Elephant Booty Studio

Another Visitor

2011-11-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I cut down the indigo and laid it out to dry in the sun. It was not quite hot enough to get it really dry. Sunday is forecast to have more sun and to be warmer so I will leave it out for another day to get it is dry as possible. The flower heads will then be cut off and bundled to hang to dry so the seeds will fall out. I am crossing my fingers that I have a nice crop of seeds! The indigo plot had a visitor that I had to ask to move out before I cut it.


Praying Mantis guarding the indigo. I think she looks like an alien from another planet.

2011-11-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

The Indigo blossoms are starting to dry.

I promised pictures of the indigo's progress in my last post. I am so excited that I will get some seed this year. Last year the frost got my first crop of indigo before it went to seed. My husband has been wonderful about helping me get it covered at night and uncovered again in the mornings.

A closeup view of the drying flower heads shows the blossoms close up as they dry and the seed forms in the center.

I plucked off one of the dried flowers to see how far along the seeds have developed.

After rubbing off the dried husk, one tiny indigo seed emerges.

Indigo Seeds--coming soon!

2011-11-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

After many days of covering and uncovering my indigo to keep the frost off, I can see the payoff coming. Some of the lovely blossoms have started to close up and dry. Inside, tiny seeds are forming. The honeybees are there to greet me in the morning. I know they are going to be disappointed when this source has dried up but it has been something I have been anxiously awaiting. I will not be able to separate it by color after it is dry. I will have to come up with a better plan for next year.My next post will have pictures to update the progress from blooms to seed.

Indigo and Butterflies

2011-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

A Buckeye Butterfly enjoying the sunshine and indigo.


If you zoom in, you can see the butterfly sipping from the indigo.

The white blossoms started out looking pink. It was not until they fully opened that I could really tell the difference.

Indigo Blossoms

2011-09-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

My indigo is sporting some dainty pink flowers now. The kojyoko variety has not bloomed out yet and is supposed to have white blossoms. I think I see some buds forming on them. I am worried about a hard frost we are expected to have soon so I will have to watch and cover them if needed.


The leaves and stems have taken on a reddish cast as the buds came out.

A tiny spider is a bonus in this picture. The buds are just shooting out and are still green.

The buds are tiny and arranged on sprays.

An overhead view shows the arching of the sprays of flowers.

Lots of blooms coming out.

I love this picture! My husband even said it was a good portrait of the indigo buds.

One dainty flower opening.


More flowers opening.

I have made this picture my screensaver on my computer. I love the pink flower
buds against the blue sky. Not my best photo, but it makes me happy.

Colorways Fall 2011

2011-09-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Truly exciting for me to be included in the new Colorways e-mag for Fall 2011. My good friend and fellow artist and art teacher Michelle Cox joined me in working on "In the Kitchen." We used commonly found kitchen items and cooking techniques to dye with. We also got to experience the beauty of the yellow that is saffron! Truly golden and glowing, saffron will brighten your day even if it only lasts a few seasons as it fades with exposure to light. Yes, we did use some dyes known to be fugitive, but you can dye it again in the same color or do something different. We used several different fibers and silk scarves for our dye experiments. Here is a sneak peek:

A lovely little dish of saffron.

If you click the link above you can get a better preview. It is an exciting edition with articles from Rowland Ricketts on his IndiGrowing Blue project and Elaine Lipson gives an overview of her trip to ISEND. The e-mag format developed by Interweave includes slide shows, pop out photos, videos, pdf files to print out as reference and great photos and articles. It really is eye candy for the fiber artist! The summer 2011 issue of Colorways (the premier issue) is fabulous as well.

Indigo Comparison II

2011-09-27T08:11:00.000-07:00


A comparison of two varieties of indigo. I know the one on the left is polygonum tinctorium. The one on the right seems to be slightly different but may still be polygonum tinctorium--just another variety.

To update, I have three varieties of indigo growing this year. Two types of polygonum tinctorium and a third I now believe was not identified correctly when I got the seeds. The third has thinner leaves that tend to curl and they seem to turn a darker blue when dried. The plants have gotten taller than the others after the same growth and have bloomed earlier than the others.

I removed a leaf from each of the plants in the picture above and slightly crushed them. The leaf on the left started to turn blue immediately and the one of the right only a little. The leaf on the left is much thinner and they have had a tendency to curl on the plants. The leaves are close in size as far as length and width go.

From left to right, the varieties are: the one I am unsure about, polygonum tincorium senbon, and polygonum tinctorium kojyoko. All were transplanted at the same time.

The unidentified stems approx 18" long, thick stems with reddish/brown cast. Leaves are thin and have a tendency to curl. Leaves are slightly olive in color. Larges leaves are approx 3-4" long and 2" wide at widest point.

Polygonum tinctoria senbon. Stems are approx 18" long with a reddish cast. Leaves are bright green and approx 3-4" long and 2" wide at widest point.


Polygonum tinctoria kojyoko. Stems are approx 12-14" long and are green with some brown. Leaves are bright green and approx 2-3" long and 1 1/2" at widest point. This variety seems to grow a little more compactly.


Left to right, the unidentified variety, polygonum tinctoria senbon, polygonum tinctoria kojyoko leaves for a side by side comparison.

Next I will compare the dried stems and leaves and then the blossoms and seeds. I am still working to confirm what variety of indigo I have in the third set of plants.

Indigo Comparison

2011-08-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

I finally have some time to update on my indigo from this summer! Even though life's event put me a little behind on my indigo, I am still on target for the goal I set for my indigo this year--a comparison of the plants. I have three varieties going. All though all are polygonum tinctorium, they are each a little different. For my project this summer, I used the seeds I had left from Companion Plants and two varieties I was able to purchase from the Indi Growing Blue project. I compared the two varieties of seeds in this post http://elephantbooty.blogspot.com/2011/04/looking-close-at-indigo-seeds.html Now to compare the growing plants:

The kojyoko variety will have white bloom and green stem.

The senbon variety will have pink blooms and stems with a reddish cast.

From Companion Plants, labeled Polygonum Tictorium, but not sure of the actual variety.

From the pictures above, you can see that the top two look very similar as far as the leaves go. I need to get a picture of the stems for my next post. The bottom picture shows how the leaves are darker and have a tendency to curl on the other variety. It is interesting for me to note that Companion Plants no longer carries Polygonum Tinctorium and has instead Indigofera Tinctoria. I am wondering if what they had before was not labeled correctly or had not been indentified correctly.

In order to make sure I get some seeds from these plants, I am going to let one group from each row remain uncut. I will be able to harvest the leaves soon and I am devising a method for comparing the yields of each variety.

Arrowmont 2011

2011-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

It takes some time to readjust to regular life after spending an intense week at Arrowmont. My friend and co-worker Debbi sums it up well over on her blog http://paperdollpost.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-letdown.html Michelle Cox was also with us for the week. Three women going to "art camp" in one car seemed to be amazing to people. I have to give most of the credit for us not only fitting in one car, but for having room to spare to Debbi and Michelle.

We all worked hard during the week but had opportunities for fun. Karaoke night was a blast until I decided I would get up and sing. The monitor that displays the lyrics decided to go on the fritz. Poor Amy Winehouse's Rehab took a beating that night. Poor Amy Winehouse--so much talent and all wasted away.

I decided to take a break from fiber this summer. I have been to Arrowmont nine times and it was time to try out another type of class. I landed in the glass casting class totally clueless about glass. Everyone else had some kind of glass experience and all were very kind to answer my questions and offer suggestions.


The weeks booty! Some are sand cast pieces, some were sand blasted to make them frosty. The bird head at the top was modeled in clay first; a plaster mold was made and then the clay dug out. The elephant head in the middle (blue swirls) was carved out of wax and then a plaster mold was made. The wax is steamed out of the mold.

Here is another view of the elephant head showing the wax original and the cast piece side by side.

The blue swirls on the cast piece were created with the "pot melt" method. A flower pot with glass frit arranged in thirds was placed over the opening to the mold so the glass melted and swirled to fill it as it melted. The bottom was sanded on the lap sander to smooth it out. I think it will make a great paper weight!

My pattern bar after being sliced on the diamond saw. I was going to remelt these on another project but ran out of time.

I loved the textures in this plaster mold I made on a slab of clay. I really did not want to ruin it by casting the glass in it. I went ahead and did, but I was not happy with the results. It is in the lower left of the picture at the top.

I think I love the plaster above because the textures remind me of my beloved textiles. It was good to step away from them and work 3D in another form, but I still missed my textiles.

Stitch Fall 2011

2011-07-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Stitch magazine's Fall 2011 issue is out and it is fantastic. I want to make so many of the projects in this one! I did make one already--the Hardware Toiletry Kit.


The Barbasol is a nice touch isn't it?

The messenger bag on the cover is awesome. I am going to have to carve out some sewing time for me.

Indiana Weather

2011-06-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have gotten behind on posting here. Life is keeping me very busy at the moment. I find it hard to document my work when I get this busy. I am so involved in just doing the work I lose myself to it.

My indigo is a little behind schedule due to the Indiana weather we have been having. I am thinking I may be lucky to get one harvest this year before letting it go to seed. I have three varieties going and I hope to be able to compare the colors from each.

I have not started my fermented vat yet either. I am really excited about it but my husband is going to have to treat the backyard and porch area for ticks before I can spend much time there. Ticks seem to love me and I am fighting off my second round of Lymes. Hopefully next week will be productive on the indigo front and I will get pictures posted to update the indigo's progress.

