color brushing 101

 ok why brush instead of immersion dyeing? you can apply colors selectively as long as the motif has been previously stamped with mordant paste.in terms of work it's very economical. plus there's no need to clear your background which means an extra step. you can also adjust the thickness of the dye or you can brush it without thickener.

 the problem i see is the concentration of dye. this is a new concentration of weld, let's see how it works.also planning to do a couple of more layers of brushed color.

everyone roots for weld, so far it hasn't impressed me. surely i'm missing something.

neki desu

 

maximizing resources

today is insanely hot, one of the few up north. using solar energy and a hot pavement to heat up the chalk and bran solutions.

when the sun goes down a bit i'll do the dunging.chalk bath to fix bran bath to remove the guar gum thickener . then tomorrow dye printing.need to keep good notes as i am merging techniques. more about that later.

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notice on the wall

i love this gritty somewhat grotty look of these prints.but it would be counter intuitive at least now to stop there. experience has to come through in some way doesn't it?

after three layers of experience. still needs one more to call it done. 

interesting, lots of blacks lately. a  subconcious way of dealing with the current funk.

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end of summer blues

i can feel the end,there's a slight chill in the air. i forgot to take a before photo to show the development,but it was black & white. somehow these 6 dancing ladies have not cheered me up although i like the outcome. will need to have some chocolate to chase the blues.

still have to figure out  some things for the upcoming trip to japan.

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growing

and developing into more is more.

it was less, but not together. the lovely black lines are because of the beautiful charbonnel  engraving inks . yes, these were engravings made at school  during a workshop.great to have an engraving printing press at hand plus good papers and inks.  

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future tuning

quite fun dragging ancient prints, naivetè on good paper, and thinking of possible tunnings.

have all kinds og colors and utensils. 

i'll devote this week to it/ them

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a recycling story

this is the bagpack i use for walking.big front pocket for phone, deep bag for water bottle.

the old front pocket was fraying badly, talk about procion dyes degrading! i took one of the fabrics i printed in the spring and tuned it a bit by overlaying another color, then stitched to the bag.voila mesdames, a new bag.

this one's a visual recycle.fabric dyed in cutch and printed with cutch-iron paste.this was one of the samples created during the maiwa course .in need of more development, but being shifted from place to palce with nothing happening.until now. the two dancing tori looked somewhat lost in space,a background was added and then some squarish transparent shapes for contrast.

now it has cohesion.

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the blue debate

red on ai. the ai paste was thinned with guar gum to lighten the color. some more explorationto be done there. not sure whether to dip it in the vat or not to kill the flagsy look.

i am going to exhaust the vat and call it a dyeing wrap up, sad because it was working great.after so many summers of trying,hitting and missing i  finally understand how the vat works . call it life experience     ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ better this than not understanding .ever.

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i get it

the paperworks.other than fun exercises what i am actually doing is getting the hang of different printing possibilities which will give me confidence when i start printing on cloth with natural dyes. wow, that's a sentence now!

paper is a lot more forgiving than cloth , there's a long path to walk until confidence.but no one's watching  (￣ω￣ ) 

at the same time weaving continues.

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more paperwork

for a change of pace scope and point of view. all these are printing practices.i promised a friend a scarf and i want to print it using natural dyes.however the  design,techniques, the practice are the same. i also need to  create a different set up for printing fabric.roughing up the kinks for when i get serious.

this one needs to blend the elements a bit more don't you think?

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fun print

no transcendental work, no planet stopping results, just fun. sometimes one forgets that wise fun is fundamental, or as monica geller would say controlled fun <(￣︶￣)>

it's akin to clearing you palate with a sorbet to get it ready for the next course.

this needs some more work but it's going with the flow. ferrous and acrylics printed  on paper.

