Fiber Babble: Further Crayon Adventures

Further Crayon Adventures

February 14, 2013

Abandoned book "The Crock of Gold" by James Stephens ♦◊◊◊◊

Part one of my crayon adventures reminded you of my addictive personality (aka, Take An Idea and Run With It)... then I wrote out the steps that I took to create the crayon "masterpieces".

I've given a 'trunk show' and talk about the crayon experience. I've also taught three or four how-to classes. Each time I teach a class, someone comes up with a new way to use the crayons and I come up with a way to make the crayon more colorfast.

In the 'how-to' post I showed before-washing and after-washing pictures. What I learned, though, in my very first class was that the pigment could rub off onto other fabric. This is not a good thing! Imagine taking a crayoned quilt off the shelf, unfolding it and finding smudged pigment! Now, the stuff that was rubbing off (scrubbed with a clean piece of muslin) was from unwashed projects but still. I found that most colors could be smudged if I really worked at it, but the bright reds didn't take much effort. Ouch.

Since I have a little bit of experience with acrylic paints on fabric, I dug out some of the product that I mixed when painting. I tried over, under, before ironing, after ironing - pretty much all of the combinations I could think of. I found success with a Brush & Blend product and good old Textile Medium. Actually the B&B won out by such a small margin that only someone who is as detail oriented as I would notice the difference.

So, an addition to the "how to": After ironing your project, use a paintbrush (I haven't tried a foam brush, but it strikes me there would be bubbles) and lightly but evenly paint over the pigment. Let dry naturally.

If I'm doing a wallhanging or something else that won't come into rough contact with other fabric, I probably won't bother with the painting treatment.

Here's a sneak peek of the project that I'll be teaching at the Rainy Daze Quilt Guild in Centralia (WA) in March. They're called Pin Wheels and these are four of the six designs I'll be bringing to the workshop...

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A couple of traditional designs, with (in my mind) the flavor of Baltimore Album-type applique.

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A Dresden Plate variation and cute little Dorothy Gale Blackbirds :-)

The two on the left are actually two sides of the same Pin Wheel. You can see where I've stuck straight pins around the edges. This is a great way to carry pins when you're going to classes or just taking some handwork on the road. The designs themselves are lightly padded (and quilted) so there's a little bit of layer to stick your needles in the 'face' of the Pin Wheel. These have been treated so that the pigment doesn't rub off in your project bag.

This isn't a new and groundbreaking craft. I've seen it in a number of new and antique variations in library books and on the web.

Wouldn't these be great gifts?

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Today is the 22nd anniversary of the day Mr. W. and I said, "I do" in a video chapel in Hollywood (and his mother said it wouldn't last). I can't speak for ol' Eeyore, but I'm pretty pleased to still wake up next to him every morning.

Labels: craft, quilting, sewing