Top Ten

2011-05-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

One of my designs on Spoonflower made the Top Ten in the Folk Tales contest. I have been playing around with the logo for Elephant Booty Studios for a few years now. It started out as a sharpie drawing for a silkscreen class at Arrowmont. We had to create a repeat design to make a silkscreen to print with thickened procion dye. As I kept repeating the design on my fabric, we noticed it got a bit "wonky." At the time, the instructor and I thought it was a registration problem from the padding on the table being uneven on the sides. By the time I got all the way across the 3 yards of fabric I was printing it was off by a half inch.
Once I got home and started playing with the design in Photoshop, I realized that the asymetry of the design and what looked balanced to my brain was off by just enough to keep adding up in the repeat. I have been learning a lot of hints and tricks for Photoshop from my techie brothers and from fellow Spoonflower designers on the Flickr group. I have been editing and fine tuning the repeat for a while now and also trying out different colors and patterns for coordinating fabrics. I am in love with the "set pattern" fill in Photoshop for making more complex designs based on a set of coordinating motifs. I am pretty happy with the set of coordinated fabrics I have now and I am waiting for my swatches to arrive as a final check before putting the set up for sale.

My last set of swatches includes my Ele Boo Blue Ganesh design
that made the top ten of the Folk Tales contest at Spoonflower.

I am really happy with how bright the colors printed on the swatch of my Ele Boo Blue Ganesh.

The above is a closeup of the enlarged version of my design. I wanted to see how
bad the pixelization would be and it really is better than I had thought. I am thinking I can
order more of this and make new curtains for my studio. The colors on this one are a slightly faded
version. Again, I am still doing quite a bit of experimenting as I learn the ins and outs of Spoonflower.

I also experimented with making some of the designs more intense in color. In this design,
I made use of the fill pattern tool in Photoshop. I designed a set of motifs to coordinate and then
designed a set of shapes to experiments with layering.

I think this is looking really washed out because of my camera, but you can still see some of the pattern layering I am working on.

I also have been working with my Ele Boo design motifs in magenta, white and black.

Indigo update

2011-05-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

My seedlings are making good progress. The first set of seedlings is almost ready to transplant. I hope we get a weekend with clear weather so I can get the planting bed ready for them.

My first set of seedlings need to be thinned out to get them ready for transplanting.

Senbon--not as many came up as the other variety.

Kojyoko--good success with germination for these.

Indigo Seedlings

2011-05-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

My senbon variety of indigo---with the pink blooms and stems with a reddish cast--has germinated.


The kojyoko variety with the white blooms and green stems has also come up!

Indigo Cakes

2011-05-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

My indigo compost was down to about two inches in depth and had turned a blackish greenish blue. It now had the feel and consistency of a good clay soil.

I scooped out a handful and kneaded it in my hands and then rolled it into balls. The balls were flattened and formed into squared off cakes. I thrilled as I watched the outside of the cakes start to turn blue as they dried on the tray in the sun.

I know it does not look like much and I am not sure I have created a usable dye yet. Again I am having to be patient and wait and see. I was lucky enough to finally get a copy of Dorothy Miller's book "Indigo--From Seed to Dye." Reading about her learning process has been very helpful. I am trying to decide which of the recipes for a vat to follow as she offers several in her book.

Indigo compost update

2011-04-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

I opened up the indigo compost to give it a good stir and it has gotten very dark in color and was compacting down nicely now. I am a bit worried about it being too wet now that we are having so much rain. The humidity is way up so I may just open it up and stir it more often to add more oxygen and keep it from being too damp. It really is a balancing act.

I also opened up the jars of fermenting indigo to check on them. No mold but I think the smell and how slimy the liquid was is probably not a good thing. I decided to pour off the water which was brown and added fresh and stirred it up quite a bit. I am planning to let the green bits settle again and pour off the water and repeat the process. I am thinking about what I might need to add to change the chemistry in addition to adding oxygen. I am thinking ash, lime or something acidic like a fruit juice?

Looking close at indigo seeds

2011-04-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Indigo does not come from just one plant. Japanese indigo also has several varieties as I am finding out.

The packages of indigo from Rowland Ricketts are nicely labeled indicating the name of the variety and what color blooms they will have. It also states the tint the stems will have. The kojyoko variety will have white bloom and green stems while the senbon variety will have pink blooms and stems with a reddish cast. I plan to separate these in my garden so I can track the differences in them this year. I want to look at yield of dried leaf and color produced from the dried leaf.

The seeds are slightly different in appearance as well as being different from the seeds I got last year from http://www.companionplants.com/ The seeds from Companion plants are flatter and smaller and dark brown in color. I started those last week and they are now sprouting.

Indigo sprouts

leaning toward the light


You can see the shells of the seeds clinging to the cotyledons. The white fuzz is the thin hair-like roots forming.

Above are the seeds from the new packages. On the left in each picture is a seed still in the husk. On the right is the actual seed. The kojyoko seed is darker and smoother than the senbon. Both the kojyoko and senbon seem to have three sides instead of the two sided flat seeds from Companion Plants which is labeled as indigofera tinctoria which is part of the pea family. The Japanese variety--polygonum tinctorium is part of the buckwheat family. I will be starting the flats of these seeds this next week.

Actinomycetes

2011-04-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Actinomycetes! Scary sounding name, but turns out it is a beneficial type of bacteria in the composting process. I was a bit concerned when I opened up my indigo compost to turn it and add oxygen to the pile. I thought the whitish gray fuzzy stuff in there was mold. Read more about Actinomycetes at http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/bacteria.html

The compost had an earthy soil-like smell and not a moldy one, very much like going outside on a warm day after it has rained. I was happy to find that it was warm and the bulk seemed to be shrinking. It needed more water than I had originally thought.

The little whitish gray thread-like
fungi is the actinomycetes.

Indigo seeds have arrived

2011-04-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

I now have my indigo seed from Rowland and I am really excited about getting it started. I was sharing my plans with my students and they think I have gone a bit nutty. They don't understand why I want to do my own experiments with the process instead of just looking up what someone else has done on the internet. I have look at other sites, other books, taken classes and listened to the wisdom of the instructors, but nothing replaces experiencing something for yourself. It is the difference between reading about chocolate and actually eating it, between falling in love for the first time and having sometime tell you about it. It is just not the same as experiencing it and learning as you go along. My students are so impatient with the doing of things, the actual making of things. They do not value or honor the process and it shows up in their work. I hope as they mature, they will remember what I have tried to teach them about this.

Rowland was kind enough to send one of the promo cards
from one of his shows with a little advice!

Indigo on the way

2011-04-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

I started some of my indigo seeds left over from last year this past week. I was not sure if they would germinate after spending a year in my basement, but all seem to be sprouting. I also have seeds on the way from Rowland Ricketts. The money from the seeds will support his work at Hilltop Garden for the IndiGrowingBlue project. Rowland hopes to be able to buy silk scarves for children in the summer program to dye with the fresh leaf indigo. How can you not want to help with that? If you are on Facebook, look up the project there to see about the availability of seed packages. I got a package of each and I am going to attempt to keep them separate to compare them in a more scientific way. I want to see if there is a difference in harvest times, pounds of dried leaf produced, composting time, fresh leaf dye color and composted dye color. I need to talk one of my book making friends into making me a special notebook for tracking everything.

The composted indigo seems to have gotten too dry. I think there is too big of a gap inside the styrofoam cooler and that air is drying everything out. I know it needs to breathe to compost right but the material I used to cover it may not be holding enough moisture in. I added more water and stirred, stirred, stirred. I then cut a piece of an old tarp to to size to just cover the pile in the cooler. If the Indiana weather is better next week, I am going to take my fermenting indigo outside to process it. The smell is still rather bad but I see layers of blue inside the jars so I am hopeful that I have usable dye.

Patience

2011-03-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

I have learned that with indigo, you must have patience. Or perhaps it is about flowing with the seasons? I really don't think our western culture encourages that. We want it now--right now! I have had two large jars of leaves fermenting since September. The indigo looks to be settling in them now. I am going to go ahead and process one of the jars next week to see if it is indeed ready. If not, I have my backup jar. Pics and info on that next week.

In the meantime, I have started composting my dried leaves. I had two varieties of indigo growing. Polygonum tinctorum from Companion Plants and seedlings from Rowland Ricketts IndiGrowingBlue project. Had I been planning better, I would have composted these separately to test out the colors. The dried indigo leaves were different in color and texture. The plants I grew from seed produced a dried leaf that was both more grey in color and crumbled finer. The plants from Rowland (which were started with his seed from Japan) stayed bluer and crumbled in bigger pieces and was more leathery instead of dusty. The smell of the crumbled dried indigo is very earthy.

To compost the indigo I am using a styrofoam cooler. My small amount of indigo (three gallon size bags) just fits inside the cooler. Hopefully as the indigo starts to break down, the styrofoam will help it maintain the heat needed for composting. I have placed it in a sunny window in my school room with the lid weighted down.
I sprinkled in layers of the dried indigo and misted it with hot water from a spray bottle in between layers. After a few layers I stirred it up with my hands and then repeated the process until I had used all of the dried indigo. The compost was covered with a few layers of muslin to help hold in the moisture. Every few days it is checked for moisture and turned. Water is added as needed. I am hoping as our weather gets warmer and there is more sun, the process will speed up.

The first layer of dried indigo!

Adding water and mixing after yet another layer was added.


The top layers consisted of the indigo I started from seed. It is grayer in color and the texture is finer.

