VCA Textile Students Colour Sessions

For the past 3 weeks the VCA textile students have been learning about colour by dyeing.
Kati has produced a wide range of different colours using a couple of different dyes.

Kati's analogous blue-green palette

Dana has worked with a bright light palette

The wide variety of results provided a valuable learning experience when students talked about their fabrics

This week they added black to make a range of shades.

VCA Textile Students Dyeing

The students have dyed their fabrics a 2nd time, adding complementary colours to their analogous palettes.
Esther's 1st dye layer is shown at the bottom with over dyeing shown on top.

Esther also dyed matching threads

Laura's 1st layer of dyes
She found linen dyed the darkest.

Pat is working with the same palette as Laura but their individual folding of the fabrics have produced different marks.

Wylie began with a lower intensity Paulette, the light blue fabric on the left.
With the 2nd layer she built up a lot of luscious  greys. 

The cloths were folded 6 different ways to give distinctive marks.
The same folds were repeated  with the 2nd dyeing.
This is Sarah's 1st layer of dye.

Colour Work Bee

Today there was a Colour Work Bee in the Victoria College of Art.
Textile students and faculty spent many hours sorting fabrics into colour groups.

Within the 1st hour the piles of colourful fabric began to accumulate in assigned spots by using Joen Wolfrom's '3-in-1 Colour Tool' as a guide.

We stopped only to have a delicious pot luck lunch then went back to work.

President Peter Such and Vice- President Nancy Ruffolo stopped by to help take sample books apart...

...some of which took a lot of strength.
Fabrics were donated by Chintz & Co., Zebra Design and a number of generous individuals.

After fabrics were sorted by hue they were put in labelled boxes....

...and stacked, ready for use by the students when they are making samples my hand and machine. This library of fabrics has become a valuable learning tool now they are organised and more easily accessible.

Storm Watching

Last week Ron and I went over to the west coast to storm watch (and for our wedding anniversary).
We saw several 1sts, including surfers riding waves while it was snowing.
And we walked on a snow-covered beach for the 1st time.

But over all the weather was mild

At times it was sunny while it was snowing

So it was a surprise when we drove back home over 4 mountainous passes on icy, snowy roads to find the storm had happened across Canada, including Victoria (all schools were closed) while we had been in the mildest place in the country.

But last night a wind storm hit Victoria. We lost power twice, the 2nd time we decided to go down to the coast to see what was happening.

Birds had come in from the sea and all stood facing into the strong winds.

And, finally, we got to see how those massive logs were tossed high up on the beaches like toothpicks.

The breakwater at Ogden Point had waves breaking right over it.

While we were having hot drinks in a cafe to warm up, we phoned home and found the power was restored so we went home. Storm watching over.

Dyeing - 2nd layer

!st layer - 2 blues










2nd layer - with complements addes

Left - 2 layers, right - 1st layer

2nd layers of 2 blues + complements

left - 1st layer, 2 blues     right - 2nd layer, complements added

pure colours                                                                                     pure colours + lower intensity colours 

These are the samples I am using in class where the students are learning tray dyeing.

We are all looking forward to see the students results.

VCA Students' Tray Dyeing

Each of the students filled a tray with folded fabrics....

...in the colour palettes they had chosen.

We are exploring analogous colour schemes.

The students took their trays home to put in a warm place for 24 hours to batch.

Then they will rinse, dry and iron...

...before bringing their beautiful fabrics back to class to add another layer of colour.

Victoria College of Art Student Work

This is Esther Paterson's display of work she did in the Pattern Design for Artists course.
Esther chose to work with an eye motif and produced many patterns she will use in her work.

Sonia Park was a student in the Mark Making With Thread course. She had to return to her home country, Korea, before the Christmas show so she has sent us images of her completed work.

Sonia's needleweaving sample on her stamped ground

Sonia's 3D project using needlweaving techniques