Untitled, Part 10

Untitled, Part 10

It began with a concept, the loss of privacy.

And morphed into a big project.

I started forming a very long list. A list of events, places, and ways to loose privacy. I drew a distinction between ways to loose privacy in public, and ways to loose privacy in your own home where there is supposed to be an expectation of privacy. There are so many privacy losses related to the internet that I knew that was the focus of my project. I had to question: who is doing the 'looking'. Is it friend or foe? It kind of haunts me.

.......Cambridge Analytica, algorthims, hot mics, third party cookies, social media, doxing, hackers, cyberattacks, hot webcams, malware, spyware, data mining, backdoors, trapdoors, the dark web, etc......

I started seeing my computer as a tiny little window that has the potential to let an entire world of unsavory characters into my home. Scary thought!

That started with....wondering if I could build this:

Ah, yes! It works. This was constructed from leftover blocks from previous projects. It is quite structurally stable, but I noticed that the overcast stitch made the pieces slide out of alignment. 

My final project will be a giant cube made up of these tiny cells. Visually my project vaguely reminds me of my first computer, the Apple Macintosh cubey thing. My structure will be composed of 7 x 7 x 7 little cells. I debated about having individual cubes sewn together, or having the little cubes have shared walls. I opted for the shared walls. Also, the big cube structurally references the myriad of links we follow when we are on-line. And the holes in the walls, and ceilings, and floors remind me that if I can look out, someone else can look in.

I also did not know if the little fabric quilts would be able to hand the weight of a BIG cube. Would they collapse in on themselves? So, I decided to build another prototype, a 1 x 7 column. I could stand it up and see if it could handle the weight, and the force of gravity. This also gave me an opportunity to test a different joining stitch for all the pieces. I opted for the ladder stitch. 

This is the bottom, (or the top), with 4 sides attached to the base.  Next, I will fold them up and sew the sides.

Previously, I was only attaching two pieces at a time.  Now, because there is a floor/ceiling on each cube, some of the seams will require attaching 3 pieces at a time. I came up with an altered version of the ladder stitch which worked quilt well.  Unfortunately, I am using 6 strand embroidery floss, which means a needle with a big eye.  And, I am hand sewing through layers of thick quilted blocks, 3 of them. It is physically difficult to have the hand strength to poke all the holes and pull the needle through. I am limited by how much I can do in a day without causing tendon injury.

But, the colors! The colors are fun! And the column is beginning to take shape!

I finished the prototype, and stood it on it's end. Success! It was able to hold the weight easily! Sadly, it was not stable as a single column, but this will not be a problem for the actual project.  All the columns will be sewn together, and they will give each other structural support to not fall over. My questions have been answered by these two prototypes and I can proceed with the actual project! I am also fully aware that the REAL thing will have many, many seams where I am joining 4 little quilts together in a single seam. I am not looking forward to that part!

With all those holes, you are probably wondering what it looks like inside? Yes?

Next week, I reveal the title of the piece, and add the last artistic element that pulls everything together!

Untitled, Part 9

Untitled, Part 9

This week, I show you one of the less glamorous stages of the work, but very necessary.

I have now cut the sections into ONE block wide strips.  From there, each block will be trimmed to a 3"x 3" piece. Keep in mind that each of these blocks is already quilted, cut, and embellished with thread work, a complete LITTLE quilt, if ever there was one! Only, there are a lot more than ONE of these.   In fact, over a thousand!

The rotary cutter makes my shoulders ache. So I limited how much time per day I could work.  Very slowly, all the pieces got cut neatly into little blocks.

After working for so long on this project, it was nice to see the fruits of my efforts, and know that the real work of building the thing was coming soon!

You can also see a bucket in the background.  I kept all the trimmed off edges.  I am not sure why I did that.  Partly to see how much waste the project generated.  And, also, I might use them later in a different piece.  

