Monday, July 25, 2011

Complex Cloth - Design Wall Monday

Well I'm back from my annual trip to Quilting by the Lake.  This is a two week quilt conference that is held in Syracuse, NY each July and this was my 11th year going.  This year I took a 5 day class with Jane Dunnewold called Complex Cloth.

Basically it was an introduction to the world of surface design.  The class wasn't anything like I expected.  First of all, most of the people in the class already knew some information about dyeing and painting on fabric.  There was only a hand full of us who were truly newbies.  Then I didn't realize how much work went into surface design.  I don't mean any disrespect, but I mistakenly thought it was easier to paint on fabric than to cut it up and sew it together. . . . NOT!




Here are some of the things we learned last week: making  and using stamps, making and using stencils, dyeing fabric (along with the molecule lesson behind dyes!), manipulating fabric to get different looks, resists on fabric (flour and glue), how to use a thermofax, how to tape and use a silk screen, foiling and metal leafing, textile paints and how to use them AND safety while surface designing.  Needless to say - my head is spinning with everything we learned!  I worked nearly every night till 10 pm and there always seemed to be something else to do.

The picture shows some of the samples I worked on in class - most of them are experiments in using the different techniques. Remember all the fabric was originally just white cotton, silk and rayon pieces when we started.   Jane was a joy to work with - she's very organized - keeps the class on task and always had time for a quick question and to help.  I would definitely recommend this class to any new or intermediate dyer.

I'm sure I'll be trying some of the things I learned in class here at home and I'll blog about them as I go.  Hopefully I can entice some of you to try something new too!

See more inspirational design walls at Judy Patchwork's!

13 comments:

Carol A. Babineau said...

Very nice, lucky you! Great examples too. Can't wait to hear about more :)

Bonnie said...

you ended up with some wonderful samples. Are you thinking of putting them into a quilt? They would make a great "sample" quilt!

Nina Marie said...

Hi Bonnie - I'm thinking of using a few as backgrounds for small applique pieces - use others to put into art quilts. That's a great idea though - making a sampler quilt - it would be a great way to remember the week by!

Gail said...

Fascinating-what a great class to have taken, bet it gave you a lot of ideas of things to try. Please keep us updated as you experiment.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Sounds like a very interesting class, I know there is a lot of work involved in it. Can't wait to see more about what you learned.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Still jealous of your two week learning spree!

Your stuff looks fabulous. I can't wait to hear the stories and see the results more closely.


glen

Gari in AL said...

What a wonderful adventure for you. That would be so far out of my comfort zone but so exciting to try. Lucky you.

Quilter Kathy said...

What a wonderful treat to be able to attend this class!
Sounds like GREAT fun!

Miri said...

Sounds like a great class: some of your fabrics are just exquisite.

I used to teach stenciling on fabric to junior high school students-it was fun to see them "release their inner artist" in a way they never thought they could.

Cathy Tomm said...

Lucky you. I would love to have taken the course. You have some great samples. I would love to know what you did to each piece of fabric.

annette said...

I love this post! The picture of you in your environment is beautiful to me! I love it...more like it please qudiva!

Oh, andfor the record,all of it is beyond me! You are an artist!

AnnieO said...

Being a newbie makes your brain twirl in new and exciting ways--looks like you had a great time even with all the different bits to learn!

Kate said...

Wow! Lots of cool stuff from your class, including some vey cool surface designs. Maybe you could do an applique sampler using each of your new designs.