Art Beads......a new passion

I pulled out the polymer clay

and decided to give it a try again...

This time I decided to try free form hand shaped beads...



I plan to incorporate these art beads

into some of my jewelry designs...



I use Fimo, Primo, Sculpey......I like them all!



Round, square, flat, leaves, birds.......art beads



This is my first attempt at owl beads

Tools of the Trade

Feather Beads......from a push mold



These are fresh out of the oven....Feathers

I will paint over these with white paint then wipe it off.



This is my Clay set up at the kitchen table.

I don't have a dedicated clay work space......yet.

Here are a few Valentines necklaces I put together:



I had a lot of fun making the birds, beads and hearts...

Necklace 1

Necklace 2

Necklace 3

Necklace 4

Necklace 5

Necklace 6

Necklace 7

Necklace 8

Necklace 9

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Hand Dyes.....Show 'n Tell

Day 2.....Hand Dyes

These are commercial white on whites.

Dyed with Navy and Fuchsia

Thrift Store Pillow Cases batching...

more pillow cases

Fresh from the Dyer:

Canvas Apron and Tote Bags

Pile of cotton hand dyes

Lovely to look at, but lots of ironing to do

Pillowcases hot from the dryer

Fresh off the Ironing Board:

A tiny canvas apron for someone special

A parade of canvas tote bags:

I have had these stored away for years...

I planned to stencil on them.

My procrastination paid off.....

glad they are dyed rather than stenciled.

Pillowcases:

When I see gently used pillow cases at the thrift store,

I snatch them up!

White on Whites:

They look like they came out of an Indigo vat

Hand Dyes......they lift the spirits during these

wet, dark, Western Oregon winters.

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Ice Discharge......Experiment

Several weeks ago I purchased Clorox Bleach Crystals

hoping that they would work better than liquid bleach 

in my front load washing machine...

I have not tried them on my laundry yet,

but I have decided to try them out today

on Kona Black Cotton Fabric:

I so enjoy ice dyeing, so thought I would try

ice discharge with Clorox Bleach crystals.

After several hours of watching the ice melt:

I am just not seeing a whole lot of discharge of color?

Not in my second discharge container either.

After the ice was completely melted...

I couldn't stand it...

I sprinkled the ice crystals directly onto the wet fabric.

Then I let it sit overnight:

The ice crystals worked wonderfully well on wet fabric.

I didn't have much luck with the ice discharge method,

but they worked directly sprinkled on the fabric!

I found the crystals to be a mild bleach...

Waiting overnight was the key to my success.

This is an image of the entire 1 yard Kona Black discharge:

I love the red discharge color in this section.

I also discharged 3 black cotton tote bags:

The crystals discharged in places like salt on painted fabric.

Can you see the specks?

I am ready to discharge black hand dyed fabrics,

as well as dark navy, purple, etc.

More to come!

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi