JOAN MORRIS : The Final Day Of The Workshop

Can it be that we had really arrived at the final day of class? You could see the exhaustion in all of us - along with a sense of excitement for all of the things that we learned and will soon use in our work. The future is wide open and may well be shibori filled! It was a wonderful group of very talented women. I chose to leave the photo that includes me out. I was wearing my 'farmer-girl' over-hauls and looked much like the Pillsbury dough girl. I so much want to be able to take another class from Joan !

A beautiful piece of madder dyed cloth with a "spider-web" motif

More spider webs motifs on this beautiful piece of indigo dyed cloth
that my buddy Janet produced. She loves indigo!

This piece (above) was ndigo dyed by Patty (who also happens to be a superb calligrapher & chop carver). Patty tediously stitched very fine lines that were pulled together tight as a board and then dyed. What a fabulous piece of beautiful cloth she made!

Here is Peggy Hunt , above, with her sampler that absolutely WoW'ed me! She has taken classes with Joan before and so she knew exactly what to expect and was already well at work on this beautiful work before the class began. I think that making a sampler is such a cool idea. SHe did all - well many- of the traditional patterns and also made up some of her own to try. Peggy is also the one who had that piece of indigo dyed fabric with the cool metal knobs on it - that I showed on a previous day. I think that Peggy should do another class for us all....a sampler would be a great thing to do - one thing a month - or a week......More views of this amazing piece.

Please remember that you can double click for a better view!

I think that these may also be Peggy's work, but am honestly not sure. They might have been Joan's too. If anyone sees this that was in the class and can claim these fabrics please let me know and I will edit the post to include your name !

I think that this amazing snake-like pattern was done by Sheila Metcalf - but it might have been Peggy's too. Again, let me know if it's yours!!

Below we have our resident amazing weaver, Sheila Metcalf. Sheila nd Peggy are responsible for arranging this workshop. It's easy to tell that Sheila has also had quite a bit of Shibori experience and that she too has taken several classes from Joan before this one! She sure looks happy to see how wonderfully this piece turned out! The mystery of shibori is one of the things that I like the best. Sort of like making hot glass beads. You can't really tell what your beads will look like until the next day after they have fully annealed. Same thing here - you don;t know until you fully dried these textiles and undone all of the stitching. It's always such a great surprise ! Generally a good surprise too !

This is a beautiful indigo lightweight silk scarf that she created. Later Sheila over-dyed this piece in Lac-madder (I think it was). The scarf's background became a luscious deep purple and the 'spider-webs' became of lovely light pinky-purple shade.

Joan showed us one last Arashi technique that produces something like resembles woodgrain. As you can seee the folds are produced by horizontally gathering the fabric rather than by puching it up vertically. Wish I had gotton a look at the finished piece. I did discover that Arashi Shibori is very versatile - prior to this class I had, quite honestly, found it to be rather 'blah'. As with many things, the more you learn, the more you realize that there are many options to what might first appear to be a simple way to do something.

These last photos are the small pieces that I made during the class. I was always behind and played "catch-up" every day. I decided early on that I was going to relax and enjoy the ride and try not to get too stressed about what I was not managing to do.Above: Sand washed silk charmeuse Arashi (pole wrapped) shibori dyed in 5 indigo dips.

Above: 'Spider-web' on silk charmeuse dyed with cutch
Below: Rayon Twill dyed in Lac/Madder.
The top circles were stitched and gathered in the round
and the bottom two circles were done in the 'spider-web' technique

Below: Two yummy silk velvert scarfs. The lighter one is dyed in Fustic and the bottom one is dyed with Cutch. I am binding it again to discharge it and will then overdye the whole pieceBelow: CLose roes of stitching on rayon twill- dyed in lac/madder.
I still have some thread to remove in the area by the top of the photo

Below: Silk velvet dyed first in cutch, then 'spider web' wrapped and overdyed in Cutch.This is a simple wrapped piece that was first dyed in fustic, wrapped
and then overdyed in cutch. I plan to do some more work on it.

