a new technique

May 1st – and Spring has sprung

warm sunny days, the backstrap loom got a workout outside

on the weekend daughter-in-law and I drove 38 miles north to the Cowichan Exhibition Park

a beautiful day, cows in the lush green fields with the mountain in the background

 it was a treat to spend the time together, we stopped for lunch at the Duncan Garage Cafe and Bakery

  an amazing selection of goodies and the food was terrific

I went to take a 3 hour workshop in Japanese woodblock- print dyeing – Joanna visited a friend

workshop sensei was Yuko Yamamoto who studied with Tetsuo Koyama in Japan

the unique style of pattern design was developed by Koyama sensei’s father

as the 3 hours didn’t allow time to carve blocks

Yuko-san brought ones she had carved – we each selected 3 blocks

and then 3 colours to dye with

The “dyes” are liquid pigments mixed with a binder

we designed our individual pattern by cutting out the block shapes in coloured paper

and arranging and gluing them on a sheet of paper – this proved to be a very effective process – and fun

the dye is applied to the block, positioned on the fabric and hammered very firmly

everyone had a different design – flowers were popular

this was the person’s work beside me – love the overlapping colours

and my finished pieces

simple shapes overlapped many times in different ways

I contacted both Maiwa and Opus to see what pigments and binders were available

and had to settle on the textile paints I have used in the past

Pebeo’s Setacolor seems to work well

if you want a coloured background you either have to work on fabric that is dyed a very pale colour

or – apply resist to each pattern area and then dye the entire piece – the Japanese resist is handmade rice paste

depending on the amount of patterning that could take months!

a yukata (summer cotton kimono) anyone?

common sense says starting small would be wise

I’m going to sit in the sun and think about it