Textile Arts Resource Guide: Textile Designer: Lois Mailou Jones

An inspiring post from Textile Arts Resource Guide. Many links to articles on Lois Mailou Jones provide insight into a long career as an artist, a woman and the effect of being an African American artist from the 1930s through the 1990s. A must read.

Textile Arts Resource Guide: Textile Designer: Lois Mailou Jones

More Research for Art Meets Fashion Evolution Team

heather dimarco Knit Sculpture

In general, crochet is faster.

Crochet is a more open technique, and allows for more open design

Crochet can be made in many different stitches

Knit Anemone by Simone Russell 

There are two stitches in knitting - knit and purl. These stitches are combined in a variety of ways to create patterns. 

Crochet uses a single hook, knitting uses two needles

Joan Dulla Crochet "Recreating Myself"

Joan Dulla "Niobium Glory"

Beautiful exploration of the coloring of niobium wire in her jewelry designs.

An aside for a moment, we won't be using niobium as Dulla says it cost way more than gold and silver. 

Crochet is denser than knitting and uses more yarn 

Knitting stretches more than crochet and is ideal for items needing flexibility or drape. 

Both knitting and crocheting may be worked in the round. 

Yvette Kaiser Smith

Creating shaped garments is less difficult in knitting

Circular knitting needles--long, flexible needles with a point on each end--are growing in popularity because they eliminate seams and the need to continually turn your knitting at the end of a row.

Yvette Kaiser Smith Crocheted Fiberglass

Knit stitch is easier to see than a crochet stitch

Dropped stitches can create issues in knitting, unless the dropped stitch is intentional

Yvette Kaiser Smith

Meeting in Collaboration

(this post is related to the art meets fashion evolution team project that i'm participating in. 

we're making things now, and bringing our creations to meetings for collaborative review. 

for some reason, many things japanese arrived independently at yesterday's meeting. i wanted to trace japanese pleating techniques because the techniques interest me as a surface textile designer in the form of shibori and as a student of art and design in the work of noguchi, miyake, and fortuny.

the project has led me back to looking at other folks' art. something i stopped doing after i realized that i would struggle with a design trying to make it resemble some imaginary, or so i thought, image in my head, only to realize at completion that i was trying to copy an image i'd seen. i find that when we are comfortable with art, it is because the art resonates with some image in our past or maybe even present.)

issey miyake's name came up in our meeting yesterday. (note: if you follow the link to mr. miyake's site, it is one of the most difficult to navigate that i've ever encountered. beautiful, but difficult.)

issey miyake 2009

Issey Miyake (Japanese, b. 1938). “Staircase Pleats” Dress, fall/winter 1994–95. Silver pleated polyester. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2005 (2005.130.11).

"Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake grew up in Hiroshima and was there during the bombings. He later lost his mother to radiation exposure, and understandably does not like dwelling on the event." "I have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to put [the memories] behind me, preferring to think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy. I gravitated toward the field of clothing design, partly because it is a creative format that is modern and optimistic.”

From Fashionista

issey miyake 2008 

so i revisited his site (forgive me, i love issey miyake and got carried away with the image thing) and also took a look at yohji yamamoto.

Yohji Yamamoto (Japanese, b. 1943). “Wedding Dress,” spring/summer 2000. Natural cotton muslin and ivory silk jersey with large laser-cut holes. Gift of Minori Shironishi, 2003 (2003.573.8a, b).

fortuny lamps

Delphos pleats by Fortuny

pleated and crushed fabric made me think of fortuny and shibori.

from the wearable art connection

From LeoState.com

but then I thought perhaps i'm being to literal and "light bulb" noguchi came to mind.

rice paper and bamboo are the humblest of the materials noguchi worked with. but the perfect materials for sustainability.

Final flight of fantasy was a mental image of dreadlocks in a traditional Japanese hairstyle. 

Dread locks

Traditional Japanese Hair style with contemporary accessories.

Back to cleaning the house.

Rites of Spring

Great post from HandEye magazine. Be sure to view the slide show for images of Benin looms.

