Acid

In with the Old


French Silk Dyes on Haboti with Gutta Resist circa 1994/95

I made this piece in a fabric dyeing class back in the dark ages, Priscilla Sage was my instructor at the time and I was also taking a 2D Mixed Media course with Jan Friedman which landed myself and a dozen or so of my classmates in a local cemetery for some black and white photography inspiration.

So yes those are supposed to be tombstones I painted onto the fabric.  I never did anything with this piece but this weekend during the open studio one of my visitors proceeded to go through my fabric stash, yeah she and her friends REALLY did do that, and she pulled this beauty from the stash.  

Of course they all wanted to know why it was wadded up in an old suitcase with dozes of other pieces of silk fabric instead of perfectly folded and pressed into squares. It's very simple, silk is like your hair, so just lightly crumple it and drop it into the place you wish it to live, do not press perfect lines onto your silk unless you wish for them to be permanent.

I will spritz this piece of fabric with some room temp distilled water while it hangs, and the wrinkles and crinkles will gently disappear.  After that I think I will back this piece with some batting and a cotton backing and then add some stitching, or not.

Indian Corn Circa 1994/95


Indian Corn - Haboti Silk - Acid Dyes - 1994/95  I made these panels in a beginning dye class I took with Priscilla Sage (I'm thinking around 1994 now will have to check my old class notes).

Detail


Batik Panel - Acid Dyes


Dye Painted Panel - Acid Dyes

I've yet to get around to fninshing these pieces, I've been busy excavating my studio closet and found them a little bit ago. I'm thinking they need to be encrusted with stitching and beading!

May's Fibery Giveaway

May's fibery giveaway (found out it wasn't spelled give away) consists of natural dyed cotton and silk fabrics, acid dyed silk carrier rods, the hot pink carrier rod fibers were dyed with cochineal, and hand dyed yarn bundle and cotton pearl cotton threads. What you don't see are some extra goodies I'm tucking in with this bundle, in the same color palette of course.

What you have to do is post a comment AND you MUST have an email addy so that I can contact you! No I won't use your email addy for anything other than this giveaway! You can sign in as anonymous but please leave your addy in your comment ~

Names will be drawn out of a hat, I'll have John do that part, and tomorrow I will announce the winner and contact the winner via email at Noon Central Time (gives you time to comment and me time to go to garage sales).


To increase depth of color, texture, and over all interest apply tannic acid to your pieces while they are rusting. The simplist source for tannin is tea, however, tannic acids in the form of quebracho's give richer colors and depth. Immerse in a solution of soda ash and water for even deeper patterning.Note however that each step reduces the archivalness of your piece.
Happy Rusting