'm having to read the subtitles, and I'm so entranced with the series that, in spite of my determination not to, I keep returning!  Beautifully filmed and with engaging characters, the story line is loosely based on the Korean king who created the alphabet for the Korean language (instead of Chinese).  It was so much simpler that a person could learn to read and write within a day.

"King Sejong presided over the introduction of the 28-letter Korean alphabet, with the explicit goal being that Koreans from all classes would read and write. He also attempted to establish a cultural identity for his people through its unique script. While creating the alphabet, King Sejong encountered opposition of courtiers. First published in 1446, anyone could learn Hangul in a matter of days. Persons previously unfamiliar with Hangul can typically pronounce Korean script accurately after only a few hours study."

The series has mystery, political difficulties, corruptions, romance, and, uh, wonderful costumes.  Yes, I love the costumes.