Colors of Spring

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We're still building a fire in the wood stove but the colors of spring are upon us.  First the moss on the rocks turns a brighter yellow green.  Soon the dogwoods will be popping. This shibori dyed silk charmeuse and devore caftan jacket makes a perfect cover for chilly spring evenings.  After dyeing the silk, I ripped it in strips and serged them together alternating fabrics.  One size fits many.  You can find it on Etsy or email me for something specific.  There's nothing better than collaboration.

Snow On The Way

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Anticipating Spring


While these purple flowers are from the end of last summer, 
their spring like color is fuel for inspiration.

  
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Should I be surprised colors are such a large part of my process?  As I look back at another body of work, my memoir, The Garden Girls Letters and Journal, I rediscover that even my writing was laced with color.

Lavender in purple braids is empty handed, of course; she’s the philosopher.

 I carry him downstairs, his head resting on my shoulder, and fall into my old purple velvet overstuffed chair. With the towel cradling him I reach behind the chair for a book from the bookshelf and pull out "The Great Me and The Little Me." 

The porch is blue, the pansies are blue purple and the fuchsia is red purple. I had visions that we would sit on this porch and converse. They would be slow casual conversations somewhat meaningless, perhaps, because we would be relaxing. 
We would not be driven towards some kind of completion

A Body of Work

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What is a body of work?

A collection that has a beginning and an end.  You never really know it is beginning when it is beginning  You only know by looking back and saying, "Ah yes, this is when this body of work began."  And you never know it has ended until it ends.  You only know by looking back and saying, "Ah, yes, that collection ended."  The important thing is that you collect it as a body of work. Define it.  Date it.  I am approaching an ending.  It began in late October when my formulas changed to tones and shades.  This shibori dyed, copper vest of alpaca, merino and silk was hand felted on the FeltLOOM.   Thank you +lanette@feltloom.com  My current body of work will probably end after the Kentucky Craft Market on Mar 2-3 and I begin to ponder colors and designs for summer and the next Lexington Fashion Collaborative Future of Fashion event.  It's always a pleasure working with +Soreyda Benedit Begley and +Sarah Estes to produce this event.

Charmeuse and Velvet

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Caftan and Coat

More experiments.  Will I ever get there?  The pole wrapped shibori dyed charmeuse in shades of purple and yellow (which became green when I added the black) started out as a 60" square which I then cut on the bias to create this caftan.  I read somewhere that working on the bias is like working with live fabric.  No kidding.  Every time I moved it the shape changed.  The velvet coat was made from three yards of shibori dyed yardage dyed in shades of yellow (which became copper, rust and olive when I added black.)  I love color theory!  The experiment here was whether or not to dye one long piece or three smaller pieces precut to fit the back and sides.  Just like writing.   Constant rewrites says mentor +Connie May Fowler  Can't wait for the Kentucky Craft Market, Mar 2-3 in Lexington at the Convention Center.

Power of Rotation

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Power of Rotation

What you can do with a painting 
that you can't do with a wearable 
is rotate it if it's not working.  
What you can do with a wearable 
that you can't do with a painting 
is turn it inside out and wear it.
 What I'm doing with my paintings is rotating techniques.
After shibori dyeing pole wrapped felted alpaca and merino onto silk with the FeltLOOM
I'm taking remnants to another level by responding to the shibori line with metalic acrylic.
From +Danielle Wittler I'm learning the power of Irregular Design.
Today I turn my felted fabric inside out to make a vest with the silk side showing. 
 


Leftovers

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What to do with the shibori dyed merino, alpaca and silk  felted leftovers after you've made a 
garment and you have all those beautiful remnants?   

I have begun experimenting.  I felt some on rug backings and embellish with beads and paints.  I make individual scarves out of some.  After hanging several strips on a hanger I'm intrigued with making a mobile after being inspired by my friend, Kathleen Obrien.


Irregular Design Completed

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 At first I wasn't sure that I like the fact that the two front sides were not similar.  Now I like the contrast.  With the focus on color, this one has more green than I anticipated.  Thus leading me to using all yellow with purple and a dash of black next time for more copper, rust and olive.  I love color theory!  And I love irregular designs that become dramatic.

Another Challenge Presents Itself

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Another Challenge Presents Itself

Both of these pieces started out by felting .25 alpaca/merino onto 44" silk gauze

After dyeing, steaming and rinsing, the one on the left was put in the washer on the drain spin only cycle. It is now 30" wide and

fulled

much  more tightly. The one on the left was line dried and is 37" wide and more soft. Hmmmm. I was going to make a coat so I guess I will re-wet the one on the right and drain spin it so they are both the same. The question is will the tighter fulling wear better?

