I've finished cherry-picking the dyefest results. These are the ones I've gravitated to over the past few days. Perhaps a reaction to the heat and humidity?
There has been no real work for the new Featherweight as yet but this fabric is making me think of piecing something functional.
In the meantime, the rest of the harvest has been posted over to the Hotcakes site for sale.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Blues
I've finished cherry-picking the dyefest results. These are the ones I've gravitated to over the past few days. Perhaps a reaction to the heat and humidity?
There has been no real work for the new Featherweight as yet but this fabric is making me think of piecing something functional.
In the meantime, the rest of the harvest has been posted over to the Hotcakes site for sale.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Last of the Mystery cottons dyed
This china platter hasn't seen a turkey's backside in years mostly because it weighs at least five pounds all by itself.
These are the last of the mystery cottons and a few new colors that I cooked up from the original concentrates.
You can always count on a critic or two at the Lawrenceville Frankenstein Dyeworx.
Now it's time to "clean" the pool.
Monday, July 21, 2008
more hand dyes
Awright....I'm going upstairs to iron. It's only 99 degrees, sure, why not. Hey! Gunga Din! over here with that water skin if you please!
I want to thank everyone who anted up their two, twenty and 99 cents regarding my photography quandary. Combing through the wisdom I think I've distilled an answer.
It's going to involve my Goodman building me a portable hard wall and some cooperation on the part of the weather but the job will get done and the results will be what I have been looking for.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
photo frustration
I've just spent the best part of two days shooting and reshooting four of my most recent pieces and I don't know if I'm losing my mind or my overworked and aging little digital camera is losing more than just a step. I hate that I'm feeling animosity towards the pieces as if they cared.
This was taken on the design wall in my studio
Getting good digital images of textiles is a struggle on a good day but throw anything shiny like metallic thread or paint or damask fabric into the mix and be prepared for hair pulling, crude cursing and lots of sweat.
This one was taken out on the deck with the sun overhead.
Part of my problem is not being able to decide if I want the digital image of the work to highlight the basic elements of the design - the shapes, colors, lines and energy of each piece, to speak first and loudest, or do I want the textures of the fabric and the textures created by the stitching to have an equal voice. These decisions come with little or no thought during the design and creation of each piece but conveying these decisions through the digital image is maddening.
As if I could afford one, I spent a lot of time rooting about on the web looking for local professional photographers in the metro ATL area and found a disappointing clutch of wedding shooters hell bent on selling that fuzzy dream image which is probably all that most folks remember of their weddings without expensive pictures to remind them.
What do other fiber artists do with this problem?
This was taken on the design wall in my studio
Getting good digital images of textiles is a struggle on a good day but throw anything shiny like metallic thread or paint or damask fabric into the mix and be prepared for hair pulling, crude cursing and lots of sweat.
This one was taken out on the deck with the sun overhead.
Part of my problem is not being able to decide if I want the digital image of the work to highlight the basic elements of the design - the shapes, colors, lines and energy of each piece, to speak first and loudest, or do I want the textures of the fabric and the textures created by the stitching to have an equal voice. These decisions come with little or no thought during the design and creation of each piece but conveying these decisions through the digital image is maddening.
As if I could afford one, I spent a lot of time rooting about on the web looking for local professional photographers in the metro ATL area and found a disappointing clutch of wedding shooters hell bent on selling that fuzzy dream image which is probably all that most folks remember of their weddings without expensive pictures to remind them.
What do other fiber artists do with this problem?
Fruits
Yesterday was an emotional contrast to the day before. I was in a hurry, on fire as usual, to get results. It was hotter & more humid than yesterday, a horsefly was chasing me around the deck and I was hellbent on murdering it. I couldn't even consider picking up the brush and painting so all of these came out of the serendipity of "bagging" each piece with color added as I went along.
There was not one disappointment in the entire batch of mystery fabrics. Each piece took and held the dye as if it was born and bred PFD! So the method of one machine washing with HOT water and Dawn plus a 24 hour soak in soda ash solution seems more than adequate.
I left this image large so that, if you click on it, you can see the variety of textures from a heavy broadcloth through smooth muslin even to a piece of cheesecloth. Even the table mopper on the top of the heap has promise. I can't feature ironing anything even this early in the day but if I decide to part with any of these they will be ironed and posted over at Hotcakes as the week goes by.
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