The Art is in the Ironing

Iron from the inside out.  If the inside is beautiful, that all you have to worry about.

Fire, Alpaca and Silk Felted Yardage

For designers, collage artists, fiber artists.  Yardage!  Or is it yARTage?  Alpaca and silk, red, orange, purple, 40" x 32" excluding natural edges on three sides. Perfect for sewing project or embellished for wall art. Display it as is, or cut it up for your own art. Natural edges, vary from 1"to 4" and do not have any silk which makes it nice for felting.  $90     Find it on Etsy!

Back to Work

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.

New Inspiration

There's nothing like working with a bunch of artists to get inspired to create more and more wearble art.  The best thing one teacher ever said to a class was that we were prolific.  We are I thought?  I then  decided to get busy.  The second best thing I ever heard was from a man who worked in a factory.  "The way to produce results is to work to fill trams," he said, "not to finish a piece."  That meant there would  always be silk prepared to be wrapped, wrapped silk to be painted, and painted silk to be sewn. 

Danielle's Purses and Flap Sacks

I love the new flap sacks Danielle is making.  Sewing is the future I must say.  Amazing how many people do not know how to sew.  It seems like my mom always had her sewing machine out working on something.

Poetry Vests

Citrus

crepe and devore

tied in front

or Blue Turquoise Sea

jacquard and devore

untied

revealing curvilinear lines

in the back

In 2004 I received my MFA in writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. However, I studied Japanese Shibori Silk dyeing with Arturo Alonzo Sandoval at the University of Kentucky.  In 1998 a friend had suggested that I learn to dye silk so I could make covers for the hand made books I read from when I was doing performance readings.  Four weeks after classes started my 26 year old son had a paralyzing accident.  I remember that at that moment I had to make a decision.  At first, I was going to quit school and take care of him.  Then I realized, his condition was not going away.  It was forever and we both had to learn to live an independent life.  I stayed in school and placed my experiences in the intensive care waiting room in the silk was dyeing.  I had to simplify what I was to learn, there were so many colors, so many techniques.   I made another decision to focus on one technique.  One palette.  I chose arashi shibori a palette of shades and created, not only silk covers for my books, but also wearable art for my performances.

It is no surprise that I was drawn to Shibori as I lived in Japan for three years as a child.  The Shibori technique is based on manipulating the fabric by wrapping it around a pole or rope then placing the dye on the cloth.  The fabric resists the dye and this creates the patterns.   The colors are set by steaming on the stove in my kitchen. 

Currently I live in a cabin in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains.  My inspiration comes from hiking in the woods and trying to figure out how to capture the colors I see.  My truly wearable art includes serenity shawls, goddess capes, bolero jackets, poetry vests and skirts, riding coats, caftans and dresses.  What I love to do most is create a collection.  To layer on various colors and textures of fabrics and designs.  Each design has several pieces which have been torn and serged before sewing them together; a process through which I continue to recover memories in the 5/8 seam allowance I learned from my mother.