One more step was to finish the edges of each little block so that the newly cut threads do not unravel into an unsightly mess.  I opted to use Fray check on the edges.  I grabbed a stack of blocks, and applied the glue with a paintbrush to the all the edges of the stack.  Then I quickly peeled them apart and let them dry on freezer paper.  My hands got so sticky. Yuck! And, for those of you who are curious....it took 4 bottles of Fray check to do all the edges.

Here are some stacks waiting to have their edges finished, along with some in the background that are finished and drying. 

Note: Next week, I will talk about the meaning of my project and show you a prototype or two of the build. Cool!! Stay tuned!

Untitled, Part 8

Untitled, Part 8

Finally a title has emerged!! Unfortunately, I am not sharing it with you yet. Ha ha! Sorry!

This stage requires me to deal with a giant mess of tangled embroidery floss. I did not take a photo of the giant pile, but this is what it looked like after I pulled the threads out carefully, one by one. Wahhhh, so tedious and not fun!

I learned to wind yarn around my hand to make skeins back when I was a weaver.  So, I tidied these up the same way.

And, then stored them in color coded boxes, a yellow box for the warm tones, and a blue box for the cool tones. And while this pile of thread looked like a lot to me at the time, I think I purchased embroidery floss at least 4 more times because I never got enough, and a future step required even more and more floss.

Now, I am all set to begin the cut work. I usually cut a small section at a time, 8 to 10 circles, to prevent my hands from getting tired from using the scissors too much. Here I am with some, working out on my deck on a beautiful morning. (Yes, all 1000+ circles were cut with hand held scissors.)

Making thread selections for the hand stitching of the cut holes.

I also discovered that having the blocks in narrow strips, only 2 motifs wide, helped with thread management.  I could attach my thread choices to each block and have work that could go anywhere with me. So I carefully cut all the bigger pieces down.

When I got to the blue ones, there were so many.  Over 700 of these to do.  I wanted to maximize diversity of thread colors with the thread from the satin stitching, the color of the batik, and the color of the background.  So, I made thread color choices in mass.

Here is a sample after stitching.

All the holes...

And, after many months of work, the completed stacks of nearly ready blocks.

I am thinking that it doesn't look like much yet, but in my head, so much wonderfulness, it's hard to contain!

Untitled, Part 7

Untitled, Part 7

note: In case you are wondering, yes, I do have a couple of titles floating around for this project, I just haven't settled on the right one yet.

Meanwhile:

I was a bit concerned that all the tiny repetitive circular free motion quilting (from the last post) would cause injury to my rotator cuffs.  So instead of finishing the quilting on ALL these little pieces, I planned to start the next step at the same time. That way, I could alternate sewing jobs, utilizing different muscles, and hopefully not get a repetitive stress injury.  

The next step is satin stitching the blocks. And, I wanted to use as many different color combinations as possible. So, I got out my thread chart samples and I inventoried my supply. I opted to buy a lot of new thread to extend my stash of threads. It was so fun to have them come in!! This selection is mostly Magnifico from Superior Threads. 

Also, I knew the back sides of the blocks were going to show, so I wanted the thread color on the back to match the thread color on the front. This also meant I had to buy some more empty bobbins, and fill them as I went. I used some Bottom Line (also from Superior Threads) for the bobbins, mostly because I had such a big stash of Bottom Line and also, it works really great in the bobbins and has excellent color choices!

Here's the part where I tried to decide which thread colors to use for each quilted block, trying to maintain a variety of color combinations. I am also very aware that this many color choices will mean that I need to change the thread in my machine frequently. It can be frustrating to have such a demanding muse!

Let the stitching begin! Something about working with these shiny colorful threads paired with the matte finish of the batik blocks was visually satisfying to me. I enjoyed this phase immensely. It was a lot more fun that quilting in a matching thread color.

I also found it easier to turn the quilted pieces under the sewing machine if I trimmed the quilted pages to only 2 squares wide. This will also help out later, for the next round of stitching! Isn't it interesting how the different colors of satin stitching thread make the color of the batik look different? These are all pink batiked squares, but the pinks look different to me depending on the threads surrounding them.

