I Think It's Going To Work

I'm puttering this weekend with projects for the Women's Wild Winter Weekend up at Moon Beach next month (which is an utterly fabulous time, and I heartily recommend it to anyone). My goal is to come up with two different projects which crafty women could accomplish in 45 minutes or so, which are fairly inexpensive, and which are at least a bit unique. Oh, and it should reflect the theme for the weekend, which this year is "Reflection." (If you are actually planning on attending the retreat, or know someone who is, please forget you just read that. As a matter of fact, please go away now and don't read this until at least March.)

So Mary and Maggie, the fabulous sisters who are running the show again this year, have developed an image to use as the logo for this weekend. The silhouette, as in years past, will be stenciled on tote bags by the attendees and burned into sheet metal to make sculptures. The ladies were kind enough to share last year's logo ("Attitude") with me ahead of time so I could use it on a submission for the fundraiser auction, and that worked out so well that we're e-mailing back and forth about projects for this year's logo. And so, here's what I've got thus far:

Project 1: silk hankie

Materials:

Dyna-Flow Silk dye (sourced from Dharma Trading Company)

10" silk hankie blanks (Dharma again), damp

Assortment of cheap brushes

Assortment of disposable cups for use in mixing dyes and washing brushes

Spray bottles filled with water - at least one for every 5 crafters

Freezer paper - one 33 yard roll should serve about 100 crafters

Fabric pens in coordinating colors

Masking tape

silhouette of logo, traced on paper

1. Tear off about 12" of paper and secure to table with masking tape, coated side up.

2. Spread damp hankie out on paper. Spritz with spray bottles as necessary.

3. Pour dye into cups, adding water for less intense colors or mixing dyes to achieve new colors.

4. Using paint brush, dye hankie.

5. Allow hankie to dry. In the example at right, I scrunched most of the hankie to create strong lines of dye, but left one section flat. You can either scrunch or not, as you see fit.

6. When hankie is dry or mostly dry, set dye with hot dry iron.

7. Place logo silhouette under dry hankie. The outline will be clearly visible through the hankie. Arrange the logo where you want it, and use masking tape to secure logo and hankie in place.

8. Using fabric pen, trace logo onto hankie. Sign and date hankie if desired.

9. Two days later, iron hankie again. Swish in sink with baby shampoo, rinse, swish with hair conditioner (this is a natural fiber, after all), and rinse again. Let dry, iron, and enjoy.

Project 2: Felted logo pin or magnet

Materials:

Sheet of craft foam

Wool sweater from thrift shop, pre-shrunk

Tacky Spray (or some other adhesive that can be applied easily and uniformly)

Stencil of logo

Marker

Very sharp-tipped, small scissors

Pin back or magnet dot with adhesive

Large Sequin (1" or more)

Super glue

Prior to event, cut shrunken wool sweater in to flat pieces and glue to craft foam using Tacky Spray. Ideally, crafters could choose from several different color combinations of sweater & foam.

1. Using stencil, trace logo onto foam side of material.

2. Use scissors to cut out shape. (It may be necessary to use exacto-knife to cut out negative space by elbow.)

3. Attach sequin with super glue, creating a reflecting pool for your silhouette to gaze into thoughtfully.

4. Apply pin back or magnet dot.

It's actually a very easy project. I considered using a jeweler's jump ring to attach the sequin, or even sewing it to the wool with needle and thread - but I think we need to keep it basic for such a large group.