Re-Collecting my Thoughts pt 3

I have been developing a tea stain design for a client who is interested in a very loose looking dye on natural t-shirt/eco totes, the plan then is to print them with a logo for his bakery/classroom.
A fun project...
This is a mock up of the look

I'm thinking I will try something similar on the stained curtains...

Finished Screen

Sewed the panels onto the frame Friday night and put the screen back together on Saturday morning. So happy I was able to get some photos of the finished screen in daylight.

It is now residing in our bedroom.

I'm really interested in the manipulation of the shibori by way of tucking the fabric. I like the solution because it keeps the shibori intact. Usually I'm not too precious about the fabrics I make but in this case I just didn't want to lose any of the flow of the pattern.

(In case you haven't seen the development of it check here, here and here for more)

I have another piece of the discharged fabric that seems to suggest itself for another of this kind of experiment.

I've been having some difficulty getting into the blogging flow lately.

I'm torn between reestablishing my daily blogging schedule and up leveling the quality of the blog itself.

On the one hand I like the discipline that daily blogging reinforces, however the other hand is that many of the daily posts are sort of lame. Ideally I would like all of my posts to have some quality to them.

I am waffling back and forth as I try to sort it out.

Karamatsu Shibori

This is called Karamatsu Shibori or larch pattern
I'm really fond of it but I haven't had especially good success with it

I thought I would try it again today.
The end result should be a row of circular radiating motifs...

Lets see what happens.

Persephone's Path 2

In a true act of Kaizen I have re-begun stitching on the second of the Persephone panels.

The piece I was working on last summer was one of the central parts of the story. This one represents the Kore, the very beginning of the story...

Persephone has multiple identities (as befits a goddess) the Kore is one of the names for her as a maiden.

but more about that another time.

I'm using one of the most blasted out pieces of discharge shiboi for this panel. I've basted it to a golden green ground (springtime/rebirth). A combo of running stitches and pintucks are being used to make a scattered diamond motif that gives it a little dimension and plays off of the very faint pattern the shibori left behind...

I'm trying to let the fabric/concept lead me down the path.

Sanddollar Pt 2 and 3

I like some of the results from my first try but I want to explore a couple of other ideas before I go back and refine any of them.
I think the essence of the problem is how much detail is enough… too much and I will lose the purity of the form too little and I get a blob.
So for my next attempt I‘ve tried capped forms (aka boshi). These are areas stitched like makiage but instead of wrapping I put plastic over them to block the dye creating a white shape (I hope)
Two variations here:
1 a single stitched/capped shape
2 divided into 5 stitched sections and capped individually
Here they are ready for the dye

And the results

Of the two I like the second better but overall I think the results here sorta fall into the blob category
Finally I’ve tried some stitched versions
One of the things I love about the muse itself are those delicate etched details
Stitched shibori often has that quality
The first is pretty straightforward, I’ve simply stitched and pulled the outline and some of the details.

On the second I ran a running stitch around the shape as well so I could try introducing a second color

These aren't bad but I really miss the whiteness of the sanddollar.
Once again I am reminded that turquoise often has trouble playing nicely with others.
Overall I think I like the divided makiage shape the best
I was able to get some very delicate details in it, and I got pretty good results on the outside line as well as that neat little hole that is such an important part of the overall form of the shell. I will definitely try it again however I will be adjusting the dyes to softer colors. Perhaps a two step process…

Sanddollar

Here is the muse
Simple, pure form
delicate details
elegant, clean lines
The question is how can I best capture that using shibori?

My first thought is to try makiage, here I’ve tried three variations on it

From bottom right, clockwise:
1 a single stitched/bound shape
2 dividing the overall shape into 5 sections to mimic the segments of the sand dollar
3 wrapping only at the stitch line to create a bold outline

I like certain aspects of each (they could all be refined and better executed)
doing these has led me to some other ideas for different techniques that might serve better…
I will try them before I decide what is working best

Kanoko Shibori

I am trying to create a version of kanoko shibori for a possible commission.

