Indigo play and paper weaving

"

A few years ago, my friend Susan let her indigo vat dry up.  This is some of the pigment residue from the bottom of the pot.  I kept a bag of it for experimentation.  I ground some up, and added water to make a paste for painting.  I also mixed some with soy milk.  The soy milk acts as a binder to fabric, so I thought maybe it would help on paper also.

The results are not as stunning as a fresh batch, but I was happy that it didn't go to waste. The paper below is for sumie.  I should be able to cut and spin it sometime in the future.

  

Porcelain spoons dipped in indigo, and wrapped with cane.

Porcelain 'sticks' dipped in indigo.  The weaving is abaca paper yarn that I spun with very fine wire.  The background paper has been dyed with indigo, also. 8.5"x11"

Micaceous clay spoons with weaving.

Bisque fired clay 'sticks' woven with Habu paper yarn.  The background is raw silk dyed with kakishibu, a Japanese persimmon dye.  The flower is a variation of my family crest.  It was stenciled with kakishibu and bengara ( red iron oxide).
8"x8"

Embroidery

Today I saw FB friend, Velma Bolyard's post about embroidering on paper.  It reminded me to dig out an embroidery project that I started awhile ago.

I was looking into "semamori," which is a Japanese custom of embroidering an amulet or good luck symbol on the back, under the collar, of a child's kimono.

I found several samples on the internet.  The photos below are from srithreads.com

 I was able to get this book from Japan-

I started practicing a few stitches on my own.  The background paper is watercolor paper which I had dyed some paintings on years ago, and decided to cut up for cards.

Here are some semamori with assorted threads.

You are supposed to sew the design in a certain order, but I wasn't always able to figure that out.

So, armed with inspiration from textile artists Emily Barletta  and Helen Parrott, I got out my hand spun paper yarn with copper leaf, and a piece of indigo dyed watercolor paper.  http://emilybarletta.com/section/204626-paper.html
http://helenparrott.co.uk/

Here's the piece I embroidered today.  It's not quite finished. I'm trying to decide about a stitch on the edges.

It's approximately 10 in. by 10 in. 

Dec. 2015

I started out the new year by finishing a project that I've been dreaming and working on for months. It's a combination of bookbinding, weaving and koyori (Japanese paper cord).

Most of Dec., I've been visually impaired due to impending cataract surgery.  First I had to wear my coke bottle glasses (extremely nearsighted) for 3 1/2 weeks.  It was disconcerting, since I had no depth perception. Then one eye was fixed, and I was lopsided for 2 weeks. My poor brain!  Then the 2nd eye, and now, 5 days later, almost perfect.

So needless to say, it was a difficult month for completing artwork.  Doing ceramics helped, and I could weave items that didn't require a lot of detail work.

For my book, 8 Paper Moons, I've used paper cord that I spun by hand, or with an electric drill.  (If you want to know more about this process, I'm teaching a workshop in Portland, OR. very soon. http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/retreat-pdx16-3550-workshop.php)


I tried a variety of weaving techniques and lots of leftover paper cords.  The cover is birch bark.  Photos of some of the moons follow.  The closure cord is also paper cord, and the rabbit is a special addition.  In Japanese folklore, there is a rabbit on the moon, instead of our man on the moon.  This rabbit bead was in my mom's collection.  I don't remember if I gave it to her or not.  (She collected miniature rabbits.)

 

title page

Woven right onto the paper

  I wove this moon on a little circle loom first.

Moon woven onto the paper

Woven on a circle loom

Right side is tapestry weaving

Indigo Blues

A few months ago, I completed the sash on the right.  It's made of handspun paper cord, woven on a peg loom.  I tried several different ways of displaying it, but was never happy with the presentation.

I had some beautiful indigo dyed watercolor paper that I've been holding on to for at least a year now.  Sometimes when I get good dye results, I hate to cut the paper right away, so I hang on to it until an idea pops into my head.  I decided to work with the indigo blues idea, since this is my current frame of mind.  I cut the indigo paper with my pasta cutting machine, and started out doing a 4-4 undulating twill design from A Handbook of Weaves, but ended up changing it for more interest.

The pressed leaves were a lovely find from MECCA in Eugene.  You can buy recycled items for art projects there, and you never know what you'll find.  I was digging through the natural items basket, and found several plastic bags full of pressed leaves.  Yahoo!