Here is the result of our microwave dyeing merino wool some weeks ago - my wild raspberry and moss colours, from the Landscape dyes range.I seem to remember this was one of the recommended colour combinations that Jenny Hopper mentioned in her workshop years ago.
I like it! Now to use it, I think I will needlefelt it, but you'll just have to wait and see!

Here are two scarves that Carol describes as being what one gets a six year old to do when they want to learn to knit. You simply tie a thread of fluffy wool to a 2 metre ribbon, with the other end sticky taped to a short piece of dowel or even a pencil. Then just start wrapping the thread around and around the dowel, every now and again pulling it down the ribbon.
You end up with a lovely fluffy scarf in no time! I have already been wearing the bright one a lot, and haven't even got around to showing everyone in the group!!

microwave dyeing

Adding to Bev's description of microwave dyeing - here she is adding the Landscape dyes to her wool, a spoonful at a time.

Then Carol has rolled her wool wet with the dyes into a sausage.

The plastic rolled wool is in a micowave container ready for some heat!
After microwaving leave for 24 hours then squeeze out and rinse.
Dry over a broomstick to avoid ridge marks.

dyeing wool

Last Fibrecircle day, Tricia showed us how to dye wool in her microwave. I used Sage and Bloodwood Landscape dyes, and I'm pretty pleased with the results - but I don't have clear plans about what I'll do with it. It is always fun to add to one's stash, and I'm sure I'll find a use one day.

And here is Carol's :

Out of the Blue

These are the 2 pieces that I have put in the ATASDA exhibition, currently in the Botanical Gardens. As Nola mentioned, I was definitely very 'unproductive' on Monday, as I was recovering from a last race to get them finished - but I'm pretty pleased with them. Of course, like most things, they look better in 'the flesh'.

I knew I would never wear a necklace of charms, so I put my charms down the spine of a book, that I made. Inside, I have named it 'Collections' - with several pages of samples of things that I have been known to collect. A page of samples from my much larger collection of lace - a page of stamps - a feather found on the footpath last weekend - and the last page has all the names of the Charm makers.


the pics are to do with the HMAS Sydney - another long story, which I wrote about for the exhibition.
In this photo you can't see the 3D bits of organza - I really enjoyed seeing what the heat gun did to scraps!! My daughter also joined in on this one. (One of the teenage boyfriends wandering through wasn't quite sure what he had struck - but he got dinner - and that seemed to make up for the madness!!)

BUT - I can still see my traditional quilting background - next goal ... break away from the straight bindings (if I'm brave enough?!)

August do your own thing

Due to a mental failure, few photos were taken this month and none at the last meeting. Here's what I did capture:
Tricia's gorgeous Tunisian crochet wrap

This has a beautiful necklace to go with it, which I was not quick enough to capture.

Carol was working on bookmarks for sale at ATASDA's Palm House Exhibition, in the Sydney Botanic Gardens from today until August 26. Aren't they gorgeous?

Beverley was in a post-creative mood, after finishing her work for the Palm House Exhibition. She was working on a patchwork friendship block, here roughly assembled so we could see what it would look like.

I didn't photograph Helen's work - sorry, Helen! She was making kits for her embroidery group to applique as a group project.

I'm sorry to say I was hemming pants, but I must add, in justification, that I'll be carrying them onto a plane later this week. However, my show and tell, which I was working on last meeting, was a newly-finished fine wool wrap. I'm very happy with it, even though it was made with leftover baby wool. I wanted to improve my selvedges by working with fine wools, and I'm very pleased with the way it looks.

Fibrecircle Monday

Another fun day playing! Today, we made silk paper. Some of us had made silk paper before, while others were making it for the first time. I made one multicoloured one in blues, reds and golds

and one in red and gold with sparkly Angelina fibres embedded in it. This one is hard to photograph, like all shiny things, even without flash. I plan to iron this one, because the angelina fibres are very much on the surface and I'd like them to melt in.

I always seem to be a bit stingy when I lay down the fibres, so the result is always quite thin and lacy. I quite like that but I need to learn to apply the fibres with a more liberal hand!

Our method:

Lay down a piece of tulle (netting).

Lay silk fibres onto the tulle until it looks like enough, making sure the fibres cross one another and are not all lying in the same direction.

Lay another layer of tulle over the top.

Brush over a detergent solution on both sides, with a sponge brush, to open up the fibres and make them receptive to the adhesive.

Brush over textile medium on both sides, with the sponge brush.

Hang the resulting soggy sample out to dry.

When it's dry, peel off the layers of tulle.

There were some variations on the method. Some in our group peeled off their tulle before the samples were dry. Carol peeled it off one of her samples (a silk/wool mix) immediately, in order to form the paper over a cup. Atelier Gloss Medium and Varnish was used to give the mini bowl body: