Posts Tagged ‘cloth’
June 15, 2012
Dyeing a shirt like this, a tablecloth or blue jeans puts the indigo into a different context – at least for me. I tend to look through a different lens most of the time. So, doing custom work presents new challenges and a different perspective. It’s refreshing.
It also puts me in contact with people who think differently about what they wear. Some are passionate about indigo (as this customer is) and some want to “upscale (?), recycle or change what they have. They want to keep that wardrobe, make it last, but also make it new. I do the same with my own wardrobe.
In this case, I’ve been introduced to new fibers and fiber combinations, so it has given me a lot to think about, at least in terms of material.
Tags:cloth, clothing, custom dyeing, custom indigo dyeing, custom work, dyeing clothing, fibers, Indigo, indigo dyeing, Textiles
Posted in art-to-wear, Color, craft, dyeing, Indigo, Textiles | 2 Comments »
June 8, 2012
To answer that one you need to read this informative article about it featuring several TAFA craftspeople (including yours truly).
I do love working with linen. It responds so well to the work I do in shibori as well as indigo (and other dyes). It’s also fast becoming the only fiber I want to wear in the warmer seasons.
Having said that, be sure to watch those videos on processing the fiber. Watching them brought to mind the stories my grandmother told about her grandmother who grew flax, processed it and then wove with it (and also may have dyed it). I am humbled to see the labor involved.
My only (but fortunate) connection to my ancestry is simply that I also work with fibers, but not nearly on that level of involvement. This small piece (above & no longer in my possession) is a wall hanging featuring a longtime and well-loved theme in Asia, but more specifically Japan – my lens and heartland. In Japanese it would be called 兎と月(usagi to tsuki), Rabbit and Moon.
Tags:cloth, fibers, Indigo, linen, Shibori, TAFA, textile craft, Textiles
Posted in craft, dyeing, Indigo, Textiles | 6 Comments »
July 10, 2011
Between the dry weather, the sudden rainstorms, teaching days and other little demands of the daily, I practice. I’m reminded of past piano lessons, the warm up exercises before tackling the piece or pieces I was focused on. It was not only important to get the muscles (and brain) warmed up, but also helped to bring me to the technical aspects of it. So, I think of these also as warm up exercises.
I’m thinking about these patterns or of something similar. It helps to fold and dip. It just keeps me moving and it’s fun. it also tells me about the vat – where it is, how it is and what it might need. It’s living after all.
Back to the patterns – it’s summer – and these high contrast indigo and white images are what one might see on a yukata (light summer kimono) at a festival (matsuri). Both cloth (cotton or linen) and pattern are meant to cool one down physically as well as visually. It’s what comes to mind in the summer heat.
Tags:aizome, あいぞめ, cloth, cotton, 絞り, 藍, 藍染め絞り, 雪, Indigo, Sekka, Shibori, snowflakes, Textiles
Posted in art-to-wear, Color, craft, culture, dyeing, Language, process, Shibori, Textiles | 4 Comments »
February 18, 2011
A perfect day for this color and activity. Highs were up to 77°…no mosquitoes. Comparing temps though, we may have been warmer than Tampa – strange winter – we’ve actually had lows that compared to Anchorage (or colder) and now we’re doing this.
Tags:cloth, cotton muslin, hand towels, Indigo, indigo blue, Shibori, Tenugui, towels
Posted in Color, dyeing, Indigo, Shibori, Textiles | Leave a Comment »
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