Intermission

Multitasking is too kind a word, and, to be truthful, inaccurate. I have been skipping/skidding/surfing/sliding and surviving different world-ways-and-means since my last entry:

Nose-to-the-sewing-machine production to meet exhibit deadlines (Anyone in the Kerrville vicinity in April is invited to see my work at the 1550 Gallery). (Note- the quilt "altar" in the photo below is one of the Borderlands series that will be featured at the gallery.)

Visiting the familial home  in Waco (including a tornado watch with my 80-plus year old parents, my sister, Linda, my niece home from Zambia Peace Corp service, the neighbor boy with two really pissed off cats and me hanging out for a couple of hours in the interior hallway stuffed with pillows and a mattress)

Texas springtime gardening involving the neighbor's Bobcat and very large rocks

 

Mingling at the Southwest School of Art and Craft All-School exhibit opening, a command attendee gratefully accepting an award as " teacher of the year" 

So, Part 2  of success saga story will just have to wait until I get my breath. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures from the former contexts-in-conjunction. 

Sirena: Falling or Flying

Art Quilt, 84" by 60" 

 

P.S. No tornado materialized, though conditions looked really favorable and the sirens were a-wailing 

Continuous, Continual

How do you work in a series? Or do you? Why or why not? And what makes it a series?

I see some individual works of art -- in many different media -- that intrigue and interest me, make me want a continuing conversation with that artist. But then, I look further, and I can't get a hold of what is going on. I can't find the path and I want more than one stepping stone for the journey. I strongly believe that commiting to one (or a few) clear paths is an important decision toward having one's work taken seriously out there in the broader art world.

And yet I know the challenge of working and reworking a theme or image or technique with the fear that someone will say, "Hasn't she done that already?"  or even worse, being bored with it myself or doubting my loyalty to a theme or direction that is played out.

My solution recently (say the last couple of years) has been to work in several series simultaneously -- each of which has its own direction, but has some distinction, some major differing factor, from other work. So far it works for me, though I'm not sure how it works for "marketing."   Some of what I do is about the medium itself: I still want to do some art cloth for art cloth's sake -- yardage that isn't about being cut up and used for anything, fabric that exists as form enough. Right now I am continuing to make my wooden frame shaped altares, each house shaped, but I still dip back and forth on subject matter. I have one series of smaller pieces that include photographic images of the Hill Country (the Borderlands series) and I still continue to explore the image of feminine sacred icons. And now, my mermaids are really taking flight (and falls).

 But what about you? How do you work in a series?

More on Color

Trolling around and thinking about color, I found this article (thanks to Serena Fenton's Layers of Meaning ) by Mandy Southan, of the Guild of Silk Painters. She clearly and concisely summarizes information about the use of 6 "foundation" colors for mixing paints -- and dyes. It's instructive to fine-tune one's eyes to analyze the colors seen  in photos, nature and other artist's work. What reds, greens, blues -- where and in what amount do you see the complement of a major color? (Look out the window, at your clothing, at the photos on my previous post.) As Southan writes,

"Some people find it very difficult initially to distinguish between each of the two types of red, yellow and blue. They can see that they are different but cannot see the 'hidden' colour in each. Blues seem to cause most problems, perhaps because the human eye is least sensitive to blue and most sensitive to red. I think that the more you work with colour, the easier it becomes to differentiate the colour bias in each and analyse the constituents of any colour you see and so be able to mix it confidently."

Pachyderm

I ought to ask -- does "Pachyderm" arise from the trunk of goodies therein?

Somewhere in my circus performer's tent, lives a secret geek. I love to play with with intuitively designed software -- the programs that feel and act like building blocks and/or collage layers are the best match for my brain. Don't get me wrong, I avoid anything that looks even like html code -- OK maybe a few little sideways bracket triangles (you know you can't make those show up by typing them here ) are sneaking into my tool box -- but I lean toward programs that put everything into WYSIWYG and let you wiggle it all around. I'll never give up the tactile pleasures of cloth, but I find the architectural limitlessness of the digital world quite seductive.

