Maroon Breakdown

Which sounds like a band, and has been languishing. I may have found a way to move forward with these bits of cloth printed some considerable time ago now, I need to just get on with it now! I blogged about this here and here and was supposed to have put it all together as a something by now. that was part of this year's plan, but it kept getting put to one side, and then I got very tired and was doing very little for a while.

So? These are both poor pictures, but may at least be a start. Many many different layouts have been tried, this may be a final one, but I'll need to have another look by daylight.

Without a design wall this involves a lot of stooping and bending and moving and folding to get something like an idea. Then there's the straining to get a picture from the right height, on the correct plane, all in focus with the iPad. I suspect the whole process would appear quite ridiculous to an onlooker! Still not sure about it, but I really should get going and do something with it. There are still a few gaps to fill and plans to draw and the colours all look much nicer than this!

In the meantime I've had a lovely and inspiring three days with Committed to Cloth dyeing silk, linen and velvet, of which more later I hope; also a pleasurable visit to Standen, a William Morris'y Arts and Crafts'y house and garden, built by Philip Webb which has a lovely atmosphere of just occupied immanence, if that doesn't sound odd.

 There are, of course, beautiful embroideries in every room

 and the garden was delightful and full of buzzies taking delight in it

Oh, and I'm off to Festival of Quilts in a little while; Christine is an exhibitor.

Gosh, I sound quite busy don't I - did I mention the day job? :-)

Oh my!

I am almost beside myself with delight

Look what arrived in the post today

as recommended by

preceded by

and hopefully to be followed, at some stage by

though I don't promise to read all of Gilgamesh!

Klimt beginnings

So we had the pleasure of Wendy Dolan for two whole days on Saturday and Sunday, 

There was a plan, which was adapted from Klimt's Stoclet Frieze - the headdress on the dancing girl called Expectation

and layers of yummy fabric, all tacked together, the design traced off

And the basic design stitched into the reverse,

Then came the soldering iron, and the delicate peeling away of layer upon layer, carefully separating with a needle, then melting away, stitching, foiling, stitching some more. We were, at all times, guided by Wendy's patient, good humoured, informative, ably demonstrated and skillful support. 

I think we all did rather well. It is one of the great pleasures of doing a workshop with a group of friends, you get to see so many differing and beatiful interpretations of one idea.

And mine so far? It all depends on which way the light falls

Plenty more to do, but I'm rather happy with the start

All unpressed

as they are, and not very good iPad photos 

more May shibori - goes rather nicely with the soft turquoise from here 

doughnut tied

folded and clamped

pole wrapped

ploughed up (like in tray dyeing) tied and clamped

vintage linen

May Shibori 3

So I dipped and dyed, and dyed a bit more and generally faffed about for a couple of days. And here is where I am now

This piece speaks to me of dandelions in a field, very pleased

This needs more work I think, though I'm not sure where to take it. Studio 11 tomorrow, show and tell, I'll see what people think, which is one of the pleasures of being there.

The blue ripple that had been stitched back and front is so subtle that images don't really show what little pattern is there, but for the record, here it is. Again, more work, much more work, but still developing layers.

There is a faint extra ripple there, but I think one of the bits of stitching worked loose, which didn't help. I'd like to repeat this process, but on a different scale

So I learn a little bit more. In particular this time, about quantities. It's good when I can experiment at home; I can be more systematic and understand the results better. None of these pieces are anything like as deep in colour as I'd hoped they would be, but have still taught me as  imade notes of times and quantities on the way there.

May Shibori 2

So I took the cloth out, let it dry looked

and thought, not quite rich enough, just shadows of triangles and ovals, rather than brilliant jewels. Perhaps another layer?

And then there's that bit of linen I ran some stiches into, having folded and layered first

That could be drawn up and popped in as well 

May Shibori

Klimt cloth - ritualistic cloth magic recipe, goal, something Klimt'ish.

Take a couple of bits of pre dyed cloth. Gaze at Klimt a lot. Investigate acrylic shapes, clamps, stuff. Then

2 tbsp salt

Boiling water where possible

1/8 tsp turquoise

Two pinches  ultra blue

Add the clamped pre dyed pieces

Then after ten - fifteen minutes another pinch of ultra blue dissolved in boiling water and added. No stirring, just let it sit.

Then after ten minutes swirled the bucket around, Hubble bubble

Stirred every ten to fifteen minutes throughout for first hour. Then added blue ripple 

Screen printed in a previous class with Christine

Stitched in a regular pattern, with rows alternating front and back

Drawn up tight ready to throw in the pot.

Then add more boiling water and a pinch of turquoise until all the fabric is covered, stir once and leave for a while, stir, leave stir

This is where I am just now.