Playtime

I bought some Lutradur at Fiber On A Whim a while back and have been playing around with it a little bit in my spare time. Today I mixed up some Procion MX dyes, painted the Lutradur first with Matte Medium and then with the dyes. Doesn't this look cool:

I love the way the capillary action carries the dyes through the Lutradur. I think this piece may be used on a journal or notebook cover.

Along those same lines, the cover story in the latest Quilting Arts mag was about Lutradur painting and embellishing. The author of the article, Sylvia Marie Polk, had used Lutradur in her City and Guilds diploma program, and furnishes the reader with step-by-step instructions on how to complete her project.

I have been wanting to make a wallhanging to cover the breaker box in our condo, and doing a poppy piece mounted on black seemed like a plan. I sort of followed the guidelines for the QA piece, but have strayed where "necessary".

I began by loosely sketching out my poppy on a piece of newsprint in the finished size I wanted the wallhanging to be, tracing the petals onto the Lutradur, painting them with the matte medium and then the Procion MX dyes I had mixed.

Then I mixed up some yellow disperse dyes and painted a piece of bubble wrap with the dyes:

I "painted" several pieces of copy paper with the disperse dyes:

and let the paper dry. Then I ironed the disperse dyed papers onto the painted Lutradur. (sorry no pics here). This was really cool, because I'd never done it before, and the yellow added just enough spark to the red Lutradur petals.

Then, even more fun!!

I got out my stencil burner and burned/cut the petal edges. Author Polk warns the reader to do this in a well-ventilated area and to wear a mask or ventilator. I "dressed accordingly", opened the doors in my studio and went to work. What fun!!!

Then I placed all of the petals on top of the newsprint "map" I had initially drawn:

Pretty neat, huh?

Here it is on top of the black duck fabric:

It looks washed out, but it's just the light in my sewing room.I've got a skein of red laying on top of the bottom petal, just checking shades for further embellishing. This is really too much fun!!!

About my Mom: C and I spent some time with her this morning. She was a bit confused and said she hadn't slept well last night. After some lunch, she was back in bed to nap, and we decided to come home. C went back this evening to help her with dinner (and to let me play some more) and said she was a bit better and ate well. I don't know what to think about her, but I do know that I enjoyed my afternoon of playing in the dye pots again!!

PEACE!!!