Dyeing to Discharge: Day 2

Another good day, but that's not really a surprise. I think I could actually take this class at a faster pace, but the group is a mixture of folks who have previously studied with Carol and some who haven't. Everyone has had some MX experience, so that's helping move things along.

Today we focused entirely on bleach discharge on cellulosic fiber using clamped and bound resist. All of my samples were Pimatex and Rayon. Here they are clamped and ready to be discharged.

...and then after the discharge bath and neutralizing.

The rectangular bundles are both cotton, which discharged to a rust color. The others are rayon: some from Dharma and some from Testfabrics. They discharge to totally different colors. I love that pretty much everything will discharge somewhat in bleach, but I'm really looking forward to working with thiox tomorrow because my commercial black samples discharge closer to white, leaving many more options for overdyeing. After taking the photo above all of these pieces were overdyed while still in their clamps/bundles. I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow morning.

And finally, no discharge workshop is complete without the view of the class hard at work with respirators on. Here we are on the loading dock at PRO Chem, which is being affectionately referred this week as the "lanai.".

Dyeing to Discharge: Day 1

It was a good day. We spent a while talking about some general concepts concerning discharge, but the real thrust of the day was making the first round of samples. We dyed samples of all of the pure MX dyes and all of the PRO Chem blacks on both silk and cotton, then discharged those along with some commercial black samples with thiox, chlorox, and deColourant (that new stuff that everyone's so excited about). I've done little tests before--a dab of bleach on the edge of a piece of cloth to predict what I might get before embarking on a broader application. But, I've never done so many samples at a time or with such a broad range of colors. It's amazing to see all of the possibilities. Tomorrow everything gets assembled into a sample book, which we'll use to make design decisions for the rest of the week.

One little technical observation from today was that bleach has an expiration date after which it really doesn't work--REALLY. We ended up with a bottle of Chlorox that expired in April. I saw hand-dyed samples dropped into a very strong bleach solution that lost almost no color. Mixing a new solution with fresh bleach make a big difference. I'll be checking my bleach when I get home.

Sorry, no pictures today. I'll try to do a better job with that tomorrow.

A week in Fall River

I'm in Fall River at PRO Chemical for a 1-week workshop with Carol Soderlund called "Dyeing to Discharge." It's hard to believe, but this will be my 5th class with Carol. I'm going to have to ask for a degree soon.

Discharge is a dyer's term for removing dye from cloth. Think of it as the dyer's equivalent of an eraser. It's among the most basic techniques, but not something that I've ever really felt that I could control to the level that I want. That's what the next 5 days will be about: really learning to control the process with different types of chemistry--reductive (thiox) and oxidative (hypochlorite)--to get predictable, reproducible results.

If you're not a dyer, a chemist, or a nerd (or a little bit of each) this might sound tedious, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Stay tuned this week to hear how about what I'm learning.

"Unexpected Patterns" opens today

"Unexpected Patterns" (aka "Unexpected Patterns: Quake!") opens today at the Worcester Center for Crafts in Worcester, MA. If you're in the area check out my piece in this show along with the other outstanding work by members of the Art Cloth Network.

Saving the hopeless quilt: Part 4

Now for the final panel in this triptych.

The center panel was always different from the other two and in the end I felt that I needed to accentuate that difference rather than trying to suppress it. The answer I came up with was to go dark on the background rather than light, but keep the same pieced construction.

As I began to assemble it I realized that the little piece of the curved middle strip that was extending below the rest of the design was something to which I'd become attached. From the purely practical perspective of construction, this was not the best time to come to this realization because it meant even more seam ripping than I was already doing, not to mention scavenging through the scrap pile in search of bits of fabric that I was out of.

In this shot you can see how I managed to preserve that little bit at the bottom.

And finally, this is what the completed quilt top looks like cropped.

Now I just have to commit to doing the quilting to finish the three panels that make up the entire composition. I've already got an idea of where I want to show the finished work and the deadline is in early summer. I guess that's far enough away, but just close enough for me to feel a little sense of urgency.

Although this project isn't done yet, I think that I can say that I did learn from it. Don't through out those difficult pieces that you just can't seem to make work. Put them away, get some distance from whatever it was that was blocking or frustrating you, then pull them out and reconsider. Cut, paint, print, overdye--transform them into something that speaks. In this case I chose to transform the piece through restructuring alone. I was sorely tempted (especially in the beginning) to go the surface design route, but I think resisting paid off in greater learning and a better final product.

