Playing with Wil - Part 1

Day of Discharge!!

Before Wil arrived I bought 5 yards of black Kona so we could play discharge! So, all the following discharge is done with bleach on Kona black, rinsed in plain water, then soaked and rinsed in Anti-Chlor, washed in regular laundry detergent and put in the dryer then ironed.

This one is all scrunched up and then wrapped tightly with rubber bands.
This one I rolled into a loose rope, folded it in half and then wrapped it with many tight ruber bands.

Potato Dextrin - Not at all like usine instant mashed potatoes with starch (something I won't ever do again!). We mixed the potato dextrin and applied it to the Kona black in varying thicknesses. The larger crackles are the thicker potato dextrin. It dried overnight and then I brushed on gel bleach (aka - toilet bowl cleanser!). Then followed the usual processing.

The next one I used apx 8 inches and the width of the fabric. Then I tied it in a series of knots down the length of the piece. The tied part is easy enough..........undoing it when it is wet is something else again.....and I have the aching fingers to prove it! Still........gotta LOVE the results!

This one was fan folded one direction and then fan folded again the other direction and then clipped all around the edge of the folded piece with clothes pins.

Planning to do more this week so stay tuned.

Today was a great field trip for me. I met a friend and we went to the Mill City Ruins. Minneapolis used to be a great milling town. And, true to most mills, the big ones were located along a river. In this case the river is the Mississippi. Many of the old warehouses and other old buildings have now been converted into high end condos. But someone with a sense of the historic and meaningful, decided to preserve some of the ruins of at least one or two old mills along the river. AND to preserve the Stone Arch Bridge, which used to be a railroad bridge.

The architecture is amazing and the ruins evoke a sense of the hustle and bustle of the milling district as it might have been many years ago. There is a museum there also but it was closed yesterday. Sounds like another field trip for another day! I have another connection to this section of town. My husband's father used to be a VP at one of the flour mills. So, I'm excited to delve into that bit of family background just a bit.

Following are four pictures of the Stone Arch Bridge. Info from their official website: Railroad baron James J. Hill built the bridge in 1883 to allow for increased movement of people and goods across the Mississippi River. The Stone Arch Bridge spans St. Anthony Falls, and served as a working railroad bridge until 1965. Today, the bridge accommodates pedestrians, bicyclists and the River City Trolley. It continues to offer spectacular views of St. Anthony Falls, the historic milling district and the Minneapolis skyline and is an important link in the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail. It is the only stone arch bridge ever to be built across the Mississippi River.






Below are a few pictures of the overall view of the Mill City Ruins. The first view is from the Stone Arch Bridge. The other two are taken from a walkway they have put down by the ruins themselves.







It was a wonderful day. We tried to imagine what it was like back in those days and just enjoyed the trip back in time.