Meanwhile, of note....the satin stitching, especially at the speed I was going, was loud. So, I wore hearing protectors while working.  And part way through the project, my sewing machine broke. I had that machine since about 2008, or maybe before then? It was a low end Pfaff, and I bought it just for satin stitching because of all the machines I tested, it performed the best.  Now, the presser foot was broken, and it just would not work. I opted to buy a new machine instead of waiting the 5-8 weeks turn-around time for a repair. I also did not know if they would be able to make a repair of this nature and had entered a bizarre world of sewing machine repairs previously with my Juki.  I didn't have the heart to go there again. However, I kept my trusty broken Pfaff, thinking I would get it repaired and have a back up, but I haven't done it yet....

The new Pfaff. They don't sell my favorite machine anymore. I was heartbroken. I don't like changes. So, I went on-line, directly to Pfaff, and bought the closest thing they had to my old machine. On the bright side, it came with a needle threader, which I absolutely adore, and it made the numerous thread changes bearable. The day after I bought the machine, it went on sale. Nuts! I called and asked if they would honor the sales price, and refund me the difference? They said YES! Very, very nice of them! Then they sent me a refund for the full price of the machine, and never billed me for the sale price. I tried calling, it took 4 attempts to get through their phone system, but I finally got to speak to a human. I told them what happened and that I still needed to pay for the machine. They thanked me for my honesty, and then, they still never billed me. ??? I really tried to make this right, but ultimately, it didn't happen. So, I got a new free machine, by accident. I would still pay for it, today, if they would give me a way to pay for it. 

Back to the project, I enjoyed working my way through the giant pile of quilting, because the satin stitching was my reward! I also require chocolate, from time to time, to help with the motivation for the huge work load. This was my favorite.

Untitled, Part 6

Untitled, Part 6

Let the sewing begin!

First up, layering all the fabric with a backing and batting. These pieces will be seen from the front and a little bit from the back (or so I thought), so I picked matching solid colored fabrics for the backing. I think I used up ALL my blues, and had to buy some more! 

This effectively tripled the bulk of the project. Fortunately, I opted not to baste the layers.  The pieces are small enough that the quilting will be manageable without it.  I do not use an adhesive to baste.  These fabrics are being held in place by the friction of the fabric with the batting, and it works well enough. Finally, a small time saver for this extensive project!

The quilting part is a bit dull, and repetitive, but the lighting from the outside makes the texture look amazing.  And, I had two goals with the quilting.  The first is to add some texture to enhance the batik motif.  I don't want to distract from it. So, I chose a matching thread color.   The second goal is to add strength and stability to the little pieces.  In general, the denser the quilting the stiffer the quilt. 

These quilting lines are spaced about 1/16th of an inch.  Very close.  Also, lots and lots
of bobbins...

This page, I couldn't help but channel IKEA while quilting.  Hmmm....

The back of one of the pieces.

Thanks for following along! Progress is being made!

Untitled, Part 5

Untitled, Part 5

the dyeing and wax removal

One of the most rewarding parts of batik is applying the dye, and it was finally time! 

First was deciding how many of each little square I would need in each color.  For the yellow, I only needed 6, but I made a few extra.  And, for my special 6, I wanted them to each have different colors for the motifs.  And, for the motif to show, I would not select any of the same color as the dye used at this point. So, I selected anything but yellow.  Since I needed so few pieces, I cut off the 6 individual squares from the pages, which left me with quite small pieces to work with. Here they are after boiling out the wax, rinsing, and hanging on the line outside.

The greens were slightly bigger.  I was able to cut off strips from the pages.  I would need a little over 100 for the project, so I was able to sample most of the colors.  

The aqua colors were even bigger pieces because I needed over 300 of those.  The cut out shapes are getting bigger and odder.  However, when I finally got to the quilting stage of this project, it would become so much easier with larger pieces and less edges.  The tiny yellows would be the hardest to quilt, and the biggest pieces became the easiest ones to quilt.  So, I was trying to optimize area, and minimize the size of the edges. 

