We are so happy to introduce to you our new Cloth Paper
Scissors community! It's been a long time coming, and we're happy that our
sister publication to Quilting Arts has its own home now.
Now that it is February 1st and we're one month
into the New Year, how are your artful resolutions coming? One of mine was to make more time in my studio; specifically
to hone my free-motion skills and to create a series I have in mind for an art
quilt study.
Having said that, I crave creating color in winter:
periwinkles and lime greens, cerulean blues, and bubble gum pinks. Over the
winter break, I turned my studio into a wet studio, working a lot with
thickened dyes, screens, and breakdown printing.
For anyone who does wet work
you know this is an involved, time-consuming (but glorious) process. Drop
cloths need to cover everything; fabric needs to be soda-soaked; printer paste
needs to be made hours before you use it; chemical water needs to be measured;
fabrics must batch; fabrics then need a good rinsing and washed with Synthrapol
etc. 
Coloring fabrics is something I crave doing every night I get home from
work. The process is just so serendipitous, it's addicting….and I. Just. Can't.
Stop!
This past weekend, I decided it was time for me to start
stitching and using all of these fabrics I've made, and on Saturday I did break
down some of my wet studio by putting all of my dyes, soda soak solution,
screens, and chemical water away. But yesterday I had a week moment. My husband
was on the way to the grocery store, and asked him to get me a couple of boxes
of Knox gelatin. I explained to him that he'd find it in the baking aisle, and
looked like the Jello pudding boxes. He came home not with four small boxes, but four
HUGE boxes! $40 later, I now have 128 envelopes of gelatin for monoprinting.
Needless to say, I don't think I'll stop coloring fabric anytime
soon!
