Sunday at Peters Valley

Sunday morning we plugged in the wax pots outside and I showed the class how to use wax as a resist, both on screens and on fabric. They took to it immediately and went to work with thickened dyes to create some beautiful fabrics. In the foreground, Russ is working on a piece of fabric which he then took inside and painted with dye in several layers. On this piece, he was applying the wax directly to the fabric. It was still not finished when class ended on Sunday, but I hope he will send me a picture when he gets home.Meantime, in the studio,Ann was working on her fabric. First she applied wax to the fabric. Next, she is printing over the waxed fabric with a waxed screen. Here is what the cloth looks like after a couple of passes with the screen. How yummy!I had only one day in which to throw a ton of information at the class; it was intense. Next year at QSDS, we will have the luxury of an entire weekend in which to explore the exciting possibilities of soy wax. I can't wait!

After class was over, we had an informal show and tell of work people had brought with them. Ann's trunk show of to-die-for nuno felted bags, hats, and garments made me want to run to take a nuno felting workshop as soon as I have a break in my schedule. Here, examples of her gorgeous work. This rug is incredible! It is a combination of felted, shibori'd fabric and cloth printed with deconstructed screens. I would have bought it in a minute if it had been for sale, which it was not. Anne Flora's garments were in the fashion show at the SDA conference and I am so glad I got to see them close-up and in person here.

Here is Russ again, showing his beautiful quilt made with hand-dyed and commercial fabrics. My picture doesn't do it justice. Here, a scroll made with Russ' hand printed fabric - before he discovered deconstructed printing and soy wax batik. He's a natural. Russ lives in the D.C. area and would love to find a group of kindred spirits for surface design and critique. Please contact me if you are in that area and would like to reach out to him; I'll put you in touch with him. I wish he lived in New Jersey - I would love to invite him into my own group!

At the end of the day, here is what it looks like on Thunder Mountain outside the studio. If this were a painting, it would be too corny for words. But this is real. By 10:00, we had cleaned up the studio and Kerr had set up for Monday's class. We were both wired - and starving, so we drove to the so-called Layton Hotel, 3 miles away, to have some bar food and drinks and unwind. The Layton Hotel is now a bar and upstairs is the proprietor's residence. We closed the place - LOL. It was a wonderful day.