Spring is Coming!!!

It really is!  Until then I'm still moving snow and will live stream tomorrow evening!

Indigo Fermentation Vats

My 150 gallon stainless steel vat, yes it is possible to keep a vat going for years even decades.  Learn more about dyeing with indigo in my Introduction to Indigo Dyeing Class at The Natural Surface!

My 30 gallon stainless steel indigo vat.  Both vats came from a defunct dairy farm.

Indigo

Indigo dyed wool strips.  Introduction to Indigo Dyeing begins February 15th, this class is self paced.  Cost $75 USD plus $29.95 subscription fee to The Natural Surface!

Prairie 2002

Prairie
2002
45x38ish inches
Natural Dyes
Silk Crepe de Chine

This is "Prairie" I found it last night in a wicker trunk with several other pieces to my 2002 Prairie Rermnant Solo Show.  I'm thinking of cutting it into four sections, after pressing, and machine stitching, maybe push the surface a little further, and work them into my Canyonland Series.  This while I wait on my indigo vat to do it's thing!

In the Mean Time

Cotton fabric dyed with procion dyes and surfaced with fabric inks, created well over 12 years ago.

I'm teaching an online basic introduction to indigo starting February 14th at the Natural Surface (which is now $29.95 a year to be a member)  http://naturaldyeing.ning.com I will be teaching both the instant indigo vat, and the standard chemical reduction indigo vats.  Cost for the class is $75 USD.

The Natural Surface Network - Changes!!!

BIG CHANGES are coming to The Natural Surface starting February 14th, if your a member check out the discussion in the forum!

I’m setting the membership price at $29.95 for one year. This is well below the price of a high quality natural dyeing book.  .

Current perks to a paid membership would be:

·        Your own personal page and profile

·        Access to the Forums

·        Access to the Open Groups this does not include Paid Access eClass Groups

·        Access it the Library.

·        Access to the Critique Group!

Future perks to a paid membership will be:

·        Your own personal page and profile

·        Access to the Forums

·        Access to the Open Groups this does not include Paid Access eClass Groups

·        Access to my DVD’s and Videos – coming this spring

·        Access to my podcasts – coming this spring

·        Access to my zines

·       Access it the Library.

·        Access to the Critique Group!

·        Coaching

Introduction to Indigo eClass

 

This class will begin February 14th, and will run approximately 90 days.  This class is perfect for the novice dyer whose never made an indigo vat, or hasn't had success attempting an indigo vat. The class is available through The Natural Surface.

Fabric Stash

Indigo and compost dyed fabric to the left, rust and compost dyed fabric to the right.  Cotton fabrics.

Natural Dyeing eBook Sale Extended through New Years!!!

Natural Dyeing eBook Sale extended through New Years Day!

Happy New Years!!!

Mark Making with Nature, Rust Dyeing, Compost Dyeing

and Getting Started with Natural Dyes!!!

All Books $3.99

Own them all Today!!!

http://www.kbaxterpackwood.com/e-Books.htm

eBook Sale and the Latest News!

The cat is out of the bag and yes I really am working on a new Natural Dyeing eBook! I've been asked what to expect, well I won't say what the topic is exactly there will be, however, plenty of bells and whistles for those of you using smart tablets! Interactive video, apps, and the like, see I've been a busy gal the past few months and I've got to say it's very hard keeping what I've been doing secret!!!

I'm hoping the big reveal will be sometime around Valentines Day 2013 so until then here's a Christmas Holiday sale for my existing eBooks!

All eBooks $3.99

Click here for the eBooks!

Natural Dye eBook Super Sale Ends Soon!

Natural Dye eBook Super Sale

Ends November 30th!

eBooks available through my website.

On My Desk

 

Some inspiration.

What is Old is New Again!

I used to draw and paint with these paints almost exclusively as a child growing up, so imagine my joy that Hobby Lobby was carrying these as kits.  I asked, no most probably they won't be carrying the single tubes, which is a shame because I ReALLY want a tube of red violet paint. 

I'm hoping that this will be the anwser to my fabric marker woes, I can control a paint brush but the fabric markers bleed, bleed, and bleed some more, and the marker tips themselves... well don't get me started!

Anyway, I will report back as I will be using the black color, and probably exclusively, as to how these interact with natural dyed fabrics.

Natural Dyeing eBook Super Sale!!!

Natural Dyeing eBook Super Sale!!!

Own them today!

Rust and Clay Dyeing! 

Compost Dyeing and Other Fermentation Dyeing Techniques!

Mark Making with Nature: Surface Design with Natural Dyes!

Getting Started with Natural Dyeing!

Feeling Handy

Rust and Clay Dyeing eBook Super Sale!!!

 

$3.99

For a limited time only!  



If you bought the Kindle Version of Compost Dyeing and Other Fermentation Dyeing Techniques, and it's a screwed up mess, email me at prairiefibers@hotmail.com and I will send you the corrected version of the book!

