Artistically Speaking

Rebecca Parson's will be interviewing me on Artistically Speaking 8/21/2011‏! I recieved my info packet today and cannot wait!!!  More details later this week.

New Work Studio

Almost done!!!

Studio - Update June 12, 2011

Whilest I wait upon dye pots, summer storms (looking a whole lot like another flood year here) and fleeces to dry I will be rearranging my 1905 grand Victorian home.  I am moving my studio, combining my two studios actually, into the living and dining rooms of my house and turning the library, a room that has become a glorified closet some how, into a family room.  My current design studio will then become a dedicated office and my wet studio... well I'll have space once again for dyeing, painting, and printing fabrics, etc.

Photos of the progress coming and soon.

Mad about Madder Root e-Class

Mad about Madder Root e-Class Starts Tomorrow at the Natural Surface Network.

If the PP button doesn't take you to the payment page please email me prairiefibers@hotmail.com and I will send you an invoice for the class. ~ Kimberly

Pigment Painting

Today's live stream went well, here is one of the samples.

Pigment Painting on Silk Fabric - Live Stream

If you've ever wanted to know how to paint fabrics with raw pigments, I will be streaming live from my studio tomorrow afternoon at 3pm CST.  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-making-with-nature

Mad About Madder Root e-Class

Available June 1st, 2011 a self directed e-Class dedicated to dyeing with Madder Root. Cost $30 USD

In this class students will learn how to use a traditional madder root vat to create a range of colors on silk and wool fabrics, ranging from deep scarlet to brilliant orange and everything in between. This class is self directed which allows students to work at their own pace.

Membership at the Natural Surface "IS" required and pre-payment is required before accessing class information.  Class will formally open June 1st, 2011 (12:00am CST that's Iowa)



Organic Soy Beans

Organic Soy Beans, I'll be demoing how to make soy milk in an upcoming online class via The Natural Surface Network  More information later this evening.

WIP - Hot Flash - Detail

Hot Flash in what I like to call the ugly duckling stage, but soon to become a swan!

WIP - Detail

Detail

WIP

Now with a little machine stitching, I still have a long way to go before this piece is finished.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm Lost and Found???

Or simply neglected?  I found this piece hiding in a corner, I started it back around 2004ish and it went AWOL.  This is what happens when you dig into the deep recesses of your studio closet, goodies are to be had back there, oh and spiders.

Silk crinkle crepe top fabric, wool batting, cotton backing.
Natural Dyed with Cochineal and then compost dyed as an overdye.
36 x 60 inches, an approximation.
Soon to be machine stitched.

Dyer's Garden

Am planting a dyer's garden this year.

So far I've planted coreopsis, will plant more coreopsis seed tomorrow, goldenrod, and marigolds.

Rusty Horse Shoes

Given to me by Norma for rust dyeing, she's my horse manure supplier, I can't wait to see what kinds of patterns I come up with.

Red Hearts

Base heart is started using silk dupioni, dyed with cochineal, wool quilt batting and cochineal dyed cotton backing fabric.  I machine stitched the edging and am now set to start embellishing the heart with natural dyed vintage trims, lace, yoyo's etc.  I enjoy the hand stitching portion of heart making it's a very nice respite between projects.

Purple Easter Eggs

If your wanting a natural purple for your easter eggs I suggest using beets or cabbage.

HOWEVER, there is a catch to getting the purple color and getting it to stay purple and not turn grey.

Beets or Purple Cabbage chopped fine
Place in a stainless steel sauce pan
Cover twice as deep with Vinegar and add one cup of sugar to the mix.
Bring to a boil.
Strain the vegetation out of the liquer.
Return the dye juice to the sauce pan.
Bring back to a boil and then remove heat source.
Place your eggs in the hot liquid and roll around in the liquid.
Do this for about 15 minutes.



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Avocado Dye Baths

Pits to the left, peels to the right, my not so solar solar vats.  They have been sitting on my table in my wet studio for some time now.

Live Stream - Cancelled

I won't be able to live stream today, I have a stomach bug of some sort - most probably picked up from the place I ate lunch at yesterday.  Took my best friend out for lunch, to celebrate her birthday, and unfortunately gave her the gift of turning icky green!!! :-(  Well we're both sick now and have both decided that it's time to find someplace else to celebrate!

