Wearable Art

I chronicled the beginning of these two pieces here.

I find it so interesting that the purple cloth I didn't like turned into something I love. Both of these pieces were created on a severely limited time schedule. We were in the middle of having our floors refinished. The entire ground floor, including my studio, had to be moved out.

After dye work is done I love to lay down an overall texture by discharging some of the color. In this case I used some of my favorite images of ammonite fossils in a thermofax screen and discharged with Cascade dishwashing detergent. Great stuff! It's thick like paint so that I can screen print with it and has enough bleach to take out the dye - but not so quickly that I can't print several yards at once.

Next I use the same motif in similar colors to layer the visual textures in the cloth. Can I just say right now how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my thermofax machine and whoever invented this process? The ammonite screens are available on my website by the way - and I can also do custom screens from your own images.

This was one of the first times I've simply played with the design of the clothing in a very free and improvisational way. I looked at the cloth and had a general idea of where I wanted to end up and took my scissors and began to cut. Bear in mind that I've been sewing clothing for almost 30 years now and have put in quite a number of hours doing things the "right" way with measuring tapes and patterns and such. I also knew I want to purposefully make these pieces larger than my size. The first layer is a simple tunic dress with very low arm openings, meant to be worn over a nice fitted t-shirt. 

The second layer is another tunic but the sides are open so it flows when you walk. I love things that flap and flow when I walk. It has lovely little buttons and beads and loops so that you can play with draping it many different ways.

The shrug has two lovely vertical lines extending down the front. Long vertical lines that bring the eye up to your face are a very good thing in clothing design. I think the shrug, with its lovely little beaded edge and some whimsical yet understated beaded fringes that hang under the arm will look lovely over a black dress all on it's own.

The blue tunic is nice - but I think I'll work on it more when it comes home. It's cut on the bias, has raglan sleeves, and a veeeeery long tie so that it can wrap around several times. It's also open on the sides up to the waistline. I sent it without the skirt. Not every experiment is a success. The skirt turned out to be almost a size six - tiny, while the tunic is very loose and could probably fit up to a size 18. I'm thinking something lovely with beading along the neckline - or perhaps some gorgeous mother of pearl jewelry to accentuate it. Who knows.

Again - scroll down to the last post to see detailed show information. These will be in Martinsville Virginia at the Piedmont Arts Association show,

The Art of the Quilt until December 30th.

I'd love to hear your comments. Any more ideas for the blue piece? Want to come try them on when they come home?

Dyeing - the lazy way

OK. I did mention that I don't deal well with deadlines. Instead of looking forward to studio play time I dread it. For no good reason. No good reason at all. What is wrong with me!?!? 

A beautifully hung show at the Craft Center on campus at NC State University.

Then again - I never seem to get anything actually finished without a deadline to push me to completion. I have numerous works that are very close to completion but I seem to lose interest. I need to find me some discipline!

So I need to dye this fabric for a couple of wearable art pieces I've agreed to make for an exhibition. I've known I needed to get them done. I know it won't take more than a couple of hours of dye time. While I love the results of dyeing cloth, the process, to me, is simply work. Ah - there is one reason for my reluctance. I'm lazy.

So - because I know that I can be entirely flexible with my results I decided to dye this cloth the lazy way. Maybe the lazy way will be fun.

Dyeing cloth the lazy way:

1-Throw the cloth onto hangars. I'm going to experiment with drip/dip dyeing. Dump everything in the sink to soak in hot water. Decide I'd really better change out of my nice clothes. I like this shirt. Except for the really boring color that I usually only wear in winter. Hmmm. Take it off and dump the shirt in the water too.

2 - Get out the buckets. My hubby asked last night if I still use my stack of buckets in the garage. OF COURSE I DO! Just once every year or so. (Note to dear, darling, almost nearly perfect hubby: Please stop trying to throw away everything in my one corner of the garage. Pretty please?)

3 - Don the gloves and mask and dump some urea in one bucket, some soda ash in another and fill them with hot water. Nope. No measuring for me today.

4 - Mix two containers of dye. I got out all the blues I have and one named raspberry that might make a nice purple. Dump dye powders into containers and mix with urea water. Again, no measuring. My dyes are really old. Who knows if they have any ooomph left? I think about that and just dump in a little more dye powder. (NOT lazy on wearing gloves and respirator! No taking chances with health my friends!)

5 - Hang the cloth up on the garage door brackets, buckets underneath. Toss the shirt into one of the buckets. Mix a little tiny bit of dye water with a container of soda ash water and pour it from the top of the cloth. Hmmmm. Interesting.

5.5 - Swat mosquitoes. Go get my "Afterbite." Love that stuff. If you are a yummy, sweet blooded, mosquito magnet like me - go get some!

6 - Every once in a while mix up a little more dye concentrate into some more soda-ash water and pour it on the fabric. Hmm. Not as pretty - kind of splotchy. I should have mixed it into the bucket and dipped it.

7 - Mix more dye into the bucket and dip the fabric. It's heavy. It's hot. The blue is looking OK and the purple - not so much. Grayish dusty sort of purple instead of a clear pastel.  

7.5 -Give up on trying to dip dye (weight a hundred pounds and gets dye all over me when I try to lift if back up) and dump the cloth into the bucket. It's hot and sticky humid. Of course it is. I live in the South.

8 - Sigh. Rinsing is going to have to happen at some point. I don't look forward to the rinsing. Our washing machine is upstairs. Good for laundry - bad for dyeing. Especially because you can only get to it by traversing stairs and rooms covered with white carpet. Put off rinsing until tomorrow. (Note to self. Stop Whining.)

9 - Dump out dye water into outdoor drain. Be careful not to get it on the grass this time. Keep the hose running to dilute it. Wash out big deep buckets and put wet dyed cloth in the bottom. Carefully wash off entire bucket, dry it too. Very, very carefully carry it upstairs to the wash. Soak in cold water - run the washer. Soak in hot water - run the washer. soak in hot water with synthropol - run the washer. Again. Go to bed.

10 - Dry cloth. It looks better than it did. I still the the purple is  - dusty. I can work with it. Now I have to clean off the drafting table so I can do some printing. Maybe I'll use the dining room table instead.