Old Dye Bath

It's really old, as in several years old old!!!  Yes it smells and yes that's fabric in the dyebath, which I believe is madder root.

Mark Making with Nature eBook Hiatus

 

Mark Making with Nature eBook,

the four book eBook package,

is going bye bye come September 10th! 

 

Once it's gone it's gone!!!

Yellow Dye Bearing Blossoms

Part of my blossom haul for the chapter on yellows, there are four different native prairie plants represented above, with the goldenrod below.

Both the blossoms and the stems yeild yellows.

Discharging Natural Dyed Fabrics

I will be posting instrutions, I've gotta find the videos first, on how to discharge natural dyed fabrics on the network, so far I've added a few blurbs for some simple discharge techniques.  The question was how to discharge madder dyed silk fabric using the silkscreen method... and I made a video about six years ago on this very topic.  

If nothing else this is an excellent reason for me to break out the dyepots this week and dye up some fabric!

End of Summer eBook Sale!!!

Celebrating the End of Summer and the beginning of Fall with an eBook Sale!

See my website for details!!!

Sale ENDS August 13th, 2012

WIP - Untitled

I started this piece a good eight or nine years ago and completely forgot about it, well this week is it's week to come to life. 

Layered rust, indigo, and compost dyed, silk, cotton, and cotton linen blend fabrics.

Shimmering Light

Like columns of shimmering light! 

I will be setting up dyepots this evening and cannot wait to dye more of this!  John's vacation starts tomorrow and I have him home to help me, and to paint the house, for the next two weeks. First up is to take all of the pastel silks, I dyed with exhaust baths, and turn them into dark rich lucious colors like the ones in the photo above.  Out with pastels in with yummy!

Washed!

Washed and dried and as soft as can be!

There was very little wash out of the pigment, proving that the longer the cure time the better.
Front view.

Back view.

Composting Fabric and the Issue of Rot

Yes even "I" have to deal with the issue of rot from time to time, I know many of you throw these pieces of fabric away, why I don't know but I have heard from many of you that you do so.   Me, well I'm weird in that I look forward to the holes, the tid bits scraps left in the washer and dryer, as they are layers in my mind. 

But what to do with the larger pieces that are thin and fragile?   Simple back it with a sheer iron on interfacing and go forward!  If need be used double sided interfacing and press it to a stronger piece of cotton fabric or canvas, when I've needed to do this I've used cotton flannel fabric as I love the way it needles for hand stitching.

Some tidbits of fabric from the dryer, I have a pile I collected from the washer drying on a rack.

More holes and I can't wait to stitch them!

Later this evening this batch of fabric will be placed into a dyebath of cutch and walnut, once it's achieved the appropraite tone of "sandstone" I will wash it, dry it, press it, and then cut it down to size. After all the logistics of placement is figured out I may back it with a sheer interfacing such as Misty Fuse (my favorite) as I really don't like putting netting/tull over the face of my textiles.



If you want to throw your fabric away I understand, I really do!  It simply does not fit with your vision and I know how difficult it can be to work with fabric, fibers, yarns, threads, etc., that do NOT fit in with your vision.  If it's way cool rotted stuff just send it to me instead of throwing it away, I promise I'll turn it into something wonderful!

Curing Pigment Painted Fabrics

Four different earth pigments were used in combination with soy milk to color this piece of cotton cloth.

I'm often asked "how long do I really need to allow for my soy painted fabrics cure before I can wash them"?  The anwser is depending on your climate/humidity a minimum of three to six weeks.

Tape was use to create resist patterns on the fabric. 

The real anwser is how long can you stand to wait?  The longer you wait the greater the permance of the dyes and pigments on the fabric.  Yes the hand of the fabric will change the longer you wait, the piece in the top photo has been curing now for about 10 years, and it's stiff enough after all of this time to almost stand by itself unaided!  I just found it this afternoon while sorting through a pile of fabrics that I had misplaced. 

More Holes

More holes, cannot wait for these peices to come out of the washer to see what they look like!

Oxidizing Fabric

Three four yard plus pieces of fabric that have been sitting out all winter and spring in the garden area waiting for me to do something, anything, with them.

Can't wait to see what this piece looks like after the washing machine, am hoping for some serious deterioration!  After a run through the washer then it's off to the alum pot and then time for a dye bath, am planning on something using walnuts and cutch for these pieces.

WIP - Queen Anne's Birds now with more stitching.
It's now cool enough I can stand to be in my studio for more than five minutes to get some work done

WIP - Hands 070412

Now with machine stitching.

I will be adding more surface embellishment to the piece once the heat wave passes, right now it's just too hot to do much of anything.

Hand Prints

Experimenting with hand prints.  Cutch dyed natural muslin cotton fabric. Machine Stitched.