Monday, November 30, 2020

Trying a new technique

 I notice that it's exactly and month since I posted.  I wonder if this is a symptom of the type of change that Covid 19 has brought to our lives. I've heard so many other fibre artists, and more traditional artists, saying that they are really struggling with finding their creativity during the last few months.  I know I certainly have.  But, suddenly, one morning the dam broke and several pieces came together.  More recently, I purchased a set videos from Design Matters tv, on using thickened dye to paint on fabric. I've certainly heard of this, as several friends have spoken of doing it, but I had never found any reason to try--until now.  So I accumulated the supplies, and prepared to get to work,  But, as the thickener used in the videos was not available in Canada ( not that I could find), and no information came with what I had purchased, I wanted more detailed information on how much Sodium Alginate to add to the water to use with the dye. I finally remembered the two books I have by Jane Dunnewold, "Complex Cloth" and "Art Cloth".  There was much more info to be found there, and over the past 3 days, I've played with the technique, making 6 different pieces of fabric in two colour ways.  I didn't vary from the actual technique demonstrated in the videos, but I did come away with several ideas for doing other things, and have now had to order even more supplies.  Here are my pieces.  The smaller ones are about 22" by 26", and the larger ones are about 26" by 36".  I have a few ideas about how they could be used, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm just going to have fun playing






1 comment:

Angela said...

Great pieces of cloth! I fully endorse the idea of just playing. I keep telling myself it is okay to make something and that it doesn't have to be anything in particular. I have been playing a lot in my art journal. It just feels good to be creative!