yesterday….

-while the turtle carried the snail across the pond, I worked.

-experimenting with the tulle I purchased a little while back. Now I have always loved tulle- it’s the stuff dreams were made of
when we were young- dreams of princesses, ballerinas, witches, and so much more. I wanted to see how it took to dyeing and to shibori texturing. Dyeing solid shades is a breeze- it’s the patterning which is tricky since the open mesh allows the dye to travel and isn’t really resisted by the compression of the fabric. If you look closely you will see that the deeper shade is found where the string was wrapped around the pole(valley) and the lighter shade on the “hills” or tops of the pleats- completely opposite of the usual result since the dye flows through the netting and pools in the crevices. It does take texture though and would be great for costuming. It made me want to wrap it around my waist and do some flying leaps…
and then of course take some photos….

This piece reminds me of the koi in my pond.

this technique is a favorite of mine and I hadn’t used it in a while- pieces done using this technique took a little longer to sell
but I suddenly realized they were all gone so I made a few more. Of course I had to add a new twist and do a little more experimentation. In addition to all the wiring I’ve been up to I’ve been stitching seams across pleats for even more textural effect which is a little hard to see on this piece. The real reason to show you this is to say that I also was trying to lay the orange color only on the very tops of the pleats and not have it bleed on down at all. The solution to achieving this was to use the Colorhue dyes mixed into shaving cream and spread onto the wrapped pole. The Colorhue dye attaches rapidly and the foam holds it in place just where I put it. Now I know that some dyers have their doubts about the Colorhue dyes but the more I experiment with them the more uses I am finding for them. I find that there just are certain things I can do with them that I can’t do with other dyes (as easily or in some cases at all). As many of you know, as a result of my experimenting with these dyes I have been asked to teach for the Silk Experience classes in Houston (Nov. ’08) and now in Chicago (April ’09) where I will be featuring traditional and (my favorite) not-so-traditional shibori techniques and will have the dyes available in my booth for both the shows as well as the upcoming Long Beach Quilt Festival.

-a sea of green. More detail of some of the stitching going on around here-

-more of the silk organza- again with the Colorhue dyes

one could wonder what came first…..the blue, the pink, or the green….or did it all happen at the same time?
how do you keep the colors separate?

and finally the whole thing….learned a lot on this one

even tigga gave some advice during the photo shoot

tigga keeping an eye on the pole drying. she often remarks on her own tigery shibori patterns

So, that’s about it for now…..
Have 200 yards of ribbon to wrap for an order as well as many many flowers to make for a Lebanese couture designer in Beiruit!
Gotta go!

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