Rites of Spring

New Community Center - The Library

I picked up my jacket/coat from the Encinitas Public Library Environmental Art Exhibit yesterday. So good to see the piece hanging in a kind of empty exhibition space.

The Encinitas Library is impressive. Beautiful building on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Full of folks, used books for sale, large computer area, art gallery, coffee and pastry kiosk outside. From as far back as I can remember libraries have always served as places of wonder and community. My mother recreated herself through books and magazines and early on figured out that if she was going to have time to read, we needed to learn to read too. What child would not be totally impressed by the huge stone lions guarding the entrance to the magical world of reading that urban main libraries all seemed to have in the 1950s?

Segregated schools in that same period were both a curse and a blessing. My segregated public grammar school fell into the blessed category. In addition to being taught by friends and neighbors with a vested interest in my and other students' personal and educational success, our teachers were creative and well educated. The principal was a genius who made sure that the school received all available funds and participated in city-wide educational and cultural programs.

And the library. Mrs. Elliot was the librarian. She looked like a picture book image of a librarian, smelled deliciously like both books and a lady, and all interested students to participate in library activities. The joys of opening a new shipment of books, learning to repair broken spines, cataloguing, and reading the latest Caldecott and Newbery Medal prize winners were tremendous to a young reader. (Visit the Newbery Library in Chicago if you have the opportunity.)

Members of the student library council were invited into the library during lunch hour. Being a  member of the council and the invitation were high privileges. We competed with each other to participate as a team representing our school in book competitions on the radio.

These libraries of my childhood were quiet, reverential places, as were the libraries of my college days, and  the University of Chicago library during the short time that I worked there. Today, libraries buzz. Small children collide with senior citizens. San Diego has libraries offering Starbucks coffee treats. The community rooms are open to meetings, arts and crafts. Books are checked out and in electronically. Courting folks meet at the library and go searching and finding, not for books, but for hook ups.

Libraries provide shelter for the homeless, day trips for the emotionally and mentally disabled, resources and information on community events, cool in the heat of the summer, and heat in the cold of the winter, computer services for the unemployed and others who may not have free access anywhere else, all in an environment open to everyone in the community.

Support your public library, national treasures.

Carrie Mae Weems: Thirteen Questions for Wynton Marsalis & Cornel West |...

Yinka Shonibare MBE: Being an Artist | Art21 "Exclusive"

Jensen Conroy

Many of my posts for a while will be research for the Art Meets Fashion Project that I expect to be working on until April of 2011.

There are four people on the team, which is named Evolution, and has it's own blog. The members consist of a metalsmith, two fashion educators and me, a surface textile designer. The project is a collaboration. The team is in the process of establishing how we will collaborate, defining roles, and researching images, styles, relevant definitions, etc.

I'm also working through several ideas I have, and the background for those ideas I'll blog about here.

Jensen Conroy jewelry provides inspiration. I like the tribal influence and the collaborative interests of textiles and metal. The Jensen Conroy website is the best place to view the work.

STYLE

Musée des Arts Décoratif's History of Fashion

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Published: May 24, 2010

A Paris exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs re-assesses the style of the 1970s through multimedia installations that bring each designer’s spirit to screen life.

View the slide show.

Dyeing with Indigo

I'm not sure how far I will go with Indigo dyeing.

The possibilities range from growing my own indigo to buying pre-fermented cakes or so-called Instant Indigo.

Remains to be seen. Meanwhile here is a tutorial on indigo and indigo dyeing from Cheryl Kolander whose website is Aurora Silk.

Dyeing with Indigo - Natural Fermentation Vat

click to enlarge Buy Indigo

Why Indigo?

Indigo is a dye different than any other. It does not require any mordant. Rather it is dyed through a living fermentation process. The process "reduces" the Indigo, changing it from blue to yellow. In this state, it dissolves in an alkaline solution. The fibre is worked in the solution, or "vat". When brought out to the air, it is a bright green. Slowly the air changes it to the beautiful deep and rich blue of Indigo.