More mixing! The smell was fabulous--so earthy and kind of pungent.

A few layers of muslin help hold the moisture in.

Mod Pillows in Stitch

2011-01-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

Stitch magazine's Spring 2011 issue is out now and my Mod Pillows design is in it. I love Stitch and I am very proud to be a part of this issue. Stitch is not your granny's sewing magazine. The projects are beautifully photographed and have a hip edge to them.

My Mod Pillows were inspired by Op and Pop art from the 60's. I am a huge MadMen fan and the changes in the decor and fashions on the show got me excited about the art movements of the time period all over again.

I actually submitted three pillows, but these are the two that made the final cut. The fabric is WoolFelt from National Nonwovens. WoolFelt is a high quality felt, not a thin acrylic craft felt. It is a great fabric for fall and winter. Complicated shapes are easier to applique as felt does not ravel and there are no edges to turn under.

The original set of three looked like this:

I also made a set in black and white faux leather. I will probably make some other versions in the coming year as well. I hope others enjoying making them as much as I am enjoying playing with this design.

New Dressform

2010-12-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

I am really excited. My new dressform arrived today. I am wondering if people give their dressforms nicknames or if I am being weird? My other dress form, Bertha, is not my size and I am not emotionally attached to her. She is just a tool for doing work. The new dressform is my size and as I adjusted her to be like me, I felt this instant bond. She is going to be my new best friend. I just have to do a few things to make her more like my twin. A little padding here and there and she will have this uncanny resemblance to me--minus a head of course. Magzy is the nickname for my new dressform in honor of my online alter-ego. Magzy is a wonderful burdundy color and I can hardly wait to start sticking pins into her! Alas, she will have to wait a bit though as I will be starting on Addy's dress soon.

I know I have not blogged for quite a while. I was waiting and waiting for my kakishibui and indigo to do their thing and be ready to work with. It was actually good to take a break for a while. My stitching hand is much better now that it has been a year since the surgery. I made small projects for friends and family. I also designed a project for Stitch magazine that should be coming out in January. 2011 will be off to a good start after taking a bit of a break.

Bertha will be adjusted and padded to match Addy and when I need a break I can work on Magzy and create some things for me.

Shibori Clouds

2010-08-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing

2010-08-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

As part of the IndiGrowingBlue project, Rowland Ricketts teaches participants how to dye with fresh indigo leaves. The fresh indigo dye creates a beautiful turquoise color on silk and silk/wool. The color reminds me of the water in Hawaii and can range from the pale greenish blue to the deeper, intense turquoise. The range of color can be due to the concentration of the dye in the leaves or the concentration of leaves used in the preparation of the dye. The prepared dye has to be used quickly as it will oxidize with the water used to prepare it.

Indigo Harvesting

2010-08-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

My blog has been neglected again. It has been a busy summer and now it is back to teaching. I have been following with great interest http://www.indigrowingblue.com/ . I am lucky enough to live close enough to have participated this summer. Rowland Ricketts began this project to not only educate people about indigo, but to let them participate in the process. I have been posting pictures to the face book page for the IndiGrowingBlue Group, as have other particpants.

Transplanting happened at the end of May. We were called to the field by banners dyed with indigo using a traditional paste resist technique from Japan. The large pieces are typical of Rowland's work. The banners were hung on bamboo poles that turned the banners into the wind and made a lovely creaking noise as they turned. Rowland shared the secret of getting the indigo plants to grow stronger and bushier. The transplanting is an important step.

The first harvest was back in July when our temperatures were in the 90's and the humidity was pushing the heat index up past 100 degrees.

The indigo is cut, hauled to tarps and spread out to dry in the sun. Depending on the weather, the indigo may take one to two days to dry. After drying, the indigo is winnowed to separate the leaves and stems. The dried leaves are bagged and stored until they will be composted.

Pictures from teh second harvest and more about winnowing will be in my next post as I get my blog back up to date.Indi

Indigo Transplanting

2010-08-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

May 14, 2010 (This post was originally supposed to publish on that date.)
The seedlings were transplanted into larger cups in groups of five. The indigo is proving easy to start. I hope it is easy to grow in our soil.

Indigo Seedlings Progress and Altered States

2010-04-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

My little indigo sproutlings now have leaves. The lovely little green leaves are arching toward the sun so I turned the Jiffy Planter around. I will probably have to turn it every day to keep them growing straight. I am going to do a count tomorrow and estimate how many have come up.

I had forgotten how much fun it was to start something from seed and watch it grow. I am almost like a giddy school girl planting seeds for the first time in science class. I do believe I need to start a journal and take notes--although I am doing that here, it might be cool to do one like an altered book.

I am currently taking Juliana Coles online class "Altered States: Altered Book as Extreme Visual Journal."
I bought several cheap books at Big Lots and have been ripping out pages to make room for the collaging we will do next. It was really hard to rip pages out of a perfectly good book. I chose to start with a book called "Dictator Style" that shows the lavish lifestyles and homes of some infamous dictators. After reading a bit about them it was easier to rip out the pages.

I think it will make it easier to paint, stamp, mark and glue all over them as well. I also used a deckle ruler to make the pages less wide inside the book cover so everything stays contained (mostly) inside the covers. Creating an altered visual journal is a big departure from what I usually do so I am going to just close my eyes and take a big leap of faith and just do it. It does not have to be pretty, it does not have to be exact, it does not have to make sense--it just has to happen. Now to go dig out the supplies I need for the next lesson...

Shibori Samples--Larch

2010-04-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Larch is usually circles stitched on a fold in continuous rows. Other shapes may be stitched with this technique as well. It really saves time on tying knots, re-threading your needle, and tying off the ends.

In the pic above, you can see how the thread skips over to the next group instead of being tied off for each circle. In one row, all the small circles are stitched with one length of thread and then again for the medium and large circles.

In the pic above you can see how the cloth looks gathered up. The pic below shows the row of three circles dyed in indigo.

Shibori Samples--Maki Nui

2010-04-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Maki Nui is stitched on the fold like Ori Nui. Maki Nui uses a whip stitch instead of a running stitch. Depending on the size and angle of the stitches, Maki Nui makes a chevron pattern.

Shibori Samples--Ori Nui

2010-04-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

The fabric is pleated for Ori Nui and is stitched with a running stitch close to the fold.

The fabric is gathered tightly, the pleats between the lines of stitching arranged, the fabric is moistened to swell it, then it is tightened again and tied. The Ori Nui is soaked to prepare if for dyeing.

Ori Nui makes a pattern that resembles rows of teeth--roots and all! The Ori Nui sample was dyed with pre-reduced indigo.

Shibori Samples--Mokume

2010-04-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

My students have begun working on their shibori samples to learn the basic stitch styles to stitch shaped resist dyeing. I always start them off with mokume as it is easy to learn. We work fairly small so they can see results fast. I tell them that mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them. When we open their shibori up, the students know who's looks the best and who had some problems and they ask each other about it. They learn from each others triumphs and errors.

Mokume is made by creating rows and rows of straight stitch on the fabric. You need to make a really big knot of doubled sewing thread and then stitch across a single layer of fabric. The size of your stitches, how far apart the rows are, and how tightly you gather and compress the fabric will change the appearance of the pattern you get. When I do an example for the students I use black or red thread so they can see it more easily. You really want to use plain old white sewing thread as it won't stain the fabric and it is easy to break the stitches later (though some prefer using a seam ripper to remove stitches).

The knots all need to be on the same side as each other. The tails are pulled up, the fabric is tightened against the knots, and then you wiggle the fabric to align the pleats that form. You can spray the fabric with a little water to just dampen it and this will help the fabric and thread to swell and it will be easier to tighten the gathers.

Once the fabric is tightly gathered, all the threads have to be tied off. You split the double thread, untwist it down to the cloth, and then double tie it against the fabric. You want the knot to sit flush to the fabric to hold the fabric tightly into the folds. The mokume is then soaked in water to finish swelling the fiber and the stitching as well as to prepare the fabric to accept thy dye more evenly.

After dyeing, the knots are removed and you get to see the pattern you created. Mokume is said to resemble a fine wood grain pattern ideally. By lining up your stitches you can make it look like stripes. Once you get a lot of practice in, you can control the pattern by your stitching.

The piece above was dyed in an indigo vat made from pre-reduced indigo. I really love how indigo has subtle changes across the folds.

I also have a slide show on Mokume I made to use with my students that can be found here.

Sprouts

2010-04-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yay! I have sprouts of indigo! I am so excited. Below, you can see I used one of those Jiffy Greenhouses with the peat pellets to start my indigo seed. I followed the Jiffy instructions and poured the water into the tray and let the pellets expand for about an hour. I then used scissors to make sure the top of the mesh was open and to stir up a little of the peat on the top of each pellet. I dropped several seeds (they are tiny) onto each pellet. I will have to thin them out and I am sure there will be some that don't make it. I did my planting on Monday, April 12, 2010.

I have to admit to be a bit worried on Tuesday when I saw some fuzziness on top of the pellets, but then I remembered that some plants have fuzzy little roots when they are sprouting. I decided to take the giant leap of faith and not look at them again until today (Friday) and my reward is seeing these lovely sprouts.

My favorite pic of my new indigo sprout babies is below.

I am going to start another flat with the remaining seed. I have a few other friends who would like to try out indigo and we are going to see if we can keep a few going indoors year round for fresh leaf dyeing as well as some outdoor planting. We will find out who has the best outside soil and who has the best indoor conditions and do some sharing.

