Studio Construction: Meanwhile, Back at the Studio

While I was away in New Zealand, a lot happened on the home front.

The cut flower bed burst into bloom.

It is hard to see, but the downspouts were made then put in place.

Ron sealed the porch concrete.

Dave finished off the porch soffit.

It is all looking good outside.

Ron is pointing out to me where different parts of the built-in cabinetry will go. The designer and carpenter visited and marked the cabinet layout on the floor.  This is the only built-in cabinetry and it has to be because this is where the plumbing comes and goes.

September Tree Colour Studies

With September's new moon I did colour studies of  the same 4 trees I have been studying for over a year.
The red arbutus bark is peeling again to show a bright green under layer.

The cedar continues to produces a mid-yellow green ...

...and the Douglas-fir a deeper yellow green.

The withdrawal of chlorophyll is happening more rapidly in the maple tree this month.
Now I need to find these colours in thread and stitch a band of running stitch on each tree cloth.
The work is due to be exhibited again, this time in the Oakville town hall during the World of Threads.
It will look different with 4 more bands of colour added to each sheet.

Tree Colour Studies

I continue my tree colour studies each new moon day of the month.
Here is a leaf on the maple tree in July. The chlorophyll has started to withdraw.

 

Here is the same leaf a month later showing very little change. We must have had a cold night back in July.


The arbutus is back to peeling its bark.

There has been no change in the colour of the Douglas-fir branches so I looked at its rough bark.

I also looked at the cedar's bark.
I am stitching these colours in a band across the tree cloths.

Making My Mark on the Tree Cloths

After noticing Cedar stems left a print on cotton, I decided to make a dye with them. I collected windfall branches, cut them into small pieces....

...brought them to a boil, simmered for 2 hours then left the pot to cool overnight. I poured off the liquid as the 1st extraction and repeated the process twice more, making 2nd and 3rd extractions.

I dyed 2 sea-water, pre-mordanted cloths in the 1st extraction with a copper simultaneous-mordant. The cloth on the left had an ammonia post-mordant.

These 2 cloths had ash water pre-mordant with a copper simultaneous-mordant. The left hand cloth had an ammonia post-mordant. The results were a yellow-orange colour with the ammonia post-mordant shifting the colour more towards an orange. Interesting results but i wasn't enamoured with the colour. Even though the dye was made with material from the same tree that made the 1st stains, I couldn't see a connection between the two.