New Embroidery in Progress

A detail of a new embroidery in progress.

Emergence

I've updated my website with images from Transient Structures.  Besides the woven work I also showed some studies for a new body of work I'm just beginning entitled Emergence, which involves embroidery on paper.  Using the long, chaotic floats and the abstracted natural imagery of my weavings as inspiration, these new pieces are more direct and immediate since they aren't restricted to the grid of the loom.  There is a lightness to this work which makes them seem as ephemeral as my weavings, even though they are constructed out of much stabler materials and will far outlast the rusted work. 

    

Natural Dye Experiment: Black Beans

I've been trying lots of new plants for natural dyes for my installation.  Between the river trail and the nearby markets the Strip District of Pittsburgh provides a bounty of color.  Even so, getting a nice true strong green is very difficult.  My best chance is going to be getting a blue and over dying with yellow.  So I've been experimenting with black bean soaking water and getting good results. Below are some images of the process using a silk scarf:

First I soak black turtle beans in water over night. I use about twice as much water as black beans, and stir ever so often as I walk by. Then I scoop the now dark purple water off the beans and into a bucket to dye in.  (The beans made delicious burgers).

 I added a splash of vinegar to the dye bath, since silk as a protein fiber tends to take up color better in a slightly acidic bath.  This also has the effect of turning my dye a brighter, magenta purple.

And here is the scarf after spending the night in the cool black bean dye.  Very pretty magenta, but not the blue that I'm looking for.  To correct this I have to adjust the PH back to the other side by soaking it for a few minutes in a water and baking soda solution.  Its pretty amazing to watch actually, as the color changes right before my eyes.  Here it is after just a few seconds in the baking soda wash.

 The final color is this beautiful steel blue.

 I've got about a half a pound of wool still in the dye, since it doesn't take up color as quickly at cool temperatures as the silk.  It will spend another night in the dye, and once I take it out tomorrow I will be able to over dye the blue wool with some yellow from turmeric and hopefully get a nice range of greens for my installation.

Workshop Postcard

Information on my workshops at Contemporary Craft

Prepping for PMA Craft Show

I'm super excited to announce that I'm going to be exhibiting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show next week.  SCAD is sending a handful of fiber grads and metals and objects students to the show to share a booth.  I've been busy for the past couple weeks getting some of my weavings prepped and ready to go.  A few of the pieces I'm bringing are samples that I've shared before, spruced up and framed, but a couple are brand new pieces from earlier in the semester.  If you're going to be at the show come by and say hello!

Reeds. Iron Wire, Cotton/Linen Yarn.  Woven on a Dobby Loom.

Reeds. Detail.

Arguta. Iron Wire, Cotton Thread. Woven on A Jacquard loom.
Custom Steel Frame.

Arguta. Detail.

Tangential Section. Iron Wire, Cotton/Linen Yarn.  Woven on a Jacquard loom.
Custom Steel Frame.  

Tangential Section. Detail.

Undulations. Iron Wire, Cotton/Linen and Bamboo/Silk Yarns.  Tapestry Woven. 

Undulations. Detail.

This last piece is a sample of my lastest explorations, using an iron warp on a tapestry loom.  It's a much slower process, but I can control the threads on a whole different level.  Having the threads cross the warp at an angle and on a curve for example.

I've also purchased a new camera since my last post, hopefully you can see an improvement in the quality of the photos I'll be posting from now on!

Natural Dye Workshop

This weekend I hosted a natural dye demonstration/workshop in the A.I.R. studio here in Paducah.  On Saturday we started out by mordanting our fiber - treating it with Alum or Iron in order to help the fiber take up the dye and make the color more permanent.

Our fiber after they came out of the mordants.

We also cooked our dyes on Saturday, using local Blackberries, Black Tea, Brazilwood and Turmeric.

The dyestuffs

The dye baths

In order to keep the blackberry dye from going grey we didn't simmer our fabric in it, but let it sit overnight. On Sunday we dyed the rest of our fiber.  The participants were able to get a wide range of colors depending on the choice of the Alum or Iron mordant, the amount of time in the dye baths and the fiber they used.  Many people brought natural wool roving but we also had some silk scarves and some recycled material from wool coats.

The range of colors for each dye were:

                                Blackberry: Light purple to lavender to grayish purple

                                Tea: Warm tans to grays

                                Turmeric: Bright yellow to gold to brown

                                Brazilwood: Mauve to magenta to dark purple

Our dyed fabric drying outside

The two tones from the different mordants are easy to see in Tina's samples

Showing off the difference between silk and wool.

Georgia knotted her silk scarves before putting them in the
dye bath in order to get these beautiful textures.