Indigo Seed

2010-04-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

I am so happy--my indigo seed arrived in the mail today. Polygonum tinctorium also known as Dyer's Knotweed from Companion Plants. I was not exactly sure how much seed would be in each packet so I ordered six packets. I am now the proud owner of 300 indigo seeds. I really only planned a planting bed for 48 plants, not a whole field. My original plan called for about 100 seeds in hopes that I would end up with 48 plants healthy enough to transplant from seedlings to planting bed. I am putting the extra seed packets into the fridge for next year now. If all goes well I will be able to harvest my own seed at the end of the season. My hubby is even on board with this project as he likes to plan our yard space and likes growing things.

I am going to start the seeds this weekend and will keep posting my progress here. I am thinking of taking a plant or two to school to grown indoors there year round and see if I can keep it growing over the course of a year to do fresh leaf vats in the off season.

All of this--the persimmon juice fermenting into kakishibui in my basement, the indigo farming, the ebaying to get bolts of antique silks--just to make one dress. A very special dress for one of my nieces. She is quite the artist herself and sat down with me at one of our family gatherings to give me some input on how it should look. One of my other nieces is going to assist with the beadwork and make the jewelry to accompany the dress. I have never taken so long to plan or make anything before.

Pincushions

2010-04-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

My students are having a hard time keeping track of their needles for their shibori. And then, on my yahoo page, I saw the answer. Pincushions via the Whipup feed. If you use yahoo, you need to add this to your page. You can also visit them at whipup.net Whipup finds some great crafty and artsy links and collects them for us. Thank you whipup! So, back to those pincushions--there they were in the feed just when I needed them. I zipped off an e-mail to all the teachers and by the end of the day I had enough soda bottle plastic lids to make some lovely little pincushions for each child. Add some felt, some stuffing, some bali fabrics, and a little elastic to those bottlecaps and you can end up with a great little pincushion. I must warn you that it can be addictive to make these. Here are some links to different instructions:
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2007/06/tiny-pin-cushion-tutorial.html
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/945/how-to-make-pretty-pincushions
http://www.instructables.com/id/Sew-Useful:-Handy-Dandy-Bottlecap-Pincushion /

We punched holes in the lids to add elastic so we can wear them as a ring or as a bracelet. Keeps them from losing their pincushions. Have I mentioned they lose things?

Here are the examples I made.

Indigo Magic

2010-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

It feels good to be up and running with my art again. I am hoping my excitement over creating rubs off on my kids at school. I decided to do only indigo with them this nine weeks. Some of them were a bit disappointed when I told them we were doing blue and more blue. Until they saw how an indigo vat works--and then it was "Indigo is magic!" They liked the subtle variations in blue it made on their mokume samples.

My students are doing small samples of different techniques and then they will work on a larger finished project. I have them start off with mokume--rows and rows of running stitch gathered tightly to make a woodgrain pattern. We discussed how your stitch and row size would change the pattern as well as how tightly you gather and compress the cloth. I think indigo is a little more forgiving than some of the other dyes in that it will give you those subtle in between shades in areas that are not gathered as tight.

In order to make our vat, I bought a two gallon white plastic bucket with lid at Lowes, a package of RIT Dye Remover, and package of indigo crystals from Paradise Fibers. $11.00 for a 2 ounce package is reasonable when you find out how much dyeing you can do with it. I used a heaping teaspoon of the indigo crystals with the bucket filled 3/4 of the way up with water. 1 tsp of the Rit Dye Remover is added to the water and allowed to dissolve and then the heaping teaspoon of indigo crystals was sprinkled over the top, allowed to dissolve and then gently stirred with wooden dowel rod.

You can see how the water turns a lovely green color as the indigo gets suspended in the reduction vat. It seems a little odd using dye remover to dye with doesn't it? Indigo will not dissolve in water, so it has to be reduced in water with the oxygen sucked out of it by the dye remover. Okay, that is a bit simplified for those of you who are advanced dyers, but I work with middle schoolers all day.

In the pics above and below I am doing a test dip to see if I have the right balance of indigo and dye remover. If you have too much indigo it can "crock" off and you are wasting the indigo. When it crocks off it is not bonding with the fiber and is floating on the surface of the fibers like a coating. If you have too much of the dye remover, it will strip out more color than it bonds on each time you dip and you will waste a lot of time dipping and not getting those deep blues.

The test strip is greenish as it comes out of the vat and starts to turn blue. I have found that different types of indigo and different types of vats will have a different green color and will also produce subtle differences in the blues you get. A natural fermented vat will have a slight purple to the blue--maybe because of the madder root used to help along the fermenting?

If you can see the slickish slimy looking dark blue goo on the test piece above, that is part of the "flower" or bloom that forms on top of the vat. I did not bother to take it off for the test dips. When you do scoop it off the top before dyeing, you reserve it to put back on when you let the vat rest between dye sessions. I usually scoop it onto the vat lid or into a small plastic container.

Below, we have students dipping their mokume samples and removing them after a five minute dip. You have to be careful to not swish too much and add air into the vat as it will oxidize all your indigo. A slow gentle dip in, gentle slow swirls, and slowly lifting out after your decided length of time. Since these are samples only, we only did one five minute dip. For really deep blues I would do several 15 minute dips, allowing it to oxidize in between each time. The really deep deep blues on some Japanese textiles are dipped over 50 times.

After a quick rinse in water, the students used a small fan to help speed up the oxidizing of the samples.
Stitches have to be removed and the pattern is revealed. The students asked great questions about why some people had more white patterns left and why some had more light blue and why some had hardly any pattern.
All of the students lovely samples drying on the rack in the back of my art room--tomorrow we will discuss why they look the way they do and talk about being in control of the pattern and getting it to do what we want when we want. I really don't care when my students make "mistakes" as long as they learn from them. It is great that these samples are not all perfect as we all get to see what happens when you do things differently. To be honest, my students are my own little dye experimentation lab and I learn as much from them as they do from me.

Felting

2010-04-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is my machine knit scarf with the wooden balls rubber banded in. I wetted it out, and put it into a fuschia dye bath. It just seemed wrong. I quickly poured off the dye, rinsed the scarf and started over. I thought warm was the way to go, but seeing it floating in the dye bath made me think this scarf was more organic and needed to be an earthy color. What is more earthy than brown?
Brown it is! In the pic below you can see how it felted up nicely around the resists and the greyish brown I dyed it. A side benefit of the process is cool patterns dyed onto the wooden beads used as resists. I have some ideas for another project based on those,
With the resists removed, the scarf has this lovely bumpy "growth" on it. The rubber bands also resist the dye so each bump has a cream colored ring around it.
Up close it is like a landscape of yarn.
The backside is really interesting too.Now I need to decide if it is finished or if I should play with some needle felting to embellish it? I am going to crank out some more scarf blanks on the knitting machine this summer to get ready for the winter season. I really loved how the Fisherman's wool felted up.

Back to work

2010-04-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

Finally I am getting to start on projects again. I still have some swelling and have to rest my hand, but it really feels good to be making things again. I dug out my old knitting machine and after some frustration over getting the tension right, I was able to crank out a scarf.

I used Fisherman's Wool Yarn from LionBrand in natural so I can dye it. I plan to shibori felt it and dye in one step. Just trying to decide what colors. I am in an indigo mood as I have some seed on the way from Companion Plants, but I want to make this more colorful so I think acid dyes in a warm palette are in order for this project.

I am hopeful that we will have a warm sunny weekend so I can set up the dyepot on the back porch. I just need to finish putting the wooden beads into the scarf to act as the resist.

Digitized Shibori

2010-01-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

One of my off and on love affairs of late has been Spoonflower. I love it because it is so easy to use, I hate it because--um, well it is so easy to use. I have had fun just cranking out designs and playing with the repeats of them. Honestly some of them are crap. I have also been playing around with Photoshopping some of my shibori samples. It makes me feel unclean to do this to my shibori. Shibori is done by hand, it is a careful zen like process. Here I am playing with it in Photoshop. It almost feels sacrilegious. Spoonflower is like my dirty little addiction.

I have to say some other designers have beautiful work on there that I covet and admire. There is also a lot of crap (my own included, so please, no hate mail.) Recent discussions on Slow Cloth have me thinking more about why I am doing things, what I am learning, and what I am contributing. The good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly. Is it okay to make ugly art if you learn and grow from it? Is it okay to share your ugly work? Or should ugly work be banished and hidden or even destroyed? Should I delete my Spoonflower designs that just did not quite work, or should I keep reworking them?

I took the plunge and ordered more swatches of designs I had previously done on Spoonflower. Time to decide to keep or eliminate. I also need to make a decision about what to make with these designs. I am thinking of upholstering a chair and painting the wood in bright colors?

Slow Cloth

2010-01-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

Slow Cloth is a group started on Facebook for discussing the idea of Slow Cloth. Started by three wonderful, thoughtful artists--Elaine, Jude and Glennis. Anyone interested in textiles and what they mean in today's world should check out the discussions going on over there. The group is new, is growing, and is very active.

On with the New Year

2010-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

So what does 2010 have in store? I have had lots of down time with the hand to start planning and thinking about projects for this year. I have been doing some soul searching and asking myself questions. Do I do projects for recognition or for personal pleasure? Do I try to do lots of small things for instant gratification or do I go for one really great big project? Do I try to teach and share or just selfishly do my own thing? What has been holding me back from getting things done? How do I get myself organized to accomplish my goals once I set them?

