discharge experiments

Today, I played. I visited my sick uncle and visited my mother. But before and after those visits, I decided it was a good day to do discharge so I set up my electric hotplate on the deck. I tore 3 pieces from the same bolt of black. #1 went into the thiox bath, boiling away on the left. Later, I decided to try discharge paste and see what would happen if I steamed it; so much less nasty than ironing it! Here is the piece of black with blobs of discharge paste, wrapped with rubber bands and clamped. To tell you the truth, it needn't have bothered. Anyway, I wrapped the thing in newspaper and put it in to steam for a little while. Finally, I decided I should see what happens when I used bleach products on the same fabric. So I threw some Chlorox gel on the fabric. Nothing happned. Dishwasher gel. Not much happened. Finally a bleach & water bath. I HATE the smell of bleach. Soaked it in anti-chlor, washed it, and laid all 2 out together to photograph them. I had to take umpteen pix because the camera didn't get it right till the umpteenth-and-one shot. I don't know what it looks like on your computer screen, but the one on the left is the discharge paste: it is a lovely beige on the black. The middle one, of course, is the chlorine result: orange. And the one on the right discharged to a greenish-greyish color. Very interesting. I could have been more scientific about it, but I wasn't. I didn't do any direct application and ironing of either thiox or discharge paste: I might have gotten different results from the steaming process. And I would surely have gotten different results with different bolts of black. But there we are. I think I've gotten discharging out of my system for a little while.

the long weekend

Very long. Friday seemed like Sat. Today felt like Sunday, and tomorrow will probably feel like Sunday again. Maybe because it will be! Happy Easter Sunday to all of you who celebrate it: I guess it feels more like Thanksgiving or Christmas, depending on where you are.

In case you are wondering what that piece of fabric is, it is a discharge experiment. It is wrinkled because I have not ironed it; I will wait till it dries because I don't want it to discharge any more than it already has. Pretty, huh?
What did I say about this being an unpredictable process?

more on discharge

Just a follow-up to yesterday's post and Rachel's beautiful turquoise discharge...especially since there was some discussion on the QuiltArt list today about that subject. That was from one bolt from one manufacturer; a different bolt discharged to a different shade of blue.
I have had fabric discharge to pink, light periwinkle, orange, beige, white, pale olive, and everything in between.
So, don't worry about what you will get; the elements will decide for you.

what a week!

Yes, I have been the un-blogger of the week. And it ain't over till it's Monday again. My turn at Procedure of the Week. In the meantime, don't ask me what this is on the left. I couldn't take a picture of DH's cataract surgery or of him in his snazzy wraparound dark glasses, so I guess this is better than nothing.

It more or less represents the way I feel after a busy medical week capped today by: 1) an hour on the phone with the idiots at AT&T (who were actually in some unnamed foreign country) in my third attempt to cancel my mother's long distance service on her Florida phone, which she has not used in a year 2) calling the oncologist's office to tell them they need to send their bill to my insurance company instead of to me if they want to be paid. 3) trying unsuccessfully to deal with my mother's account at Bank of America at two different branches (don't even ask about that fiasco!) 4) 2-1/2 hours in the endodontist's chair while he tried to do root canal on an infected tooth that still hasn't cleared up since Jan. I am now pumped full of antibiotics(oral and injected), novacaine, gin - and about to take some Advil. La-di-da. Let's hope the tooth gets better he can finish the job before I leave for Art Quilt Claremont.

On the other hand, there is another way to look at all of this in a positive way. I really accomplished a lot today. 1) I finally cancelled my mother's long distance service, which will save her $14.25 a month for the next thousand years. 2) I got the doctor's bill off my list and onto the insurance co's list of payables. 3) I developed a relationship with two branches of Bank of America. 4) I am on a different course of antibiotics which could clear up my infection. (The same la-di-da applies).

To make this art related, I do have a piece that is off the wall, pinned - sort of - and needs to be sewn together or fused or both. I've never been big on fusing, but there must be something to it because so many people use the technique. I have my certificate from that well-known School of Fusing, but I think I graduated at the bottom of the class.

Blogger keeps asking me if I am SURE I want to navigate away from this page, although I haven't told them I would like to do so. Maybe they know something I don't know, like I should sleep off the stresses of the week. And so to bed.(who said that?)