Last will be the bright blue dyes. I needed over 700 of these little square motifs. And these were the biggest part of the pages that I prepared. They also took up the most room on my dyeing surface, a reclaimed sliding glass door. This took many days because there was a lot of work, and relatively little surface area to do the dyeing. I arranged the pieces flat on the glass surface and applied the dye with a big paint brush. The brushing of the dye also allowed me to brush out air bubbles that invariably arise. The wax on the fabric puffs up a bit thicker than the surrounding fabric. Those air bubbles can cause some interesting texture when dyeing, but that is not the look I was looking for here. 

The dyeing surface, with wax and dye still on the pages.

Note the difference between the above photo and the one below it.  The lower photo has the wax boiled out and the fabric has been rinsed and is drying on the line.  All the colors finally pop!

After all the dyes had been applied, each page is left to process overnight, and then rinsed with water multiple times.  Next is the wax removal. That part is done in a giant pot of boiling water on my stove in my kitchen.  This was a really big project and it took many days to boil out all the wax. Each piece is slowly lowered into the giant pot of boiling water and swished around with tongs.  Then it is slowly lifted out of the water in an attempt to avoid the wax floating on the surface.  I have a few tricks to help with that!  

I was able to boil out 4 or 5 pages of work before the water became too concentrated with excess dye.  Then each fabric page was taken outside and dried on the line and rinsed again with water from a hose.  This is the stage where you can feel and see any clumps of residue wax and it just rolls off the surface when brushed with your hand.  Next they were washed with soap and hot water in my washing machine, and then dried again.  I also let my big pots of boiling water cool before disposal, because then I can skim the wax off the surface of the water before tossing the water down the drain.  I didn't want the wax clogging up my drains! ps. It takes a long time for a giant pot of water to cool...

Finally my stack of fabrics to make the project!

Untitled, Part 4

Untitled, Part 4

Dyeing Experiments and the Project Interruption by the Decaying Deck...sigh....

Summer 2022

Except for the size of this project and the vast amounts of repetition, the dyeing is reasonably straightforward.  I only have 4 colors to overdye.  The exception is that I am not sure which blue dye I want to use. And, I have had some not so pleasant results in the past....and, so, I will experiment!

I cut off 2 samples of each edge of every 'page' that has been bleach discharged. Then I tried out 2 different blue dyes on all of them. It seemed simple enough, to compare the colors afterwards and pick one.  However, these tiny samples were somehow harder to dye, and rinse and process, because they were so tiny. 

Blue dye 1

Blue dye 2

Dyeing blue on top of barely faded oranges, does not look as blue as I wanted. And, the orange pages were the hardest to bleach discharge. I also did not keep track of which dyes I used to make these blends, but I suspect the bottom one had more Navy dye in it. I opted for the top, brighter blues.

Meanwhile, my deck was in a very sad and rotted state. I had been replacing rotted and decayed boards for years. It was originally a redwood deck.  And it had become increasingly difficult to find a source for redwood planks. I decided to make the overall deck smaller, so I started 'borrowing' planks from the decks I would eventually get rid of, to use on the deck sections I was keeping. This worked for a while, but it turns out that the supports for the decks were also rotting, and that was too big a job for me to handle by myself.  

I hired someone to replace the entire deck, but they do not finish the wood with staining.  I also noticed while I was ripping up planks that the edges of the boards rot first.  So, I wanted to stain all sides of the new planks before they were installed. The boards were delivered and then it was up to me to stain them. It was June, and so very hot.  I used the old deck as my work surface, but it was really cramped and crowded and still had missing planks for me to carefully maneuver around.  I wanted to paint each board on all the sides, and put 2 coats on.  It was a lot of work, and did I mention hot? Wah..........  Driven by economics, I kept trying to convince myself that it would be worth it because the new boards would last longer if protected with the stain.

When I was finished staining the boards, I stacked them with spacers (so that they wouldn't stick together) and waited for the demolition to begin. 

