CHA - getting an education

Today I'm blogging from CHA in Los Angeles so it's greetings from sunny California!

LA has turned on the weather for CHA and it is warm and sunny and the sky is blue. Temps are in the mid 20s and there is a gentle breeze blowing.... you really couldn't get a more perfect day!

I've spent most of the day in business seminars learning so much that I didn't know about the craft industry. It never ceases to amaze me how much there is to learn. And there are some very experienced folks who lead these seminars so they are invaluable.

I know seminars sound a bit boring but I managed to squeeze in some fun stuff too. I did a great workshop featuring Kandicorp's deColourant paints. All I can say is WOW..... what an amazing product! Not only does it take the colour out of natural fabrics (and handmade papers) but it also puts colour back into the fabric, all in the one step. It's non toxic and easy to apply, with no mess and a pleasant fragrance. And best of all, the results you get are great.

We worked with a hand dyed silk scarf as our fabric base. We were trying to create a faux shibori look so we twisted the scarf tightly from both ends until it twisted back onto itself. Then we applied the deColourant of our choice onto the creases in the twisted scarf with a sponge. I used green for this step and my faux shibori has ended up looking more like leaves, but that's OK - keep reading on to find out why.

Next we opened the scarf out and laid it flat on our work surface and pounced a second deColourant colour through a pebble stencil. We were supposed to do this down the centre of the scarf but I decided to make my pebbles into a border along both long sides of the scarf. The final step was to heat set the colour which took about 15 seconds. And that's it! Doesn't it look stunning?

Mine has a very tropical feel about it and the yellow "pebble" border has turned into tropical looking flowers. I am so happy with the result!

This was a neat little project that took only about 15-20 minutes to complete and the finished scarf looks super cute tied around the handle of my handbag.

I can't wait to try some other things out with this at home and it will give me a good excuse to get out the silk paints to dye some silk so that I can "deColour" it. What fun!

I'll try to pop in again some time during CHA but in the meantime, I hope you have a crafty weekend!

'Til next time.....

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