New Day, New Year, New Project

I started 2017 with a thorough brooming of my workspace, which kept my body busy as my mind pondered what new project to start. Most of the things I'm working on now involve a very long process without many interesting interim stages to document, or to sense the progress. I came across a post somewhere on Instagram, that I, of course, cannot find today, about doing a bit of embroidery each day. So I pulled out an old jacket that I love the shape of, but don't much like the fabric. I'm not sure I've ever thrown out a scrap of fabric, so I have a box of tiny pieces that I thought I could use to repurpose the old jacket in the Japanese boro style. I had some thread I'd used in tying off my shibori pieces in the indigo dye vat, so I started stitching. Hopefully, I'll spend 10 minutes a day stitching, and document the progress each day. 

Arashi Shibori Fat Quarter

As requested, I've come up with some fat quarters for my quilting friends. One of the challenges has been finding a pole that will yield a piece that's the traditional fat quarter size of 18" x 22". For this piece, I lashed two poles together which created some vertical interest as the dye penetrated the spaces between the poles differently than it did when the fabric was directly on the pole. I can manipulate where the verticals appear by changing how I place the piece on the poles. I was trying to do an off-center version here with enough variation that it would give a quilter interesting options when cutting and piecing. Even as I write this and the picture is in front of me I'm getting new ideas. Stay tuned, I've got another dye session at the end of the week.

Overdyeing Chambray in the Indigo Vat

Chambray overdyed in the indigo vat after it was stitched on the Pullen Pleater and manipulated before and during dyeing by Carlyn Clark.

I've been experimenting with my new (to me) Ebay find, a Pullen Pleater. It's been a bit challenging to master. I broke a lot of needles trying to make a machine designed to pleat batiste to work on the heavy upholstery weight fabrics I want to use. I finally got it to work and was happy to discover that I actually liked what it looked like when it came out of the indigo vat, not something that always happens. What I've learned so far is that there is a sweet spot that varies with the weight of the fibers, the density of the weave, the width of the fabric in the pleater and the number and placement of the needles. That's a lot to tinker with when you're trying to come up with something. Add to that the variable nature of the indigo vat, and every piece that comes out of the vat is a wonder. Now I just have to reproduce about 6 yards of this one to use as a border on roman shades.

Stitching in Norway

Detail of cushion hand stitched on linen using hand dyed indigo thread by Carlyn Clark

Last year when we were in Bergen, Norway I stumbled upon a needlework shop and picked up this pillow cover to stitch. It's taken over a year to finish, mostly because I ran out of thread. I was saved by the dye vat. I picked up similar thread and dipped it in the indigo vat. With a bit of careful blending it ended up being a pretty seam less blend. 

Adding Embroidery to My Dyed Work

Here's a sneak peek at a new pillow that's just going into work. It combines two pieces of indigo vat-dyed shibori fabrics with embroidery stitched using the thread that bound the cloth during the dye process. 

Front panel of linen and voile for a pillow

I used the hira-nui shibori technique before dying this linen in the indigo vat. The center piece is a fragment of voile that uses the small capped motif (koboshi) to create the circles. The embroidered running stitches are done with the thread I used to stitch and tie the shibori.

Arashi Shibori Dyed with Indigo

One of the easier pole wrapping practices is to loosely wrap a piece of cloth that's about the same size as the circumference of the pole. 

Arashi Shibori, on the pole, by Carlyn Clark

On this one, I kept the wraps very loose and manipulated them to move in different directions, varying the spaces between the ties.

Arashi Shibori, after 8 dips in an indigo vat, by Carlyn Clark

It took eight dips in the indigo vat to get this color.

Arashi shibori pole in the indigo vat

ready to go into the indigo vat

After unwrapping the arashi shibori pole, the panel is clamped between wood boards and dipped again in the indigo vat.

Arashi Shibori Panel by Carlyn Clark

The clamped piece has been dipped 10 more times in the indigo vat. The original arashi marks are still slightly visible in the background.

Paper and Bamboo Lamp Detail

Detail of the pendant lights at Sofitel So Hotel, Bangkok

There's something playful about this Thai Style light cover that combines old and new traditions, Western and Asian influences and plays with natural and artificial materials. It's so simple, and yet so complex.