One thing I have learned, is that it does help to set goals and to actually write them down. Writing them down is like making a promise to yourself--if it is important enough to write down it must be something important to you--right? A great site for helping to plan and organize is diyplanner.com I love the templates directory and have even contributed a few myself. A simple dayplanner and a simple weekly planner and my DIY Voodoo Kit. The latter is just for fun. DIY Planner has some great contributors and I enjoy reading the articles on getting organized and how people share their creative answers for getting organized. I wish I could make an organizer system for artists, but what works for one would not for another so I just need to finish making the one I started for myself.

So let's see, back to goal setting... I want to test out my ideas for the dress I am going to make for my niece using kakishibui and indigo. I want to make a bib necklace using the awesome retro beads I found on Etsy. I want to get my shibori videos finished. I want to get my plan for my Japan trip in place. I want to get a better list of Japanese sewing term translations organized and posted. I want to sew my way through the rest of my Japanese sewing books. I want to get my Etsy shop going. I want to get my Spoonflower fabrics tweaked for better colors and make something using my own fabric. I want to experiment more with katazome (rice paste resist dyeing.)

Well I feel better putting that down. It did make me think about what was more important to me. Now I have some focus for the year. Two weeks until the pins come out. I better print out a calendar and start some planning on paper!

Hand Progress

2010-01-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here is my x-ray from the day my cast came off. Kind of creepy, but not so gross as looking at my actual hand. I now have twenty three days until those pins come out and then will do rehab on my finger for a while to get my grip back. I am doing my flexes every hour like I am supposed to. I have got a little more bend back into the middle knuckle joint. The progress seems so slow right now. Hydrocodine and I do not get along! I am just taking ibuprofen now.

The pins get cold fast and the weather here in Indiana has been COLD. It is a weird feeling in my finger joint where the pins are when they get cold--bone chilling has new meaning for me now.

I am wondering if picking up being left-handed will make me smarter by forcing me to use the right side of my brain more? LOL, probably not. Simple things have been easy to pick up on doing left handed--like eating, typing one handed, and other simple tasks. Harder is fastening hooks and zippers on clothing, writing (I can do it but the angle is all wrong), and opening those dang child proof caps they put on everything. Oh yeah--and scissors! Scissors left handed takes some concentration. I have only a small understanding of what stroke victims go through.

I have to admit that fear creeps in now and again at this point. What if it does not heal correctly? What if it does not have enough grip ever again? What if it does not fuse? What if it hurts all the time? What if I can't do my art or have to relearn how to do my art? I guess I am just a little depressed right now. I know I need to think positive healing thoughts!

neglect

2009-12-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

My poor blog has been sadly neglected of late. I had surgery to fuse the dip joint of my index finger on my right hand and am currently a leftie. No sewing, shibori, beading, knitting or any other of the things that bring me joy for the next six weeks. I have been really depressed about it, but I know in the long run I will get back to what I love and it will be without pain. I am studying up on arthritis and how to care for my hands. I am planning lots of projects in my head, but I am so fearful of losing them while unable to put them on paper. I find myself turning to typed notes using as many descriptive words as possible but it is not the same as capturing the pictures in my head. My dear hubby has been watching over my kakishibui to let off the excess gases so it does not explode. It is still fermenting away and hopefully I can do a test swatch in February. I am going to (if my hand is ready) stitch up a little bracelet using my plan for my niece's dress to test out the colors and technique.

I ran across another shibori book at JoAnns Fabrics---Mandy Southan's Shibori Designs and Techniqes. Some lovely work to study in this book. I also found a Japanes book on Amazon Japan that is now in my wishlist!

Spoonflower

2009-11-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

Head on over to Spoonflower and check out the awesome designs in their calendar contest. One of my art teacher colleagues has a lovely entry called Peace Pixie 2010 Some of my experiments are at this link. I have had to put off some of my art to rest my hand, so I dug out the big crochet hook and the big knitting needles and have been cranking out some scarves. It was fun using up my stash of yarn and doing some immediate gratification work! Pics to come some. I worked with no pattern and just played with what my muse was sending me. It was really fun,

An artist's hands

2009-11-13T20:41:00.000-08:00

When you are an artist that uses their hands, what do you do when you have injured your dominate hand? I have apparently worn out all the cartilage in my right index finger joint nearest the tip. Osteo arthritis and a little early on the start according to the hand doc. He wants to shave down the bones at the joint to remove the spurs that have been forming, clean up the loose bits caused by bone rubbing against bone, and then fuse the joint at an angle so I can still use it for my art. He could fuse it in the straight position and it would look prettier but I want it to work better. So it seems a fifteen degree angle it is.

How important an artists hands are. I knew they were getting sore sometimes but I kept working thinking it was just like over exercising. I will get therapy on my hand after they take the pins out. The therapists is supposed to go over how to take better care of my hands when I am working. I will be unable to do anything with my right hand for a few weeks and then a few weeks more before I can start back with my stitching.

Maybe that will give me time to do some left handed blogging?

Pojagi

2009-10-14T17:56:00.001-07:00

Last year I had the privilege of working with a great group of students for after-school art. I had ten students total. It was a mixture of 6th, 7th and 8th graders. We spent the first couple of weeks experimenting with different ways to create pattern on cloth. We did some good old hippy tie dye, some itajime (folding and clamping), marbling, rubbings with paintstiks, thickened dye, potato dextrin resist, and sponge painting. It was messy and fun! What to do with all these samples? A pojagi banner seemed a great solution.

We were able to buy some books on pojagi from Amazon Japan.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/images/4877512365/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=465392&s=books

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/images/4579107977/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=465392&s=books

We followed the great illustrations to figure out the steps for creating our pojagi banner even though the text was in Japanese. We did do our stitching with a sewing machine instead of by hand however as we were rushed by a deadline to finish. The students had a hard time with making straight seams, but who says it had to be perfect? It has lots of character and the students can look at it and they know which pieces of fabric are theirs and which parts they sewed together. Originally we wanted to hang it where it would be lit from behind, but as with most schools there was no money in the budget for anything like that.

I am hoping to get a grant to go to Japan on a fiber tour and maybe will find a shop that has some of the fabric they traditionally use for Pojagi. Pojagi is actually a Korean technique but seems to be gaining some popularity with Japanese crafters.

Stitch Magazine is out!

2009-10-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

Quilting Arts Stitch Magazine is out and my hints and tips for sewing with Japanese pattern books is in it! I hope sewing enthusiasts find it helpful and lose some fear over using foreign patterns. The world is full of great designers and with the internet they are available for all of us to enjoy.
It was really great working with the people at Stitch. Elaine Lipson wrote the feature I {heart} Japan and I got to know her by e-mails back and forth and a few phone calls. Elaine has a great blog, Red Thread Studio. Which brings me to my next subject as I found out about it by following her blog now.

Have you seen Spoonflower.com? I hadn't, but I have been reading Elaine's blog and checking out the great links she keeps posting. I am quite the fiber junkie, and I think Spoonflower may be addictive! I sat and made design after design the other night. Check out one of my faves based on an old brain diagram here. You can play with different tile/repeat options, scale your design to different sizes, change around the colors and more. It really is fun. I have ordered a test swatch (only $5 plus another $1 for shipping) to see how the colors turn out and find out the feel of the printed fabric. I am going to go back and just explore the other great work on there and find some faves to follow. I even took a sample of my shibori and uploaded it to play around with here.

Japanese Hat Pattern Book part II

2009-10-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing from my previous post, (link), this Japanese hat pattern book also has a chart showing some of the variations possible by combining different brim and crown styles. I decided to work with #14 which uses brim "A" and crown "B."

For a hat, you need a top crown, side crown and brim pattern. I have a big head (maybe it is all that hair?) and according to the measurements the size L would barely fit. I did not bother altering this pattern as I was not making the hat for me. It is important to remember to add a little for ease when measuring for your hat. Put a finger under the tape measure when checking your size to allow for a little fitting ease. Don't confuse the ease added to the pattern for seam allowances being included in the pattern. After finishing my hat, I found that although I could get it on my head, it was not a comfortable fit. I really need it to be about a 1/2 inch bigger. Making smaller seams will make the crown bigger around but not the brim opening. It is better to alter the pattern to change the size than to try playing with seam allowances. If you are not sure about it, use some cheap muslin for your first attempt. Making mistakes and figuring them out is a great way to learn.

Seam Tracers I ordered from Clotilde. They come in 1/4 inch and 5/8 inch. I use these where it is easiest to, but sometimes there is no substitute for using a ruler and marking the seam allowances.

My first step in preparing my pattern is to trace the pieces I need onto tracing paper. If you have a lightbox or sunny window it will be helpful. I trace them exactly as they are and translate the markings as I go. You will need to recognize symbols for front, back, center, on the fold, side, grain of fabric, and names of the parts. If you have problems with this, do an online search for Japanese sewing terms.

The above pic shows a pattern piece in progress.

The side crown and brim on this hat call for some changes to the basic pattern. The side crown is split and the brim is added onto in the front and tapered in the back. Following the charts for each hat is important to achieve the looks in the book. Once you have gone through this process, you will get ideas for your own variations. I make the changes on the tracing paper, taping on more paper as needed. A ruler and tape measure with centimeters on them are a big help with this part. If you have a flexible curve, it can also come in handy.

Using the Seam Tracer can take some practice. If you angle it too much, you will not have a true 5/8 inch seam allowance. I prefer to use tagboard for my patterns (call it a quirk), but you can use tissue paper, freezer paper, or paper made especially for patterns.