Indigo in some form is used in all traditional cultures, for it is the only clear and fast natural blue. Indigo dyeing was one of the first speciality professions. Yet it is easy to keep a home pot going, and most colonial homesteads had one. This recipe is the one most commonly used for home dyeing. It contains no harsh chemicals nor toxic metals. It can be used to dye any natural fibre.

An additional beauty of dark Indigo is that when ironed or pounded, the blue cloth takes on a beautiful coppery sheen - the same sheen that is seen on the well reduced Indigo vat, when it is ready for dyeing.

Indigo: Natural Vermentation Vat

NOTE: requires advance preparation of about one week.

• 4 oz. ground Indigo
• 2 oz. ground Madder
• 2 oz. wheat bran (buy at any health food store)
• 12 oz. washing soda ("soda ash")

(above amounts are by weight ounces, not volume ounces.)
Combine in about a three gallon pot of warm water.

Always add these amounts in proportion. A larger vat can be made, for example with: 1 lb. ground indigo, 1/2 lb ground madder, 1/2 lb ground bran and 3 lbs washing soda in about a 10 gallon plastic tub. However, I advise starting small, till you are comfortable with the process. The size of the pot is determined by the amount of fobre you need to dye at one time. A three gallon pot is good for yarn skeins of 4 to 6 oz., while a 10 gallon or larger tub will be needed for yards of fabric.

WARMTH: It is necessary to keep the vat warm, but not hot, around 100 - 110° Fahrenheit. It is the same temperature for raising bread or making yogurt. It should feel pleasantly warm to the hand.

To keep it warm, a light bulb in a reflector can be put under the vat, with a blanket over it to keep in the heat. (See illustration, next page.) In a warm climate no additional heat is needed, but be sure the vat is out of direct sun so it does not overheat.

TIME is very important. It takes time for the vat to ferment and it does no good to try to rush the process. The first time, it takes about a week for the vat to ferment and be ready to dye. With "renewals" the time needed is a bit less, four or five days.

It takes time to do the dyeing. The fibre is "dipped" several times to build up a dark color, with airing between each dip.

The vat itself lasts a long time. I have had my current vat over fifteen years. In traditional cultures there are vats over 100 years old. The vat is "renewed" with more Indigo and the other ingredients in proportion, whenever the dye value weakens. Then let sit a few days to re-ferment. Indigo dyeing by this natural fermentation method is a slow-steady process. It is good meditation.

Stir the vat once a day. The idea is to integrate the undissolved Indigo, madder and bran that settles to the bottom, back into solution. And to do this without incorporating air into the vat. So stir gently.

Keep the vat covered. Air is the enemy of a good Indigo vat. The level of liquid in the pot should just allow room for the yarn dyeing, without spilling. The less air between surface and lid the better. I use a domed lid, turned upside down. If you leave more than 2" of air at the top of the vat, it will not reduce properly.

The vat is ready for dyeing when:

• It develops a coppery film on the top of the vat.
• The liquid, lifted carefully in a glass jar, will appear green.
• A test piece of fibre or paper will emerge green and turn blue in the air.

Now is the exciting time to begin Indigo dyeing!

1. Wet your fibre out very well in warm water. It must be well wet out. Any air remaining in the fibre will oxidize Indigo in the vat, and this must be avoided.
2. Put on rubber gloves! You don't want to scare people with blue hands; also the strongly alkaline vat may irritate your skin.
3. Enter the fibre (yarn/fabric) into the vat very carefully, to avoid adding any air to the vat. Now the fibre must be "worked" in the vat, under the surface. It should not be stirred, but with your gloved hands, gently, slowly and deliberately squeeze the liquid through the fibre while you hold it under the surface. Any time you break the surface you introduce air into the vat and this you do not want to do.
4. After you have worked it several minutes, carefully and slowly raise it out of the vat, squeezing the excess Indigo solution back into the vat. Do this squeezing as close to the surface as you can, as dropping liquid will bring air into the vat.
5. The fibre should be a bright clear green. It will start to turn blue in the air immediately. Lay it out on newspaper and let it air for 20 minutes. Repeat the dips up to five times for dark Indigo Blue. Air between each dip. For lighter shades, fewer dips are needed.
6. Rinse well. Then leave the fibre to air overnight. Soak and do a final rinse in the morning.