Saving the hopeless quilt: Part 3

I can only sustain suspense for so long so here they are: 2 of what will be 3 panels.

I think they stand alone well and I think they are going to work well together when they are joined by the 3rd panel. I intend to keep them as separate quilted pieces of roughly the same size. They aren't a series in and of themselves, but they are part of a growing series of triptychs. Having created another piece that's close to 70 inches wide and struggled with the size and hanging issues, I thought it might be time to explore the idea of a single work in parts.

The middle panel is a variation on these two. I finished piecing it today, but you'll have to wait for another day to see the pictures.

Saving the hopeless quilt: Part 2

Picking up where I left off with the last post...

I was able to piece together 2 curving lines in the same color combinations then spent some time looking at them on the design wall in a horizontal orientation. I felt good about where it was going, but I figured out early on that I wanted to rotate it to vertical. I also knew that I didn't have enough pieces to work with to create any sort of real composition. At the very least I needed another element--a 3rd line.

It also needed some variation. The center line below is built from the same original strip sets as the other two, with another one worked in. Here I aslo introduced other printed fabrics that related to colors in other parts of the composition.

There's a sort of rhythm, undulation to this that I like.

Checking the values with a grayscale photo (below) helped me workout some figure-ground problems. But, looking at this photo I realized that needed something else. I struggled to figure out how the join these 3 pieces into a whole. I considered several options for filling in the spaces between the irregularly shaped columns. In this photo you can see a trial strip between the 2nd and 3rd columns. It seemed like the start of something, but there were value and scale issues.

The question that I struggled with was how to unite these three columns in a way that maintained the three distinct entities in the final composition--not just the curved lines but the background of each line.

Over time I began to feel like that I needed to treat these three lines as distinct objects and not try to unite then, but rather to transition between them. I needed to interrupt the vertical flow with some horizontal lines. After a lot of rearranging and discussion with friends I started to assemble the first column.

The more I fiddled, the further the three lines move apart and asserted themselves as individuals. So I changed my approach. I would "unify" the whole quilt with a common light background.

It's a little hard to see here, but the background that's starting to come together is pieced from strip sets that were all white, or slightly red or yellow. There are also occasional bits of brown. The plan was to build the quilt from left to right.

Maybe you can figure out what comes next...and maybe you can't. More to come.

Saving the hopeless quilt: Part 1

Back in October I returned from two weeks of workshops in a sort of mixed up mood. One week produced some good samples and good ideas, the majority of which I've yet to explore. The other week produced bits and scraps of a failed design that quite frankly were just a nagging reminder of something that didn't quite turn out as expected. They can't all be home runs, right? Sometimes teacher, student, and the planets just don't align the right way at the right time. Learn what you can, remember the love, try to forget the angst, and move on.

So, moving on...

I've dug in my heels and I'm determined to make a difficult experience into something positive. The next few posts will show where I started with that failed design and where it's going.

The original composition started with strip sets, like the ones shown below.

We were given an assignment to create a strip quilt by restructuring these strip sets--really a very basic task. I got thoroughly bogged down in a the linear design and the "strips" and just couldn't seem to resolve any of the obvious design problems; like the fact that it's a BAD design. (You can read more about the experience in earlier posts).

I liked some of the restructuring that I'd done with the strip sets, but knew that the only way for me to get a fresh start with this quilt was to start breaking up some of those straight lines. Knowing that I had nothing to lose, I cut the long restructured sets into smaller pieces and started combining them with curved piecing.

That was interesting, but not enough on it's own to create much of an engaging design. The next step was to cut up and recombine these sets. Now things started getting interesting.

I hope that's enough of a teaser to get you to come back and see what happened next. I should have another post in a few days.

Recently finished

Just in time for Christmas, I finally finished a commission quilt that I started *months* ago. Thanks for being so patient Jennifer. Aaron, I hope you like it. By the time I was done I almost didn't want to let it go. That's a good sign.

Here's the full quilt...

and two detail shots.

Oh, I'm forgetting the title: "The Winding Path is Often the More Interesting Choice." A little something for him to reflect on later in life. :) His older brother's quilt is titled, "Don't be Afraid to Color Outside the Lines". It all seems very appropriate to me.

The business of the holidays

...and the busyness of course. Every year I say to myself, "Let's keep it simple." In many ways our holiday traditions have gotten simpler over the last 20 years. I've stopped printing the Christmas cards and I'm no longer wrapping the packages in brown paper then painting them (that was charming but a bit insane). Likewise I've reduced the holiday baking to a reasonable level--for weight control if nothing else.

