JOAN MORRIS: Workshop Day 2

This is an amazing piece of textile artistry!
Please remember that all of the photos may be double clicked for a more detailed view

The photo below shows Joan working on a piece of cloth that she is making for use in "The Lion King". It's a very large piece of fabric & there is a lot of hand stitching to be done. Joan's method of stitching & pulling the threads though the fabric to make the designs is very detailed (though not that difficult) - from her 30+ plus years of doing it she makes it all look so easy!

Next up is a demonstrating of pole wrapped Arashi Shibori. I remember doing this with Sarah some time around 2002. We did not really know what we were doing at the time since we were both "book taught" dyers. Although we made a good attempt -I think that being able to see a master at work on the pole really opened my eyes about proper technique. One again, this technique is deceptively simple - although many differing effects can be achieved simply by how you lay the fabric on the pole. Wrapping on the bias produces a beautiful 'wood-grain' effect. Who would 'a thunk?!

Situating the fabic on the pole - in this case on the bias for a 'wood grain' effect

Beginning to wrap the string around the pole

Demonstration of how to bunch the fabric up on the pole -
yes, there is a definite technique to get this correct!

We were fortunate to have a true indigo vat going. Joan used dyes from Earthhues for this class. Earthues offers two indigo's - a true fermentation vat and a chemically reduced vat.Becuae of out time limitations we used the chemically reduced vat - which still needs to be tended. I thought of how I 'feed' yeast for sour dough bread watching Joan 'feed' the vat. It was a fascinating process really and I should have perhaps done more with indigo when I had the opportunity to do so. I only made one small piece of indigo - pole wapped Arashi on sand-washed silk charmeuse. Simple lines resulted - I have a photo that I will post this week along with some work from some of the other 'students' who really should be teaching rather than taking classes !

Some of he indigo pieces hanging on the line. Each piece required a number of 'dips' - at timed intervals' - to achieve a depth of color. Four to six dips results in a deeper blue while less than that will result in a pale blue. One of the folks who should be teaching rather than learning is Peggy Hunt who wrapped the small piece in the photo above using those round metal pieces. Come to think of it I never did get to see what this looked like unwrapped and I wanted to ask her what those metal pieces are - I want to get some of them. If anyone knows the answer -please let me know !

Just look at this wealth of stitching and textural effects!

The photos below show one of my favorite pieces. This is Joan's work & is, in my opinion, drop dead gorgeous!! As you can see Joan's stitching is perfection (she would be an awesome quilter for sure!) She is working on adding the texture that will be in between these "petals". The "petals" were made by blocking, discharging, blocking again and then over-dyeing - there may well have been another round of blocking, discharging & over-dywing in that description! This piece is destined to be a gift for one very blessed recipient!

Next Joan showed us how to wrap 'spiders'. I think that this became, for many of us, a favorite techniques because it was, relatively speaking, fairly easy & quick to do. Depending on the fabric that you choose to work with the effect can be very different. Although it is one of the easier techniques to achieve - it is also one of my favorite in terms of effect. Note the 'high-tech' equipment that we used. I gather that there is an appropriately expensive 'professional' model of this C-clamp arrangement -but this works very well. Unfortunately, although I know I bought small c-clamps in the past I can't find them ! I am am still looking though and may just have to spring for some new ones! Hummmm --- I wonder how wrapping over springs might look?!

Here you can see the wrapped piece of fabric as well as the finished piece after repeated dips in indigo. You can also vary the shape from round to more square....
Below is a piece of Joan's that is another of my favorites - she used a beautiful, light weight silk & this 'spider' technique. Isn't it totally awesome? As you might guess this peice was tied, dyed, discharged and over-dyed several times to get these brillaint color effects.

Another piece of Joan's - I think this one was still considered "a work in progress". Each piece that she shared was inspiring, brilliant & occasioned many oooohhhhh's & ahhhhh's !

This photo does not, in any way, do this red piece of cloth justice. It is tied all across the surface in thousands of tiny wraps that create the 'puckered' surface. There are thousands of over-dyed black dots. I just could not get a photo that did justice to the texture, color and work that was involved to create this amazing textile.

Seen from another angle - the black becomes more apparent

Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed this class? Stay tuned for day 3 !