I am at a 3 day users conference for a presentation (think web page and/or powerpoint -- but different) interface that is spreading through the world of museum professionals across the state, thanks to a project funded by the Edward and Betty Marcus Foundation that puts Texas museums into the loop. Pachyderm has been developed with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the New Media Consortium, with support from the  Institute for Museum and Library Services, this software/project/interface  has amazing potential for all manner of  creative artistic play -- not to shortchange its impact on digital education and storytelling for museums.

You can follow the links above to find out more. Be sure to poke around on the pages published as examples and don't miss the SFMOMA "Making Sense of Modern Art" site. If you want to play too you can inquire about trial access to the nmc.org server where the open-source software to do the authoring lives and breathes. For now, its free, though eventually  one will probably need a membership to get into the playpen.

Somewhat like the Squarespace architecture and authoring that underlies this site (and is the reason I pay a small fee monthly rather that using Blogger or one of the other free blog publishers) Pachyderm is a highly flexible set of templates that can be EASILY linked, loaded with ones own pictures, movies, audio and graphic images --then adds some nifty special stuff like sound cues for accessibility.  What you end up with is a Flash presentation that can live on a CD, on  your computer or be uploaded to a hosting web server. Believe me, I know nothing about the tech geekie level of all this -- though you can apparently get involved as a developer if you lean that way -- but as a new convert I can't wait to play. I can see immediate application for a museum/library/family art program that I'm working on for the summer in conjunction with the Botero exhibit that's coming this way.

If you want to play hands-on: 

"Pachyderm 90-day trial authoring accounts are currently available on request for those who wish to take Pachyderm for a test drive. For more information, please see About Pachyderm. To request an account, please send email to info@nmc.org."

Watch this space for further developments. 

 

 

100 Ways to Make Your Mark on Fabric

Teaching a class with this title at the Southwest School of Art and Craft, I challenged myself to come up with 100 ways that one could “make a mark” on fabric. This list is by no means complete – and we certainly didn’t make it through all the techniques in the one 8-session course of study, but I also figure that most of the methods can be used with three different media  -- acrylic textile paints, dye and discharge chemicals, so many of the techniques listed are three-in-one. I made the list to serve me (and those artists who take my courses) as a reminder – a tickler – a spur to experiment and stretch. We all get dependent on a few tricks and forget that a whole bag is waiting to be investigated.

I certainly don’t claim ownership of any of the methods or techniques here listed. You’ll find many of them in any good surface design book – I give credit to Jane Dunnewold (Complex Cloth)and her ArtCloth Studios courses for most of my own technical experimentation and any mastery that I may have developed to her encouragement.

Many of these printing/mark-making techniques can be used with textile inks (screen-printing type –thick or medium density, such as Setacolor, or thin, like DekaSilk), with dye thickened with sodium alginate or commercial dye thickener, with dishwashing gel containing bleach for discharge, or one of the commercial discharge pastes.

Most supplies (dyes, paints, chemicals, thickeners) can be purchased at Dharma Trading Company. Dyes and chemicals are also available from Pro Chem.

Procion MX dyes are to be used on natural fibers only and need batching  (sitting damp in a warm place) generally in order for the chemical reaction to take place. Most textile paints MUST be set by ironing after dry or other heat-set method. Do not iron until dry in order to avoid toxic fumes.

PLEASE follow safety techniques including gloves, dust masks and respirators as needed. This list is intended as a tickler list for surface design artists – not as a manual of detailed instructions. Consult technical manuals for dye recipes, specific techniques and how-tos. But if something really intrigues you, add a comment and I’ll try to give more specific instructions.

