Sunday, February 27, 2011

Building Blocks

Have you ever noticed that when something is on your mind, you notice it everywhere? I am noticing blocks and this pattern is one I've decided to put into fabric.
Here are some of the blocks not yet attached to each other so that once I have as many as I want completed, I can play with the design. I've used a few natural dyed fabrics and some of the snow dyes from my last batch, as I chose the dye colours hoping to get a match. I'm enjoying how the softness and variety of fabrics and the ripples created as I hand baste bring a more organic feel to the geometrics - a kind of shape blending. I have lots of ideas I want to try and these blocks will be perfect because I can get the variety in that I love, yet still create a unified whole through the consistency of some of the same fabrics and the overall block pattern.
I have also been buying silks in preparation for an online Shibori silk dyeing class with Glennis Dolce in a few weeks... I periodically dabble in shibori but want to take it further and learn more.



And I got out to the opening of the 'Turning The Tide' textile art show at the Martin Batchelor Gallery put on by Victoria Grandmothers for Africa that has been touring across Canada and whose pieces will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis foundation and the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign in a few weeks. Some heart warming and lovely work there!








4 comments:

Herm said...

Love your snow-dyed fabrics, yummy colors, did you have to boil them with the dye before putting them in the snow? Also like the idea of the small squares with the woven blocks -- that is a good design!

jude said...

yes, this i what i always mean by thought catching.

Suzanna said...

The colors are really wonderful...I'm curious how you add the dye and cloth to the snow. Also I love the blocks you've made...

Yvonne said...

Thanks, Herm. I did not boil anything when I snow dyed - no heat involved. I just mixed the powdered dye with water as usual and had soaked the fabric in the soda ash/salt water solution before putting it in the bucket. Then I piled snow on top and drizzled the dye over it and left it to melt.

Jude, I think noticing what I'm noticing and then making meaning of that is the deeper work - and - there are levels and levels of that.

Thanks, Suzanna! I explained about the snow dyeing in my comment to Herm - there's a bit more in a previous post comment to her, too.