The vat lasts indefinitely. It is begun with a certain amount of Indigo, and all other ingredients as given, in proportion. Dyeing is begun, with the darkest color dyed first, then medium, then lights. Between dyeings the vat must rest overnight or an extra day. This is because, during dyeing a certain amount of the Indigo is oxidized in the vat. Allowing it to rest lets it re-reduce that Indigo. An oxidized (blue colored) vat won't dye well. The Indigo color will only wash out and rub off too quickly.

When the vat is "exhausted", and will only dye light shades, it is time to renew it. All ingredients are again added, again in correct proportion. The vat is let to ferment for several days, and is ready to dye when it shows the proper signs. In this way a vat can be kept going for many years.

If one wishes to rest from dyeing for several weeks, simply turn off the heat source, and keep the vat cool for that period. Stir it vigorously on occasion. When ready to dye again, warm it up, renew it with the ingredients, and proceed as before.

It is not good to leave a vat unused for too long, as it is a living process and may then get cranky about starting up again. Also it is important to exhaust the vat before leaving it, or it may over-ferment and ruin any Indigo remaining in it.

Over time a deposit of sludge will develop at the bottom of the vat. You may want to gently lower a screen into the vat before dyeing, to keep your fibre from pickinging itup during the dye process. Be sure to remove the screen after the day's dyeing, so you can stir the vat before closing it.

For greens, dye you fibre Indigo first, then rinse well and overdye with alum mordant and your chosen yellow dye. For purples, dye the Indigo first, rinse well, then mordant and dye over with any red dye.

The indigo vat is very alkaline. It is important to rinse out all the alkalinity. Just to be on the safe side, I always double rinse my indigo dyed textiles. First I rinse well just after dyeing, then I let air overnight. Next day I soak in two successive waters for about an hour each time, rinse again, wring and dry.

Squeeze solution through yarn for best penetration. Always work under the surface of the vat. Always wear rubber gloves.

More About Indigo

Indigofera is a legume. The plant looks similar to alfalfa, but is usually larger. It is an excellent rotational crop for increasing soil fertility. In southern Mexico, where some of the current Indigo of commerce originates, it is naturalized and grows in fallow fields, so no effort is spent cultivating it.

Indigo dye must be prepared from the fresh plant in an exacting and elaborate process that takes about a month. The Indigo plants are harvested and brought to a central location. They are soaked in water and allowed to ferment. This separates the dyestuff from the plant. The solution is then beaten to oxidize and precipitate the Indigo. Excess water is poured off and the sludge is dried. This sludge, packed into balls or patties and fully dried, is the Indigo dye of commerce.

This Indigo comes to us in the form of a hard, dark blue colored cake. It must be ground to be used for dyeing. Very small amounts can be ground in a mortar and pestle. Use a bit of water to facilitate grinding and keep down the dust. A Corona Corn mill is what I use. Meat grinders also work. A zip-loc baggie cinched over the grinding plates catches all the powder and keeps blue dust from getting everywhere.

In most traditional cultures, the color(s) of ones clothing indicates ones status or class. Indigo blue has long been associated with the less than aristocratic classes. Indigo blue has still the association of "The Working Class". We use the distinction as "Blue Collar Workers" and "Blue Jeans". These clothes were originally dyed with indigo. In the past, Indigo has been a prolific dyestuff. It is relatively easy to grow and dye, and is quite fast. It withstands well the many washings that work clothes require.

In most cultures, Indigo dyeing is or was a specialty. The dye process is unique, and the facilities require a stable set-up. Vats made of great clay pots set in the ground are commonly used in warmer climates. If more heat is needed, pits for burning charcoal are placed between clusters of the vats.

