Monday, March 1, 2010

Streaming Blue


Blue, white and black are my favorite colors, so I was really happy when Francoise chose this combination.  So happy in fact, that I made three of them.  The other two were not to my liking though, so this is the one I'm publishing.  This started out as a shibori experiment.



 I stitched the fabric in two different directions, painted on some black dye, cured it, washed it out then painted on two different blues.  Before I painted on the blue however, I realized I wouldn't be left with any white, so I heated up my soy wax and filled in the white dots that were along the middle.


 After all this was done, I realized I had a big turquoise space near the center that really stood out, and tried several different methods of filling it in.


 I tried machine stitching a pattern, then hand stitching what was supposed to look like a bridge, but these didn't work.  I pulled out my beads, which I haven't used in a long time, and they filled the space up perfectly.

15 comments:

Sandy in CA said...

They certainly did! Gorgeous work.

Dale Anne said...

LOVELY - this looks like a netting catching the beads in the centre.
GREAT JOB!

Kristin L said...

You achieved great patterning on this. It's interesting to look at it next to Helen's too because it has some elements that could be taken as inspired by aboriginal art -- especially knowing you live in Australia.

It also looks like there could be some sort of narrative in it; a river, or a migration. It's fun to look at it and wonder.

Diane Perin said...

Wow -- wonderful lines and movement and I am always in awe of the patience and work that shibori involves. This is a masterful result, Karen!

Kristin L said...

Ooops! I totally though this was Brenda's piece because of her infatuation with shibori. OK, so no there's not that Australia/aboriginal connection that she has, but everything else still stands and I still think it's wonderful to look at and contemplate. :-)

Gerrie said...

Ha! I thought it was Brenda's when it popped up, too! I love how you thought out the stitching and the dye application for this piece. Then an oops, but beads to the rescue. Sometimes a few beads can do the trick.

Of course, I am in love with the lines created with shibori stitching and so I can just sit and look at this and admire what it took to get here. Those little white dots are so integral to the piece, You did the pre-stitching. Helen did the post-stitching and it will be fun to see all of these in a mosaic.

Terry Grant said...

This may be my favorite. I am kind of at a loss for words because I just love it because I love it. But I will add that the white dots are magical.

Brenda said...

Ah yes, this is very much the kind of shibori that I had in mind after reading an article about "extreme shibori" in Quilting Arts magazine. Beautifully executed Karen and those dots are inspired!

Terri Stegmiller said...

Very lovely results Karen. The resulting images from this technique are very interesting to look at.

Jamie Fingal said...

Love the effects that your sewing created. It has so much zing! Full of texture and color. Talk about outside the box!

Françoise said...

This is so beautiful. Nice movement in the piece. Did you quilt it?

Nikki said...

Beautiful flow!

Karen said...

I didn't quilt it Francoise, the only stitching is on the beads.

Deborah Boschert said...

I am fascinated by every detail and by your process. Beautiful. The white dots are perfection.

It reminds me of a story that Katie Pasquini Masopaust tells about asking a friend what he thought of a quilt she had just finished. He had seen it earlier on her design wall and wondered what happened to all the white dots he had seen in the earlier stage. They were the pin heads that were holding the pieces together. He thought they added to the design, so she painted some in!

Karen said...

Ha! I just left a pin in a piece I photographed for a show- right in the middle of course.