Mickey Mouse back
Just finished my Mickey Mouse shirt. Depending how it’s said…that’s good, or bad!
This uses a series of shirts with various graphics and dyed blue/green. And, there are some shibori dyed pieces.
Someone enjoyed their trip to Disneyland…I enjoy their shirt! And one of my favorites is the sheep that gets the middle spot.
Mickey Mouse front
Do what works…good words to live by. Think the toon green creature is freaked out by his neighbors or just freaky 🙂
They offered me a t-shirt for the Fitton’s upcoming Season Launch (August 19 5-9pm everyone is invited) but I opted to make a summery shirt but with lots of the Fitton 🙂
Front of the I Love the Fitton Shirt
Starting with fabric dyed in Fitton red–some shibori and some pre-printed designs, I added images from Fitton activities.
The Fitton Center for the Creative Arts is a community arts center in downtown Hamilton, Ohio. See the new murals in downtown Hamilton–that’s Street Spark at work. It’s partnership of the Fitton with the City of Hamilton.
The Big Blue Baby is quite the talk of Hamilton.
Back of the I Love the Fitton Shirt
I Love/heart the Fitton has Stephen Smith’s sketch of the Fitton. And, of course I added pictures of the building, the bathroom (yup– the Fitton has the best bathrooms ever) and a wonderful photo of a youngster enjoying a class at the Fitton. Fitton/Fitton/Fitton uses my rubber stamp of the name.
My Fitton shirt…so far. With lots of room for more!
The nice folks at Shared Harvest gave me a gift as a thank you for volunteering. Their t-shirt was a generous gift. But, it was lacking.
They gave me a tshirt
It needed some color. It needed to be warmer to wear in the warehouse in the winter. It needed COLOR.
So, I cut it up and dyed it…adding color using shibori techniques. And, I combined it with other fabric friends to make a warm winter tunic.
Part of the Feeding America network, Shared Harvest works very hard to help feed the food insecure in Butler and the nearby counties. As a food warehouse they provide food to local pantries. And, they have special programs (Backpack and Senior food box) to feed the young and the old.
Shared Harvest hasn’t offered me another t-shirt.
The Fitton Art Center in Hamilton asked me to volunteer for an Open House. So, I dyed up some fabric and made a vest in which I incorporated the Fitton logo.
The Fitton is a community arts center right on the Miami River amid downtown Hamilton. There are lovely galleries that display work of artists from all over. A theater and ballroom present musical and theatrical pieces and the Fitton offers a variety of classes. The Fitton is a hub of the Hamilton arts scene. Currently the Fitton is partnering with the city to paint murals on several downtown buildings.
The Fitton folks said they were going to give me a t-shirt. But they didn’t. Maybe they knew what happens to t-shirts that are given to me.
A shirt from shirts…from upcycled and dyed shirts! And it has a cat and books to boot. I wore this last night and it was most fun to get totally unsolicited compliments. YAYAY!!
Upcycled tees
Time to switch gears.
I’ve been posting about dyeing and using natural dyes. I’ve searched my backyard and I’ve walked the neighborhood. I’ve purchased dyes that were sustainable, and shipped from the other side of the world. Fun to see what plants and some critters (cochineal) can do on fiber. Here’s a shirt that’s pieced using indigo dyed fabric.
But after a while, I realized that most of what I was getting from my backyard was backyard yellow. Yup, nice colors and fun to collect. Combined with other dyes they give greens and oranges. But, mostly yellows.
One day it occurred to me that I missed that burst of color that synthetic dyes give. Bright colors. Instant gratification.
So, I’m back to using synthetics. Bright colors. Combining lights and darks. Mixing and matching.
Catalyst for Change
And, along the way I got into t-shirts, especially upcycled tees. I’ve been rediscovering shibori–folding, tyeing, pressing to get patterns.
That’s fun. And, the words and pictures on tee-shirts. What fun to combine the words and graphics. More funky!
Here’s one that is most appropriate–Catalyst for Change.
So, onward to new fun!