STAMPING
1.    Erasers (art gum or white artist erasers) can be carved with relief shapes using Xacto knife
2.    Eraser stamps can be carved, then ganged together by gluing to plastic or wood block (use E6000 glue or similar) to make a mosaic of patterns
3.    Speedy Stamp blocks or other carvable material, carved with lino cut tools (material available from Dharma or Dick Blick or similar art supply site)
4.    Styrofoam plates or meat trays “etched” with design using pen or sharp stylus
5.    Styrofoam plates or meat trays cut into shapes and mounted on wooden blocks
6.    “Fun foam” precut shapes (the stuff of summer camp projects) glued  (or use self adhesive stamps) onto blocks – double-thick for best results
7.    “Fun foam” cut into original designs and mounted on blocks or plastic corrugated board (double thick again, best for ink impressions)
8.    Adhesive sheet craft felt cut into shapes and mounted on printing blocks (both poly felt and plastic textured “felt)
9.    Compressed sponges cut into shape while dry, then wet with paint or dye to make sponge printing blocks
10.     Natural or poly sponges torn or cut for rough texturing stamps or overall texturing
11.     Foam rollers carved or impressed with string or rubber bands to make rollable texture stamps
12.     Cut packing material into large shapes for printing or use “as is”
13.    Print with found objects (kitchen utensils, plastic plates, bubble wrap etc)
14.    Stamp with vegetables cut in flat sides or in shapes (ie potato prints)
15.    Stamp with hands, feet, body parts
16.    Make leaf prints by thinly rolling leaves with paint or dye on the vein side, burnish on fabric to print
17.    Make printing plates with layers of corrugated paper cut in patterns and stacked and glued, Coat with polyurethane to make permanent.
18.    Use moldable foam stamp material to make heat-set designs (from Dharma)
19.     Carve linoleum blocks to use for printing
20.     Use “tjaps” from India or Indonesia for stamping paint or dye (wooden or metal)
21.    Use modeling clay, play dough or polymer clay to make stamps – use either soft or hardened –make an imprint with a textured object or shape, brush on a textile paint or thickened dye
22.    Commercial stamps from hobby and craft store – foam, rubber, wood, etc.

MONOPRINTING
23.    Spread or brush paint or dye on large plastic plate or plastic drop cloth. Monoprint with fabric yardage
24.    Brush paint in designs on textured surfaces such as bubble wrap, textured grids for ceiling lights, etc.
25.     Adhere freezer paper in torn or cut designs by ironing to fabric, Brush, spray or roll on paint, dye or discharge
26.    Cut large shapes from corrugated paper (single corrugated that has ridges on outside of sheet) Use to monoprint
27.    Spread paints or thickened dye on a textured plastic surface
28.    Brush dye or paint on plastic lace tablecloths, lay fabric on top of it and press to monoprint

STENCILING
29.    Cut stencils with freezer paper and adhere to fabric by ironing
30.    Cut stencil design from magazine art, using the picture as your guide, coat with layer of clear packing tape on both sides to strengthen
31.     Use commercial stencils and parts of stencils overlapping with one another to add interest, cut up commercial stencils and recombine with clear tape
32.    Cut your own stencils from poster board or old file folders. Coat with clear plastic spray to make more durable
33.    Use found objects – plastic lace, grids, wire mesh, etc – as stencils
34.     Use spray paint  -- water- or enamel-based -- with stencils
35.    Use spray misting bottle filled with dye for stenciling
36.    Use spray misting bottle filled with bleach for resist stenciling (USE A RESPIRATOR AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING , WORK OUTDOORS – bleach in the air is very dangerous to your lungs)


MARK-MAKING/DRAWING

(These methods use the drawing instrument, not dye or paint unless noted)
37.    Paint or draw with thin and/or thickened dye on damp or dry fabric
38.    Paint or draw with silk paints or thinned fabric paints on damp or dry fabric
39.     Use salt on thin washes to develop textures
40.    Draw with fabric markers (iron to set)
41.     Draw with permanent markers such as sharpies (iron to set)
42.     Draw with crayons (iron to set)
43.    Draw with transfer fabric crayons on paper – iron onto fabric to transfer  (ON poly fibers only)
44.    Draw with oil pastels, iron to set
45.     Use crayons, oil pastels or crayons with stencils or as rubbings over textured objects or plates
46.     Use water soluble crayons (caran d’ache) on a silk screen, and then screen with polymer medium
47.     Stretch fabric on frame and paint with gutta and silk paints (see Dharma catalog for instructions)
48.    Draw directly on fabric with India Ink
49.     Use Setacolors to make “sun prints” (see manufacturers instructions)
50.    Crumple or fold fabric and apply dye with spray misting bottle, leaving patterns through creasing and wrinkling.