Live Stream

Am planning to live stream tomorrow and anything goes I'll be playing with natural dyes, fibers and fabric.  Stop by at 3pm central time! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-making-with-nature

Prairie Potholes No. 15

Finally home!

Natural Dyed Silks

It's time to dig out the ironing board and do some pressing!

Bright Yellow Orange Fluffyness

Kamala dyed fancy yarn waiting to be couched down onto a new project.

Bloodroot

My bloodroot patch has started to spread, finally.  I don't actually use the roots for dyeing with, I planted them because I have a small prairie woodland garden.

Excited!!!

Well I've finally made the decision I'm moving my studio out of it's current space, a second story bedroom, into the living and dining room, these two rooms are open to each other.  What the casual obsevery doesn't know is that my "design studio" has bled over into three other rooms, four rooms if I count all of the mixed media items that are hogging space in my wet studio, of the house and well most of the time I have no idea what I have as far as supplies are concerned.

With John's blessing we have been pouring over various studio organization books, and magazines, and will over the next 2-3 months move my studio into the living and dining rooms, thus consolidating everything so that I can work more effectiently.  I will also be working towards divesting of 'stuff' that I am no longer using and/or interested in using in my artwork. 

The upside is I will have a guest bedroom again AND my current studio space will officially become my office space/library for all of those books I have bought over the years for my studio.  Thank you Alyson for that encouragement!

Studio Update

Not much going on in the dye studio these days, it's still too blustery to do any serious dyeing out of doors so I'm keeping myself busy writing up new tutorials for natural dyeing, and starting this weekend I'll be skirting fleeces. In the mean time I have lowered the price of my eBooks from $19.95 to $14.95.

Winter Cloth Year Three

These two pieces of cloth have been outside for three winters now, will wash and do something with them this spring.

All THREE of my books, Compost Dyeing and Other Fermentation Dye Tecniques, Rust and Clay Dyeing, Mark Making with Nature in one package via digital download for $50.00

30/30 Mark Making with Nature Package!

Mark Making with Nature the Package $30.00 (Special Offer)

In this package you will receive ALL THREE BOOKS in one digital PDF download. These three books include Mark Making with Nature, Compost Dyeing and Other Fermentation Dyeing Techniques AND Rust and Clay Dyeing.

 

Of e-Books and Other Things

I finally found a source so that I could make my books available as a digital download :-)  Check out my website for more information, I'm hoping to make the downloads available from my blogs as well. http://www.kbaxterpackwood.com/e-Books.htm

Am still recuperating from a nasty fall two weeks ago, I've been using the down time to get caught up on desk work, book projects, and a new video project which will be shot once it warms up this spring.  Until then I will continue to stream twice a month the recorded videos are available on Ustream.

Tea Dye Bath

About 20 teabags in water.  I brought the bath to a boil and simmered for 15 minutes, I then added the prepared fabric and simmered for 15 minutes before turning the heat off.  This is one method of aging new fabric, the color however is not permanent.

Tannin Over Dyed Rusted Cotton

I have a short tutorial on Ustream on dyeing with tea, coffee, and tannin and then over dyeing rust dyed fabrics with them  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-making-with-nature I will be streaming part 2 tomorrow at 3pm Central Time.

Over Dyeing

Over Dyed Rust Dyed Cotton Fabrics

Upper Left Hand corner Tannin over Rust
Upper Right Hand corner Constant Comment Tea over Rust
Lower Right Hand corner Coffee over Rust
Lower Left Hand corner Tannin bound resist over coffee  over rust.

Crow Work Finished

Crow work finished and awaiting it's niche.

Aging Fabric with Tea, Coffee and Tannin

Tomorrow afternoon I will demostrate how to age fabrics effectively with tea, coffee, and various tannins. I have 30 minutes of stream time planned, which will be recorded, the stream however may go over 30 minutes.  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-making-with-nature 

Crow Work

New Crow piece from last Wednesday's Ustream episode.

Cutch and Madder Root dyed natural colored cotton muslin and dyed wool boucle yarn. 

