dyeing textiles

top cover courtesy of Isobel Moore, textile artist

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my apron. #classroomtools

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Special Studies in Fiber/Mixed Media. Final project- a woven book. Still playing with linen and indigo. 

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Playing with linen, shibori and indigo. 

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Intro Questionnaire- Final Questionnaire

Introduce yourself in one sentence below:

(Then) I’m Amanda. I’m an artist, a student, a teacher, and always will be. 

(Now) This applies, months later. Nearing the end of my collegiate experience as an art education student, I’m continuing to grow, experience and be inspired by those around me. After finishing the program, I plan to continue my exploration in the Fibers world, perhaps infuse my high school classroom with more fiber oriented curriculum. 

Why are you pursuing an art degree:

(Then) I am pursuing an art education credential; I plan to teach art in high school as well as continue my own curiosities and explorations. 

(Now) Not much has changed in the past few months. As I am still pursuing my art education credential, I am near done and am moving into the most challenging experience yet- student teaching. I’ll be responsible for implementing my own curriculum and to manage my own classroom. This is quite nerve racking, however I am gaining ideas throughout my studio experience in the Fibers department. It is encouraging my to go beyond the drab still life pencil drawings and guide the students to create in a progressive art world. 

What is the purpose of art:

(Then) To communicate.

(Now) Art takes many forms and assumes many purposes, as the questions remains quite subjective. For me, it is certainly to communicate, but it is always a vehicle for inner monologue as well as an effective way to evoke empathy when viewing each other’s art. This will be a primary guideline in my art making classroom.

What is meant by the phrase “art practice”?

(Then) The journey to create- time spent on creating and becoming an artist. 

(Now) I am a firm believer in process art- especially when students are still discovering their voice, their power and their intrigue. We’ve become so focused on the product and having it be this perfectly designed thing, we’ve lost focus on the time spent on making this thing, and how important and valuable that time is. 

Describe your unique perspective as an artist as comprehensively as you can with 5 adjectives:

(Then) explorative, curious, honest, novice, determined

(Now) demonstrative, brave, investigative, hopeful, responsible

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For my final project, I want to create something that I feel the need for, something that I will continue to use daily in my work. I need an apron. I want one that I can use in my classroom not only for protection, but to use as a teacher’s sample when introducing indigo, shibori dyeing next semester as a student teacher. I intend to use 100% cotton to make each piece- the main front, around the neck strap, and two straps that tie in the front- measure my body length, and stitch each part together using a sewing machine and/or hand stitching methods. I want to focus my dyeing processes on natural dyes, primarily indigo. I will experiment with adding turmeric into my pattern, but I want to focus on a dark blue and/or green color palette. I wish my apron to communicate an energy of continuous creating and experimenting. I want my students to know that I made my apron using natural dyes, and that what they create in class can be used to fulfill a need in their own lives. For our class critique, I will wear my apron and demonstrate its versatility!

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samantha fields. can’t seem to stop looking at her work. this one- “she speaks folly in a thousand holy ways”. made of primarily recycled afghan beads.

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maryanne moodie. warm energy and neutral color prevails.

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Collaborative Gift project. After much contemplation, success was achieved. Making someone’s house a home.

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Natural Dye exploration. 

linen yarn. alum mordant. indigo.

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Studio project 2- The batik and low immersion dye processes are my favorite, by far. I’ve had a lot of success with these and I’ve slowly come up on my desired color palette- earthy tones and neutrals. 

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Natural dye experimentation for 499. Red onion skins to dye flax and handmade kozo paper.. stay tuned. 

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Finally feel like I’m achieving my earthy tone goals. Especially satisfied with my choice of rayon for this week. 

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Natural Dyeing With Coffee And Tea

Told you guys I’ve been on a coffee kick lately… I may not drink it, but of course I love using it to make body scrub, and who doesn’t enjoy spending some quiet time at a quaint c…

Must Try. 

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Direct Application with fiber reactive dyes. Fabric is muslin soaked in soda ash for 24 hours and hung dry. Do not rip fabric after soaking as it was lose soda ash content. I began with painting the primary colors by themselves to see their strength and hue when applied alone. Afterwards, I immediately began to explore mixing the dyes along with urea water to achieve a color palette I’ve been trying to find since the beginning of the semester. My inspiration palette is a photograph I took at Yellowstone National Park this summer- the reds, browns, blues, greens- earthy tones I found mind blowingly beautiful. 

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Project one completion- I am partially satisfied with my final result. Initially, I wanted to create a patchwork, mixed media design, yet I don’t feel as though I achieved the color palette I was hoping to reach. I plan to familiarize myself more with the dyes and the manipulation process in order to get the palette I’m aiming for. The middle piece, is a fiber reactive grey, binding technique. It was my simplest process, yet achieved the look I was visualizing for my final piece. I ultimately decided not to use this as my final project, because I don’t quite know how I want to utilize it in the future. Also, it was more of a standalone piece, versus the fabrics I sewed together to create my patchwork. 

The title of my first project is “The Farm”. I used various dyeing techniques to create the patterns within. The fabric I chose was muslin, as I wanted to achieve a dusty, natural fibers look. The top panel is binding, using a fiber reactive, sun yellow (medium) dye. The pink is pole wrapping, and was a surprise addition to the project- I was intrigued by the contract between it and the sun yellow behind. I used stitching and pole wrapping for the mild mint at the bottom panel, and I decided that fringes were needed in order to provide a texture to the overall composition.  

This shibori experimentation process has been quite fascinating and challenging, as I found it difficult to control my patterns as well as color palettes throughout the process. Ultimately, I want to continue my exploration and find colors that will engage with my techniques and create the pattern I am visualizing.