If something looks wonky, I check it with my ruler and correct it in red (school teacher in me has to come out sometimes.) I also trace over all of my lines with a Sharpie. Yes, yet another step but when I get done making my pattern I know it. I also like to go ahead and make any pieces it calls for cutting on the fold into full size pieces. I feel this makes it easier to make the best use of your fabric.

After getting all the pieces marked, I cut them out and mark them with post it notes. I like to put them on each pattern piece to label what needs to be cut from what and how many. As each is cut, the post it note comes off.

Below are my fabric choices for hat #14. I found I had enough fabric for two hats so I decided to
switch the fabrics around for two different looks. And it is almost as easy to make two as one!

After cutting the pattern out of the fashion fabric, the parts need to be interfaced. Depending on the weight and drape of the fabric, it may be better to use two layers of fusible interfacing instead of one. A really heavy interfacing may be too stiff and create wrinkles in my experience.

Colorway #1

Colorway#2

Sewing in progress, clipping curves, grading seams, and don't forget to press. A pressing ham and or a seam roll make this easier. It allows you to shape the curves of the hat as you press.

Gros-grain ribbon sewn on the inside helps hide the seam for attaching the brim and gives the hat a more finished appearance.

And these hats are packable! I think that is a big plus over other hats. The brim can be worn up or down, you can topstitch or not, add some ribbon trim, some buttons---whatever suits your fancy. I like to add pins to hats so I can change the look around. Making fabric flowers is a great way to use up those little bits of leftover fabric.

When my styrofoam head got to looking ratty, I tore up some wrapping paper into pieces and used some acrylic gel medium to cover it. I think it may be time to cover the other one!

Hat #14 finished in two variations. You can see how the drape of the fabric also changes the look of the hat.

I just found a link for a free hat pattern from Simplicity. It is a similar style if you want to try your hand at hatmaking without investing anything more than some fabric. Happy hatmaking!

Kakishibui Update

2009-09-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

My Kakishibui (persimmon dye) is fermenting its little heart out. I am having to let off excess gas from it every day. I had forgotten to check it one day and the plastic gas can I have it stored in had bloated out so big I was almost afraid to go near it. I let off some of it using the safety valve and then opened the lid a little bit. The gases from the fermentation process are rather stinky!

My project using this has an extended deadline now. While at first this was a little disappointing, I now see the plus side---more time to experiment to make sure I get it right. I hope this means I will be able to use my first homegrown indigo crop with the kakishibui. My one year deadline has become a two year deadline. Wow! How often do you get that? Maybe this will make it Really Really Slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Fiber.

I want to give a shout out to Elaine Lipson and her wonderful blog, Red Thread Studio, that got me started on this Slow Fiber idea. She is a great writer and her website will send you on some great fiber adventures. http://lainie.typepad.com/

Japanese Hat Pattern Book

2009-09-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

I bought this book off of Amazon Japan. It has some really beautiful hats in it, and it also has step by step instructions. Yes the instructions are in Japanese, but the pictures to illustrate the steps are so clear it is not a problem. If you already know how to sew you should have no problem using patterns from this book. The ISBN # is ISBN978-4-579-10800-8 I paid about $16 for it. I bought several books at once to make the most of shipping. The amount you pay in US dollars will be based on the exchange rate on the day the order is processed. You can check the exchange rate online. As best as I can guess, the title of the book is "Hats in Spring & Summer, Fall & Winter." The author is Yumiko Itoyama. I hope that will help you find this book if you are interested in it.

As you can see in the above picture, this book explains how to determine sizing and how the angle of the brim is designed. If you are interested in designing your own hat patterns, studying the illustrations would be helpful.

The picture above shows how to measure to determine which size to use and you can also see the pattern sheet on the right. The pattern sheets are in the back of the book and should be carefully cut from the book. I like to keep my books that come with these kind of pattern pieces in large ziploc bags with pattern pieces and any other notes I have made.

The picture above shows the pattern sheet and I have warped it so it can't just be enlarged and used. No cheating peeps, you gotta buy the book! You can see that multiple sizes are on one sheet. If you need to make a smaller or larger size, studying how the pattern was altered for Small, Medium and Large will be helpful. Since these are hats, some rules for altering patterns will work a little differently. If you make seams smaller to enlarge the size, it will make the head opening smaller not larger--think like a sleeve or neck opening. If you are not sure, make a muslin or use some $1 a yard fabric to test it out.

The above pictures shows the directions for a few of the hats in the book. Some hats require you to add or subtract from the pattern to create different looks. The book has clear diagrams showing how much in centimeters to change the pattern. After playing around with this, I had some creative ideas for my own variations.

I found a measuring tape that had centimeters on the back to use with my sewing from Japanese pattern books. One way to check on whether or not seam allowances are included on the pattern or need to be added is to do the measuring. If it is a loose fitting garment, you may need to figure in the ease that has been allowed.

I will show step by step how I made one of the hats from this book in another post to come soon.

Kakishibui

2009-09-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

My kakishibui seems to be fermenting. I checked the container yesterday and found it to be a bit bloated out. I pressed down on the cap and quite a bit of fumes rushed out--much like letting the air out of a tire. I see that I will need to check it a little more often. It is really hard for me to fight the urge to peek at it to see if it is turning color. Patience is a part of "slow fiber" and patience is something I want so badly to get better at. I have been working on several designs using the kakishibui and indigo dye. Some are on paper now and some are still floating around in my head. I am also interested in burning the edges of the silk but have not had time to research that yet. I am hoping that what I am creating will not be to avant garde for my neice to model.

Sew Japan--where to find books

2009-09-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

My obsession with things Japanese extends to sewing. I just happen to be in love with the Japanese aesthetic. I think my disordered mind finds the simplicity and uncluttered designs to be peaceful, calming, and like something that is operating on a heightened sense of reality. Is that what zen is?

I found this link very interesting http://zenhabits.net/2009/09/how-simplicity-can-help-creativity-briefly/ as I have felt a bit overwhelmed of late with so many new ideas and projects rolling out at work and for my own little art world. Balance, the push and pull that keeps things on an even keel is so very appealing to me but sometimes seems so out of reach.

Japanese sewing books have designs that, while trendy, are classic enough to last from season to season. One pattern, with a few variations, can give you many different looks. I do not read any Japanese--no, I take that back, I now do know the symbols for several common sewing terms! My point though is that when I bought my first Japanese book, I did not worry about the language problem. I bought my first book from an Etsy seller and the pics they included showed that the book had awesome diagrams. Anyone can read a picture, and if the book is over something you are familiar with you can start to figure things out.

If you have been drooling over some projects using Japanese patterns you have seen posted out there in blogland you should take the plunge. Many bloggers are kind enough to post links to places to purchase books and to post ISBN numbers to make the books easier to find.

If you are lucky enough to live in a larger city or near a city with a large Japanese population, you my find a local Japanese grocer also carries books and magazines with sewing patterns. If you are like me, you will have to find online resources. Etsy http://www.etsy.com/ has several sellers that not only sell Japanese books and magazines, but Japanese sewing supplies and fabrics as well. The great thing about Etsy sellers is that they post lots of pics of the inside of the book and give you great information. For example, it helps to know if the book has full size patterns included, the size ranges of the patterns, and to preview pics of some of the projects. Another great thing about Etsy is that you can convo the seller for more information if you have any questions. I have bought from several different Etsy sellers and have never had a bad experience. Some sellers also sell on ebay.

If you feel brave, you can order books from Amazon Japan http://www.amazon.co.jp/ or Yes Asia http://www.yesasia.com/us/en/home.html I really like Amazon Japan because of their "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section. I discovered some great books because of that section. Look for the "In English" link to make it a little easier. Also, if you have the Google toolbar it can translate a page for you.

Juicing Persimmons for Kakishibui

2009-09-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

It is best to juice the persimmons while they are green and at peak levels of tannin. The tannin is what will help the dye to "stick" to the cloth. And anyone who has handled persimmons, ripe or not, will tell you the critters are sticky as all get out! After ripening they will turn a very pretty dusky orange color and where I come from they get made into a baked pudding.

Wow I look old in this picture....speaking of needing to dye something.....

As you can see, the American variety of persimmon is not very big. It takes quite a few to make a gallon of juice. I found that it took four gallons of fresh persimmons to make one gallon of juice. I had to cut them in half and pop out the big seeds. Unripe persimmons are hard and I ended up getting a blister on my hand from trying to cut them.

Let the juicing begin! I have no idea how anyone could do this without using a juicer. I cut the persimmons, took out what seeds I could and popped them in. I did have to stop and clean the blades and the lid out quite a few times and the fibrous bits were quite sticky. My skin on my hands was getting very wrinkly towards the end of my juicing session.

Lovely green persimmon juice! Now it goes into a plastic vented gas can and I let it ferment for about a year. That gives me some time to do planning and prep work. I also hope to grow some indigo to use on the same project. I really love the contrast of the persimmon and indigo dye.

Kakishibui

2009-09-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today is the beginning of what will be a year long project. I am collecting green persimmons from my parents persimmon pudding contest prize winning trees to make my own kakishibui. I have a storage can with vent so it hopefully will not blow up as the persimmon juice ferments over the next year. Nothing so exciting as something that could explode if not done correctly!

