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.

Easter Weekend Dyeing Update

So, the weekend went and it was back to work on Tuesday. Fabrics came out of the dyepot after work that day, were separated from their string, detangled and put in the washing machine, to have their 60 degree wash - yes even silk seems fine with this (so far). So impatient was I to see the results washed, dried and ironed that I had to clean the conservatory windows to keep the fidgets at bay!!

I am really pleased with the results. Hard to show in photographs as they don't capture the flow and sheen of the two different silks, but here they are. All five pieces together - the four narrow strips folded in half for the sake of space. The darkest are the ones that were stitched and pulled up, here at top right. They are more mottled and blended in their colours and the stitching doesn't show in quite the way I expected it to. Top left are the two strips that went round the narrower pipe. The softer colour is the piece of fine cotton, the better defined is the silk, which always takes dye really well; at the bottom is the piece that was folded and wrapped round the soil pipe. I love the way the patterns are mirrored and have had several comments about what a lovely scarf it would make. Liking that idea.

Here is a portion of the two narrow strips - I am delighted with the leafy, feathery nature of the pattern and hope I can reproduce it again. I think it had to do with the way I compressed the fabric - which is obvious really, but I know what I mean. I sort of wriggled it as I pushed it down.

and here a closer view of the "scarf" so you can see the ripples that came from the string being crossed over itself as it was tied (bottom centre). You can also see the way adding the yellow dye slightly later has created a quite distinct margin between the soft blue and the stronger green.

I have a feeling one could have endless fun with this, playing with different blends of colour and different timings ...... were one not required to earn a living!