more cloth and dye

The cloth is growing slowly,partially because it,s almost too hot to stitch and partially because i'm still looking for a charity shop to plunder for used fabrics-seem to be in short supply in Sydney.In the meantime,i'm dyeing using the tried and tested India Flint method of bundling,see above.The samples were both created using local leaves and rust liquid from rusty nails found in my future son in laws ancestral garage.The purple came from a bush in the park which no one can identify which isn't very useful and i intend to add felt to the fabric when the heat calms down a bit.Then the whole can be added to my cloth when i return.Off to celebrate the end of the first decade now! 

back in the studio again.

Having finished a week teaching natural dyeing and feltmaking based on inspiration from Klimt, I'm now back to work on paper for a wedding book/wedding dress try-outs and other exciting things.Lovely to be preparing for my daughters big day in Australia and being able to be involved.Meanwhile,some pictures of the work we did in the studio last week.The first two are paper collage loosley based on Klimt.The third image is felt and fabric combined-a slow cloth beginning.More images when i have downloaded them from my other camera.

slow cloth progress

Two new patches one waiting to be attached,one already in place.It's almost addictive,putting the latest little piece in place-certainly won't want to part with this one,The next patch is already to go on,but where?This one is a thcermofax printed definition of Fabric which seems appropriate,but a bit solid in terms of the weight of the fabric,so it needs very careful placement.I have also two printed rust fabric samples waiting,both printed with gum tragacanth and Lac natural dye extract.A digger arrives tomorrow as part of the new build plan so I shall be hiding in my studio away from the noise and mess-plenty of time to do lots of work on the lace kimono-watch this space!  

Best woad vat ever

This week the weather has been hot and relatively dry-perfect for woad dyeing, so I set to and made a vat.In the middle of creating the stock solution a friend came around, we sat down for coffee and I forgot what I was doing,so the woad sat there all wrapped up in the heat.When I went back to it,this is what I found.

The crust was fantastic and the colour underneath ,bright yellow.This was done using woad from Bleu de Lectoure which is near-ish to us and so particularly special, because S W France was a big woad growing area, so it seems fitting to use their extract.This is the bucket before I started to dye-pity you can't smell it!Finally, the first piece to go into the vat. More pictures later,when the blue fabric joins the slow cloth.

The beginning of a new slow cloth

The base is laminated felt and all the surface fabrics are re cycled.I have two other pieces, one of which i am vacillating about where to cut it,so that it makes a good addition to this piece,then the stitching can begin.The felting is the physical part and the stitch is the lovely slow part,for me.Taking these photographs has helped me see which parts are too dominant and where stitch is needed. The area on the left of the second picture is  a case  in point.It's a nice feeling giving new life to things from the charity shop.Next stage is to add some rusted fabric to the cloth.Finally,a busy wasp has adopted my studio doorway and has made a beautiful nest.