Sunday, November 12, 2006

The last class






On Saturday I taught the last class I have scheduled at the aRThouse. It was so much fun! I only had 2 students show up, which was actually nice because we made a lot of dye and had a great time working. And somehow, while I thought I took photos of Angela also, none of them turned up on my camera. Sorry Ang! I'll make up for it later. I have a real struggle between wanting to document everything and not wanting to intrude on people.

We printed with dye and with ink, and made our own stamps out of fun foam sheets that you can buy at wal-mart (or michael's), and tried not to make a huge mess. I came out with a huge finished piece. I just love that flower stamp. I was trying unsuccessfully not to fall out over how much I loved my own stamp.

Here is my recipe for thickened dye that you can print and paint with:

per 1 cup of water:
1 Tbsp. Soda Ash
1 Tbsp. Urea
1/2 tsp of dye, or to taste (not literally!!)

Mix all of these together until they're dissolved.
Then add the Sodium alginate thickener. As we learned the hard way--sprinkle just a little (like 1/2 tsp. at a time) and mix it as you stir it. It will thicken up over time, up to 2 hours. It should be a ranch salad dressing consistency. If it's too watery, use more thickener. If it's too thick add more water. Trust me, less is more.

Posted by Beth Howard @ 12:24 PM