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taking advantage of the remaining iron goo

printing using a stencil. discovered that it works a lot better, at least with that consistency, using a credit card and spreading the paste. much better than using a stencil brush.

once discovered, it was a field day.

stencil and woodblock on handwoven thick cotton fabric.

 stencil and credit card squeegee these on paper.

 they are all waiting for another layer or layers of work.thinking about the next step : setting up to do some silkscreen printing with thickened natural dyes. need to wait a bit more in the tendinitis healing process.

neki desu 

 

remains of the day

in a way i am grateful for those aggravating  3 classes that i took in the infamous workshop bcse they started my brain moving.

right now i am in ganbaru💪💪mode trying out possibilities and looking into transforming wovens into new- cant find a descriptive word. HELP .

right now  i find interesting  off register printing. need to work more in depth  with it. i think there's too much  background space isn't it? maybe smaller clouds with  subtler prints.

also using the wovens combining printing, stamping and stitching.

this one needs more work, or maybe less?? 

have a feeling it's not walking the success road.

nevertheless it's been fun.

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not groundbreaking works of art

but incredibly fun workshop. at the botanical garden in gijon.a much needed change of scope, pace and a reunion with a friend. a new made friend who happens to be a friend of my friend blandina from florence.as if florence were a small town where everyone knows  everyone. time -space keeps compressing at the speed of light.

going to make some more leaf prints this coming week.instant grat!

i have been so engrossed in surviving these absurd times that closing up to opportunities or views outside the box

were not a consideration.

we rounded out the day at a roadside cider joint with super tasty food, this is cider country folks.

m(_ _)m

neki desu 

 

fun and games dept

printed vilene, stitched knitted remnant and trying my hand at wire  kantha; stitching with copper wire is challenging.the blank space on the left of the stitched pieces is an angelina fiber glowy mesh. it never photographs well unless i take out the tabletop setting and lights. not for a blog post, sorry.

this was fun and games relief form the k machine.i am enjoying finding uses for knitted samples or bits.

 next week it's going to be sewing. and weather allowing dyeing. ＼（＾▽＾）／ wooo

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graphic relief

a change of medium and scale.putting the knitting aside because it is quite absorbing. this WIP is bengara on bamboo paper. still  lots to be added to it but since it is  a mind refresher it has its own pace.  

still weaving the never ending silk scarf.

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so much is new

this is my new printing set up-for now.using my bathroom as this is a small sized project. i used the top of a plastic storage tub to cover the bathroom sink.working ok, but i need to find my way into doing this comfortably. eventually i'll clear the table that is presently holding the sewing machine and this will go back to its place when i finish cutting a dress. my new studio is very tight and compact with every single piece of equipment doing more that three functions.

this is a muji dress, believe it or not. they come pressed into cubes which makes them ideal for traveling. once you open them they somewhat keep the scrunched texture and when you wash them you can twist them and dry to keep the crumpled texture-also ideal for traveling.it's a sleeveless A line shift dress that can be worn with a long sleeved t shirt underneath when the weather merits. very smart& functional so i bought about 5 of them.this one was screaming for something more so it got the hack treatment. 

print paste,  and orange dye painted on the scrunched clamped dress. orange because i was trying to walk away from the flag look.

note the make up remover pad on the left moonlighting as dye catcher (＾∇＾). there are lots of useful things in a bathroom that i would have never thought.

the clamped dress is wrapped in a plastic carrier bag curing in the sun outside.
re weaving: on the proverbial 20 cms.left to call it done.


happy fouth of july y'all !

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it's called work in progress

although it's taken a lot of time to gel it's on its way now. tore some of it to make it smaller and printed,printed, printed. monoprint can be a misnomer if you are using some texture imprinted on the plate; you can replicate it all the times you want. you can also get ghost prints that are  visually effective.

the  diy plate works very well!

i am using golden heavy body acrylics and need to work fast to beat the drying time. also using amsterdam fluos for their transparency and color pop.

putting to work what i've learned.
think the two rectangles at the top are too dominant.














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