Kakishibui is actually made with the oriental variety of persimmon which is a larger fruit than our north american variety. However, there are sources for obtaining the traditional juice online. If you click the link above, you can read all about kakishibui and this page does an excellent job of explaining it http://www.kakishibui.com/about.html Chris Conrad's site is very informative and they even offer workshops. You must look at the gallery for some inspiration on how to use this wonderful dye. I especially like the kakishibui and indigo together.

My hometown has a Persimmon Festival every year. My grandmother, father, mother and older brother have all won in the Persimmon Pudding contest using ripe persimmons from the trees I am gathering from today. Lets hope it brings me the good fortune it has brought them and I end up with a lovely work of wearable art.

To read more about the Persimmon Festival you can go their official website http://www.persimmonfestival.org/ but it looks like a lot of the links aren't working today. Hopefully they are getting it update as the festival is only a few weeks away.

Busy Times

2009-09-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

It has been back to school time and I have not been able to get much done for my own personal art fix. It really does take about a month to get settled back into the routine and find time to squeeze out for my own work. I am working on a series on sewing with Japanese sewing patterns to start posting. Trying to figure out what needs to be photographed and how to do it correctly as well as how much detail to go into is taking me a bit of time. I am not the photographer of the family, but my dear hubby is trying to teach me some pointers. We went to Turkey Run State Park to celebrate his birthday and I did get this picture that I am proud of:

Indigo Harvest Pics--long post

2009-08-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

Fresh Indigo Ready for Harvesting

Rowland Ricketts cuts the indigo close to the ground. New shoots are sprouting up at the base of the plants for the second harvest--or the plant may be allowed to go to seed for next year's planting.

A scythe is used to cut the indigo. The scythe has a serrated blade to cut through the stems.

Volunteers helping with the first Indiana harvest for Rickett's Indigo carry bundles of cut indigo to the area where they will be laid out to dry in the sun.

Rowland spreads out cut indigo to dry in the sun.

The leaves turn dark blue as they begin to dry.

Drying indigo.

Indigo drying in the Indiana sun.
The leaves dry and turn quicker than the thick stems.

The dried indigo is put into a pile for winnowing--separating the stems from the leaves. The winnowing is done by stomping on the indigo pile to crush the leaves off of the stems.

After stomping, the stems are removed from the blue indigo.

The dried indigo is gathered and stored in bags until it can be composted.

To learn more about the process Rowland and Chinami Ricketts follow, please visit their website.
Rowland and Chinami are very generous in sharing their knowledge with others as well as being some of the nicest people you will ever meet. It was really a privilege to visit their farm and help with the indigo harvest. I will post some video clips as soon as I get those edited.

Winnowing the indigo

2009-08-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

Winnowing the indigo was actually fun. After the indigo dries in the sun, it is gathered up in a pile and then stomped on--barefoot or shoes. The stomping crumbles the dried leaves off of the stems. The stems are separated from the dried indigo and the dried indigo gets stored in bags. Later the indigo will have to be composted to prepare it for the vat. I got some great pictures and video to post as soon as I get time to do a little editing. The sunlight was pretty bright and I may need to correct for that in my pics.

Indigo burn

2009-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

No, we did not burn any indigo--I am referring to the hint of sunburn I got during the indigo harvesting today. Rowland gave us a lesson on how to use the scythes to cut the plants, proper height for cutting to allow for the second growth, and how to lay out the indigo to dry in the sun. And Chinami was our charming host for lunch. It was fun to be with other artists from a variety of backgrounds to do something to help a fellow artist. I did get to take some photos and video but need to do some editing due to strong sunlight washing things out a bit. Tomorrow is the winnowing and I will work on getting more details and pics and video posted. I am thinking of doing a small planting bed of indigo to try now. The color range from the natural vat are so much better.

Indigo excitement!

2009-07-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

I will going to help harvest indigo at Rowland and Chinami Ricketts indigo farm this weekend. I am sure it will be hard work, but it is really exciting to see how this process works. This is their first indigo harvest on their farm and Rowland's e-mail says that the indigo has loved the cool rainy summer we have had. I hope he will let us take some pictures to record the event so I can post on here.

SteamPunk?

2009-07-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/groups/steampunk/pool/

Totally new to me is SteamPunk, but very interesting in concept. Some of the work here is fantastic and others are obviously crafty. But you have to start somewhere right? Who doesn't like an excuse for adults to play dress up? I need to be doing other things but there is just too much eye candy to look at...

My pretty baby!

2009-07-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

So how is this pic related to my blog? This is Miss Coco, named for THE Coco because she is so elegant. One of my fave Coco quotes "When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on." So true! You can be too overdone--and so can art--it can be over thought out.

And another quote from Chanel "How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone." I ran into a former student the other day and she told me that a lesson I had taught had a profound influence on her and that she still remembers what I had taught her and I was still important to her because of that. So I hope that means I achieved at least once not being just a teacher, but Mrs. B who meant something. It meant so much to me that I had reached one person and I hope there are more out there.

Scooby Doo Where Are You?

2009-07-21T19:13:00.001-07:00

While at Arrowmont, my room mate, the wonderfully talented Michelle Cox, and I went over to the abandoned amusement park that is adjacent to the Arrowmont property. It was almost sunset, and everything was kind of surreal looking. We collected some interesting bits of debris for her to use in her encaustics and took some pictures on the abandoned mountain lift. It definitely had that Scooby Doo quality to the experience. When someone moved inside what we had thought was a rusty old abandoned truck we decided it was time to head back...........

More from Arrowmont 2009

2009-07-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Some pics from the finished work from Arrowmont 2009. The yellow is actually an acid dye but the other colors are from natural dyes--persimmon, cutch, cochineal, madder with an iron mordant to darken them. The peach and pink scarf is madder (the peachy) and cochineal (the pink). The peach and pink scarf had a spot where some of the rice paste resist smeared a little. That led to an interesting conversation with our instructor about handmade vs. machine made. Does this tiny glitch make it less valuable or more because it has the mark of the human hand? In Japan, our instructor told us, some of the artisans who actually make perfect work will deliberately make a tiny error in an inconspicuous spot to show that it is handmade and not machine printed.

Busy Days

2009-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy in the Bullington household--keeping me away from studio time! I think the balancing act of home and studio has to be challenge for any artist and their families. It is no wonder so many artists ended up being alone. I have to give my dear hubby credit for putting up with my art habit, even helping me when needed. He at least understands my urge to create things and how that becomes a priority over dusting. So the house has gotten really dusty lately and we are in the middle of doing some late spring (yes, I know it is summer) cleaning. The problem with spring cleaning is that I find supplies or projects I had forgotten about and I get distracted from what I had planned to do when I have studio time. For example, I found some double point needles, sock yarn and an instruction book for knitting socks. So now I have some hats unfinished because I started trying to teach myself the magic of shaping toes and turning heels! My husband has suggested I make a "boom board" and get a timer to help me plan projects (both home and studio) and stay on task and manage my time better. I am drawn to the idea like a moth to a flame--afraid it will burn up all spontaneity. I long to be one of those organized people, but love how I can let go of the schedule and go with the moment. It is a real challenge. Pics of the socks in progress to come soon and back to finishing up Arrowmont posts!

Shibori Artists group on Facebook

2009-06-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Shibori Artists group on Facebook

In an effort to connect with other artists interested in shibori, I started a group on Facebook. It is growing slowly but surely, and I am meeting some really nice people that share my interest in shibori. I hope that as the group grows, we can get some dynamic discussions going. I love seeing their work and how they are using shibori in different ways.

HAORI from the Taisho Period (1920 ish?)

2009-06-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was able to win the bidding for this haori from Japan on e-bay. It is quite lovely with the contrast of the indigo and yellow and white of the silk. I am not quite sure what the yellow dye is. I am hoping that I can get Rowland to look at it sometime this summer and give me his valued opinion. The roses remind me of those of Charles Rennie Mackintosh as can be seen on the USA storefront for his designs. The lines of the roses are created with ori nui stitching--the cloth is folded on the line and running stitches through both layers of the cloth are placed close to the folded edge. Ori Nui creates a pattern that resembles a row of teeth. The roses centers are, I believe, ne-maki or thread resisted rings. In ne-maki, a point of fabric is drawn up on a special tool and a ring of thread is knotted over the point of fabric. The leaves of the roses are created by maki-age where the outlines are stitched, drawn up tight and then the cloth inside the lines is pleated and wrapped with thread. Kumo or spider web shibori was used to create the yellow shapes. The center is drawn up and the cloth is carefully pleated around that point and then wrapped with thread.

I really love this piece and I am proud to be able to have it in my collection.

maurices Project Handbag Finalist: Cathy Bullington

2009-06-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

maurices Project Handbag Finalist: Cathy Bullington

Hey! They still have this posted. Okay that was self-indulgent of me wasn't it?

Mokume Shibori Tutorial

2009-06-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Another one from my archives on my computer! Let's see if I can embed this correctly....

I made this video (really more of a slide show) for my students when I was trying to teach them shibori. I have arthriitis starting in my hands, and to save my hands from the endless demos, I put this together so they could just hit play anytime they needed to see the process again. Hopefully, others will find it helpful! I now have a video camera thanks to Inspiration software and the lesson plan I wrote. I hope to have my students help me make a video of several different types of shibori this coming school year.

Kimono fabric bolts arrived!

2009-06-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my fabric from Japan arrived! It is so lovely--even better than the pictures the seller on e-bay had. Silk really needs to be seen in person to appreciate how it glows! I am not up to making a full size kimono yet so I am thinking of lots of lovely projects to do as practice with this fabric.