TRANSFERS AND FOILS. PHOTOTRANSFER
51.    Transfer illustrations or text to fabric using polymer medium – apply wet in patterns, burnish papers to wet medium, let dry and wash away the paper leaving ink
52.    Apply polymer medium with stamps, stencils etc to fabric. Let dry, iron on foil (shiny side up)
53.    Cut shapes from WonderUnder or other fusible webbing and iron on, remove paper, iron on foil
54.    Print image or design on BACK of foil, let dry, iron on to fabric
55.    Use commercial transfer paper with an inkjet printer, iron to transfer
56.    Print directly on fabric – commercial product or sheets you make by ironing smooth fabrics to freezer paper, fuse or stitch to larger fabrics

RESISTS
57.    Use washable school glue to paint on a resist before dyeing
58.    Use commercial resist (PRESIST) to paint on before dyeing
59.    Fold, clamp, rubber band your fabric to make a physical resist
60.    Stamp, stencil etc with polymer gel medium. Let dry thoroughly then dye or dye paint. Dried polymer gel medium acts as a resist.
61.    Use flour paste to block areas of fabric
62.    Use rice paste to block areas of fabric
63.    Use hot wax (traditional batik method or soy wax) – stamped, painted, etc.
64.    Stitch patterns on fabric, pull to gather tightly, then dye or spray with thinned paint, stitching forms the resist

THERMOFAX and SCREENPRINTING
65.    Use natural objects to make a screen by photocopying it (leaves, sticks, etc)
66.    Use manmade objects such as lace, fabric with thick texture, etc to make a thermal screen
67.     Draw a picture and photocopy it to make a thermal screen
68.    Make a collage for a thermal screen
69.    Make a stencil on the back of a screen by ironing (carefully) on freezer paper
70.    Cut a screen stencil from contact paper
71.    Use hot wax or soy wax to make a screen stencil
72.    Stamp some of your favorite stamps in patterns to make a thermal screen
73.    Using the same design, enlarge, reduce and make multiples to design different screens –make a family of related thermal screens or traditional screens
74.    Use drawing fluid to draw a design, then coat with red screen filler, wash out drawing fluid to leave your design as a stenciled screen
75.    Apply a thin layer of flour paste to a screen. Let dry and etch a design
76.     Make a photo-emulsion screen (instructions in books and on the web)

EMBELLISHMENTS
77.    Add beads in patterns or randomly
78.    Stitch by hand or machine – fancy or plain embroidery stitches (This could be 100 ways all on its own!)
79.    Piece torn strips of fabric, seam out
80.    Piece cut fabric squares or other shapes
81.    Appliqué fabric shapes and designs
82.    Sew on found objects, such as keys, chains, paper clips etc
83.    Using fusible webbing, adhere photos, paper, fabric, textures, leaves, plant material etc
84.    Collage using polymer medium and layers of fabric, texture, etc
85.    Coat fabric with layers of beeswax to make a fabric encaustic
86.    Stiffen fabric with starch or polymer medium
87.    Iron on interfacing to stiffen
88.    Fold or crumple polyester fabrics and drop in boiling water to make creases permanent
89.    Use safety pins, studs, snaps or buttons as decorative embellishments
90.    Use zippers as embellishments

OTHER
91.    Rust fabric by layering it with iron objects, spray with 50/50 vinegar solution, leave wrapped in plastic in the sun for several days
92.    Rip, tear or otherwise distress fabric
93.    Burn edges or areas of fabric (BE CAREFUL)
94.    Compost fabric by burying it for several weeks in soil or organic material
95.    Coat fabric with colored clays or mud to stain it (Mud cloth techniques)
96.    Tear or cut fabric in strips and weave it back together.
97.    Tear or cut fabric in strips and braid it, knot it or twist it into shapes.
98.    Quilt by hand or machine, layering fabric and batting, traditional or experimental.
99.    Fray the edges of fabric, fringing all the sides or just the ends.
100.    Pull threads to make patterns in your fabric.
    

