Do You Have A Favorite Product To Use In Making Art?

     Do you have a product that you use often in making your art and that amazes you? I have several products I love to use. Procion MX dyes, fabric paints, colorless extender, thermofax screens, and others. But I just discovered a product that has been around awhile but I never tried called Color Magnet by Jacquard. It is advertised as a dye attractant that magically attracts more dye where it is applied. I was intrigued with possibilities for its use. So I bought some and set up an experiment.
     I took swatches of white cotton broadcloth that I had scoured. And I applied the Color Magnet paste to the fabric through a thermofax screen. I let it dry overnight. Then the next day, I put each swatch in its own ziploc baggie. I mixed up a solution of ProChemical's Procion MX dye called Celery. I chose that color because when I had used it before on folded fabrics, the colors that are in it split to create a multi-colored cloth. And I wanted to use a dye mixture that I knew could split easily to see if it would split using Color Magnet. I made up several dilutions of my stock Celery dye in water with soda ash. I poured each concentration in a baggie with the swatches and let them batch 24 hours.
     The following day, I washed them out and loved the results. And the Celery dye did indeed split a little in the places where the Color Magnet was on the cloth.

Sample A on top is the most concentrated
Sample B is a dilution of the dye in A

There's B again on top
Sample C is a dilution of the dye in B

There's C again
Sample D is a dilution of C
note that it is more brown

     I was also curious to see if Color Magnet would work on previously dyed cloth. So I took a swatch of the broadcloth that I had previously dyed in the color Marine, which is a not so intense blue-green. I screened on the Color Magnet, let it dry overnight and the next day put it into the same dye dilution as Sample C.

the cloth shows it has been overdyed
and the leaf is the same tone of Celery that Sample C has

And while I was doing these experiments, I got another idea. Would Color Magnet allow polyester fabric to take the dye? Normally, the Procion MX dyes wash right out of polyester. So I took a swatch of white sheer polyester and screened on Color Magnet, dried it overnight, and also dyed it in Solution C.

The next day, the whole cloth looked like it had taken the dye. But, of course, when I washed it out, the dye washed out of the polyester...EXCEPT for where the leaf had been screen on with Color Magnet. The dye stuck! And it didn't change the hand of the fabric at all. 

SO COOL!

     So now I have all sorts of ideas to add imagery to my fabrics without changing the hand of it. The downside is that when you dye it, it also changes the background color. But it will definitely have a prominent place in my future works. I'm running more experiments now with different ways of screening Color Magnet on, diluting it, extra applications of it, etc.

     Also, I want to announce that I have a new Website I built with WordPress. I had never done any kind of tech work like that before. The first two days, I couldn't figure anything out and couldn't get text or images onto it. Then, I hired a service called WordPress Live for $150. For that price, you get unlimited phone calls for 1 month and they screen share with you and teach you how to use WordPress. Their goal is for you to end up with a cool website that will attain the goals you want and that you can maintain on your own. Each phone call is limited to 25 minutes, but you can call right back if you want as many times as you want. They limit it so that you will be encouraged to work on your own. It only took a few calls to get me to understand how to use WordPress. It's a very impressive service and I'm not getting any compensation from them to tell you this. I just want you to know about it in case you want to build a website, too.
     I also started an Instagram account where I want to share photos of nature and also to help promote my art. All this from a person, who, back in the day said "Email? I'll never use email. Internet? What a crazy idea. Not for me." Now I try to keep up with it all. I've read tech learning is a good exercise for the brain and helps prevent dementia. Hope it's true.  I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other fabric art blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

How Do You Get Your Business Side Of Your Art Practice Together?

     Do you regularly spend time on the business aspect of your art practice or squeeze it in when you can? My past modus operandi was to just squeeze it in when the mood struck. I've read that to be a successful artist, you must spend at least 50% of your art time on business; marketing, promoting, and managing. Even though I know that, I've not followed that rule.
     But, I'm going to try to devote more time to it. To that end, I've reopened my Etsy  store with my newer works. I spent hours doing the photography for it showing not only the fronts of the pieces, but also the backs. And some photos of it installed. I plan to add more installation photos soon.
     As for my older works, I've decided to get rid of most of them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I may try to cut some of them up and convert them into smaller artworks, or I may just leave them in places with signs that whoever likes them can take them. I plan to take my labels off the back so that they remain anonymous. But I've moved on from what they are and want to move forward with the work I'm doing now. It feels good just to state that.

some of my newer work from The Transformation Series

    My old website is gone and I'm presently building a new one. I installed WordPress and bought a theme for it and am learning how to create the new site. I love being a student, and I've read that learning computer technology is one of the best things to do to prevent dementia. The other good thing to do to prevent it is quilting and art making. So my brain should be in good shape! It may be a month or more before I publish the new website because I'm finding it quite challenging but that's a good thing.
     All of this seems like an appropriate thing to do in Spring; to start anew. In that spirit, I take regular breaks from the computer to go outside and work in the yard. I've started a new color scheme out there (bright blue violet and bright yellow green) and have painted almost 50 things so far from terra cotta pots to window boxes to birdhouses.

Painted Bird Bath

Painted pots with freshly repotted plants

Painted CD installment

Painted pots awaiting plants

Painted window boxes with birdhouses

Painted hose protector

 I've convinced my husband to paint the front door the bright blue-violet, too. And with the leftover paint, I'm going to paint the garage door like the Tardis from Dr. Who.

The Tardis

     So much art to create, but business to attend to first. That's why I have not posted here for so long... I'll let you know when the doors are done. And the website. I'm linking this up to Off the wall friday where you can find artquilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting