ENTWINEMENTS

I promised you some pictures of finished things from our Dye Day. We did T's and cotton bandanas. In indigo we did fold & clamp (itajime), stitching (mokume) and binding.

Some pieces were more successful than others (per usual). We all seemed to forget that indigo does not penetrate very far -- the underside of a thick cotton jersey does not look nearly as blue as the exposed side does. Folding a T-shirt in half before making the resists protected the inside from the indigo. We did get some good areas (as hoped for). On our last Dye Day we used fiber reactive dyes that really penetrated.

Here are two shirts made with the same technique, but different styles.

I mixed up three fiber reactive colors and tried out the Dylon Black dye.

The Dylon black is really black but the lighter areas where the dye diffused in are definately blue. The tree is a stitched resist and the other is a combination of shibori -mountain path- with a tie-dye stained glass effect. Then there were some colors left over...

Used standard tie-dye techniques. Matching bandanas and T's.

And last was a request for a dragon.

And then the bag that wouldn't close got two drawstring put into it instead of one and it now closes tightly but in a line not a circle, and the bottom has a button.

I'm packing for my last show of the year, Crafts Park Avenue. Come and see some shibori.

Posted by Karren at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday was a Dye Day here at the ENTWINEMENTS studio. This is a day when we dye things for us instead of you. We have several each year. We do a lot of T-shirts and cotton; these require different dyes that the silk we usually dye. The request was for indigo this time ( the other choice being fiber reactive dyes).

We keep an indigo pot all the time. When not using it it stays out on the patio; it is in a small plastic grabage can that has a lid. So Mon. I brought it inside to warm up and added some thiourea dioxide to reduce and some more indigo stock ( see this entry on how to make and run a indigo vat).

There were 4 of us dyeing, and administrative assistant, a production assistant, another artist and me. We did fold& clamp, stitched and bound shibori.

This is a cotton bandana all stitched and pulled up.

Here is our stuff airing to get the indigo to oxidize.

The shibori resists also are barriers to the air and it can take the indigo a long, long time to oxidize completely. When you pull it apart you can see the yellow/green of the un-oxidized indigo.

We are still oxidizing, washing the pieces but will share them soon.

Posted by Karren at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I sent two pieces to Wayne Art Center for Craftforms 2006. I was invited to send two pieces, so I sent two long vests. Very different techniques but similar garment shape, hopefully they will look good together and yet still be intriguing.

Tiffany Vest was started with spider webs and stitched shibori, dyed three times in beige, pink and brown, then was finished with arashi shibori:

The next vest was made with a singed shibori technique from silk illuion.

Altho' these pieces have been exhibited before, the only labels we had in them were tyvek. We printed some new ones on ribbon thet we ironed on to freezer paper. I think it worked out well.

Posted by Karren at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is a piece of silk crepe that I did up in technique I call bomaki. I used this technique to make the pleated leather for Sting Ray jacket.. Here the silk crepe was dyed a bright red , then the the silk was sewn into a tube that fits very tightly onto the pole ( no string involved) and then scrunched together. It was then discharged-- too much-- and overdyed. The colors are not what I wanted but good enough to try an idea that I've had for a small handbag.

The idea is to make a lined bag that will flaten into a circle when on the table, with the pleats as radii. So the circumference of the circle dictates the amount of silk required. I wanted the to have a flower of the unpleated silk in the center when the draw strings are closed.

The problem is that closed, that is draw strings a tight as possible, it still has an opening for your keys or condoms to jump out (which ever will cause the maxium disruption). Here you can see on the bottom that even the tightest gathering leaves a hole (the lining is red).

The opening on the bottom was expected and can be covered by a button sort of thing but the top remains a problem. I can try 2 drawstrings and a shorter bag that has less fabric....

This shot has some charm , the red lining was the starting color of the pleated crepe.

Posted by Karren at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

These questions started here. But this site, The Handmade Market, pushed the same buttons. I like their tag line,

"because Mall is a four letter word".

Are T-shirts handmade? Here is one from their vendors.

It appears to be an American Apparel T-shirt. And they are using the branding by Americain Apparel to sell their product.

Should one expect to get something handmade in the USA for $15-20?

From my experience , with overhead costs, selling costs, etc. this is about 10-15 min. of the makers time including design , manufacturing and packing. Is that what you expect when you buy something handmade?

Let just stay with the T-shirt issue for a moment. T-shirts are not permitted at the kind of Fine Craft Shows that I try to attend, and one would not expect to jury into the Smithsonian Craft Show with T-shirts. Here are some jury standards from the American Craft Council:

Paintings, prints, photographs, graphics (including etchings and web- or sheet-fed offset printed matter), works that incorporate materials acquired from the killing of endangered species, elephant ivory (fossilized ivory is the exception), dried or silk flower arrangements, bonsai, embellished commercially-made objects (e.g., tee shirts, note cards, etc.), and works assembled (wholly or in part) from commercially available kits are not permitted in American Craft Council shows.

This does not mean that there is not a market for this kind of T-shirts, T-shirts are a part of every one's wardrobe. In fact there are sooo many of these that we have abbreviations for them, WOATs (words on a tee) and GOATs (grahics on a tee). What are the consequences of using existing brands, such as American Apperal to sell "handmade"? T-shirts can be tie-dyed or silk-screen printed by hand. Can I tell the difference between industrially and hand screen tees? Or are we talking quanity here? Is this hand-decoration, hand-embellishment or customization? Is it the language, not the work, that needs to evolve to describe this part of our current lives?

And this is one of the questions which has already been considered, how about this piece? This is a sewn product, how is it better (that I should pay more) because it is hand-made?

