Seasons Greetings

I don't do much in the way of Christmas trimmings, although I enjoy what other people do. My attempt above wraps some of my art tools in Christmas decorations. All the very best to everyone for the festive season and the New Year - may 2011 be an extraordinarily creative one for you all.

And just a wee bit more on precision dyeing of fabrics.

5. Once the dyes required are selected and weighed, paste them with hot water from the tap, add some more and stir well to dissolve all the powders. Some dyes are notoriously hard to totally dissolve, so after giving the dye water some extra time to dissolve any difficult powders, I then strain it through the toe of a pantihose. Any undissolved residue is then discarded. The worst colours for leaving undissolved powder are anything containing reds ie browns, purples, navy and of course any of the reds. If straining is not done, the undissolved powders will 'spot' any dyed fabric.

Dye water being strained through the toe of a pantihose.

6. Fabric awaiting dyeing must be thoroughly washed to remove any manufacturing dressings. This is essential with the plant fibres eg cottons, linens etc, but oddly enough silks do not need to be pre-washed although I give them a good soaking before dyeing. All fabrics need to be wetted out before starting the dyeing process.

That is all I will write on this topic at this time. More in the New Year. I hope you are finding this useful. Even though you may not be into precision dyeing, perhaps some of what I write is new to you.

I will blog on and off during the holidays, with things befitting to the season.

The biggie - how to read colour

We know the colour we want, there may be a swatch of another fabric, a magazine cutting, a flower or you-name-it, colour is everywhere. Achieving that colour in hand dyed fabric is a challenge; skills in 'reading' colour need to be developed. Just as a musician is able to recognise individual sound notes, or the way a mechanic tunes a vehicle, the visual artist needs to be able to analyse colour to reproduce it. One of my favourite pastimes on long drives is to concentrate on the colour of the car in front of me, and 'read' the colours to determine how I would reproduce this, it works!

We all know that there are warm and cool colours, we also know that there can be a warm red and a cool red, a warm green and a cool green. Being able to look at a colour and separate the many individual colours that come together to produce a colour is the next step.

There is also the intensity of the colour, is it at full intensity; or is there less intensity, a paleness or lightness of the colour?

I have a range of Procion MX dye colours which total 28 - they include 4 reds, 2 yellows, 2 blacks, 6 blues and 4 greens, plus a further range of individual colours. I know these colours intimately - I have been working with them for about three decades. If I was to be given a different set of dyes I would have to start all over again!

Everyone of these dye colours is made up of a complex selection of colours, and in various quantities to make that individual dye colour. When faced with a new colour ie it isn't in my range of colours already and this is in most cases, I need to determine what dyes to combine, and how much of each. Usually I start by selecting a main colour, then the others that will blend to make that colour. Recording quantities/proportions is paramount. And the intensity? Full strength for a strong colour, with less for paler colours.

My dye Record Chart which I use to record new colours. The colours used were Blue G, Soft Orange and Deep Purple. The swatches from the left are cotton, silk charmeuse, silk/rayon velvet and silk organza. Remember how I said it was so important to know that makeup of fabric? These four swatches all came from the same dye bath.

How does this all work?

3. I have determined the weight of the dry fabric (see previous blog), and for this example we will use 100gms (WOG). I have also decided that I want the colour to be quite intense, a good strong middle range is 5% DOS (depth of shape).

4. I have a pile of file cards each recording how much dye, and the chemicals that are required to achieve an outcome on fabric weighing in at various amounts from 25gms to 1000gms. It says that I need 5gms of dye in total for the 100gms dry weight of fabric. Referring back to my warm brown colour above, I therefore need 2.5gms of the Soft Orange, and 1.25gms each of the Blue G and Deep Purple. (Apologies to those who work in imperial quantities, but metrics are so much easier!) It is essential to weigh dye powders and not work with volume eg half a teaspoon etc, as all dye powders weigh in at different weights eg 5gms each of two colours may look, in volume, completely different.

My dye quantity record cards.

More next blog....

How to weigh a cat

I have received several comments (on line and off line) about my dyeing silk fabrics for bridal parties. Therefore my next few blogs will cover aspects of how to achieve a specfic colour spread, 100% flat, across a length of fabric which may be anything from 1 metre/yard to 10+ metres/yards. These are garment fabrics, not art works, and need to look like 'bought' fabric. And because of the festive season I am 'resting' from my creative art works, although I will still be 'thinking'.

First, however, Karen commented that she found it interesting that in my art work I work very intuitively, building up the images as they come to life, and relying on what has already been achieved and my feelings about the topic; and then when dyeing the silk lengths the complete opposite is required, it is precision dyeing. The art work and precision dyeing require quite different skills and experience, but more importantly it is an artist's eye that is paramount in both. They are equally challenging, and I just love challenges...

Okay, here we go...

1. When dyeing fabric the type of fibre has first to be determined, is it cellulose (plant based), protein (living creature eg wool, silk); or synthetic (chemical based)? Each fibre type requires a different dye and/or processes. I work with cottons and silks and use Procion MX dyes.

