Saturday, January 3, 2009
Surfacing Alphabet Project-Letter A
"Surfacing", a Yahoo internet group that graciously accepted me as a member, has kicked off 2009 with a year long project relating to the alphabet. Each letter of the alphabet serves as the inspiration for a surface design project.
I chose almond stamping as my "A" project. Why? I had spent an afternoon with my husband looking at his native american indian relic collection. It is always awe inspiring to look at tools and artistic pieces from prehistoric times. The primitive people used what ever was at hand to express themselves. I looked around my house for something related to A that was natural and unusual that I could incorporate into a design. The first thing I found was an almond. I cut up a couple and set to work using this unusual tool.
The nuts were shelled and roasted. However, the meat of the nut still had a considerable amount of oil. I dried the nut halves with a paper towel but there was plenty of oil still in the nut meat that served an unexpected purpose as the project progressed.
A heavy LV alginate was mixed and allowed to refrigerate overnight.
The fabric pieces I used were 8" x 10" silk broakcloth remnants from a previous project. They had been dyed a light silver grey. The additional tools and materials involved were a 2" piece of cellulose sponge, a yard of serger tail, a 4" brayer, a 1" foam brush, sewing tweezers (to hold the nut!), crimson red and black green label Jacquard acid dyes.
My intention was to create 2 pieces of the same colorway that both incorporated the almond as a design element. Three pieces were produced that were interesting to me without further embellishment. Note that the almond oil acted as a partial resist in the stamping. It allowed the base color to peek through and appear irridescent.
Would I use an almond as a stamp again? Probably. I think it has a place in my work when I need a small design element for highlight. It would be also be possible, but tedious, to use it to create a quasi-animal print. I like its varied and organic footprint.
Now I am thinking "B"!
I chose almond stamping as my "A" project. Why? I had spent an afternoon with my husband looking at his native american indian relic collection. It is always awe inspiring to look at tools and artistic pieces from prehistoric times. The primitive people used what ever was at hand to express themselves. I looked around my house for something related to A that was natural and unusual that I could incorporate into a design. The first thing I found was an almond. I cut up a couple and set to work using this unusual tool.
The nuts were shelled and roasted. However, the meat of the nut still had a considerable amount of oil. I dried the nut halves with a paper towel but there was plenty of oil still in the nut meat that served an unexpected purpose as the project progressed.
A heavy LV alginate was mixed and allowed to refrigerate overnight.
The fabric pieces I used were 8" x 10" silk broakcloth remnants from a previous project. They had been dyed a light silver grey. The additional tools and materials involved were a 2" piece of cellulose sponge, a yard of serger tail, a 4" brayer, a 1" foam brush, sewing tweezers (to hold the nut!), crimson red and black green label Jacquard acid dyes.
My intention was to create 2 pieces of the same colorway that both incorporated the almond as a design element. Three pieces were produced that were interesting to me without further embellishment. Note that the almond oil acted as a partial resist in the stamping. It allowed the base color to peek through and appear irridescent.
Would I use an almond as a stamp again? Probably. I think it has a place in my work when I need a small design element for highlight. It would be also be possible, but tedious, to use it to create a quasi-animal print. I like its varied and organic footprint.
Now I am thinking "B"!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas Chiffons
I finally finished 3 of the 4 chiffon jackets that I was working on in late October. Life interruptions.... partys, visiting relatives , throwing a party for 50, holiday events, and other diversions such as the gala outfit that I made myself. If you love fabric, and fit, and have the patience of Job, DO make yourself a spaghetti strapped princess seamed cocktail dress from heavy black charmeuse, lined with hand dyed habotai, belted and topped with a simple black chiffon jacket. Note the hint of sarcasm? Honestly, a 7 section dress challenged my math abilities, and when I finished working with all that slippery silk I would have slit my wrists had it not been for the fact that the dress was an absolute dream to wear.
The first jacket and charmeuse tank were delivered on time on Nov 7th. See the picture of Sugar in the Sapphire chiffon with black floral detailing on sleeve and front over the black charmeuse tank. The photography is bad. The beautiful Sapphire color is Dharma's fiber reactive Sapphire. The black detailing was acid dye.
The second construction was the pretty black and blue jacket that I have named Night Dive. I discharged the selected areas on Dharma pre-dyed black chiffon. Dharma discharge paste was used and the discharged areas were over dyed with Colorhue dyes. The title of the piece was chosen because the design and coloration reminded me of snorkeling one day in the Caribbean surrounded by thousands of iridescent juvenile squid and other little sea creatures.
The third construction was the navy discharge jacket. I have posted a pic of it with the accompanying navy stretch charmeuse pinned to the form to make the jacket detailing more evident. No over dye was used on this piece. Jacquard's deep navy acid dye was used for the base color of the jacket and the charmeuse. The discharge agent was thiox. As silk dyers/painters know, photographing silk is tricky. In reality the base color of the jacket and the charmeuse are identical. The flash caused the difference you see in the photo. I am claiming this piece for myself. It is still a bit of a work in process as I need to decide what I am going to do with the navy charmeuse and I am tempted to embellish the discharged areas a little more...
There is fourth copy of this jacket that has yet to be sewn. It is also a discharged black with an olive green over dye. This piece was made with hand dyed black chiffon using a Jacquard acid dye. When I sew it next week I will post a pic and detail the host of horrors that befell me as I worked to discharge the hand dyed black chiffon.
The first jacket and charmeuse tank were delivered on time on Nov 7th. See the picture of Sugar in the Sapphire chiffon with black floral detailing on sleeve and front over the black charmeuse tank. The photography is bad. The beautiful Sapphire color is Dharma's fiber reactive Sapphire. The black detailing was acid dye.
The second construction was the pretty black and blue jacket that I have named Night Dive. I discharged the selected areas on Dharma pre-dyed black chiffon. Dharma discharge paste was used and the discharged areas were over dyed with Colorhue dyes. The title of the piece was chosen because the design and coloration reminded me of snorkeling one day in the Caribbean surrounded by thousands of iridescent juvenile squid and other little sea creatures.
The third construction was the navy discharge jacket. I have posted a pic of it with the accompanying navy stretch charmeuse pinned to the form to make the jacket detailing more evident. No over dye was used on this piece. Jacquard's deep navy acid dye was used for the base color of the jacket and the charmeuse. The discharge agent was thiox. As silk dyers/painters know, photographing silk is tricky. In reality the base color of the jacket and the charmeuse are identical. The flash caused the difference you see in the photo. I am claiming this piece for myself. It is still a bit of a work in process as I need to decide what I am going to do with the navy charmeuse and I am tempted to embellish the discharged areas a little more...
There is fourth copy of this jacket that has yet to be sewn. It is also a discharged black with an olive green over dye. This piece was made with hand dyed black chiffon using a Jacquard acid dye. When I sew it next week I will post a pic and detail the host of horrors that befell me as I worked to discharge the hand dyed black chiffon.
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