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Monday, June 30, 2008

rusting 101 June TIF



My rust story for June TIF. i found my old tjantings while shifting stuff around in my studio.When i was still fielding my way into surface design i started doing batik, but couldn't be bothered with ironing off the wax. In fact as i hate ironing i knew i'd never become a batik artist. Nonetheless i had bought assorted tjantings, the good copper ones, and MX dyes. Those got me into dyeing, while the tjantings rusted away.

Oh that lovely patina on copper, that's what i want! This is my project!
i took some of the copper wire knits i have been trying and added acetic acid and salt. But it didn't work.Then my friendly chemist from around the corner suggested what's used here to decrust (is that English??) calcium encrusted taps,faucets toilet bowls and and voila mesdames, lovely patina i got! It is a potent and vile substance called salfuman. Don't ask me the name in English as i haven't been able to find it.

Ok now how does one give that idea a textile body? Think. Think more. And time was fiercely ticking away as i remembered i had some linen and silk fabric as a permanent resident of my stash. Why not use it and destash a bit?

The fabric was dyed first in an alkaline bath for the linen and then in an acid bath for the silk because i wanted the silk to be more saturated in color than the linen. i was pleased as the color came out very similar to the patina.
The next step was to do some sort of reverse shibori.This was accomplished by masking some lines and brushing Fiber Etch to burn away the linen. This Fiber Etch has also been a long time resident of my supply stash.

As a final step i located one of-if not the -last pleating shops in town and had them custom pleat the fabric.
You can see the result. The shawl is very simple, but has a lot of movement.

All in all this has been a challenge albeit a fun one. Conceptualizing while destashing or vice versa.
i could not refrain from giving one of the photos a cross process look so it would also look rusty and aged. :)

neki desu

Thursday, June 26, 2008

tools to make it easier

flower2

The flower here was generated with
http://www.zefrank.com/flowers/
Lots of fun, useful for making stencils, stamps or pattern tiles . There's also a link to make a garden for those who are not in possession of a green thumb.

flower

Here's a screenshot of the flower generator.
This page has multiple java applet texture generators based on math algorithms. Useful for pattern ideas.

And last but not least these two are for you indigo lovers out there, courtesy of JaJa Pankova
from Czech Republic. The name will ring a bell if you frequent the dyerslist or Paula Burch's
dye forum .
Both are old indigo dyeing businesses still operating. They have on line shops and also do custom dyeing. Dye anyone? :)
http://www.modrotisk-danzinger.cz/5/vase-moznosti-.html
http://www.arimo-modrotisk.cz/konfekce_modrotisk.htm#metraz

neki desu

Monday, June 23, 2008

first summer weekend

shibori scarf


It was too gorgeous outside to keep on weaving inside. Worked on this shibori scarf outside instead. It's a take on a rust dyed fabric. Currently going through a rust phase rusting all i get hold of.



rust pross

Here's a fabric i'm working on. Even the photo gets the rusted look :)

neki desu

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