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 : Shibori Using Natural Dyes and an Indigo Vat: Just About The Best Workshop I have Ever Taken!

The workshop venue at the Shaw Island Community Center

Where to begin this post? I have thought of ways to present this work shop post in one or two installments but it seems that it might be best to just go day by day. In August 2008 I put down a $50. deposit for a workshop through our local textile guild. Earlier this year I requested the vacation days that I would need to be able to attend this workshop. Next I had to figure out how to pay for the balance. Little did I know that the amount that I was paying the balance for this work shop was really a truly amazing bargain! This 4 day workshop was probably one of the best I have ever taken. Intense, mind-bending, time consuming, fascinating, exhilarating & utterly exhausting. It has reignited my desire to create design on cloth. I had spent much time dyeing & learning to create patterns on fabrics with my friend Sarah Smith before she up and moved to Maine, but since she left I have not felt the drive to dye that much - with a few notable exceptions over these intervening years. Ah! but now I feel the need to roll,push,stitch,distort & pattern textiles again!! Thank you Joan Morris for just the push I needed!

Joan Morris is a master dyer of the highest order & she has worked for Dartmouth College for more than 20 years. Most recently, I gather ,she has been designing costumes & backgrounds for "Lion King" (the play). One of the things that I liked the most about Joan as a teacher is that she is able to focus in on the student - and demonstrates care and concern for everyone's learning level.

This is where we did our mordanting & dyeing.
It's the back of the Community Center. You can see the tables set up on the left -
which was soon filled with pots of gorgeous colors bubbling away!

So - onto the workshop. At last I was able to take a workshop close to home! The venue was on Shaw Island so my friend Janet & I were able to commute by ferry each day. We left on an 8:25 ferry; arrived at 9:30 & then left on a 4:10 ferry - and back to our homes at 5:30. There were class-mates from all of our local islands but most had elected to take up a guild members offer to stay in her 'bunk' house. Janet & I missed some slide shows as well as a bit of technique by going home every day. Class time, it seemed , went on somewhat both before & after our arrival & departure. It was wonderful though to be able to sit on the ferry & discuss the class & to be able to lay our tired heads down on our own pillows at night. I am so grateful for Janet - both she & I have much the same needs for "down time" & we travel well together! Nothing like a good friend to shar experiences with!

Below: This is the beautiful view directly across from the dyeing area

The description of this workshop is learning to create Shibori patterns using natural dyes & mordants. Let me say this - natural dyes are totally awesome & offer colors that are probably some of my favorites - but using natural dyes is very time consuming. That, in itself, would not be that bad but the Shibori techniques also called for a lot of intensive hand sewing and were also time consuming. By the end of each day I was mentally depleted and longing for the comfort of sleep. I could not continue to sew when I got home & so I decided early on that I would absorb as much as I could, make some small 'test pieces & not worry about making anything that I wanted to keep or, necessarily, use. I now want to take some time to make pieces that I will, hopefully, want to keep & share. There was simply no way that I would be able to keep up with everything that was covered. This class is worth every penny of the fee - and I certainly can't say that about every class I have taken!

The class room space - it has a full kitchen to the right

Having lunch outdoors

One of the books that Joan recommends. Of course I ordered it right away!

There were some awesome books to look at - many available used. Although my library already groans under the weight of my many books, I had to add several of the books that I looked through during the class. Following are the titles that I am adding to my library - not all of these are books that Joan says she uses - but I found them the most helpful with reagrds to techniques: "Shibori For Textile Artists" by Janice Gunner; "Handbook of Indigo Dyeing" by Vivien Prideux; and an incredible beautiful book that covers the amazing history of Shibori "Memory On Cloth" by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada. All of these titles are available new or used through Amazon or through your local, (support them!) book shop.

On the first day of class we spent quite a bit of time looking at some of the utterly amazing examples of Shibori techniques. As we went along Joan would do demos of the techniques & we were to make our own examples. We were treated to seeing lots of her own creations of course, but also some amazing examples of vintage Shibori cloth. The piece in the photo above is a vintage example of indigo Shibori - isn't is totally mesmerizing?!

Above & below are two more examples of techniques we would be learning

Vintage glory!

The lighting was not the best and I was dodging for a clear view- so apologies for the relatively poor photographs that will follow.

The piece in the photo above is one of my favorites. It reminds me of ancient sea creatures or something. The techniques used are amazing!

Can you imagine creating this vintage cloth?! I am not sure that I can. Each dot is a separately wrapped piece of the cloth. Mind blowing !

Name that dye! Madder & Fustic? Which came first?!

By the end of the first day Janet & I knew that we would be experiencing frustrating, exhaustion, & that we would be learning an awful lot to cram into 4 days. WoW! What an experience we were embarking upon!