Chinese Whispers

[Margo C.]

Yep! It's a Small World! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[wendy w.]

Your Arishi ones are so interesting Maureen. I wish I could touch them they look so soft.

[Maureen A.]

Now I see how you made the Arishi water series. Question: what is the purpose of stitching a design and then pulling the threads tight? Is that similar to tie-dyeing where you wrap rubber bands around sections pulled up or use string to tie around those sections? Do you then release the threads after the dipping and drying process? And is that how the angel and sailboat quilts were made?

Knowing you are in Scotland and I am in Arizona and Margo is in a totally state and we're having a conversation as if we were in the same room is really magical--love technology most of the time 8)

Duh, I never told you one of the processes which is really important, it is trying to wait until the piece is dry, then with rubber gloves take the stitches out which is quite hard most of the time especially if they were pulled real tight. After that the piece is rinsed until the water is clear and then washed and dried. Yes, that is how the Angel & Sailboat was made. The pattern was draw on the fabric first.

I think I have a photo of me taking out the stitches (by one of the group when I was looking). I will have to look for them so you all can have a laugh

[Maureen A.]

Your Arishi ones are so interesting Maureen. I wish I could touch them they look so soft.

Most of them were in Linen and one was in silk (the one on the left). They were just one piece of fabric that was hemmed. I wish I had made two pieces out of the really long ones as people were interested in buying them but they had not got somewhere they would fit on

[Maureen A.]

Some photos of me taking out the stitching getting bluer and bluer. ops: ops: ops:

Taking out the stitches but can't work with rubber gloves, even the fine ones as it is too fiddly so getting quite blue.

Getting bluer by the minute

Really blue and hard to get off

[Maureen A.]

Maureen! You are a very talented and productive fabric artist. I never knew anything about indigo - not to this extent. Thanks for the lessons and pics! They are beautiful.

[Maureen A.]

A photo of our group Threadlines.

Left to right - Front row - Susan, Maureen, Alice & Gina. Back row - Ruth & Carolyn

[E.M. T.]

Thanks so much for all the pics ! Dye work is always colorful ! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Nice to see your smile and those of your friends !! I have 2 curious questions....how did you
all get started in the indigo work? and what do you use to get the hands :roll: cleaner...well, less
blue...? :roll:

[wendy w.]

Wish there was a like button on here

[wendy w.]

Hey Maureen was your t shirt white before you started to take the stitches out? :P They are wonderful looking pieces. Will you have a vat ready for us to play with, when we all turn up next year for Loch Lomond :wink:

[Maureen A.]

Thanks so much for all the pics ! Dye work is always colorful ! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Nice to see your smile and those of your friends !! I have 2 curious questions....how did you
all get started in the indigo work? and what do you use to get the hands :roll: cleaner...well, less
blue...? :roll:

We all met at the first Design class that the Studio ran in 2008 with Ruth as the teacher. There were about 12 in the class at the beginning. By the end of the two-year course it had dropped down to five. We come from different towns in Central Scotland and got on really well together so we decided to form the group with Ruth as part of the group in 2010.

We had done a little bit of Indigo Shibori before and decided we would like to learn more so we invited Jane Callender (an expert in Indigo Shibori) to come for a summer school in July 2012 (had to wait that long to be able to afford her) and teach us. We learnt so many new things and fell in love with the magic, process and results of Indigo. There are so many different shades of blue and varied designs that result from stitching, folding, twisting and knotting before dipping in the vat.

Alice, whose daughter is the caretaker of the church we exhibited in, suggested we might like to have an exhibition the following year in Glasgow’s West End Festival. We agreed on it exactly a year before we had the exhibition, so a lot of work as you can imagine. We had a little teaser exhibition at the LLQS this year.

After working with Indigo, although a couple of us dyed with Procion dyes and put colour in some of our pieces, most of it was still blue and we now want colour. We booked someone from the USA who is an expert in Shibori with colour as she was coming over here next year but has since cancelled, as she doesn’t want to be away from home for very long. We are thinking of having Jane again as she enjoyed herself and wants to teach us different things.

We use different things to get the Indigo off. First of all I used bleach but it was too much for my hands so I found ‘Vim’ (the brits will remember this) but in a cream form that we used to scrub the containers and airers we use at the Studio. It is non-abrasive and although you have to use it a few times it does quite well. I also use cleansing wipes and baby wipes and they are good. The only thing is that the Indigo stains your nail bed and inside the nails and it won’t come off for ages. Blue nails is not a pretty site, it looks dirty.

[Maureen A.]

Hey Maureen was your t shirt white before you started to take the stitches out? :P They are wonderful looking pieces. Will you have a vat ready for us to play with, when we all turn up next year for Loch Lomond :wink:

:lol: :lol: No, I had dyed it before hand, mind you I should have thought to start with a white t shirt as it might have turned out real cool for the Indigo that was coming off the piece :lol: :lol:

Actually that sounds a good idea, hmm have to give that some thought or were you just kidding?

[Norma H.]

Maureen, thank you so much for sharing your process. It's really interesting to see how you did it.
I know indigo is a color, but the dye you use, is that a special powder or solution, or is it the indigo color from Procion dyes?

[Maureen A.]

Maureen, thank you so much for sharing your process. It's really interesting to see how you did it.
I know indigo is a color, but the dye you use, is that a special powder or solution, or is it the indigo color from Procion dyes?

I am glad that and everyone else liked the photos Norma. No, we don't use Procion dyes for the indigo, we use actual Indigo dyes. At the beginning we sourced natural Indigo as it is a plant (something similar to Wode) but it was hard to get and very expensive. We settled for chemical Indigo which we were told is not as bad for the environment as the natural dye :?: :?: :?: You put salt in some warm water to dissolve it, put it in the vat and top up to certain amount with water (depending on what size of vat you want) add either dissolved washing soda or caustic soda (you use washing soda for silk) next sprinkle Hydros and very slowly stir. Next add the Indigo powder very carefully a little at a time, stir very slowly. Put the lid on the vat and leave as long as you can, at least an hour but preferably overnight. When using the Hydros and the Indigo power you need to wear heavy rubber gloves and a mask so you don't inhale any of it. Good health & safety is a must with any dyes.

The vat will last a while, could be weeks, but depends on how much fabric you keep dipping in and you have to be extremely careful you don’t get any air bubbles in it as this can kill the vat after a while.

I am sure you are sorry you asked

[Jane R.]

Just need to pick up a bottle of the blue nail polish that seems very popular right now, and you'd thoroughly disguise any indigo left on your fingers tips and you'd be right in style.