Saturday, May 26, 2012

Turning a New Leaf


Tight twisted silk seersucker clamp dyed and edged in violet.
I had a delightful 5 days at the Crow Timber Barn taking Elin Noble's Additions and Subtractions and one of the resolutions that I have from that experience is that I want to do a better job of recording what I am doing.  This was a piece of silk that I immersion dyed in red acid dye while there.

Once I got back home I resolved to follow the pattern that we had in class. All pieces were tagged with tyvek and then notes recorded on the tag. This piece is about to dyed in a strong yellow MX immersion bath... again something I seldom do as most of my dyes are directly applied.
It was about this point that my good intentions dissolved. What is not shown is the squirting on of old MX dyes that were going to be tossed. It was a deep navy, long stale so not as intense as it once was. It was in a squeeze bottle so I just squeezed color along the exposed edges.

Viola... what is missing is the decision to cut the original square in 1/2 to make this triangle. Since these are smallish squares to begin with the only way to wear then is to fold them corner to corner to make the triangle, but who needs the extra layer of fabric?  It has gotten hot and humid in Philadelphia and these puppies will be called "Tropical Triangles" and may actually allow me to continue to wear scarves from June-Aug. something I have not managed in past. Plus I get two from each original square. That decision doubled the inventory. Of course serging across the bias of this very sheer silk is a bit problematic... oh well there never has been a free lunch.

Another surprise about this is the color scheme... one of my very first weavings had these colors... I have been listening to Zombie Radio on Pandora and I must be channeling my inner late 1960's.