Here are pics of the silk pongee bolt---

And the silk rinzu pattern bolt---

More Miniature Kimonos

2009-06-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

More of the miniature kimonos from my college years. I got two rolls of kimono fabric from Japan today. Ebay is great! The fabric is beautiful and I will get some photos posted. I think the one has a small enough pattern woven into it that I can use it for a miniature kimono. I want to try my hand at some miniature shibori for a miniature kimono.

The inside of this mini kimono is creating by spraying bleach on dry dyed fabric.(not recommended for indoors!)

The back and front show the tie dyed fabric is embroidered with french knots and couching stitches. I called this one "Earth" because it had a topographical feel.

This little kimono was called "Africa" and the zebra-like pattern was created by a glue print. Elmer's glue was traced onto cardboard in the pattern, allowed to dry and then printed with silkscreen ink on the fabric. The inside was tie dyed and then the outlines of the pattern were traced with Rapidograph pen--inspired by the sumi ink lines Kubota added to some of his kimono.
"Earth" and "Africa" both made it into a juried exhbit at Chicago's Textile Arts Centre. Yoshiko Wada was the curator/judge of "Kimono Show" and I got to meet her at the opening! That was really exciting as was meeting Akemi Nakano Cohn who's work received top honor. My two little kimonos got to reside in the window at the TAC and it was quite an honor to be there even if they had just scraped by getting accepted into the show.

Another blast from the past...

2009-06-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

I found some photos of the miniature kimonos I made when playing around with the ideas from Itchiku Kubota. They are not very sophisticated, but they show thoughts starting to take form. I found John Marshall's book "Make Your Own Japanese Clothes" and read up on the layout of a kimono, how to measure to make one, and the planning of patterns so they line up at side seams. Again, a student on a budget, not sure how they dye the fabric to create patterns--so I experimented with stuff I had on hand and went really small--like 8 inches tall. I even found my patterns I drew out and the instructions I made. I think it will be worth revisiting now that I have learned some shibori and rice paste resist techniques to see how I have (hopefully) matured. I think of the kimono as a shaped canvas--beautiful because of its shape and line, but a wonderful canvas for my imagination.

So, without further rambling from my brain, here are those early works:

The kimono above was made by dripping colored india ink on fabric and the lining was made by tie dyeing and sprinkling dry rit dye onto wet cloth. Pretty primitive but again it was stuff I had on hand. If I am remembering correctly, the fabric is part of a lot of old cotton sheets my grandma was going to throw away and I was using them for muslins as I was trying to learn to draft patterns. More little kimonos to come...

Another influence...

2009-06-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Another book I found in the bargain bin that freshman year of college ($5) was "The Art of Zandra Rhodes." She is like a modern day geisha! I don't think my parents were very happy when I dyed my hair black with purple and white streaks and the occasional hot pink. Or when I wore only black and white clothes, makeup and jewelry so that my art was my color. Ahhh, the fun of being an art student. When I am an old lady and my hair is silver I shall dye it hot pink again. It is just too harsh to bleach dark hair down so you can dye it a color. And it is kind of hard to pull that look off in a conservative community. But when I am old and a little crazy heh?

Zandra's textiles are amazing in how she designs her prints to use as printed and to be cut up and rearranged. The drape of her clothes are gorgeous and kimono-like. She has started doing purses with her signature prints as well. I better start saving up my pennies!

I love the mix of textures she creates with her designs as well as the play of colors.

Why Japanese textiles?

2009-06-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

I frequently get asked where my fascination with Japanese textiles came from. I was not taught much about Asian art in school--we focused mainly on European art movements when we did have any art history and the social studies classes never taught much about Asia either. When I went to IU to study to be an art teacher, even though it was a mere 45 minutes north of my hometown, it was like going to a whole new world. The libraries there became my favorite place to hang out and the bookstores had those great bargain bins!

It was in one of the bargain bins my freshman year (1982--you do the math how long ago that was) that I found the book that started this journey towards learning what I could about Japanese textiles. "Opulence The Kimonos and Robes of Itchiku Kubota" was in the bargain bin for $15.00.

Not a lot by today's standards, but for a struggling college student on a budget, it was a bit of a stretch. I had to have it though as I looked through the pages and fell in love the beauty of the kimonos. I was filled with awe at how they could create such beauty on cloth. This began my journey to learn how and it is an ongoing one.
http://www.itchiku-tsujigahana.co.jp/

Recovery

2009-06-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well what was supposed to be a few days in bed has stretched out to five and counting. Since Dr. Greene found a little more to do once he got in there my recovery is taking a little longer. But I have been sitting up for about a half hour now before getting tired. So, progress!!! I hope to get things pulled from the archives of my computer to start posting while I am in this lag time. It will be good to go back over some old work and look for new ideas from it. But for now it is back to bed.

Arrowmont continued

2009-06-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

Now back to Arrowmont! We ran into some hurdles with the weather mid-week. Several heavy rainstorms pushed us back to working inside instead of outdoors as originally planned. We then had problems getting things to dry so we could keep putting new coats of dye on. With the natural dyes, the dyes are painted on in many layers allowing them and the rice paste to dry between each layer. If you don't let it dry, the rice paste can start to break down and you will lose the crispness of the edges or dye can seep under. Also, the natural dyes need to set into the cloth and then be ready to receive more dye. I wish I had taken more photos of each step, but you get so caught up in the process and with talking to the other artists that it is easy to forget. I hope to try katazome with my students this year and will have to document better as we go through the process.

Funky Friday

2009-06-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well this week certainly did not turn out as planned. A little outpatient surgery on Tuesday has had me off my feet since then. Today is the first day I could sit for a while and I am not having to use as much of the pain meds. Lesson learned here is to take better care of myself even when I am busy! The no TV in the bedroom rule has been a good one that my hubby agreed upon when we married, but this week I was missing it. I wanted so bad to watch some news and see what is happening in the world and watch a movie or two. I hauled my laptop in and watched "Memoirs of a Geisha" again and tomorrow I will watch it again with the commentary. It is a beautiful film though I think the story had a few holes--I really should read the book and compare them. Enough rambling--time to get some more posted from Arrowmont, although a bit belated.

whew!

2009-06-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

Back from Arrowmont, did not get anything posted those last days as they were so intense battling humidity trying to get things dry! Lots of aiming of fans and hair dryers on our work. The great part is that we had a wonderful group of people and all were kind about sharing and helping each other out. I hope to get more pics posted from the end of my Arrowmont adventure in the next few days as well as start on finding some sources for supplies for katazome to list in my links. A little out-patient surgery will keep me in bed for a day or two so I should have some time to spend on my laptop at last!

Arrowmont Day Three!

2009-06-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

More stencils! I really like the paper the Japanese use for their stencils. It cuts so smooth and crisp without too much effort and really holds up well to abuse. I want to experiment with using my stencils with thickened dye and other resists methods later this summer.

We got started on some longer pieces that are stretched after pasting with the rice paste. Shinshi are used to keep the fabric stretched while applying the layers of dye and mordant so that it goes on more evenly and dries more evenly. It is really a comfortable way to work on the fabric! I think it would also be awesome for painting techniques.

Arrowmont Day 2

2009-06-09T15:01:00.001-07:00

Tuesday at Arrowmont was filled with pasting and learning about cutting our stencils correctly and getting those pasted up. More layers of dye and mordant went onto the pieces we started on day one. We used cudzu, persimmon and black walnut with a choice of mordants to shift the colors. It was really different for me to work with subtle colors! I love Arrowmont because you have opportunities to work outside your comfort zone in a setting where it is comoftable. We finally steamed our projects late in the evening and then took off to see the lightning bugs in the state park that light up in sync to make a beautiful wave pattern.

ARROWMONT!

2009-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well now, we are here at Arrowmont and very busy getting started working on our projects. I am seeing that my blog does not look right on the computers here, so that means it does not look right on other peoples computers. More learning curve on doing custom backgrounds for the blog--but that will have to wait until I get back from Tennessee.

Last night we made our first batch of rice paste, and went over a lot of great information. Our instructor Rowland Ricketts is awesome.

Today we are gathering plants to use for our dye baths and learning to use a cone to apply the rice paste in a technique called tsutsugaki. Tomorrow we are going to learn how to make stencils in the traditional style.

Back to work!

yay!

2009-06-05T18:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, got the background centered and staying in place. Now to fix the side columns, and give them a text box with a background color so they show up. And I need to tweak my text colors. I think those are tasks for tomorrow as I need to finish packing for Arrowmont!

Learning Curve!

2009-06-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Okay so my first attempt at a custom background is not working yet. I need to do some tweaking still, but I am making progress now. Hey at least it showed up! LOL

Adding a background

2009-06-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Schoooollllllllllsssssssssss Out for Summerrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2009-05-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yay we are almost done with the school year and I can get some of my stuff posted on here! Wednesday night the fingers will get flying on this here blog!

2009-02-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog! I just got some instant indigo from Paradise Fibers and it is awesome! So easy to set up the indigo vat! And the color is great! Now I am working my little fingers to the bone to make some shibori to dye in this awesome little vat of indigo. I will post some pics of my progress as I work with it.

If you love indigo but are afraid of all the nasty chemicals to set up an indigo vat, the instant indigo is the way to go. I had the vat ready and dyeing within 10 minutes of opening the package. It gave a nice range of values based on time in bath and number of dips. I hope to be a little more scientific in recording results tomorrow but was too excited and just played with the indigo today.