I waited till after supper one evening recently (to take advantage of high humidity through the night) to go out to the studio with the intention of setting up a long piece of silk dupion, but I was sidetracked by the discovery that I had a forgotten dishpan under my work table filled with vinegar soaking a few t-shirts, a pair of tights and a fairly big piece of silk habotai. All was well. No harm done after 2 weeks of soaking!! I thought I'd better get those pieces wrapped and rusting instead so put the dupion on hold.
The t-shirt material is sheer jersey cotton. One shirt was continuously wrapped around my auger. I was pleasantly surprised by the results and amazed that the color reached through some 10-12 layers. Also amazed that only a bit of rust shows on one sleeve...the rest of the piece is a soft gray and black. It has been rinsed thoroughly but not yet washed, but I doubt I will lose much color. Hope I don't have to eat those words.
The other t-shirt was wrapped on a large diameter pipe and tied very tightly creating a nice stripe resist.
As I've been doing some very long work recently, I rearranged the tables in my studio placing them end to end at an angle so I can walk around 3 sides easily. Still the 12 feet of table was not enough for this evening's work. I wrapped 5 yards of dupioni and let me just say it was quite a challenge and required 2 pipes. I had to move another table at the end to catch the rest of the fabric. I'll check it tomorrow morning, but probably won't unwrap till later in the day. It takes a while for the rust to penetrate 8 layers of this heavier silk.
This is the second long piece of dupioni I've rusted. The first is 3 yards long and turned out well. That fabric came from China. Not photographed yet. The 5 yard piece I wrapped today was purchased locally and though it goes by the same type name, this silk dupioni was made in India. It's texture and appearance is different from the Chinese made dupioni. Pictures coming later.
Just a note about dupion / dupioni. The online company where I order my fabric refers to the silk as dupion and that is the stuff from China. Nearly everywhere else I've seen this type of silk it has been called dupioni. Both versions are acceptable. They are both beautiful fabrics, but the Indian dupioni has more shimmer and is lofty and crisp--or at least it was before I tortured it around a rusty pipe!
Did some experiments the other day with 12" widths of silk dupion and hemp silk. I like the results and am anxious to try some big stuff this week.
Above: Hemp silk shibori rust, scanned detail. Love the texture and the gold/bronze color. The blurry marks are due in part to the texture of the fabric and the high humidity. The design reminds me of ikat. The piece was tied, but I chose to scan an area where that's not obvious.
This is the silk dupion sample. I can't get over how deep the blacks are.
Both of these pieces were wrapped with 8 layers for the rust to penetrate. Harder going for the hemp silk, but I thought when I started out that the dupion was almost of equal weight. I've used habotai for so many years, did not realize the potential of dupion.
I have been invited to exhibit at Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL. this September/October. There is a beautiful gallery there and some large spaces to fill. I've been working on a few long pieces of silk. I'm pretty pleased with this one. It's too long, at 112 inches, for my indoor studio pin board set up, so I photographed it on the clothesline next to my outdoor studio.
You might wonder how the design came about. Tried photographing the in process piece in the dark. The days are getting shorter! (I can't help it--I'm a night person and it was darn near 9 pm!) This is just after I finished applying the tea before pleating and wrapping the fabric. The pole/pipe I used is about 8 feet long.
Two six foot tables are end to end here in my outdoor studio. The 45 inch silk twill is folded in half for the application of tea.
A new order of silk arrived Friday. I've purchased some 55 inch wide silk to experiment with. Not sure how I'm going to handle it. I'd love to find a longer pipe too.
New work is actually old fabric, created through composting way back in 2006. I haven't done any composting since then that I can remember but I have many many pieces of silk that were composted -- some whole cloth, some in pieces that may some day be dealt with. The silk below so reminded me of the recent oil spill (I hate that inappropriate word) that I felt compelled to work with it for the group show Elements at Main Street Art Gallery.
I have been making free hanging silk pieces since 2001. In 2008 I began a series of quilted/felted collages but for this silk I needed a different way to present it. I did not want to embellish the silk which I felt would take away from the exquisite patterns left in the silk from the composting process. In the end, I purchased ready made canvas stretchers, covered them with felt and stretched the silk over all and stitched it in place on the back. I'm a little concerned about the wrap around edges, but I think the pieces turned out well.
Nevereverland c2010 is 36 inches square.
Moon Garden c2010 measures 24 x 30 inches.
Gold Coast c2010 measures 40 x 30 inches.
Frond c2010 is the smallest at 14 x 11 inches.
Elements refers to the natural world--earth, wind, fire. The work done collectively by this particular group of artists, myself included, has exploited metal, clay, fiber, paper, and taken inspiration from nature through photography, painting, collage, surface design and sculpting. I would enjoy talking about my work with you at the opening. Hope you can make it over to Edwardsville on July 23rd, 6-8 pm. Main Street Art Gallery is at 237/239 North Main Street.
Two of my pieces in this show come from a single length of silk composted in summer 2006. I originally discussed this bit of cloth in a previous post and recently decided that the skirt must go. The ripper took out the seams and the silk has been reborn as wall art. A detail of one of the pieces is on the postcard above. I'm trying something new for this exhibit...mounting some of my silk over felt covered stretched canvas to show off the surface designs. I'll also have a large free hanging rusted piece on display.
Jacoby Arts Center 6th Annual Juried Exhibition opens tonight -- July 9 -- with a reception from 5-8 pm. The show runs through August 8, 2010. One of my small pieces, Organic Bailout, was selected for the show.
This piece features both rusted and composted silks along with a piece of rusted vintage dishtowel fabric that had been my mother's. I did a lot of free motion quilting and embroidery on this piece which measures only 11 x 8.5 inches.
For those you in the area who plan to attend the opening at JAC, you can gallery hop over to By Design. Lillian Bates has turned part of her fiber arts and wearable boutique into a full fledged gallery. Her first show opens tonight too with a reception from 5 to 8 pm. The show is called Varied Perspectives.
Lillian features my scarves, t-shirts, tights and other wearables in her boutique.
Only saw fireworks on TV this 4th of July. Too tired to get in the car and drive the 3 miles to see the display in town. Spent the holiday at the home of friend Elizabeth Adams Marks and got a preview of her new paper collages.
So beautiful. She and I will be in the Elements show together that opens later this month at Main Street Art Gallery in Edwardsville. The pressure is on. Lots to do. In the meantime I made my own fireworks of sorts with little rusty stars on this silk/rayon blend.
