An orgy of studio work, that is. (Mind you, I have nothing against the other kind, but given that I’m an introvert, I think the studio orgy is apt to be more interesting!)
I’m essentially redundant at work by now, so I’ve been taking some of my free time and analyzing the different kinds of surface design I might play with. Here is a rough breakdown of how I intend to spend my time:
Day One:
- prep work (mixing dyes, print paste, soda ash soak for cotton)
- Play with applying soy wax resists – stamping, drawing with a tjanting tool, using my tjap.
- Apply thin dyes, thick dyes, etc. to resisted fabric with brushes, stamps, etc.
Day Two:
- Fold, tie, and dye a bunch more stars
- Work more with soy wax resists
- Play with mark-making using thickened dyes:
- Writing/drawing lines
- Scraping
- Making marks with a credit card or similar object
- Using a roller
- Brushing
- Stamping
- More mark-making
- Monoprinting
- Thermofax screen printing
- All above with water soluble resists
- Screen printing using cut stencils
- Deconstructed screen printing?
- Layering more pattern on fabrics dyed in previous days
- Mix paints
- Play with stamping, stenciling, etc. paint on dyed fabrics
- Clean up!
This is a rather ambitious slate, of course, and odds are that I’ll get sidetracked long before Days 4 and 5. That’s fine; those days are only roughly sketched anyway, and I’ll be delighted if something happens to pull me in a new and different direction. Also, I am planning to do some work on Phoenix Rising during those five days, so not everything will get done. That’s OK! The point here is to play. And to make the most of my five days between jobs.
Meanwhile, I have dyed the fabric for Phoenix Rising’s first muslin:
I’d really prefer the orange-red to be more orange, but it’s not bad for a first stab. I won’t be using this fabric immediately, though – I need to build the undergarment and crinoline before doing the pretty stuff.