These next two photos are experiments that I did when I got home. I have been doing a lot of visual and art journaling and I always try to find ways to meld my passions together. I had to see if I could use the 'spider-web' wrap technique on papers. The first piece below is joss paper that I VERY carefully wet, wrapped with quilting thread, dipped in procion dye that I had on hand
(a mix of Safari Gray & Chocolate). I had to be ultra careful and very patient when I unrolled it, but all in all I like the effect and will use it for certain!

Next up is another piece of paper that I had around. It is a white, more fibrous, paper that has bits of gold thread like things in it. I know very little about paper mind you - so I am not sure what this paper is exactly. It seemed a little stronger than the joss paper was. Once again I like the result and can see how I might use some of what I have learned to enhance some of my art journal entries - or art cards for the mail. Now, of course I am longing to try some other papers our - so, for those of you who know what you are doing with paper, if you have any samples you would just love to send me - let me know! I would be grateful to try some more - with other paints, dyes and colors...... Ah! Yes! It was a very good class and I am so grateful that I was able to attend !

Tomorrow my vacation (stay-cation) is over and I return to my work-a-day world. I guess I am also grateful to have a job at this point too. Life is good. I am smiling broadly.

JOAN MORRIS: Workshop Day 3

Here we are at day 3 in this amazing workshop. As we wended our way to the ferry Janet & I both agreed that we were quite exhausted but also impressed with the class. Using natural dyes is so time consuming compared to Procioin dyes. The colors - for my tastes- are perfect however - so it seems just about worth it. Janet, on the other hand, is not that partial to the muted colors although I think she rather likes the cochineal and lac madder - and the indigo is a big hit with all of I think!

In this group of photos Joan is demonstrating the use of 'capping'. This technique is karamatsu - or Japanese larch pattern. A cork is securely wrapped in a double or quadruple layer of plastic wrap )so it does not soak up dye) and then the top of the bit pf fabric is also protected with plastic and wrapped around the cork.

Photo above: the bottom of the fabric showing the securely wrapped cork
Photo below: the right side of the fabric showing how the cap should look.

Photo Below: How to wrap a small bit of fabric to add more textural dimension.

These next two photographs show two glorious pieces of fabric that were patterened with the capping - or karamatsu shibori - technique.

It's worth double clicking, I think, to see a more close up view of these fabrics!

Finally -some dyed fabrics! These were the products of the second day of the class. Two dyebaths were made on Day 2. Madder and Fustic. Madder was the one dye that I had lusted to use. Unfortunately, since I was rushing to wrap things up so that I could get on the ferry I never got any fabrics into the madder bath. Arghhhhhhhh!! Fabric must be thoroughly soaked (for an hour or more) and then mordanted (another hour or more) in order to have them ready for the dye. I had not managed to get these steps done in time! I did have a piece of silk that I got into the fustic bath though and it produces a beautiful golden yellow that I love.

The madder dyed pieces float in the breeze on the left & the fustic pieces are to the right

What fascinated me the most about using natural dyes is how very different they can be depending on the fabrics used. I had a selection of silks, silk & wool blend and some ultra soft rayon twill. Many folks brought some hemp/silk fabric that I loved (and will have to order some from Dharma) that took the dyes very well. The wools and wool blends seemed to take very well to these dyes while the silks & other blends dyed to varying shades.

They look like prayer flags to me!

These photos show a technique called "fireflies". The name made me remember how much I miss seeing the fireflies that filled my childhood evenings with awe. Joan sews on cotton balls of varying thickness to achieve these effects. This is something that I will have to try ! Hearing her speak about all of the different things that she has tried to achieve this effect was interesting! I think that's what I like the most about dyeing ... the "what if" questioins that float through one's brain !

Another fabulously creative day - tomorrow- the final day of class- we were able to unwrap some of our 'mystery' pieces to see what lay beneath!

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 !