So what has moved in to occupy all of this free space in my schedule? Quiet Advent contemplation? No, it's business that is now making the holidays bright with frenzy. I love my studio work and I have to say I'm finally in a place where I like selling what I make. It does however take up a bit of time. Just when the holiday selling should have been over and done with I decided that this was the perfect time to launch an online sales page on my website. (heavy sarcasm) I've been meaning to do it for a while. When a friend from NY asked for pictures of things he might buy for his wife I thought, "Can I use this as the motivator to get this done." Well, it's done. I'm pleased with the results. It was a nice little design and writing assignment with some programming on the back end to make the experience look a bit more professional. Three transactions, 6 items sold, and one more lead in the first week. I couldn't be more pleased. Maybe that's not entirely true. I'd be more pleased if I'd done this well in advance of the holidays. So now I'm set for next year. Right?!

Check out the new sales page at russlittlefiberartist.net.

Getting ready for a weekend of open studio

So much sewing and so much ironing, but it's worth it because I'm doing good work and that feels good. There's still a lot of cleaning to do in the studio before tomorrow night, but here are a few pieces hanging up. I'm really happy with my recent batik pieces. The 3 pieces hanging on the right are all silk habotai. They're beautiful in person. I priced them at the top end of my range, but that's probably still underpriced. The work is easy compared to trying to figure out how to price the end result.

More scarves.

And finally, here's my new rack (for scarves or yardage--currently scarves) made from $25 worth of PVC pipe. All of the arms are moveable. Thanks to Brian Murphy for the design. That man can make anything if you give him 20 minutes in Home Depot.

Open studio all weekend starting Friday night.

Lots of new work. I think it's some of my best ever.

Layers upon Layers: Day 5 and beyond

I've been home from Ohio for a week. I drove home last Saturday and I'm please to say that all went well with the trip. I've been having trouble with my eyes for the last year (since the surgery) and I was really concerned about managing a 6.5 hour car trip without any double vision or ocular migraines, both of which are triggered by stress, fatigue, and eye strain. It was smooth sailing. So anyway, the last day at the Barn was good. I did some tests with fabric paint using materials and methods that I hadn't used before. I've always screened, painted, or printed with fabric paint and other acrylics, but rollering/rubbing (which I've done successfully with dye) was new to me. I'm happy with the results and I think I've got some ideas for some new layering.

The first shot below shows a transparent paint (mixed from ProFab Extender and pigment). All 4 images were created from a simple collograph:

1. Upper left: rollering paint with a dense foam roller over fabric placed on top of the plate
2. Lower left: rollering paint onto the printing plate then hand rubbing a print with dry fabric
3. Lower right: same as #2 but with fabric lightly dampened with a spray bottle
4. Upper right: a sort of modified monotype print created by rollering paint onto plastic sheeting then stacking the printing plate, fabric and plastic sheeting (paint side down) and rubbing.

This second image is a set of similar prints made with opaque black ProFab paint.

1. Upper left: rollering paint with a dense foam roller over fabric placed on top of the plate
2. Upper right: rollering paint onto the printing plate then hand rubbing a print with slightly damp fabric
3. Lower left: a print taken by rollering over some yarn couched to a piece of fabric (instead of the collograph.
4. Lower right: the collograph plate after all was said and done.

Lessons

• There's layering potential here.
• The couched yarn is the most exciting image.
• The roller imparts a certain amount of texture on its own.
• A small roller creates marks that contribute to the overall story/feeling of the print. perhaps more than a wider roller would.
• I'm going to start mixing all of my paint from primary pigments instead of primary paints. There's more control and it makes more sense than holding an inventory of aging paint in colors that I might use infrequently.

Bottom line for the week

Carol's new class was great and I recommend it for anyone who is interested in exploring the concepts of layering line, shape, technique, texture, color, and meaning; all while playing with sequence of those things. I've taken both of Carol's color mixing classes and definitely benefited from that experience in this class because I had no anxiety about handing the dye primaries. That said, there were quite a few people in the class who did not have that experience and got along just fine with the hand outs and some direction from Carol. Basically it's a good class for any surface designer looking for a time and space to try new things and have their familiar ways of working shaken up a bit.

