November Meeting

JOLTZ started off our November meeting.   Very simple instructions, starting with 'Draw an I.'  Or is it an EYE?  Draw a T.  What would you choose to draw?  No two turned out the same.

The tea bag show and tell was amazing!  Everyone has their own interpretation of the art form and the results are as beautiful as they are varied.

                         

       

                                                                       











Presentation                   Bernie

Bernie's presentation was on using our computers to print images on the tea bags and then colour them.

He used free clip art or copyright free images found online.  They were then reduced in size to fit on a tea bag.  In his word program he arranged them on the paper and printed that out.  He then taped the tea bags down over top of the image and ran it through the printer again to print the image directly on the tea bag.  This method works with both laser and ink jet printers.

As the tea bag is delicate I found that fusing it to a larger  piece of thin fabric before taping it to the paper worked well and made it easier to remove the tape.   Tracing the image on to the tea bag is another option.

Bernie then coloured the images in with water colour pencil and carefully brushed water over to enhance the colours and smooth out the pencil lines.

There were pre printed tea bag samples for us to colour and you know how we like to colour!

One more interesting way to do your tea bags.


A Google search of Tea Bag Art will supply endless choices for you.

Here are a few websites that will inspire:

http://alysnsburntofferings.blogspot.com/2015/10/large-balls-and-fun-with-tea-bags.html?m=1

http://www.rubysilvious.com

https://www.curbly.com/9932-10-marvelous-examples-of-tea-bag-art

Catherine will be doing the December presentation.

October Meeting

Linda started off the meeting with a fun JOLTZ.  Lots of scribble writing with a variety of felt pens, no looking though!  Then rubbed with Inktense blocks and finally some smearing with water.  Add your motif in black felt and you have an interesting background.

Brigitte gave us a recap of the tea bag project for those who missed the last meeting.

The show and tell of the first pairs of tea bags was truly inspiring!

There are still spaces open on the calendar to sign up to lead a JOLTZ and two spots left for a presentation on the subject of your choice.

Linda would still like some more work done on the QuArtz banner, stitching or beading are some suggestions.

Catherine has submitted our Water quilts to the Canadian Quilter Magazine and they will appear in the Spring issue! 

After some lovely show and tell of a bag, some pillows and a shawl we had our presentation.

Kay and Endy - Javanese Art & Wayang Shadow Puppets

Wikipedia describes it this way:

Javanese origin art forms are among the best know in Indonesia and the whole archipelago.  The famous Javanese Wayang puppetry culture was influenced by Hindu and Buddhist traditions.  The Wayang repertoire stories, lagoon, are mostly based on epics from India; Ramayana and Mahabharata.  These epics and stories influenced wayang puppetry as well as Javanese classical dances.  The art of batik is also of Javanese origin.  

Endy brought along a wayang puppet for us to look at and explained about the puppet shows put on at festivals.  It was made of buffalo leather and very intricately cut.  In some area's they make the cutting tools from bicycle spokes.  

More information on Wayang can be found here.  

https://disco.teak.fi/asia/wayang-the-world-of-shadows-and-puppets/

Wayang puppet 

Detail of cutout's

Kay's suggestion was to use the cut out technique for your tea bag this month.  She brought along cork fabric end cuts, donated by Cottage Quilting, to share with everyone.  Her tea bags were decorated with butterflies cut from the cork fabric.

Cut out motif. 

Kay's butterflies.

Cork Fabric

September Meeting

Welcome Back!  The guild season has started again and we had our first regular meeting of the year.

Brigitte introduced us to the idea of making art on used tea bags.  Two each month, one for yourself and one for the group project.  The group project will be a large collaborative piece for show.
There have been a variety of theme's chosen for the project including dandelions, leaves, circles and the word Joy.

Quilting Arts Magazine has two articles on tea bag art:

Issue 87  (June/July 2017)
Issue 94(August/September 2018

Libby Williamson is the author of the articles and she has an interesting blog as well.

https://libbywilliamsondesigns.blogspot.com

Example of Libby Williamson's tea bag art

To get us started on the project  Cathy Gaetz-Brothen  gave a presentation on Steampunk! and Tea Bag Folding.

Steampunk is described as:

A genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.  

Cathy had done her first two tea bags in a Steampunk fashion with metal gears as the embellishments.  One thing you will never see in Steampunk?  Plastic!