Indigo dyeing is practiced today in Japan, Southern China, Tibet, India, Indonesia, Indo China, Africa, especially Nigeria, Southern Mexico and Guatemala, and it has recently been reintroduced to Turkey. Traditional fermentation methods are used. However, many of these cultures now use synthetic Indigo, manufactured from coal tar or petroleum.

Natural Indigo contains several related dye chemicals that give different shades of blue. As much as twenty percent of the dye may be a violet tone called Indigo Red. These complexities give Natural Indigo nuances and depths that cannot be achieved with the synthetic substitute. Here is a page with more about the chemical properties of indigo.

An additional beauty of dark Indigo Blue, is that when ironed or pounded, cloth so dyed takes a coppery sheen - the same sheen we see on the top of the well reduced Indigo vat.

FAQ

What is soda ash and where can I get it?
Soda ash is sodium carbonate or washing soda. Some art supply stores sell it. We also sell it: washing soda/soda ash. It is not the same as baking soda. Don't use Arm and Hammer washing soda from the grocery store, as it is not pure and contains bleach and perfumes.

Do you have to grind the wheat bran to a powder?
Wheat bran does not have to be ground, it's just speeds up the process. The madder root you may want to grind.

Why do you put madder in the indigo dye vat? 
Madder provides the enzyme that creates the fermentation that deoxidizes the indigo. The deoxidized indigo dissolves in the alkaline soda ash and then it can enter the fiber.

The dye pot is sitting in the same small room in which I sleep and study. Am I poisoning myself with this arrangement? 
Nothing in the indigo vapor will hurt you. When it's really fermented it does smell.

© 2002 Cheryl Kolander. Cheryl is available for workshops on this and other Natural Dye topics.

What is Surface Textile Design?

Surface textile design is defined as: the art of changing the appearance of natural and synthetic surfaces by the application of traditional, stylized, digitized, and illusionary techniques to embellish a product. It’s also the art of enhancing a surface’s structure by applying three-dimensional techniques, such as weaving, knitting, embroidery, lace, devoré, beading, and embossing.

Surface textile design encompasses the coloring, patterning, and structuring of fiber and fabric. This involves creative exploration of processes such as dyeing, painting, printing, stitching, embellishing, quilting, weaving, knitting, felting, and papermaking.

Surface textile design techniques use colorants (dye, pigments, paints, natural dye stuffs).

Colorants are defined as any material applied to cloth that imparts color to it. Dye is a colorant that chemically bonds with the fibers. Pigment is a colorant that adheres to the surface of the fibers. Painting is the application of a colorant to the surface of a cloth in a non-repetitious manner by means of a brush, sponges, or other instrument. Printing is the application of a colorant to the surface of a cloth to create a repeatable design by means of a prepared surface which is pressed against the cloth.

Textile printing techniques may be broadly categorised into five styles:

Direct printing, in which colourants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordants or substances necessary for fixing the colour on the cloth are printed in the desired pattern. These techniques include hand painting, block printing and silk screen. 

The printing of a mordant in the desired pattern prior to dyeing cloth; the color adheres only where the mordant was printed. Used today mainly in dyeing with natural dyes.

Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncoloured patterns against a coloured ground. Batik, shibori, adire, mud cloth are examples of resist dyeing. 

Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed fabrics to remove some or all of the colour.

Digital textile printing, also known as direct to garment printing, DTG printing, and digital garment printing is a process of printing on textiles and garments using specialized or modified inkjet technology. Inkjet printing on fabric is also possible with an inkjet printer by using fabric sheets with a removable paper backing. Today major inkjet technology manufacturers can offer specialized products designed for direct printing on textiles, not only for sampling but also for lots of production.

This information has been compiled from various web sources including the V&A Museum, Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica and other textile related sites. 

Textile Arts Resource Guide: Free Web Resources

Textile Arts Resource Guide: Free Web Resources

Central St. Martins Graduate Show: The Clothes, The Designers, The Stars

Central St. Martins Graduate Show: The Clothes, The Designers, The Stars