2. Weigh the dry fabric piece to be dyed. This is very important as this determines the quantity of dye and chemicals to be used. A small piece of fabric can be weighed on kitchen scales, but larger pieces which drown the scales need to be weighed as if weighing a cat. Use the bathroom scales, weigh yourself, then weigh again while holding the cat, whoops, I mean fabric! The difference of course is the weight of the fabric ie WOG = weight of goods! Make a note of this weight. Everything relates back to this.

14.8 metres / 16 yards Paj silk resting on kitchen-type scales. This weighed in at 350gms / 12oz.

Bathroom scales and me. I have not activated the scales as I don't think you need to know my weight!

More dyed silk

The wedding session must be nigh as I have dyed yet another length of silk for bridesmaids. Once again it was a silk georgette which I suspect is to be an overlay. I was given 13 metres / 14 yds which included extra for sampling.

The silk georgette was already a very pale pink but so pale that it did not have any affect on the dyeing. The swatch is the colour requested.

The sampling to achieve the right colour:

Left: a control sample to determine how the dye worked on this particular silk (silks can have a different makeup and resulting dye colours can vary). It also indicated that the depth of colour was too strong.

Middle: Dye quantity has been reduced by two thirds, and the one third of dye remaining had some of the red removed and a portion of a coral dye added.

Right: Final sample, as with the middle sample but the two dye quantity portions reversed. The colour swatch appears above.

Final outcome - not too bad really! Swatch sitting in centre.

Dis-Cord

Well, I now feel I have finished this latest piece although it has yet to be mounted. As usual I will leave it to 'rest' for awhile like a good roast, before doing so.

This piece came about after I made the comment that I should now do a companion piece to my previous piece Co-Existing. Little did I know how much of what has happened in New Zealand during the last few months, and my visit to the Chatham Islands, would creep into this piece. None of which were anticipated, but somehow they took over and I have been open to these feelings. Serendipity is my favourite word, when all senses are open to make the most of what occurs, both good and bad. Expressing it in a meaningful and successful way is always a challenge, but then I am up for any challenge (as someone has just pointed out to me recently!).

Detail...

©Diana Parkes, Dis-Cord 2010, 115cm x 160cm; 45" x 63"; dye, textile paint and cloth.

Although the 'broken' house symbol initially made no reference to the Christchurch earthquake in September, it soon became just that. The sometimes ghastly history of the Chatham Islands, between Moriori and Maori, and the many headstones with 'drowned/lost at sea' played on my mind after my visit. Then the 29 entombed miners. There is always to be a human figure(s) in this series of works, and I now see the New Zealand paratrooper killed (supposedly) by friendly fire in Afghanistan last week in this figure. His mother is an associate of mine, and a very well-respected person in the quilting world. We all feel for the family at this time. The white arch symbolizes hope which we must never ignore.

I am aware that expressing emotions and feelings within textile works is not common, but textiles do not always have to be 'nice' and acceptable. They can be a vehicle for all sorts of situations and emotions. I have in the past stepped over 'the line' with my work and probably confused lots of people. The older I get, the more comfortable I am with doing this, I just have to tell a story, otherwise I am wasting my time. It is as simple as that.

And to end on a more cheerful note - my daily strawberries from the garden!

Something different

In amongst other things I do, one of my jobs is to dye silk fabrics for future brides and their bridal parties. I work with a couple of local silk fabric shops; one in particular deals a lot with bridal and special occasion fabrics.

It is a very long time ago since I was a bride, and today's bride-to-be has a huge source of images to choose from in magazines and on the Internet. And often their dreams select a fabric of a certain colour which does not seem to be available anywhere, that is in New Zealand, or further afield.

One skill I have developed very successfully is dyeing yardage to a specific colour, and with a 100% flat colour, just like a 'bought fabric'. There has been quite a few brides and their bridal parties out there with garments made from silk fabrics which I have dyed specifically for them.

Here are my latest pieces - a heavy silk crepe on the left (shiny finish) while on the right is a silk Georgette (dull finish)which is to be made into sashes for the bridesmaids.

I have developed a reliable method of doing these fabrics and for those not familiar with such processes, it all goes by weight ie the dry fabric is weighed and the amount of dyes and chemicals are determined as to the depth of colour, and of course the colour itself which may be achieved with several mixed dye colours. I never bother to measure the length of what I am dyeing, that is not part of the equation. The fabrics above, combined, weighed in at 800 gms dry weight; the silk crepe was very heavy, but the Georgette very light. As I do this all by hand, I do have a limit of one kilogram, dry weight, as when wet this becomes very heavy. If the fabrics go above this weight I need to cut into more manageable pieces, the dressmakers are able to manipulate the garment pieces when cutting. One bridal party got their fabric in five pieces ie five dye batches, and they all matched perfectly!

Adding details

Really concentrating on details this week and bringing everything to the front. It is a matter of quietly working through the various processes. I enjoy this part although it can be scary as sometimes it can go horribly wrong. One of the applications was hastily removed with a hose-down on the driveway as it was just not working! The advantage with working with cloth, dye, textile pigment/paint is that work can be washed - try doing that with a traditional painting!

Here the headstones have been more defined.

The back ground inside the collapsing house has been further worked on. This has turned out well, although it is rather hard to see any difference in the photos.

Another great day out on Wednesday. Back into Wellington to attend functions and exhibitions at Te Papa as well as getting to see the galleries which were closed last Tuesday when I visited. I always come home feeling inspired, and eager to get on with things.