Friday, March 30, 2007

Discharging Black Fabric

This is me, again. Somehow the first photo vanished. And I am still learning how to manage this blog.


This is a close-up of my piece Irony. Get it? Ha, ha.

There has been discussion on the Quilt Art list lately of the results you can get when you discharge black fabric. It is amazing how many variations there are depending on the fabric and the method of discharge. This is the result I got using discharge paste on a Michael Miller black. But it doesn't work with every MM black. I've tried other manufacturers and haven't been able to get this same color. Even using the same MM fabric, the intensity of the teal/turquoise changes and seems to be influenced by temperature and humidity. It's always a surprise to me.

The embroidered red square is one of several on the piece, and there are embroidered teal lines, too. I used to do a lot of embroidery, and now I'm hooked again, but using it in an entirely different way.

Check out Rayna's blog at www.studio78notes.blogspot.com for a close-up of another discharged piece of mine.

10 comments:

Rayna said...

Irony?? Groan. But the piece is very cool. Nice pic of you, too.

Rachel said...

Thanks for the compliments, Rayna. I like your new profile pic, too.
--Rachel

Joanie Gagnon San Chirico said...

Love it!!

IRONY!

you crack me up, but it is a gorgeous piece of fabric.

Linda Teddlie Minton said...

Irony ... I always think the title adds a lot to the piece! Love the turquoise color, thanks for the tip that it's Michael Miller black, gotta try that. (Hi Rayna and Joanie!)
cheers,
Linda

Unknown said...

Welcome to blogland, I love this piece, I have never seen teal from a discharged cloth, I love it.

Judy Rys said...

Love this piece. I've never seen black discharge to turquoise. I feel another project coming on!

NEEDLEWINGS said...

How cool is that! Great piece and title:D Wanda

Anonymous said...

HOW did you do that? It's BRILLIANT!

margaret said...

Welcome to the blogsphere, Rachel. Love that Ironic piece, and the use of embroidery - I'm another who likes to use embroidery on quilts.

Susan Schrott, Artist said...

Welcome to the world of blogging. It certainly is a whole new world. Your piece is terrific.
Susan