Month: August 2012

burlap

August 13, 2012

aug 13

via www.flickr.com

Did I say yesterday that I tried a fistful of different fabrics and textures in the indigo vat?

I had two different burlaps (which is real wealth in the texture department); one from a used coffee sack, and this from the end of a bolt. The weave in this one is more even, and the effort I used to create a resist on it kind of worked. The coffee sack is very thick, and has twice as many threads in each direction. The resist process did not work well on the coffee sack.

I rather like this one though – the emphasis on the weave directed the stitching.

corona

August 12, 2012

aug 12

via www.flickr.com

I doubled the chemicals in the indigo vat: the same again of powdered pre-reduced indigo, soda ash (instead of lye) and thiourea dioxide (which really stinks). It seems to have cheered it right up. I cut up a bunch of new pieces of white and neutral fabric in many many textures and weights.

This piece is a standard shibori resist on plain cotton. I pulled the fabric tight over a penny, and rubber-banded it. The circle of the penny is barely visible, and but the rubber-band resisted the dye and kept the white line white.

A front seems to have gone through, and the weather is a little dryer. Easier to sleep, I hope!

all kinds of blue

August 7, 2012

aug 7

via www.flickr.com

The indigo experiment for the day above. Below, because I am getting to work on some commissions, I needed some sky and some ocean (Hi Jenny!).

Rather than submit to the vagaries of indigo, I used Inkodye, requiring heat or UV light to develop color. It is a different kind of magic:  the fabric is soaked in a gray, muddy looking mixture of dye and water, then removed and set in the sun. As the fabric warms in the sun, the color develops, going from muddy to pinkish and purpleish and finally to deepening shades of blue.Parts of the fabric that are shaded do not develop, so it can be used for sunprinting, or with transparencies for very detailed prints.

I find Inkodye (along with almost everything else) at Dharma Trading. It comes in many colors, but I was most interested in the blues and greens.

inkodye blue

darker?

August 6, 2012

aug 6

via www.flickr.com

For no reason I can discern, the indigo vat is working better today. I don't know if it is threatening to modify it or ignoring it because of the heat, or even the heat? But things dipped today are definitely a much deeper color, which is making me happy.

I experimented with a sashiko pattern but it is kind of lumpy. I should draw it out better, and possibly also look up some others.

So, tomorrow, before I try new fabric in the indigo vat I shall threaten to ignore it for longer…

thicker white thread

August 5, 2012

aug 5

via www.flickr.com

White thread on indigo makes me think of sashiko (not sashimi!) the Japanese mending and reinforcing stitch that has become an artform all its own. It is done by hand rather than machine, although I saw a dedicated machine last week that only emulates it.

I'm waiting on more indigo so I can rebalance the vat and get darker colors. In the meantime, I'm putting some different resists to see what among the easily available things in the house works.

Northampton on a Saturday

August 4, 2012

Northampton on a Saturday

via www.flickr.com

Walked w/Kate, sushi for lunch, HOTHOTHOT and hazy and dreadful, I am cowering in the air conditioning wishing I could make my room cooler. It will get better soon.

I tried to get more indigo at the art store but they were out and dubious about their ability to get more soon. So I ordered some stuff from Dharma Trading and it will be here on Tuesday because they really rock.