Back to School Update: Fibre 213 - Cloth Dyeing and Painting

Well ... here it is almost time to start school again and I haven't updated from last year. It was a great and busy year (too busy making, showing and travelling to write about it!). I took three classes last Fall which worked out very well.

Fibre 213 was a wonderful course that I would highly recommend. The instructor, Bill Morton, is knowledgeable and motivating in the best possible way. We worked with many techniques including eco dyeing, rust dying, painting onto silk, shibori indigo dyeing, vat dyeing, etc. etc.

After producing volumes of practice fabric, we had two final projects due that required using multiple techniques to produce large scale finished products. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to make use of a stash of beautiful fabric remnants that I inherited from my Mom. I was originally planning to make a wall hanging, but in the end chose to create an installation entitled "Metaphor for Memory." There were many smiles and tears while working with these fabrics that brought back so many memories.

Much to my surprise, I grew to love shibori tying and made a beach ensemble for my second project, dyeing and discharging a printed fabric with bleach and then further tying and over-dyeing it with indigo. A rust dyed piece and two silk scarves can also be seen in the photo.