STUDENT LEFTOVERS

After my Beginning 3-Der's did their eco-bundles 

there was much leftover windfall.

So rather then throw it away,

I collected it and pulled out a vintage linen blouse I thrifted.  

Along with the plant material,

there were also a couple of tea bags and coffee grounds to spread around.

I try to reuse string from other bundles,

not only for recycling purposes 

but because there is usually leftover dye stuffs on the string

 that gets transferred to the material.

Below you see a combination of new and reused string.

Here is the blouse right after I unbundled it

 and set the marks with heat from the iron.

It has not been washed yet.

The small area of color above is from the reused string 

along with the color the water turned that I simmered the bundle in.

I loved the delicate marks that were left from the leaves.

FOR YOU LIZ...

SOME FIBERY GOODNESS  :)

I've just recently discovered Liz Ackert of I'm Going to Texas blog fame

and I'd like to share her with you.

Liz is an incredibly gifted writer and fiber artist, 

who is originally from back East, 

but now lives in the beautiful hill country of Texas.

 I'm looking forward this summer to being  able to take the time to sit down

 and go thru her blog all the way from beginning to end. 

I hope you will too!

ECO-BUNDLED EMBELLISHED CLOTHING

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

recycled clothing, plant windfall, string, clamps, copper pipe, perle cottons, Rit dye

My post from 1/7/15 showed the results from the eco-printing

 that my girls did on recycled garments from the thrift store.

What you haven't seen yet are these garments embellished with love.

Here is senior Daphne Chiang's shirt all ready for the dye bucket that we saw from the Jan. 7th post.

And here it is below,

eco-dyed and embellished.

It's so sweet Daphne.

The girls did the eco-dyeing in class,

but I had them do all the embroidery at home between other art projects.

After Daphne displayed this at Open House

 she gifted it to me because she knew how much I loved the printed marks on the cloth.

Thank you Daphne for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

I love it and you!!

Up next we have this delightful burst of color by senior Kaili Hamada.

After eco-printing it,

 she then dipped it into the tye -dye baths for a very cool look.

She really got into the embroidery...

and if you look closely you will find all kinds of cute little details.

She even embroidered her initials on the pocket.

Our English teacher, 

Donna Hall,

is the proud new owner of senior Bianca Tolentino's lovely shirt.

Donna purchased it at our Open House Show and Sale.

One of Bianca's first orders of business was to add a decorative edging 

around the bottom of the shirt and sleeves.

She also framed out the pleats with a well placed fly stitch,

and check out the cool buttons she found to attach to the sleeves.

Wonderful work as always ladies.

You make me so happy!!

Oops...Don't Tell

Sooooo,

 there is this clothing store in Laguna Beach that carries designer handmade clothes made from old linens and European cottons that are to die for.

Each piece is one of a kind.

They are originals from artists all over the world.

They are also really pricey, 

I mean really,

 really pricey.

So two years ago my sweet man bought me one of these linen tops 

which he paid a ginormous amount of money for.

And what did I do to this lovely light aqua blue linen top?

 I accidentally washed it in a hot water load with bleach.

Yes, bleach  :(

It was an accident!!

I must have been right braining it  :(

The only bit of color that survived was a piece of blue knit ribbing under one of the armholes

 as you can see above.

Needless to say I was beside myself with horror that I had ruined this piece,

and that my husband would find out.

So I buried it deep in my closet for several months

 and tried to figure out what to do with it.

Because it was mostly linen I knew it would take dye well,

so I thought I'd try an eco-bundling technique in turquoise Rit dye.

So this is the end result,

and I'm not sure if I like it.

It's pretty artsy-fartsy,

kind of out there.

A bit loud.

So I'll wear it when the weather warms up a bit more.

And if I don't like it,

 the good news is that with each washing the eco-prints will subside somewhat.

Or maybe I can over-dye it.

What do you all think?

What will be interesting is if my husband notices that this is the top he bought me,

 or whether he thinks this is just another of my experiments.

Ha ha

I know, 

I'm so bad.

But sometimes a girls got to do what a girls got to do.

LOL

What's Brewing in the Art Room??

ECO-BUNDLE EMBELLISHED CLOTHING

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

windfall, thrift store finds, twine, copper pipe, rusty items

This 2nd year group learned eco-dyeing last year on silk.

This year I wanted them to give it a try on linen and cottons which are a bit more challenging to dye because they need a mordant.

The kids can thrift for themselves or pick from the many pieces I have found over the years

on which to dye.

They can also bring in their own windfall or choose from what I've gathered.

Here's senior Daphne Chiang after she has bundled up her blouse with lots of goodies.

And here's her finished blouse after its brewed for a couple of hours and sat for a few days to fester.

Some very cool rust marks.

And the impressions from the twine where she wrapped on the backside.

Next we have senior Kaili Hamada's shirt that she dyed,

and the cool rust marks that were left behind.

Each of the kids got to choose what liquid to steam their shirts in.

I think Daphne brewed hers in eucalyptus leaves,

and Kaili in fushia Rit dye.

For some reason my camera did not capture the richness of color here 

in senior Bianca Tolentino's shirt.

But 3 pictures below you can see the orange Rit dye that cast it's magic on her shirt.

And here they all are blowing in the wind on our clothesline.

In another month or two we will revisit these shirts

 and add a bit of embellishment like I did on Josh's Xmas shirt 

a few posts back.

Autumn Bouquet

I was curious to see what my fall bouquet would look like eco-printed onto this silk top.  I wasn't disappointed, the color palette was incredible. 

Front

It's always interesting to me to see what the vegetation looks like after the process is over, and how much color is actually left behind in the plants.  As you can see, not much.

Back

After I iron this up, it will be for sale up at the Trinket Trader in Crestline.   It's a size small, and it's $29.  Let me know if you are interested.

Eco-Dyed Summer Top - My Work

Just messing around with some cottons which are much harder to get to take the dye then the silks and wools.  

You'd think I'd get a punch of color like you are starting to see bleed thru below after I folded the left front over the right,but after steaming/boiling..

the result is much different then you'd expect.

The marigolds and eucalyptus leaves pretty much stay turn to color...

but I really lost the wonderful pomegranate red.

But then when you look really close you are seeing some turquoise and purples.  I actually like how the back side looks more then the front.  And if you look even closer you can see how the lace trim is picking up the colors as well, above.

A Whole Lot of Dyeing Going On

This year I left out the tye-dye buckets for the whole first quarter and the kids went CRAZY, dyeing their brains out making gifts for themselves, their friends and teammates.  So our clothesline outside my room was filled on a daily basis.

The kids also got into eco-dyeing their tennis shoes with flowers from around the school.

We are learning and having so much fun in the process here at Whitney High School in Cerritos!

Have I told you lately HOW MUCH I LOVE MY JOB!!!!!!!!  :)