Posted by Karren at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I do not use bleach.

For those of you that have read any of my articles about discharge you know I don't think there is any justification for the use of bleach. Here is a picture, from La Bricoleuse, of the inintended consequences of using bleach;

True, bleach immediately destorys protein fibers including silk. It also is destructive to cellulose, just more slowly. Using bleach on cotton requires careful control of all varibles, temperature, concentration and time, to assure that the bleach destroys the dye before it destroys too much of the fibers. This kind of control is rarely availble in artists studios.

I do discharge on a daily basis. I use thiourea dioxide which does not attack the fibers. I can be used on silk and cotton ( that is all fibers). It is heat activated , so cooling stops the action--I find this gives me more control. Others like that bleach is active at room temperature, but then stopping it requires another chemical. For me, it is easier to heat to activate( by way of boiling in a pot, heat gun, iron, dryer), rather than struggling to deactivate.

Buying bleach at the supermarket near home instead of a dye supplier does not mean that it is easier or safer to use properly. You still need a specailized chemical, usually from the dye supplier, to stop the action of the bleach. Bleach and thiourea dioxide both require a respirator with acid gas cartridges. You may not like the sulfur based smell when using thiourea dioxide ( thio means sulfur) but the smell of bleach is chlorine gas that was used a posion gas in WW I.

Posted by Karren at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My wish is that a person would see the ENTWINEMENTS scarves and just fall in love with them and then find a style that fits into their budget and lifestyle. But reality intrudes and people are different, every one, so have different motivation for buying our scarves.

Karina over at XOXO says:

Why should you spend $170.00 on a scarf when I can choose from a million other scarfs for a fraction of the price??

Because… it means you can still wear your chain store coat, and steve madden boots and just tie this little piece of luxury around your neck and still look like a designer wearing fashionista with wads of cash.

Just think about it… either spend $170 on a scarf and that’s your designer piece your wearing…OR you can wear a $1000 pair of boots, or $1000 coat??

So you see, there is a method behind my madness…

Posted by Karren at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glennis responded to my entry in a comment

*What qualities do those made by master-craftsman have that differs from that made by a hobbists/novice? I think of master-craftsman as someone who has explored in depth the process, perhaps the history of a craft and has spent substantial time practicing, learning and exploring their art form (oops-said the "A" word). A hobbyist/novice is breaking the surface but not necessarily devoted to the craft/practice by choice. The difference in the end result of the object is probably most apparent to the maker them self. I have seen exquisite works created by master-craftsman and hobbyists/novices alike-this is a difficult question for me to answer. *Are these objects endowed with properties that are a reflection of their maker's culture and times? I believe this is true. I love to wander museums and look at crafts from other places and times. I always fantasize about who the maker was and the environment in which the object was made often comparing it to objects in my daily life. Could I make it? Would I? Why? *Thus would the object have the same properties if she designed it and had it made in China/Thailand (you fill a country with low labor costs)? NO! Don't get me started on this one......this is a completely different thing in my book. I have seen the results of this many, many, many times. And its effects on 1.) the original maker, 2.) the end product , 3.) the marketplace. Even if you take an object and have it made by hand here, under your own supervision there is a difference. As artists, craftsman, hobbyists, and novices we choose our result and our path.

I do make things by hand and have no other source of income, so needless to say I've spent a few hours driving thinking about this. It sound to me like you are saying that there is no place in our market place for hand-made (in this case made start to finish by one person) in the US. The women in Ms. Shroff project spent from 3 mo. to a year making their panels. Lets assume that they spent the majority of their time taking care of their families and I have no such responsibilities, so I can make panels faster say one a month. Lets also asume that I want to earn $30 000 in the year, this is a modest income to pay for health insurance, a home and it's utilites, a car and taxes. That means that I must sell 12 panels (without incurring any marketing costs or the price will go up) for $2500 each.

Do you truly think there is a market for dozen $2500 textiles this year?

If not then one needs to think of a way to make more- such as help- or faster made products. If I have some one else iron them are they still hand-made? How about having the hems hand -rolled in China? Does the cloth need to be hand-woven? I think we need a better defintion of hand-made.

Posted by Karren at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was at dinner last night with some collegues that own a gallery and are both makers. We were discussing the role of hand craftman made objects in our world and yours too. We start from the assumption that hand-made objects reflect the heart, head and hand of the maker. Some of the questions we asked are:

What is the quality that these objects have that industrially made objects don't have?

What qualities do those made by master-craftsman have that differs from that made by a hobbists/novice?

Are these objects endowed with properties that are a reflection of their maker's culture and times? Thus would the object have the same properties if she designed it and had it made in China/Thailand (you fill a country with low labor costs)?

Please share any thoughts you might have.

So today I happened on this information on Chandra Shroff. What an amazing project, the genius is in it's simplicity! No teaching or preaching or forgein consultants on how to make colors that will sell in some far off land. The project is based on love and respect for the women's work. The work is stimulating pride and quality. What a cultural treasure she has created with this collection of panels. I hope these women and their daughters always have access to them. I would travel to see them, and probably be stimulated and learn a thing or two.

P.S. Did you see all the shibori in the video?

Posted by Karren at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

You can compare this with the instudio picture.

This is the Stringray outfit much discussed in this blog (a, b, c, d e, f, g, h i, j).

The textile center has put up pictures from the ARTWEAR IN MOTION show. They have pictures from the show and of the winners. This year's show wasn't a runway show but took place on a stage.

At the Center's website you can find info for entering next years show.

Posted by Karren at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)