Layers Upon Layers: Day 4

It was a busy day. I spent some time documenting the work I've done this week and thought about some of the opportunities for moving forward. Tomorrow I might do a bit of piecing with what I've created. Most of my effort today went into discharging some solids that I have with me in preparation for further work--possible restructuring comes next--not sure.

Here are some pretty things drying on the clothes line.

This evening a bunch of us piled into 2 cars for a quick trip into Columbus for the gallery opening of Michelle Stitzlein's (http://www.artgrange.com/michellesculpture.html) new solo show--very cool assemblage art. The it was back to the Barn for another hour and a half of work.

Suddenly tomorrow's the last day.

Layers Upon Layers: Days 1-3

I think I'm getting some good work done this week. I'm still at the Barn, but this week taking Carol Soderlund's new class, "Layers Upon Layers." I'm glad that I've already taken Color Mixing I & II because I can focus the sequence of process and on color and zone out a little bit on the during some of the "How does this work?" question. Now, having said that I can also say that I've learned some new things about starch resists and fabric paint.

I decided before the class started that I would focus on a single motif for the entire week--circles and ovals. I'm seeing some interesting results from piecing before and/or after dyeing/overdyeing and from the interaction between soy wax and dye. For example, I'm getting a strong ghost image from activated strong black dye applied over soy wax, batched, dried, IRONED, and washed out. The expectation was that I'd get a strong resist. Instead I'm getting a fairly strong ghost image, which I like. The dye on top of the wax is being pushed down to the cloth when I'm ironing out the wax. And, it doesn't appear to be simply back staining, because I can't get it out. The dye paste should have been exhausted after 8 hours, but it was made with a mixed alkali so...keep experimenting.

OK, pictures.

Circles that were "drawn" by stitching strips of cloth to white fabric squares. These appliqued squares were subsequently cut in half and dropped into different low water dye pots. Here they are loosely reassembled on the design wall.

Greatly improved by overdyeing, but other colors are needed to be ready to make any sort of composition. And maybe some discharge?

An example of deconstructed printing on pieced fabric (a combination of muslin and pimatex.

If you click on this one and zoom in you might be able to see some of the soy wax/dye ghosting that I was talking about.

OK, out the door or I'll be late for class.

Back to the Barn

Yesterday I got a massage (truly wonderful and cheap compared to DC prices), had a little nosh, bought supplies for Carol's class (including dye studio clothes, which I didn't bring with me), watched a movie, napped, ate chinese takeout, and when to bed. After last week I was exhausted and a day of nothing was just what I needed.

Today I'm going to grab some lunch and head back to the Barn to clean up my work space and attack my design wall. No rules and no assignment. I'm going to make something out of that mess and exercise the last remnants of whatever black cloud seemed to be hovering over me last week. At some point I might even share pictures of all of this. Maybe.

The words of the day are "Fresh start".

It was the best of strip piecing; it was the worst of strip piecing

Now I AM trying to be coy with that title, but it has been a most unusual and unexpected week. In fact it's been one of the more disturbing weeks in recent memory; not quite in the same class as my surgery week, but up there with some of the recovery weeks. I'm physically fine, though still trying to shake the last vestiges of the creeping crud that seems to be pandemic at this point. Mentally--I've got a little healing to do in the next 2 days. So, let me start by saying that Nancy Crow is wonderful, committed, nurturing, and keenly observant of each of her students' needs, capabilities, and struggles; and she pushes each person to do his or her best in her classes. Given a chance, I will likely take another class from her. But...I won't be taking the class that I was signed up to take starting on Monday, "Strip piecing and restructuring."

Something bad happened this week and I'm having trouble putting my finger on just what it was or exactly what caused it. The best description that I can give is that while I'm certainly at a point in my development as an artist where work on composition is needed, strip piecing does not seem to be a good vehicle for doing so. The first day and the first composition went well. I even enjoyed working in black and white; I might even do more of that on my own. We began the second composition (4 x 6 feet) Thursday afternoon with a deadline of 4 PM Friday. The assignment was to create a strip quilt composition using the strip-pieced fabrics that we had created Tues-Thurs AM. We were to make substantial use of restructuring in the composition, not just string together strips of strip-pieced fabric. I was totally and utterly blocked. I HAVE DONE THIS MANY TIMES BEFORE. Why was it so hard in this class? Anyone who knows me will be horrified and just as mystified as I am to hear that I did not finish my composition and that, while it had interesting elements, it was in my opinion worthy of being ripped off the wall.

