From The Prim Potion Pantry

Old textiles touch my soul. Maybe I was a weaver (or some profession in which fabric is as important as eating) in another life.  I covet vintage textile, luscious new cottons, and the simplicity of muslin.  As a teen, I dressed in lace, not realizing that while I was living in a Jessica McClintock dream, I was the only one in my Junior High doing so.

While the cool kids were chillin at the mall I could be found prowling through steamer trunks of bark-cloth and thinking about how the lacey beautiful tablecloths could be used in a different manner than on a table. I found  out early that a large bedspread or tablecloth looks wonerful as a room divider! It simply didn't occur to me that this was not the norm for a 13 year old. 

I employ many of the old techniques that I learned from my Gran, Mom and trial and error when dying my fabrics for my art dolls.  I coffee/tea dye almost all of the fabrics I use.  One technique that I find gorgeous is the fast rust method. 

The recipe I use for this method varies depending of the textile I am working with.  First off, you have to have a rusty thing to work with.  Any metal that has rust will work, and keep in mind all of this magic happens outside.  Put your fabric under the tap and get it a bit wet, squeeze the water out.  Place your fabric on the rusty metal you have picked out.  Get yourself an extra spray bottle and make a mixture of 3/4 vinegar (white) and 1/4 water.  Saturate the fabric and sprinkle with table salt.  My piece of metal is flat, this works well because the next thing you do is wrap the metal and fabric with plastic wrap.  It's important that you keep the fabric moist and the plastic wrap helps with this.  Just keep checking on your fabric, the warmer it is outside, the faster it seems to happen. 

The two pieces of fabric featured in this post have each had an artful treatment in preparation for a Prim Pumpkin costume I am working on.  The terracotta piece is wool, it started out a light peachy color and after a tea bath, I treated it with ground cinnamon. This is a small detail that adds a large pop of prim to my artwork. 

When I create, I look to textile for inspiration and I strongly feel that when I prim each piece for a pumpkin the fabric conveys a mood, preserves a memory and evokes a warmth that only fabric can. 

Each fabric I use, eagerly plays a supporting role in the production of my merry pumpkins. Creating for me is about layering with textile, heart, and merriment.