Crow stamped with Setacolor Black Transparent Paint.

Machine Stitched.

6x8 inches.

Studio Live Stream

Made my debut today on Ustream with my first live test and all went well, thank you to Dale Anne and Diana for stopping by and critiquing!  I will be adjusting the cameras tonight and will be streaming live tomorrow from my studio 3-5pm Central Time.  Pre-Chat will begin at about 2:30ish PM Central Time.

Encaustic - Playing with Wax

I will be live streaming from my studio this coming Wednesday 3-5pm.  Will be working on some encaustic collage pieces and maybe some other stuff as well. Check it out!

Live Streaming from My Studio

I created a Ustream channel and will be streaming live from my studio starting next week. I'll be working on various natural dye, rust dyeing, composting, pigment painting, etc. in addition to a lot of collage mix media. I won't be able to particiapte in the chat unfortunately, my monitor and key board are across the room from me but will have a fix for that and soon.
You can find me at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kbaxterpackwood and search for kbaxterpackwood.

Avocado Peel

Will add more peels tomorrow and bring to a boil to prevent mold from forming.

Avocado Pit Dye Vat

Starting an avocado pit dye vat in a 2 quart jar.

Madder Root Dyed Trims - Found!

I've been looking for these for awhile as I had several projects in mind.

Copper on Compost

Oak Galls

Oak Leaves with Galls

Shutting Down My Etsy.com Store

Taking down my http://www.etsy.com/shop/prairiefibers store this weekend, I have lots on my plate right now, so if you are in need of something get it while it's available!

Goldenrod Dye Pot

Goldenrod out in the field.

One pounds worth of fresh goldenrod plant tops will dye quite a bit of silk fabric quite nicely.

A close up of the blossoms.

Gum Tragacanth Binder for Screen Printing.

To make print paste
2 - 4 Tablespoons of Gum Tragacanth depending on the consistency you desire. For painting I use 2 T. for printing I use 4 T 1000 ml of boiling water

Container to boil water in, and heat source for boilingwater
Blender
Squeegee or rubber spatula – the kind used for scraping bowls
Container with screw on lid – 1 quart variety
Respirator for handling the Gum Tragacanth in powdered form
Measuring cups and measuring spoons


Bring 1000 ml of water to a boil add to blender – after

I let it cool a bit so as to not wreck my blender.

Add 2 – 4 Tablespoons of Gum Tragacanth powder to the blender, put lid on blender and blend until a creamy consistency.

Remove from blender using a spatula or squeegee

place into your container with lid. I use wide mouth jars as this makes removing the paste much easier.

Cool the paste to room temperature, cover with tight fitting lid.

Store in refrigerator for up to ten days, I have found that it’ll last longer if you avoid introducing contaminants
to the paste.

Studio Update

I'm working on some new dye zines and a brand new dye book that is meant to answer many of the questions I recieve daily via email.   As you can see from the previous post I also acquired a new Flip Camera and am shooting How-To videos as well, this will also be available shortly.

Moldy Dye Bath - Test Video

Canyonlands WIP Detail 1

Canyonlands a New Series

Compost dyed silk - detail

Carcass

Salvaging the Unsalvageable

Rust • Wool • Pigments • Wax

Earth Palette

Taos New Mexico

September 29th & 30th, 2010

Emails and Dye Questions

I've been recieving more emails asking about natural dyes than ususal of late... my time is very limited these days with various projects, teaching etc.  Soooooooooooo if you email me a question and don't recieve a response please don't think I'm ignoring you, in fact check back here because I may well have posted your email and the anwsers here.  Unless otherwise specified I will remove email addies from the email.

Prairie Grass

From about 5 years ago, compost dyed, screen printed, and monoprinted silk charmuse.
44x54 inches

Studio Shots

Fabrics dyed, compost dyed, and or screen printed with natural dyes from five or six years ago and soon again later this week!  I'm off to clean and reorganize the studio time to for some surface design!

Wool Bundles

I'll open the rest of the wool bundles tomorrow, right now they are on the skirting table drying out, they are still soaking wet from Thursday night's rains.  Some of the bundles look more interesting than the others but that doesn't mean that there isn't something wonderful waiting inside.