Carol Soderlund Workshop - 'TRUE COLORS: Developing a Personal Palette'

Carol's samples of dyed fabric using different sets of primary colours.

In the fall I attended a Carol Soderlund workshop at the Pacific Northwest Art School.

'TRUE COLORS: Developing a Personal Palette'

Building a reference for my chosen personal palette.

Early in the week, I met one-on-one with Carol for my Palette Chat where I showed her my chosen palette. While looking at Carol's sample binders with over 80 different colour families she helped me pick a selection of primary colours to work with over the rest of the week.

The 1st class exercise was a group one where we each dyed a set of samples using different primaries. These were cut up  and shared so everyone had small samples for their own binder.

The Big Squeeze Dye Technique

This was one of my favourite techniques Carol showed us. 

It is a very quick way to get a range of values while shifting the hue.

Lovely results from another student using another simple dyeing technique.

This other technique also produced a shift in value and hue while using only 3 primary colour dyes.

Here are my samples. I also incorporated folding the fabric to produce a pattern.

Using this technique one could produce a lot of more randomly dyed, multi-coloured fabric easily and with minimal washout.

My Dye Table

Not only did I learn so much more about colour over the week I also came away with an understanding of many more dyeing techniques. I now know how to dye fabric in a specific colour palette for any future bodies of work.

Thank you Carol for another exceptional workshop

Carol will be back at Pacific Northwest Art School next year, September 9 - 13, 2017 to teach 'In the Thick of It,' a workshop about ways to use thickened Procion MX dyes on fabric.

Neutral Territory Workshop with Carol Soderlund

Jane Dunnewold Workshop

I attended Jane Dunnewold's Dye workshop at the Pacific Northwest Art School in Coupeville. Jane took us through many different dyeing techniques. I picked up lots of valuable tips to fine tune my dyeing practice and I was able to correct the bad habits I had developed over the years.

The first exercise was to dye cloth to make a colour wheel. Jane talked about the importance of making a colour wheel that was our own personal 'colour constant' - a reference check for all colours produced. I use Joan Wolfram's 3-in-1 Color Tool but it is printed on paper. I have put on my 'To Do' list to make a cloth one.

We worked with thickened Procion MX dyes. Here are 2 different cloth samples batching. A lesson learned was: take to workshops my best fabrics for the exercises. I had taken several used 100% cotton bedsheets and got some disappointing results. I suspect one wasn't true to label and there was some polyester spun in with the cotton thread. It did not take the dye well. When the base cloth is inferior for the job it is very difficult to assess the results of the other dyeing variables.

Pots were set up outside for silk dyeing.

It was such a warm breezy day the conditions were most pleasant for working outside. I dyed all the silk I brought with me.

Shibori and random scrunch resist techniques with results that could be achieved within minutes.

Jane demonstrated many unique techniques she has developed over the years and left us lots of time to experiment with whatever we wanted. She created such an atmosphere that for me it was low stress and intensive at the same time. I felt tired at the end of each day and so keen and energised at the beginning of each day.

Jane is thinking of offering her 'Complex Cloth' course again, after a hiatus of several years. It was this course coupled with her book 'Complex Cloth', plus her own output that played a major role in a better understanding of surface design in the art world.

So keep your feelers out for 'Complex Cloth' and 'run-don't-walk' to sign up.

Play With A Silk Screen

 

 

Whole cloths using Kerr Grabowski's 'Play' technique.
My kind of silk screening.

Playing Around with Bubble Wrap

 

 

 

Kerr Grabowski says you need to/have to pop the bubbles before using the wrap.
That is a fun part of the technique.

Deconstructed Screen Session

I had another session experimenting with deconstructed screens.

Oh oh - the wet screen sagged and touched the plastic lifting off the thickened dye.

This screen, made from drapery fabric, will not hold much dye.

Playing around with bubble wrap.

And stencils.

Just playing, Kerr Grabowski style.
Another great learning session. 

Screen Printing Techniques

The messy bits off the edge of the screen were caused by saggy screens. One of the drapery fabrics I used to make screens stretches when wet. 

More embedded screens.

I used a variety of grids collected from produce wrappings.

Extruded technique.

More extruded play using a squeeze bottle full of thickened dye.

Screen Printing - Stencils

I made a print board from insulation foam, an old wool blanket, vinyl and an old poly-cotton bed sheet.
   

Ready to go, starting with primary coloured Procion MX dyes.

Working with a newspaper stencil is the 1st technique on Kerr Grabowski's 'Deconstructed Screen Printing for Fabric and Paper' DVD.
The image fuzziness is an example of learning from mistakes. The cloth was too wet when I rolled it up in plastic and left it for 12 hours for the dye  molecules to bond. The water encouraged the dye molecules to continue migrating.

More often I would be working for a crisper image but now I know how to make a fuzzy one when I want to.
The spots(drips) on this sample show where I learnt the ideal viscosity for the print paste.
Both valuable lessons to learn.

McMullen Gallery - Ingrid Lincoln's Work

These paired works, 'Night' and 'And Day', began as white cloth dyed through deconstructed screens. Multiple layers of techniques were used to build up the resulting depth of marks and texture.

2 works in her 'Facade' series.
As a long time Winnipegian, Ingrid has an intimate understanding of her city.

Banff March 31

This is Wendy Klotz's work in Articulation's Loose Threads: Works in Progress exhibition on the Other Gallery here in Banff. 2 of the themes Wendy is exploring are Edith Cavall's story and the pine beetle problem. Wendy's specialty these past couple of years has been working with sheers. This month she has made a lot of felt then machined into it - to make a forest.

This is Donna Clement's wall. Donna spent 2 weeks of the month dying & screen printing backgrounds & motifs for her Burgess Shale & pine beetle studies.

Gloria Daly spent the month putting french knots on her glacier. She said glaciers take a long time to do their work so her glacier will take a long time to make. She had indigo dyed all of the cottons & silks she used in this work.
Today is our last day in Banff after a month long residency. We have talked about the tremendous growth each of us has experienced in our practices and we have noticed major movement in the development of the group and a shift in focus. It has been such a valuable experience we are already into the planning for a fall 2011 residency when we will complete phase 4 of our Women Rock project.

Banff Art Centre - March 12

It is still cold up here in the mountains but the days are clear and sunny.

On our last day in the dye studio, I printed with 2 more deconstructed screens.

Last time I put too much thickened dye on the screen & didn't squeegee it on so the dye came off in lumps & I lost the pattern after only a few passes.
I'm learning lots with this opportunity to work long, uninterrupted hours in the dye studio. When something doesn't work, I can repeat the process straight away, applying what I have just learned.

This time I put the dye on more thinly but I suspect too thinly. I embedded different grids which produced interesting patterns.
I do like this technique for adding lots of pattern to cloth. It is much looser than stamping and stencilling and with practice I think I could develop some control of what is happening. It is a real test of one's knowledge of colour mixing.