Thursday, February 15, 2007

Neon Tetras and Shibori


Neon Tetras and Shibori

I have been distracted by fish again! We saw some neon tetras at the store. I have always loved them, so I decided to make some! These are about one inch long and painted with metallic paints. Their fins are fused from some unnatural irredescent material, (maybe lame?).

I have also been distracted by a surface design class our art bee is taking. The top sample is batik. It took about 15 minutes to make these wax circles for about 1/2 yd sample, not including dyeing time. The circles are about the size of quarters. I think it is gorgeous!!
 I love the bottom sample too. These are tied circles that I learned from the book, Shibori, The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing by Wada, Rice and Barton. The circles are slightly larger than peas. I did a sample slightly smaller than a fat quarter and it took about 7 hours. I love the way it came out, but even with some experience, it just takes too long. I will try some batik smaller circles with a copper pipe next. We'll see how that works!

Nellie,
Here's an update for you of what I used this orange batik fabric for. I will be putting these birds on my new quilt, Vertigo, coming soon! Enjoy! Kathy

5 comments:

Nellie's Needles said...

I've been looking at these photos everyday since you posted them. So, I may as well finally leave a comment.

Your fish are wonderfully realistic. Orange is one of my favorite colors and these shibori pieces are just "yummy". I can't wait to see how each gets used.

Deborah Boschert said...

Orange! Delicious. Copper pipe sounds like a great idea.

p said...

Just found your site via Nellie's Needles blog, you are the 3rd quilter I have come upon in as many weeks. And your work is also stunning. Love the colors and 'painterly' quality.

Nellie's Needles said...

The current issue of "Quilting Arts" arrived today. What a delight to find your work on the cover as well as the article inside. Kudos!

FARBTUPFER said...

I love the fishes in the new Quilting Art magazine. I´ll try to sew them,
greetings from Germany
Waltraud