dyeing workshop

I spent today at Karen Williams and Leah Kaufman’s art studio, dyeing 30 fat quarters of cotton. We started by creating a series of tints and shades. Then we mixed secondary colors with two dyes. Our final lesson was creating complimentary color mixes.

Was it easy? Yes, because Karen had everything set up and showed us exactly how to get known results. She is like a scientist who has tried and recorded every color combination.

The day ended with experimental dyeing. In 24 hours I will see what I have created. That’s when I’ll rinse out my wads of damp fabric, set the colors, and iron my dyed cotton squares.

Karen Williams is a mixed media artist whose work revolves around fabrics, beads and thread. You can learn more about Karen and her art at skunkhillstudio.com.

oil sticks and freezer paper!

Owlet Artwork and Textured Surface

I headed to SODO today to check out the new studio space of Leah Kaufman and Karen Williams. The Studio Warming event was very different than I expected.

Instead of showing off their artwork, Leah and Karen invited me to use some of their tools and supplies—to learn something new. Karen creates advanced fiber art. I was intrigued by her colorful stencil work.

Next thing I knew, I was cutting out a freezer paper stencil and ironing it to a piece of black cotton. Then I used yellow and orange oil sticks to apply color over a piece of textured string fabric.

The whole exercise was mind-blowing. I can imagine all the ways I can add oil stick artwork to fabric for my own quilt projects!