They worked quickly and efficiently, and within a week I had a new, and safe deck!

It is so nice to have the deck sections a little more streamlined and to have less deck to take care of in the future.  I also added a little landscaping where there are no longer deck sections.  Next up is planting, but it will have to wait because our summers are too hot for new plants. 

Untitled, Part 3

Untitled, Part 3

After completing the application of the wax, it is time for removing most of the dye.  I worked outside on my driveway to disperse the fumes.  It also helps to work in the sun because the sun helps with the bleach discharge process.  Unfortunately my driveway had a good amount of shade, so I kept having to move my work space as the sun moved across the sky. (Note: I lost some of those trees, and now I very much miss the shade they provided!)

I added one piece of waxed fabric at a time, into a big rectangular storage box which had the bleaching agent already in it.  I used about 2 gallons of water mixed with 1 cup of bleach.  While it is reasonably dilute bleach, it is not anything you want to soak your hands in.  I used gloves and tongs to move the fabric around and then watched the colors lighten up! As it got closer to the bleaching out the color, I would remove it and place it on the concrete, and then add another piece of batiked fabric.  I used water from a hose to rinse the fabric, trying to keep the runoff on the concrete so that it wouldn't harm my plants or lawn. If it didn't look light enough after drying, I would repeat the process.

This process involves a lot of sitting and waiting, and also tending to the fabric at just the right time. Unfortunately, we were having a record setting heat wave while I was doing this, so the work was pretty brutal. I had outdoor fans and ice water, and I waited in the shade while my work was in the sun.  When I would feel the effects of the heat, I would halt the process and go inside to the air conditioning and lie down on the cool tile floor. It took a lot more time working this way than I would have liked, but it needed to be done.  I still can't believe that I don't have any photos of all of this.  I was concentrating so hard on getting the work done, that I forgot to document it.  Sorry about that!

The results:

The darker parts, the squares and circle motifs, have wax on them here; thus protecting the beautiful and intense colors safely under the wax. 

I gradually transitioned each piece from the concrete, where it kept trying to blow away, to my zipline in the backyard. I would give it a second thorough rinse and then let it dry outside for at least a day or two. Then I would start again.  Remember, I had 22 of these to do.  This set is almost halfway there. 

Some colors bleached better than others.  I also did not want the wax to crack, so I tried to minimize the folding and crinkling of the fabric while it had wax on it. Some of the colors were so resistant to bleaching, and had to be processed multiply times, and have the cracks to show for it!

The inability to remove more of the orange and golden colors will affect the next step, the overdyeing.  However, it is part of the charm of having a slightly blended color with the next layer.  It makes the original clear and bright colors pop a little bit more. So, it's all good!

Untitled, Part 2

Untitled, Part 2

In the entire project, this is easily the most relaxing and contemplative step, adding the wax. Notice the pencil lines in the top of the photo? This is a first for me.  I know how big I want the finished piece to be, so I am using the pencil lines to make sure I have enough room around the motif to accomplish the task.  The pencil lines will eventually disappear throughout the process, but as long as the stamped square is basically in the middle, I am good!

This is my wax pot, an electric skillet.  It is set on the lowest setting, just enough heat to melt the wax. I love seeing the reflection of the window on the surface!  Here is my stamping tool, a piece of a cardboard rectangular box, that when stamped produces a square.  I have used it on many, many projects with this motif.

After stamping the squares, I add circles to the centers. Then repeat, a lot. 

Here is a shot of "one page".  It has 56 motifs stamped in wax and held in place on a wooden frame with giant thumb tacks. I will need 20 more of these for my project, but I am going to add some extras, just in case anything goes wrong, for a total of 22 pages of little stamped squares and circles. And, all of this intense and beautiful color! Most of it will disappear in the next step, where I remove the dye from everything that is not stamped in wax. Only the waxed designs will keep their color.  

Here are a few of my previous projects with this motif.

Urban Dwellers

Cookie Cutter Condos

Windows