Lago Maggiore

Back in February I posted about Dry Brushing - inspired by Italian Lakes. Since then I've dry brushed and dry brushed and then dry brushed some more and although I could continue to fiddle with the colours, I'm going to stop. Stop printing and dyeing the fabric that is. The stitching phase needs to begin as I have already entered it into the Festival of Quilts ! 

Back in February I wasn't at all happy with how my piece was going, so I stuck it in a bucket of discharge solution and started on a much smaller sample piece. This is how the sample piece turned out:

As the sample piece progressed, I gained confidence and started a new bigger piece and this is how that piece turned out:

As I had all the dyes mixed and with nothing to lose, I started to over print on the original discharged piece and this is how that piece turned out:

Ironically, it's the over printed original piece that I am planning to submit to the festival of quilts. I have lost count of how many layers of colour I have added (and taken out!).

I still plan to add the pole in the water and have a couple of ideas of how to achieve it. Both ideas are pretty irretrievable if they go wrong so I'm going to do a couple of samples first - it would be awful if it went wrong after all this effort. I'll keep you posted.

PS I have taken pictures of the fabrics in many different lights, trying to capture their true colours but never quite manage it. To see the real colours, you'll justs have to visit the Festival of quilts!