Fiber Collage Weekend Workshop

Beryl Maddalena was our leader for the Fiber Collage Weekend at the Guilford Art Center.  And, what fun it was!  Many of the things we did I had done before...and many I had not. However, even for those that I had done before, Beryl had tips and approaches that were creative and spawned ideas for new uses.  

For instance:  I had never done a "faux batik" using a candle for the wax...rubbing it like Shiva sticks onto fabric for a resist to the dyes applied later.  And as for the dyes...I think I prefer the low tech Rit/microwave method.  We even made some small shibori-like pieces clamped in wood and heated in the microwave.

The butterflies on this piece that is now pinned to my design wall were crayolas heat transferred from a drawing I made on a white piece of paper.  I was actually able to get three pretty good transfers from one drawing.  Interesting.  Also included in this piece are bits of fabric dispersed with thiox and pieces torn from painted fusible interfacing.  

Oh, and you should see the collaboration we students (and there were only three of us) made after we finished rubbing a piece of linen with crayolas over the cracks in the cement floors and the trunk of a black walnut tree.  Then we dyed the bright white with various dyes and today Chinese calligraphy was painted and stamped on it.  We three drew straws to see who would take it home.  I think I have visitation rights.

All in all a very good weekend!  I'm tired.... and happy with the new techniques that I learned.  A successful workshop in my book.