Alpaca and Locks felted with Silk Chiffon

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If you're wanting to dye Alpaca, nuno felted with silk, this is a wonderful fabric.  Soft, and very light weight.  Quarter pound alpaca batting and locks were felted with 8mm chiffon using the FeltLOOM.  This piece is not yet fulled making it great for dyeing that needs to be rinsed.  


Find it at Etsy

Back to Work

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After two months of disarray due to finishing off the basement I am beginning to get my dyeing station set up again; this time on the back porch; then, eventually in the little cabin.  The walk-in basement is too nice to risk spilling and splashing dye.  Which, no matter how careful I am, always seems to happen.  I know that the porch and cabin will be weather affected.  Like today when it is 100 degrees.   However, I kind of like that.  I have been spending way too much time indoors. 

During this break I have realized how important it is and easier it is to work to finish one step at a time.  When I think about the projects I need to finish, I am overwhelmed and stay too long in the hammock.  When I just think of what silk I have to wrap, or steam, it is manageable and I get to work.

1.        Thinking, visualizing, making notes
2.        Assess supplies and place order if necessary
3.        Iron silks in preparation of wrapping
4.        Make sure poles are clean
5.        Wrap fabric
6.        Mix dyes; make notes
7.        Paint dye onto fabric, and hang tags and let dry
9.        Wrap dried fabric in newsprint
10.       Steam set dyes
11.       Rinse in laundry tub
12.       Wash on delicate cycle
13.       Dry on delicate cycle
14.       Iron and sew
15.       Take photograph      

Today I painted pole-wrapped charmeuse, crepe, devore, and charmeuse with horse images in preparation for a five  piece serenity shawl for the Lexington Art League Reverse Raffle.  I used my rust, copper, olive formulas.
While waiting for those to dry, I’m going to wrap two 44” x 104” pieces of devore that will be curtains for Theresa.
After that I will need to put some thought into what I’m going to do with the wool that I have already felted.

You Are Prolific!

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Got scraps?  Have remnants?  Share them.  Sell them or give them away.  "You are prolific," my painting teacher, Marilyn Hamann, once said.  Sometimes we can hang on and save too much.  Too much stuff can hold us back.  Too much time spent moving it around.  Looking at it, thinking, someday I'm going to use this.....Today, I pack up and send this collection of  handfelted painted shibori alpaca and merino wool to my daughter, Danielle. Can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Rearranging

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I didn't plan to rearrange everything.  It's just that when we decided to finish the basement everything got rearranged.  That's why I'm temporarily not creating.  I don't know where anything is because it has all been tucked away, safely, to avoid paint and drywall dust.  The good thing is that during this process I have realized that I don't want my studio back in the basement.  I want it out in the little cabin that we built to be used as a shed.  I've decided that having my dyeing studio in the basement keeps me in the house too much.  If I'm in the little cabin, then I have to go outside and see the stars, or feel the sun, even if it is hot, and even if the little cabin is hot, it will be worth it.

Art on The Wall, or on the Body

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Sewing and thinking about Mom

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 Everytime I work on the sewing table I got from my mom I remember all the dresses she made for me and my sisters.  And while she always thought she wasn't an artist, she definitely had her style!
Fuchsia, hand-felted, shibori dyed, Kentucky alpaca, Texas merino and silk.

Shibori Prayer Book

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First there was writing.  

"Tell your own story," 
Adrienne Rich said.  

So I wrote.  
Then there was publish.  
"To publish is to make public," the dicitonary said.  
I began to read my work fearlessly.  
"You should take a silk dyeing class," a friend suggested.
"Then you can cover your poems with silk and your art will be come performative."  
I signed up.  
Two weeks after enrolling, 
my son had a paralyzing accident.  
"You should quit school," I said to myself.  
Myself answered, "No.  We will both learn to adapt."  
I became obsessed.  Everything became an opporturnity to make art.  
As I waited in the intensive care waiting room, 
I covered muy journal with sequins.  
I learned Shibori silk dyeing.   
Shibori is manipulating fabric, placig dye upon it and surrendering.
I surrendered.  
When I visited the capel at the hospital, 
I wrote in my journal.  
It became a prayer book, 
covered with silk.