I am quite sure that I read somewhere that the term kanoko refers to the spots found on deer… perhaps someone out there in blogland can tell me if that is true or if it is a figment of my imagination.
I haven’t done this type of shibori in a long time mostly because it is so labor intensive. Although it is traditional to use thread binding I am using those teensy rubber bands used on braces. Frankly as cheats go I’m quite sure that this one doesn’t give me much advantage time-wise. Anyone who really knows how to do this could lap me really easily! The only way someone can be fast at this is practice, and lots of it. However the rubber bands do give me a very clear resist and I’m less than confident in my ability to create that with thread.
So off to the races…
Working on cotton sateen I marked the fabric with a 1.5 inch grid.

Then I pulled up very small pinches of fabric at each of the marks and bound it with a rubber band, this is a bit harder than it sounds and one of those activities that make you wish your fingers were much thinner (like Eubie Blake thin)

I really love the way it looks bound up

Having bound it dry, I wet out the fabric (very carefully, those little bands can pop off real easy) and plunked it into an activated dye solution, saying a little prayer to the Dye Gods in the hopes that those teensy little bits of rubber would actually do the trick.

The results are good!

I’ve looked through my reference and this seems to most resemble yokobiki kanoko shibori: Square ring dots on a dark ground.
I like the results and popping all those bitty rubber bands off of the fabric when I washed it was really fun… It seems that dots are all around these days!

Creating Coordinates Part 2

To continue the project…
Using the same group of colors/ densities I’ve created patterns that are more complex.
These are what I’ve come up with intermixed with the solids and the stripes from the first group

18 new patterns that (hope fully) I can use in conjunction with the first group of patterns
This is the fun part of the project, I get to use a bunch of different fold patterns and multiple colors on the same piece with these. I didn’t keep track just played around and hoped they would come out.
Not a bad selection I’m not quite settled on what they will be used for...
Possibly a typography project
Next step is to color correct the scans and save them at different resolutions so when I do have a design I can just grab and go.

Creating Coordinates - Part 1

I had a nice group of dyes mixed for another project but they are a bit too old to be predictable anymore so I really can't use them on fabric.

Waste not want not right? I am using them to create a set of coordinates for virtual piecework.

To do virtual piece work I dye rice paper using itajime folding methods then scan it in and manipulate it virtually. I suppose I could do this with any fabric or paper but since I want to market my work I would eventually run into problems with copyright... not my scene, I'd much rather use something I made myself.

The rice paper dyes just like fabric but I haven't figured out how to set it so it is unstable and therefore it has limits as to what it can be used for. However once it is virtual I no longer have to worry about that technical stuff. Very sweet!

In this case I am working with a large palette of colors

(9 colors in 2 densities, light and dark = 18 all together).

I've done design groups like this before, and it is easy to get carried away with making multicolored pieces (they are fun!) and then find them very difficult to use together. If I use the patterns with solids it doesn't get too visually crazy, so this time I'm starting with solids then I will make the multicolored ones.

I decided to create a stripe of each color using the 2 densities and then something more solid with all the whites blown out

To make the stripe:

I started with by pleating the paper, then folding it into thirds and clamped it.

Then I dyed it using this dipping pattern to create a stripe with a slightly more dynamic quality to it I was hoping that I would lose the white but as it turned out the clamps created enough resist that I did end up with some white after all

To create a more solid design:

I folded it up diagonally then dipped it 1/2 and 1/2 into the dark and light dyes. In this case I didn't use clamps so I wouldn't get any white.

Here are the results.

Next up multicolored patterns

bonsai-tree-1

bonsai-tree-1 Originally uploaded by alsokaizen

This is a new piece of virtual piecework I've been working on. I have three more companion pieces that are nearly finished. I've been wanting to use the pattern that is on the pot for a while I created it nearly a year ago and never really found a use for it until now.