Color Waves

Working on a companion mermaid today, I thought almost obsessively about color. How this one is different ... how to make the pinky rose sea dance with another jade set of scales? How to make them work, if needed, on one wall together, but also swim alone? What little strip will make the whole composition pop? The story is always important to me; but color still comes first when it comes to putting it on the wall -- then shape and space running close on color's heels.

I always start with color. It's my strong suit, and the card I tip most often. Maybe it happened in 1958 (I was 10) with that first box of 64 crayons. Heaven, right?

Lurking around on the internet during rest breaks from sewing Sunset Sirena #1, I found a multitude of sites about color, color theory, more color theory, color in all its screaming and whispering hues, color trends on the horizon, color sorted by Flickr groups, color used in marketing and selling to sort and organize, on and on and on. (See what you think of these and tell me about others that make you squeak-- I'm planning a color workshop in March.)

(And how about those "silent density," delicious palpitations," "sulphurous infusions," "precious blacknesses"?)

Just as I was finishing the studio workday, I looked again at the photos I took this weekend -- just to find nature's perfect use of complementary color.

No Back Splash

I promised myself a day of work on a new quilt, even though the iggly piggly little nits and bits that plague the self-employed are heaped high on the desk. But My Artist Self is just a little kid, and if she doesn't get to play, she gets very ornery.

 So today, rather than great words of wisdom, we all get play time with color.

Not that the play is completely fret-free. This large Sirena has been hidden in a stack of dyed fabrics, scraps of embroidered dresses and a batt of cotton already top-coated with a layer of WonderUnder and she is a little cranky about showing up. I spent most of the day trying one shape, one pattern and then another, rescuing, undoing trying to balance the rather tricky orange and aqua. Being fearful that this was a big giant waste of good cloth -- boy. where does that come from?

This is one intermediate stage (note feet of The Artist standing on the cutting table):

 

And here's the next one --

 

I sure hope I don't decide I liked the larger pieces of Guatemalan belt better -- as you can see, what was a nice bold set of stripes is now a mosaic of little squares. This mermaid  is boating through a coral sunset, juggling the rising moon, and I wanted to get the sense and movement of reflection on water when the ocean turns pink and aqua, silver and gold.

So, I'm still not sure, but with the larger pieces ironed down, I'll leave the little bits and textures to settle overnight, and hope that I'll either like it all in the morning -- or, as can happen, tear it apart and start  again. But one thing is sure, we had our swim.

All Natural - Not

OK. I can't do two things at once. Like take photos and teach a technique.  I forgot. Sort of. Anyway, here are three snaps taken during the rock-dyeing, with my examples, the rock and one teaching shot.

What we did:

Wrap and rubberband silk scarflets around different sizes and shapes of limestone rocks.

Paint each piece with low-water dye mixtures, using Procion MX dyes that are mixed colors -- rust brown, Chinese red,  bright green, rust brown were the choices I premixed with a soda ash solution.

Microwave for 2 minutes.

Unwrap and wash, revealing interesting shapes, textures and colors. 

 

All Natural

Living here makes it natural. This weekend I'll be sharing techniques that start with nature, both as literal material and content for making artcloth -- form and process. The occasion is two short workshops that are part of a fundraising event for the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram, Texas, near Kerrville. The event: Art for Artists. I will be one of about 20 area artists who will lead demos and share work with supporters and community members. This workshop is primarily an opportunity for me to meet people in the area and to reach people who might want to attend one of my workshop retreats this next year.

 

Here's the rundown -- I'll post examples and photos thoughout the weekend,  creating, I hope, the first of a series of on-line demos and semi "live events." So check in when you can, and see if I have managed to pull it off.

 The demos and hand-on sampler sessions I plan for each of the two hour workshops are:

Using limestone rocks as resists for microwave dyeing

Printing fabric with pressed leaves using textile inks

Setacolor solar printing using natural objects and textures to develop imagery and layering of colors

So much for nature as content and medium-- but within this context, I want to remind the artists -- and myself  -- to look, listen and experience this thing we call nature, as if it were outside and objective, instead of the inner tide that is running the show.

 

This beautiful fall weather is time to connect, to own and be owned by wind and sun and earth. To be in and of the living beat of the world. All the techniques in the paint box, in the art store, in the schoolroom and studio don't turn us into artists. We become artists when we breathe.

Art Cloth in Atlanta

To be more specific -- Decatur.  This once-upon-a-time small southern town is in the eastern part of the greater Atlanta sprawl, on the MARTA line, so still quite linked to the Peachtree heart of the city. Still, squint, and you might just be in one of Carson McCullers' stories. The old courthouse (now a history museum) governs the square with a sense of proper Southern decorum, and a passel of cafes and interesting shops gather round her skirts.

The ArtCloth Network met here this weekend with 15 women artists of the 27-member group on hand: Sharing work, eating, walking, lives, trading resources and sources -- a generous gathering. All of us are, in one way or another, dedicated to the idea that fabric yardage, created through various surface design techniques, should be considered art in and of itself. without having to be quilted (even as a whole cloth quilt), turned into a garment, pieced or stretched or displayed in an installation. Not that many of us don't do one or more of those things upon occasion, or even often. However, as espoused by this group and other artists in the field, cloth as art can be just that.

One would think that with so many anecdotal stories about cloth that is "just too..." to cut, stories one hears about almost any fabric junkie's stash, that such an art form has earned validity. But many exhibition venues, jurors, curators and even other fiber artists devoted to their particular art forms don't agree on this. The Art Cloth Network is just one such gathering of fellow travelers interested in promoting this idea, through education, exhibition and discussion. So, what do you think? Can artist dyed/screened/embellished/textured/painted/etc yardage be art or is it still unfinished until utilized in another art form? What makes it art?

Whatever the debate's outcome, here are a few snippets of images and ideas from the weekend sessions, in no particular order. (My photos were erratic at best, so pardon to those in attendance for quality and/or missing your piece/s.) ALL artwork is copyrighted by the artist and images should not be used without permission.

Lynn Harris's felted stitchwork and recycled tablelinens

 

Rayna Gillman's found-object soy batik

 

 Wrenn Slocum's pixilated woods, fashioned from one-inch squares of acid dyed silk, flowing like water


 

 

Katherine Sylvan's dashingly sensual silk art cloth and scarves, using vat dyes, and also imagery based on arial view landscapes

  

Linda Campbell's weaving experiments, and her plans for folded fabric art cloth

Susan Ettl's desert inspired dyeing and art quilts using art cloth 

Maggie Weiss's layered cloth with images that visually produce the sound of water over river stones

 

 Sue Copeland Jones' deconstructed screenprinting with oak leaves, and sewing rediscovered

 

Peggy Sexton's dangerous plants and dangerous women installation ideas

 

Darcy Love's natural histories on cloth 

 

Jan Giroud's color studies

 

Judy Langille's strong compositional studies, layers upon layers of torn paper shapes and dye printing

  

 We worked on future plans, tied up the ideas for a couple of exhibition proposals, and traded stories about our lives as artists, business owners, students and teachers, mothers and daughters, wives and lovers. Stories tie us together and keep us sane, with the knowledge that we are not lonestrangers, but community in the making -- even when it happens in fits and starts, with disappointments and discouraging news, with jurors who don't get it and exhibit proposals that don't get accepted, members who move on leaving gaps, new members who haven't quite checked in. Still, we humans seem to need and heed this kind of coming together, and isn't it nice that in this time and with these women, the comings and goings are so broadly defined, so geographically and culturally rich.

Limestone

As a dyer I  depend on sodium carbonate to activate the Procion dyes I use. And as I looked through my photo collection today it was easy to see how dependent I am on the inspiration of limestone -- calcium carbonate. My chemist father would be proud of me for noticing the familial similarity.

"Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda or soda ash), Na₂CO₃, is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystaline heptahydrate which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. It has a cooling alkaline taste, and can be extracted from the ashes of many plants. It is produced artificially in large quantities from common salt." (from Wikipedia)

"Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound, with chemical formula CaCO₃. It is commonly used medicinally as a calcium supplement or as an antacid. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime. It is a common substance found as rock in all parts of the world and is the main component of seashells and the shell of snails. It is usually the principle cause of hard water." (from Wikipedia)

 Here are some examples of the latter:

 

 

If you have a great photo of limestone in nature or limestone in architecture, send it to me at susiemonday@sbcglobal.net and I will include it and a credit for your photo in a followup post.

Dye Stuff

History comes alive for me through personal meaning, so even though the prose is rather dense and dry, I found the information in A History of the International Dyestuff Industry to be worth slogging through. I knew that Procion MX dyes, those most of us artful dyers use, were fairly new, more of the postwar explosion of chemical tinkering (and one of the more benevolent). Here's an excerpt that pinpoints the official birthday:

March 1956 was the centenary of the discovery of Perkin's mauve, and the event was celebrated, like the fiftieth anniversary, by international gatherings in London and New York. Appropriately, the ICI Dyestuffs Division marked the event with the announcement of the first successful fiber reactive dye, reacting chemically with the fiber to form covalent bonds. These exceptionally fast dyes became the first of the Procion range, ideal for cotton dyeing (Procion Yellow R, Procion Brilliant Red 2B, and Procion Blue 3G)....

Today, the fiber reactive dyes are available in a wide range of shades, are extremely brilliant, are wetfast, and can be applied economically. They were originally applied to wool, but the dyeing performance does not match that on cellulose. In Japan, for example, fiber reactive dyes account for over half of the colorants used for cellulosic fibers.

Actually, the earlier dye history is more interesting, with more details about the actual people involved, and the article includes some wonderful old engravings of dye machinery and technology. Thanks to the wonderful Layers of Meaning blog for this link. And thanks to the unknown chemists who have given us such wonderful colorants -- and all the chemical surprises possible on the cloth. (P.S. Another benefit from reading this article is the incentive  it provides for us to use proper safety procedures when handling dyes in studio -- all those nicely scary chemical formulas pointing to long-chain organic chemicals!)

The photo above shows Els van Baarle at a recent workshop, where she taught us methods of using layers of Procion MX dyes with hot wax batik to create richly nuanced color and texture.

Our Lady of San Pedro

People ask me all the time how long it takes to make one of my art quilts. Who can tell? Do I get to count dyeing and screen-printing the fabrics? How about cleaning up the studio and resorting those scraps? And what about the search in my favorite thrift stores to find the Mexican dresses and Guatemalan fabrics that I can't resist? Let's not even try.

Howsoever,

here she is, about 8 hours in

the cutting and pasting and

staring into space stage:

Our Lady of San Pedro.

The process:

• Audition a bunch of fabric, by color. This includes commercial fabrics, ethnic textiles, scraps of new silk and a couple of my scarves that haven't sold (the green cross), vintage table cloth dyed, discharged and screenprinted for the orange background.
  
• Decide the size, in this case, as a companion piece I wanted her to be about the same size as Our Lady  of Nopales.
• Start with the face, from a embroidered yoke of a dress made in the San Antonino village in the state of Oaxaca. I find them in thrift stores or the closets of friends. I first started making these angels and saints when I could not bear to keep my wedding dress (the marriage long over), but couldn't bear to throw it away either. And that Lady has given birth to a tribe of relatives.
• So next, find her shape.
  
• Add layers.
• Listen to what is going on and find the right ways to give her voice and presence.
•  With this piece, I was still taken with the thermofax I had made by tracing an old lithograph image of a rooster, the crowing cock that is a symbol of St. Peter, so it seems she became his Lady, a kind of comforting presence to all of us who have ever betrayed ourselves, and the love of others.
  
•  Fuse it all together with Wonderunder.
• Add a few hieroglyphic squiggles to tie the surface together and add energy.
• NOW, the sewing begins, the rather tedious part that I try to look upon as meditative. But it adds a delicious line that's almost a secret -- you have to look closely to see how it's a layer of drawing.