Category — Shibori

Canadian Museum of Civilization, Children’s Museum. “Break Away to Japan!”

Gatineau, Québec. March 7, 8, 14 and 15th. Saturday and Sunday; 1 hour shibori workshops are at 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm.

Local to Ottawa or the Outaouais? Did you miss it last time? Don’t miss these fast and furious workshops for the kids. (my apologies to the grown-ups!) It was so much fun last time that we’re doing it again!

Workshops are bilingual, French and English.

Yes, I am. Frenzied, that is. If I’ve been a bad, quiet blogger, that’s why. It’s not just because it’s the middle of a very long winter that takes its toll on my energy levels either.

Twice a year I go through this. Dye every piece of silk I possibly can so my local dancers can get their pick of the crop. Try out new things, pull out some old but loved techniques. Run the gamut of every colour scheme possibly imaginable. By the time I hang every thing on the rack ready to go, I’ve bewildered myself with the available selection.

Last weekend, I had an attack of the oranges. Orange makes me happy. It’s not a colour that people first think of, but when you see it splayed out in an interesting combination on a fine piece of silk it can be more than a little glorious. In costuming, it goes through phases; a couple of years ago I spent 3 months solid dyeing nothing but custom veils that were orange based. I didn’t like orange for a long while after that. I do very little custom work now so I don’t get caught stuck inside the box. The whims of fashion can be creativity killers.

So yes, I love orange, and I love mandalas too though I haven’t made very many veils in this technique for a long while it seems. I only made a couple so far, but damn … I’m good at it! I needed a reminder it seems. Somebody on eBay started selling mandala veils and the like a few years back for a disgraceful pitance, so that pushed my interest away from this technique. A shame really. There should be more of these beauties gracing the stage. Done well, they look like stained glass rose windows; quite stunning really.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, if you’re wondering why the blog nor the for sale page are being updated right now with the new pieces : it’s because I’m busy making and hording. For those of you in the region, do please come and see me Sunday, February 22nd at the Ottawa Dancer’s Bazaar. There’s lots of other vendors and artisans too presenting their wares for your sparkly shopping delight. Just follow the “events” link in the navigation bar for the where and when details.

As you might have noticed, I almost never auction off any of my work any more. It’s not that I don’t love you all, it’s just that something has to really bug me about an item before I will gamble away my hard work. Auctions are indeed gambling; the market is fickle and sometimes brutal.

So what may you wonder is bugging me about this? (and notice the new backdrop?)

It was one of those pre-sewn Dharma Trading veils, my last one … ever. They sell them as 3 yards but once washed well (as they should be), they are at least 4 inches shorter in length.

I much prefer to choose how a veil will be hemmed and what quality of silk is being used in my work, so I am going to be passing on the convenience of these. Lots of people seem to like them; they are just not me. I’m told that I’m more than just a little bit fussy.

So if you’re of a smaller stature or dance in close quarters and like very light 5 momme, there’s probably a deal in there for you. Shipping is free until the end of the month; that’s a deal in itself, especially for my international clients.

Ah yes … I almost forgot. The eBay store is right here : http://stores.ebay.ca/Shibori-Borealis

You can’t deny the fact that eBay is a wonderful marketplace. As an artist, if you want to launch yourself into the world at large, there is nothing quite like it.

You can think what you will, but it’s a fantastic place to shop too: the world is virtually at your finger tips. If you’re lucky — and sometimes patient — you can find something like this:

That, ladies and gentlemen, if you can’t already identify the artist, is a pile of scarves by Carter Smith. Yes, I’m a Carter Smith nut. I have a piece of chiffon that he helped me twist just the right way at a workshop that I’ve been keeping safe like it’s the Shroud of Turin. I can’t afford the “K” dress that I lust after in my dreams, but I’ve been watching for anything that I can get my hands on within my price range.

These aren’t much fabric really. Only one is really big enough to be used as a real scarf, but at least that one is what I currently think of as classic Carter. There’s a piece of habotai that’s not much to look at but it’s actually signed and dated from 1987, a piece in the strangest Easter egg colours, a small triangle in what I call his “Savanah” phase, and two swatches of classic pop art Carter. I’m glad the only one that’s useful to wear is of the pop art variety: for the knowing, you can tell it’s Carter Smith from a mile and they’re my colours to boot. I bought these off a gallery owner who was a collector through the years so I figure I now own a small 20 year anthology of his work.

I’m giddy like a school girl.

OMG! What fun, but how exhausting! I have survived a weekend of being the guest artist at the Canadian Children’s Museum’s Japan and Nature Matsuri. I didn’t think I had it in me, but eleven (11!) one hour sessions later, I am still alive, exhausted but exhilarated.

So you’re probably wondering what can be done in less than an hour with a studio full of 2 year olds and up? Something simple, of course, but with the objective of big fun and high impact. Yes, you heard me right : 2 year olds. I think there was even one that was hardly old enough to be able to sit on a chair without wobbling and teetering like a weeble. Talk about living dangerously! Of course, parents were close at hand to help out the very little ones as well as the museum providing me at least 2 animators at all times.

So yes … what can one do with very limited time and limited dexterity? I decided that the biggest impact would come from combining the concepts of some very basic origami folds with 1 silk pocket square, a single rubber band and the 3 primary colours. Throw a little citric acid into some Procion MX dyes, wet your silk in advance to facilitate keeping the silk folded for little hands, find yourself a microwave oven to speed up the process, some running water and you’re ready to roll. The magic number of students per session seemed to be a maximum of 15; they could be finished in about 45 minutes from lesson to leaving with their freshly made, washed and ironed silk project, and leave me about 15 minutes before the next group came into the studio to do it all over again. In both official languages, I might add. Phew.

Imagine them leaving, each with a variation of something that looked like this. Imagine a hundred +plus+ different variations of the origami kaleidoscope. Whatever their age, the results (10″ x 10″ pocket square) were nothing but sensational!

I’ve never seen so much pride, joy and pure amazement in my life. The look in their eyes was priceless. I didn’t know the word “WOW” and “COOL” could be exclaimed as often by anybody but myself.

And what else did I learn? I knew this to be true with adults, but it was interesting to see it evolve as the children grew older, more reserved : they had more difficulty with the concept of “now, just squirt colours anywhere in any way on your project, then lets see what happens.” I was surprised to witness disdain and fear at touching their projects after the dyes had been applied when I said “now squish it so the colours mix together.”

Just to confirm my suspicions, I had many parents ask later if the results could be controlled. Of course, they can.

But isn’t just so much more fun to just squish it and see what happens?