Sprinkle Dyeing and Sun Printing at VISA, Victoria

During a Mark Makers' summer residency at the Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) website we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have a dyeing day outside.

We set up tables and brought out buckets of water to the backyard of the school.

I set up my sophisticated system for working with dye powder safely and gave a quick demo on how to fill salt shaker-type containers with dye powder.

While the air was still we explored different sprinkle dye techniques using Procion MX. 

Wet soda-soaked natural fabrics were folded, rolled and scrunched before sprinkling dye powder over them.

Eileen sprinkles dye on flat fabric.

Brenda sprinkles dye on a linen fabric already cut to shape for a garment.

This is a great way to use up old batches of dye powder. It works best with dyes made up from a mix of colours. The different colours separate out and migrate through the damp fabric at different rates.

After lunch, Dale gave us a demo of sun printing using transparent fabric paints on damp cloth. She showed us how many different resists will work to leave an impression.

With the sun overhead, we all got clear impressions of the resists. Brenda is using plastic shapes she has cut out and leaves as a resist on linen fabric she has painted with fabric paint. Others used flowers, grasses, bubble wrap, paper and cotton doilies as resisits. 

The dyed cloth was covered with plastic and taken home to batch before being rinsed and ironed.

Gardening vs Nurturing

Gardening vs Nurturing

As a part of the work i did for one of my degree modules, I set up a series of dialogues with the environment outside my house. This one i called 'Gardening vs Nurturing'.

I made a checkerboard of black, weed-suppression garden cloth and crochet doilies.

20 months later, this is what the site looked like

As i anticipated, nothing had grown through the garden cloth, while the doilies nurtured lush growth.

More Doilies

Table Cloth, stains removed, washed, dyed, blocked - transformed

So many different patterns

Like snow flakes, or flowers

Blocking

While at the retreat I continued blocking. I had a big pile of washed and dyed doilies that needed to be blocked and dried before going moldy.

Every time I was surprised after I pulled out a damp limp cloth from the bag.

Blocking transformed it

Dolies

I have been washing, dyeing and blocking crocheted and tatted doilies.

I have been building up a collection of doilies for quite a while. Friends have kindly been helping, buying doilies when they see them in thrift stores and auction houses.

The range of crochet techniques and patterns is most interesting to study. The majority are made of cotton.

A few of them need mending and some are so rotten they didn't stand up to washing.

More Dyeing

I have been doing a lot of dyeing to get materials to work with for my BA studies.

I have not yet been entirely successful with getting the right red I am looking for. So I am persevering and learning lots in the meantime.

Not a good image but this one worked out well. It looks like a licorice colour.

These 2 need over-dyeing with a few more layers to build up the richness and depth of colour I am after.

The Dialogues Continue

Gardening vs Nurturing. This dialogue has been going on for several months now. The black landscape fabric is still visible as it holds debris on top of it but the crocheted doilies are blending right into the ground. There is no sign of decay or staining on them.

I feel as though it is time for me to respond. But what could I say....

Next sunny day I need to sit beside the textiles with my sketchbook and wait for something to happen.

This is the side view of my old sweater staked out on the grass. The new growth is pushing up on the sweater because it can't work its way through the fabric. It looks like there is a pregnant body inside which is interesting because that is why I stopped wearing it. That plus the tomato soup stain on the front.

Provisioning's Narrative

Yesterday i put 77lbs of art (plus box) on a Greyhound bus, bound for Calgary and the Calgary Quilt Association Biennial Conference in the Telus Convention Centre. Articulation has been invited as special guests to put on a huge display of their work, most of it never seen before in Calgary and a whole body of work inspired by Vancouver Island's rain forest ecosystem that hasn't been seen by the public yet. In fact, Articulation members haven't even seen this work together yet. It is always exciting to bring new works together for the first time, knowing they have all been inspired by the same location.
I can't talk about this new work yet but i can tell you the narrative of one of my works that has been shown in Winnipeg.

'Provisioning' was inspired by Articulation's study week in Winnipeg. During our research in the streets and buildings of Winnipeg, I noticed how important textiles had been in the development of Winnipeg as the 'gateway to the west' and how  the city went on to become one of the wealthiest cities in North America from 1880 to 1920. Yet, I couldn't find out very much about the people who made these textiles. It seems their contribution has not been recorded.
'Provisioning' is my tribute to those unsung, unknown textile works who made such a valuable contribution to the success and wealth of Winnipeg.

Textiles were needed to carry the dried food staples and animal feed for Europeans to be able to survive a year on their allocated block of land before they could claim it as theirs. Textiles were needed to hold the valuable seeds of the first crop to be planted on the land. Blankets and furs kept the immigrants alive during long sub-zero winters. A multitude of domestic linens were used to run households where we now use plastics and disposables. Clothing was woven and knit in the home, if one had the skills or couldn't afford to purchase. Businesses set up in Winnipeg to provide families with all of these vital textiles.
Women did 'fancy work' to beautify their homes, such as table cloths and doilies to protect the few pieces of furniture they had.
There is a lot more to this story in 'Provisioning'.
If you would like to learn more or you would like to share with me your family's 'Provisioning' story, which i would love to hear, come down to the Telus Convention Centre, April 27 to May 1st. I will be there most days. I'll post here the actual times and when i am scheduled to give an official 'artist talk'.

Doing Laundry

During this break between semesters i had planned to do all sorts of catch-up things - the list is long!
But, instead, I find myself either immersed in a book or doing laundry.
I am laundering my collection of domestic linens and I am finding it calming.

This is an expertly knit doilie. i should have taken the 'before' photo because it was a stained rag that looked as though the dog had played with it. I soaked and washed it so all stains came out. Then blocked it so it grew another 3rd in size.

And here it is returned to its true beauty.

Now onto transforming some worn, stained, hand-made damask towels a friend picked up for me.