Some details of my recent hangings. A celebration of silk! Constructed using very transparent silk organza, silk cocoons which have been opened out and leaves from my garden. Dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. I’m happy with the transparency I’ve managed to achieve looking through the various layers of silk.
Tag Archives: silk
Silk Hangings
Some new pieces for my exhibition, “The Density of Light”, at Visual Space Gallery. The hangings combine silk organza, silk cocoons and leaves from my garden dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. These are the colours of my winter garden~ the soft browns of decay and the icy blues of winter skies. I love working with silk in all of its many variations and with these hangings I want to celebrate the luminous qualities of silk and its contradictions of strength and fragility.
Dresses
Silk Gauze and Silk Organza, dyed with Persimmon and Iron Natural dyes, Copper wire, dried plant material. They are an attempt to express the fragility of the female body, a homage to all the many, many women who have been victims of war and abuse.
Midsummer Night Dress
My latest creation! The silk is from saris that I found several years ago in Calcutta, deconstructed, and then dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. The Magnolia leaves are painted with fabric paint.
On display at Circle Craft on Granville Island, Vancouver, until the end of August 2017, as part of their 45th Anniversary Exhibition.
Indigo/Shibori/Silk
This Indigo/Shibori/Silk Scarf is a good example of a few of the reasons why I fell madly in love with “Textile Arts”.
Silk is definitely my fabric of choice. The transformation by silk worms of mulberry leaves into the delicate gossamer yet amazingly strong threads of silk is magical.
Indigo is most certainly the queen of natural dyes. How can you not be in awe at watching the change in colours of fabric that has just been removed from an indigo vat change slowly from greens to those gorgeous blues? Pure alchemy!
Indigo
During my recent trip to India I bought a number of exquisite silk scarves, mostly from Calcutta and Bengal. I’ve dyed them with Indigo plus a bit of Iron Rust and Lac.
I made an organic Indigo vat using rotting bananas as the reducing agent.
Michel Garcia’s recipe. It works well!
Persimmon
Lately I have been working with Japanese Persimmon Dye. It produces a gorgeous chestnut brown that combines beautifully with Indigo.
Persimmon Dye involves a lengthly process to achieve the darkest colours. The dye is painted onto the fabric and left to bake in the sun. During the first day in the sun the fabric turns a very pale pinky brown. With each succeeding dye and sun exposure the fabric becomes increasingly darker.