For next month, two tea bags inspired by Septembers presentation. 

Joyce showed her wonderful tea bag art! Inspiring!

Cathy showing us how to fold tea bag covers.

A beautiful rosette.

ArtWalk!

September is here and that means ArtWalk in Lake Country.  QuArtz was excited to be included again this year.  Our Water quilts were displayed and it was the first show for the QuArtz banner.  Making the banner was a group effort led by Linda and Christine.  Thanks to all who helped.

Cathy's water fabrics

The Banner

Cathy Gaetz-Brothen collected fabric during a trip around the world last year.  The four selections shown here are from New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and India.  The challenge was to use them in a quilt with 'Water' as the theme.  The results were wonderful!

Toni and Sandi G

Elisabeth, Cathy G-B, Joyce

Linda, Betty, Val, 

Jeanette, Shirley, Christine, Cath

Brigitte, Catherine, Judith

August Meeting

We were back at Brigitte's again for one more try on the Indigo Dyeing.  The day was warmer but smokey so the vat was prepared indoors.  Great care was taken to make sure no dye was splashed or dripped.

Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive blue color. Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from the leaves of certain plants, and this process was important economically because blue dyes were once rare.

The vat 

Look at that dark blue!

While we waited for the vat to be ready we learned some shibori folding techniques.

Shibori (しぼり / 絞り) is a Japanese manual resist dyeing technique, which produces patterns on fabric.

Brigitte sewing her pattern.  

Folded, clamped and ready to dye.

Into the vat!

It doesn't take long in the vat, carefully put in and squeezed to spread the dye throughout the damp fabric and then outside to batch.  The dyed fabric comes out a lovely greenish colour and changes to the indigo blue as the oxygen in the air reacts with the dye.  For darker blues you simply repeat the process.  We let them sit in the bundles for awhile and then the unrolling started.

Beautiful results!

Now what will we do with this beautiful fabric?  For more information check out these websites:

https://honestlywtf.com/diy/shibori-

https://closetcasepatterns.com/indigo-shibori-dyeing-techniques-tutorial/

www.grahamkeegan.com/indigo-vat-basics/  More than you really need to know!

July Meeting

We met at Brigitte's multipurpose room this month.  The plan was to do some indigo dyeing but it was a cool day and the indigo vat needs warmth to work properly.

Brigitte had a fun back up plan though!

Dye Transfer with Silk Ties

Here is a list of what you will need:

• silk ties
• silk scarf or fabric (dharmatrading.com)
• cotton fabric cut a little wider and longer than the silk  you are dyeing
• scissors
• string, rubber bands, or sinew
• dowel, stick or skewer
• pot for water
• water
• white distilled vinegar
• weight for holding down fabric in pot
• towel

As with any kind of dyeing any thing you use in the process cannot be used again for food.

Cut your cotton fabric a bit longer and wider than your silk piece. It will serve as the carrier for this project. This “carrier” can be used over and over again so hold on to it after you are finished dyeing. Place silk scarf or silk fabric right side up on top of the cotton carrier.

Cut your ties and place on the silk scarf. Continue placing your ties until you get to the halfway point.

Cover the ties with the other half of the scarf.  Then cover that with the other half of the carrier cloth.

Take your dowel and slowly roll up the fabric. Go slowly so the ties don’t shift too much.

Tie it off and remove the dowel.  Tie the bundle a few more times.

Fill a pot with water and add 2 -3 tablespoons of white vinegar and bring to a boil.  Use a pot that will not be used for food.

Add your bundle and push down into the water.  You might need to weigh it down to keep it there.  Boil for 20 minutes.

Remove from pot and place on an old towel.  Cut strings, careful it will be very hot!

Unroll and let dry.  Iron.  You can hand wash in warm water with mild soap and let dry again.    

Getting the ties ready.  

Interesting results.

More great scarves.    

Here is a link to Lynda Heines Blog where she shows you all the steps with pictures.

https://lyndaheines.blog/2016/09/10/dyeing-scarves-with-silk-ties-revisited/

http://notesfromnorma.blogspot.com/2012/02/tie-silk-dye-transfer.html

June Meeting

June 2018

We got together at Jeanette's to watch Loving Vincent.  Enjoyed by all that attended.