Happy New Year!

I feel like I’ve been getting in my own way for months now. So I’m starting out the new year by visiting the past.

Since I haven’t known where to start, I’ve been looking at my old sketchbooks as a springboard for ideas. Some of the drawings are from as far back as 2009, but for whatever reason, never got developed. It’s reassuring that there’s plenty of richness there still. Many pages are now marked with a thicket of post-its, and once I started drawing from my old drawings, new ideas came bounding out of the end of my pencil.

I also wanted to get messy in the studio, to get my hands on materials. And, boy did I make a mess! I went through my stash of hand-dyes and pulled out some pieces that had only been dyed once, either low-water immersion or painted, that I thought could be improved by adding another layer. I slathered a thick paste of flour and water to create a resist on a dozen pieces, let them dry over a couple of days, and then applied thickened dye.

I haven’t had a chance to wash them out yet because I came down with a nasty head cold. After three brain-dead days in bed, I finally awoke this morning with a clear head. Tomorrow is laundry day, always a messy one when it comes to working with flour.

Check back for images of the newly dyed fabrics in the next couple days. I can’t wait to share them.

drawing into the wet flour paste on LWI unbleached muslin

applying thickened dye paste over the dried and cracked flour paste

lines of flour applied with a squeeze bottle on a silk crepe

fabric after application of thickened dye

flour paste applied and then picked up with a doily

after thickened dye application

wrinkles in the flour paste were made by the dragging of the silk crepe during paste application

the dried and crackled flour paste makes a distinctive pattern