DUH!

Once again, I had neglected to check the fibre composition of cloth. I guess it happens to everyone. I bought broadcloth with some thought that it would be 100% cotton. Well DUH - after waxing and dyeing, I noticed that it was so much lighter than my 100% cotton sateen cotton cloth. After researching online I found out that the broadcloth that I bought was 65% polyester and 35% cotton. DUH DUH DUH! Another lesson to always check fiber content before buying.

wayang pt 2

My workspace.


I spent the morning cleaning out the tools that were given to me. They had lots of resin in them and there was some oxidation, but after getting them cleaned out, they worked beautifully.


I had spent the night before sketching out Wayang Kulit characters. This morning I continued to do so. One of the links that I used was this one, which describes Balinese Wayang.

After cleaning out the tools I waxed two pieces of cloth. This one's not going to be so complicated in terms of color. I'm thinking of doing either brown or black to match the wayang pieces that were in the box of tools that I got.

Wayang Kulit!

This weekend I'm finally feeling well enough to tackle bigger projects, and I decided to make a bunch of throw cushions. But with what? I was hardly feeling inspired. It wasn't until that I took out tools that were given to me, there were these fantastic pieces of Wayang Kulit on them. Who drew them? I don't know. I'll have to enquire. I'm going to make a bunch of throw cushions out of the theme though. I talked to my mum and she recommended at my level of sewing, I should buy iron on interfacing because sew on interfacing will not look good. (with my level of sewing knowledge). Hmmm. I'm going to be doing the waxing tomorrow, and some dyeing. I need to get myself some interfacing again! Rats!

pleating

My next project is to learn how to do that pleating shibori. now that i've somewhat learned how to do the small circles (i don't think it quite works with this cotton), I'm going to go onto making the pleats. I'm still feeling sick but i have to make the most of this long weekend while at home. I think I"m going to watch Naussica Valley of the Wind tonight. That's my third favourite Miyazaki movie. That shibori book is pretty complicated. BUT if you read the instructions enough, it begins to make sense. The pleating shibori seems ok. I just had to do the calculations on paper first. I'm going to try doing my first test run tomorrow.

Sick to the bone.

:( I haven't been posting much since coming back from Vancouver because I've been sick to the bone. In Vancouver I came across this amazing store that sold natural dyes. I bought myself a natural dye kit and also this shibori tool that I'll take pictures of!

Raycafix

I finished laundering the piece and it looks not bad. I think I'm going to have to make some additions in white fabric paint, but otherwise, everything turned out as planned. However, I really dislike how the black bleeds, and so, I remembered an old bottle of Raycafix, which I used on the fabric after rinsing once. (I shouldn't have rinsed and just used the Raycafix). Stopped the bleeding short. Will have to try it again next time. I didn't quite use really hot water, as the instructions said. Just hotter than warm.


Here are the pieces drying in the back pantry.

Following instructions

I'm generally not someone that follows instructions too well, but when it comes to dyeing, following instructions IS A GOOD THING. Actually most of the time I've had to come up with my own instructions, but after I come up with a set of good instructions, I follow them to a T. Today I did the final dye of my lantern batik, and I'm in the process of waiting for the dye to set. I used a mixture of black, warm black and red.

I have been having problems with mottled dye effects on large surfaces, so I decided to experiment with immersion dyeing this time round, which is essentially, a large vat of dye which the cloth is immersed into for a period of time.

Instructions as follows:

1. Soak fabric for 15 mins in lukewarm water.
2. Fill a pail up with 3L of warm water.
3. In 2 cups of hot water, dissolve 1/3 cup salt and 1/2 tsp of dye. (Use more dye if using black or turquoise)
4. Let the fabric sit in the dye for 10 mins.
5. While waiting, in a separate container, mix 1tbsp soda ash with 1 cup of warm water. Stir until fully dissolved.
6. Remove fabric from dye.
7. Add soda ash solution to bucket and stir.
8. Return fabric to the bucket and stir around for a bit. Let sit for an hour, stirring occasionally.

This is the recipe I'm following. The instructions are a mix of what was obtained from the prochemical site, the Paul Birch site, and the G and S dyes site, as well as the instructions on the back of the container.

It seems like the color is developing evenly, so perhaps we won't see the streaky effects of painting. Will have more pictures of the result after I take the fabric out of the dye bath.

Dyer's Woad

One of my interests is dyeing with natural plants, and a goal is to eventually create an indigo vat in the backyard. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get my hands on indigo plants. I have been lucky though to have found that on the west coast, we have an abundance of dyer's woad, which appears to have been imported from Europe in the 1700's. Dyer's Woad can be used as a dye plant, though not as concentrated as the actual indigo plant, with enough, you can use it to start a vat! Apparently there is dyer's woad throughout the Santa Monica mountains, and it's considered a weed! I'm hoping that when I go on my hiking trip with Beth I'll be able to spot some!

Fabric choices for dyeing

Despite really liking cotton muslin, and more recently unbleached cotton muslin for its ability to accept wax and dye, I have not been entirely happy with how the fabric looks after the entire process is completed. There seems to be an overall layer of fuzziness, which I think is due to muslin's low thread count. I've worked with this type of fabric called "country cotton" but it's not much better. Broadcloth does not fare well at all. Another issue is finding unbleached fabric at a higher thread count. Will have to inquire.

Blocking fire engine red

I've been using a photoshopped photo of lanterns in my kitchen to come up with the shadow gradients on this batik. I blocked the fire engine red today. Was having some trouble with wax not seeping in. I suspect it was because I didn't wash the salt out. At least I'll have more definitive lines. It seems that when I'm applying on freshly washed cloth, the wax is a lot more fluid.

The white parts look really good. Am looking forward to applying the bronze red dye soon. I have to look for a supplier of dye over here in the South Bay. It is too taxing to drive all the way up to Santa Monica.

Also the pencil markds did end up showing through though I traced them out once again. I hope they don't show through once I remove the wax. This time I'm going to try using castile soap to wash out the dye. Perhaps the black will come out better, though I'm hesitant because I don't want to ruin the piece. Better to try out swatches first.

Fire engine red

I'm using unbleached muslin now. I blocked yesterday using the new beeswax, and today I applied the fire engine red. Looks really good on the unbleached muslin. Like there's more depth. I wonder whether the whites will turn out and whether I'll have to use paint in the end?


One annoying thing - the pencil lines are gone! This didn't happen before, and I'm wondering if it's because the muslin makes the dye appear darker and less bright? I panicked for a bit, and then thought to myself that I can probably redraw them afterwards. But what if they're not the same?

I'm letting the red dry, and then I'm going to continue with drawing and blocking with beeswax. I'm thinking of using the paraffin on the sides to simulate paper. I wonder how that's going to look?

Snowy Day Shibori

I'm currently working on Shibori. My throw is going to be a wedding present for a friend, Owen Waygood. One of my favourite artists is Ezra Jack Keats, and my favourite book of his is Snowy Day. The shibori I'm going to do is actually a mixed piece but its going to remind me of one of the last few pages found in the Snowy Day.