This happens to everyone involved in any creative pursuit. There are times when you need to rip the page out of the typewriter, paint over the canvas, or rip the quilt off the design wall. That said, a workshop is a free and open time to be wild and take risk. Somehow I just shut down. In a nutshell I was the seed that failed to germinate. WTF!

Nancy saw this and felt the--what were her words, "radiating anxiety"? So now I feel like a bit of a failure, but I'm processing it. Here are my takeaways so far:

• I learned some valuable things about figure/ground relationships, value, and proportion this week.
• I learned that I can sew a lot in 65 hours and that if I focus and avoid procrastination I can produce more work that I am currently producing.
• I'm going to rework my studio space to have a larger design wall, a different work/cutting table, and less display space.
• I'm not going to be throwing out my ruler any time soon, but I'm going to do much more freehand cutting and change some of my other construction techniques.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway (and I'm trying not to use this as an excuse) is that I think part of the problem this week was that I am (a) rather more willful than I care to admit, and (b) more committed than I realized to the layered manner in which I'm currently working and the motifs on which I've been focused. Stitching strips and dealing with lines and rectilinear shapes is the antithesis of the circles and curves to which I'm currently drawn.

Yesterday I had alternating conversations with Nancy and Carol Soderlund, who's been teaching a dye class in the wet studio this week and with whom I've taken two classes. Next week Carol is teaching a new class called "Layers upon layers," which is pretty much exactly the way that I work. That's where I belong right now. I wrestled for quite a while with the concern that I might be running toward what is familiar and easy. I don't think that's the case and I've asked Carol to offer hard criticism and challenge me. I'm sure I'll add a few new techniques to my bag of tricks, but my goal is to focus on this circular motif and ways that I can use and restructure it in more sophisticated compositions. Nancy graciously offered me the option of doing a independent study with her upstairs, but as much as I intend to do stitched composition next week, I also need access to the wet studio printing/painting/dying resources.

I still feel a bit like a Nancy Crow drop out, but perhaps it's more that I changed majors. I hope to get the train back on the tracks next week. Wish me luck.

Best of Strip Piecing: Days 3 & 4

Tues 15.5 hours.

Today 14 hours.

This ain't no party.

All in pursuit of, of...learning; I guess that's the bottom line. I'm not feeling the strip piecing, but there are lessons to be learned from building the fabric (very intentional assemblages of cloth strips). Today we began working on our second and final composition using the fabric that we've created this week. The problems is I really dislike a lot of the fabric that I created under the constant pressure of time this week. Had I not finished the number of fabrics that I have I wouldn't have enough to work with. Unfortunately I don't feel like I really made the color and other design decisions that I would like to have made given a slower pace and time to think. That said, one of Nancy's things is don't procrastinate and don't over-think, so time and working under time constraints is a part of the process.

Sorry, no in progress shots of the composition tonight, but here's a shot of the wall of fabrics before I started chopping them up.

Best of Strip Piecing: Day 2

Up a 630 and at the Barn by 8 to tidy up and get organized. Critique started at 9 with me first! It went well and I'm pleased with the Monday composition (see yesterday's updated post). I learned some things from it and I learned as well from hearing Nancy's critique of the other student's excellent work. It's a strong group.

Today was all about building various sorts of gradations in solid colors. We'll use these in compositions later in the week. We were given the assignment to construct 16 "fabrics" according to specific descriptions by 9 AM tomorrow. When I left at 10 PM tonight I'd done the cutting for 11 and sewn 6. The Barn opens at 730 tomorrow morning. It seems impossible that I'll finish even what of started, let alone all of it. However, my mantra from tomorrow must be some combination of "shut up and sew" and "no whining".

Here are a few shots of color progressions laid out on my design wall. They're far from perfect, but it's all learning. What you see is all freehand cutting, which is a new thing from me. Very liberating once you get the hang of it. Off to bed with a prayer that sleep comes quickly; morning certainly will.

Best of Strip Piecing I and II with Nancy Crow

I'm in Ohio for two back-to-back workshops with Nancy Crow. Today was day one. As advertised, she runs her classroom like a graduate seminar. In fact, graduate school is the last time I worked this hard. I was there at 9 AM and left at 10 PM but I did manage to finish the assignment that will be critiqued tomorrow at 9. It's now almost 11 and I've got to get to bed so I can be there bright and early to tidy up today's project, clean up my work space and get ready for the next wave of work. I hope to have pictures, but not tonight. I'll update this post later with a photo of today's work.

UPDATE: Here's a picture of Monday's composition.