moving the blog....

after several weeks of frustrating image problems on eblogger, i've decided to move the blog to wordpress. please go here to continue...........thanks!

working....practicing....

silk dyed black @ 3.5 DOS using sabraset black 2% solution. not quite black enough but here i discharged the silk and overdyed with vermillion (jacquard acid dye). i like it. how about a shoulder capelet?



detail


determined to get a *real* black, i dyed several pieces black.....DOS=5.5 using sabraset black 2% solution. success!
pole wrapped one, bomaki'd one and misc. resisted one (beads & clothespins)



results to follow........

if you haven't dyed, you haven't lived!

I'm sure someone has said that before but it floated through my mind today. As you can see, the 2% solutions are done. Now for the hard part. I imagine i'll have to dye a couple hundred pieces of fabric before I begin to master this process. In the meantime, Gail turned 41 yesterday and she gets a practice scarf for her birthday! I'll give it to her when we go to the Arabic market in the morning.

shibori day

Didn't take photos today but did get stuff done. Put away the Pro-Chem order and organized workspace. My friend Penny dropped in and we chose 6 colors to make 2% solutions of. We followed (mostly!) Karren Brito's directions in her fabulous book and dyed a large scarf using the Sabraset Polar Red. Must say the color is striking but more pink than I had expected. The water was almost clear when we took out the silk. I see the sense in making the 2% solutions and doing the correct calculations when creating the dyepot.
I'll admit that up to now I had been winging it and hoping for the best. One of my favorite classes in college was Technical Ceramics (which everyone else hated) because I liked the control you gained over your clay bodies and glazes and the fact that you could customize your color palate and temperature range. And I liked the math (nerd!).
Looking forward to discharging some of that color and overdying with some brown perhaps......
Next time I'll finish making 2% solutions of all the colors I have.

It's official....

so here are a couple of photos of one of the shibori scarves in the last batch. haven't gotten around to pics of the others
but maybe they will appear here soon. this one went to a local high school counselor (of 21 years) as a thank you for keeping my sometimes blockhead son on track these last 4 years (he graduates this year). another beauty went to JP, my attorney who got us through my messy divorce (finally!-no fault of hers).
so, it's official......i'm taking a 6 month sabbatical........and my order from Pro-Chemical arrived friday! What timing. Actually, i'm giving everyone my time 'til the end of the month to clean up a few things so come 10/1/06 i'm officially on sabbatical!

practice pieces 1~4

three pieces done using the arashi shibori technique and one using a variation of te kumo shibori.
arashi means storm in japanese and te kumo refers to the spider web design. these are my first pieces.

pole wrapping

..a few photos from the latest batch of scarves showing the process. i got to test out my pole wrapping "station" for the first time. it worked fine, but the operator needed a little practice! results to follow!

getting started.....

#1. produce porcelain objects for over 25 years
#2. collect shibori samples over the years
#3. brush off the clay dust and decide to do something else!
#3. go to japan (again) and buy more shibori samples
#4. read, research, & study the art of shibori
#5. set up a workspace and purchase materials
#6. start practicing the fine art of shibori.........