My Last Blog Entry

This is my last blog entry. My health problems have escalated and I'm busy tidying up my affairs and organising the funeral.

Thanks you so much for reading my blog in the past and all your comments.

Paler than pale....

This week I have been dyeing some silk a very very pale colour for a client. I have been asked to do this quite often and initially it was quite a struggle to get the colour pale enough.
Because the weights of the dyes and other chemicals are so small, and critical, I do this by increasing the amount of dye and chemicals. Then when actually doing the dyeing I use only half, or maybe, a quarter of all volumes that I have mixed. This seems to work very well and is repeatable after having done the test samples etc. Obviously there is dye wastage but it is so little, it is not worth worrying about.

In the photo the fabric on the left is hand embroidered with matching thread and sequins. It is done by the yardage, and I presuming it would have been hand stitched in India. It is equisite. Both fabrics are to be laid over a silver slipper satin which brings them to 'life'. My dyed oiece on the right.

Writing some text

So far this week I have added extra embellishment to three of the pages. Then I decided that a book is not a book unless it has some text. So I have been working on a series of words to add to each page.

My original sequence for the pages has now been abandoned as the text altered the sequence. Never mind, this is part of the process and Plan B can often be much better than Plan A. We just have to be flexible.

Here are the three pages I have worked with, and some of the text which I have printed on to paper which has had a colour wash and before drying, it was pressed with a paper towel. This has left an impression looking something like a textile which I feel is appropriate.

The book covers

Somewhat of a slow week this week but I have been working on the covers of my re-visited art work which I am making into a book. The covers will determine the final size of each of the pages. It has taken longer than expected as I have added a few extra elements.

The rest of the pages are cut out but need to be trimmed before assembly, and will probably get extra elements as well.

I've done a shocking thing...

About two years ago I completed a large piece called Escape. At this time I was not totally sure whether I really liked the outcome or not, so it was put into storage for 'time out'.

Recently I had the idea that I might cut it up and turn it into a book, thus giving it a second life. I printed off a small photo of the piece and then ruled several size grids to match on pieces of tracing paper. This allowed me to choose an appropriate page size which would present the best outcome for each page.

The original piece on completion.

The printed image with a series of grids on tracing paper.

This is my first print of the piece but the black cartridge needed a shake-up so the colours have printed incorrectly. It doesn't matter here as I have used it to simply sort the sequence of the pages.

And then I started cutting out the pages.....

Testing, testing....

I like to tidy up my workspace after having decided that a work is finished. It makes for a good fresh start when thinking about the next piece.

I am often impressed with my sample cloths which are used for testing colours, applications and other such things. Because they are of no consequence, applications are rather willy-nilly. Somehow, they often turn out quite good. Here are three which I have pasted into my workbook.

I think it is finished....

This week I have added some figures to the lower portion of my experimental piece. I shall now put this away for some time and when revisiting, decide whether I need to add more, or whether I feel it is successful or not.

This piece did start out as an experiment way back in February so has taken some time to complete. I quite like the outcome and it could well get exhibited at some time.

I have called it Shelter as both the garment and the house shape offer shelter of their kind.

Diana Parkes, © Shelter, 2011, 48 x 60cm / 19" x 24". Textile pigment on cotton canvas. Multiple surface design techniques.