I've been reading A Grief Observed by CS Lewis (it's been on the shelf for years and years, but only now did I open it). The man is somehow inside my head. My own words are down on his pages, even some of the words I've put into artwork. I finished it last night, slept like a baby, and awoke this morning determined to bake bread. I've eaten some already. I will take a loaf to a neighbor who gives me homegrown tomatoes. There's a lot to be said for the small comforts.
My mother always made bread. Nothing tastes so much like home or smells so wonderful. I've tried bread machines, but they make the bread too fluffy, too airy. Hand kneading isn't hard, anyway,and it's a decent ten-minute workout. Mother said, "You know it's ready when the dough feels like a baby's bottom." Then she would spank it gently--we were a big family, and there was always a baby around. So now I bake bread from her recipe when the spirit moves me,and today was one of those days.
I've been reading A Grief Observed by CS Lewis (it's been on the shelf for years and years, but only now did I open it). The man is somehow inside my head. My own words are down on his pages, even some of the words I've put into artwork. I finished it last night, slept like a baby, and awoke this morning determined to bake bread. I've eaten some already. I will take a loaf to a neighbor who gives me homegrown tomatoes. There's a lot to be said for the small comforts.
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After a shopping trip for gazing ball, glue, screws (I always assume I have plenty of screws, but somehow the ones in the drawer are never the right size), paint, and a couple of hours sweating and drilling holes, spraypainting, cogitating--here she is with a neck made of a plastic sherbet cup, a gazing ball head, and purple wisteria vines wound with copper wire for decoration. I had planned for the vines to be hair, but they couldn't be attached close enough to the head for that to work. She's a little Medusa-like, I think, but friendlier. She may acquire a necklace and possibly a flower bouquet or a banner held in the upraised arm. And I'm considering a tiara, or maybe a floral wreath would be better. Open to opinions on that one--send a comment if you like.
After taking in all the sun-drenched kakishibu pieces, I just had to make something. I had some really nice rust-dyed fabric that combined well with the persimmon dye color, and some scrim that Pam and I had used to wipe our hands after dyeing. That, together with some beads, lots of thread work and a certain amount of obsession resulted in the piece below. This one is very personal, of course, dealing with the partner/helpmeet relationship of Adam and Eve (GN 2:23), with unfinished edges and dangling threads, layers and all those loose ends. All the bits and pieces have their own back stories. Working on it was deeply absorbing. Don't know where I'll hang the thing; for now it's in the dining room where I hang stuff to photograph. Persistence (in process) You may remember "Persistence," the wisteria segment saved when I had dead trees taken down. Here she is, seated on a big flowerpot. I gave her a coat of oil (a girl needs moisturizer once in a while) and I'm searching for an appropriately sized gazing ball to be glued in place for a head. I'll do some shopping for that tomorrow. I'm not sure about shoes. It's been raining very hard today, so she'll need to dry out before I can glue or paint. Then I need to decide whether she's to stay exposed by the front door, or to find a more sheltered spot. The wisteria stump has started sprouting leaves again. I'll try to keep it trimmed into a nice, manageable bush this time. Although that may be just wishful thinking! Friday and Saturday were spent with dyeing guru Pam McManus in her backyard, experimenting with Kakishibu dyeing. Kakishibu is a Japanese dye made from fermented unripe persimmons. The material and its use are very old (and if you are interested, just do some googling and read blogs from people in Japan. There's a long tradition around this stuff.) Pam had read about it in a magazine and suggested we try it. We also worked with indigo and bois d'arc dyes. The idea with Kakishibu is to put dry cloth into the dye, then scrunch it up and let it dry in hot sun. The heat and sunlight darken the exposed ares to a nice pinkish brown in a few hours. The longer it's exposed to sun, the darker it gets during the first two weeks. The color apparently continues to darken very gradually for about two years. You can increase the value by dipping more than once into the dye, drying it in between. The raised (darker) areas will retain their "head start" and will remain darker than the rest for the life of the fabric--so your scrunching or pleating takes on a life of its own. We found that the dyed fabric dried very stiff, not too surprising when you realize that the dye is essentially fruit juice. But you're not supposed to wash it too vigorously because you want it to keep darkening. Both Friday and Saturday were hot and still; I came home with an armload of stiff fabric and very sweaty and tired. Still, we had dyed yarns for Pam's weaving, old damask for my stash, some cotton pieces, some scrim. We had dyed a number of silk scarves (I had two that I wasn't satisfied with from prior dye attempts--adding the new color enriched them greatly.) Today was hot and quite windy. I bought clothesline and clothespins and hung the pieces out in the back yard. You can see them in the photo above, dancing gaily on the line. Here are some more photos: I will iron these (no steam) this evening and consider how to use them. The dye also has waterproofing capability (was traditionally used in Japan for umbrellas) and works very well on paper. You can add touches of iron solution to make black/gray marks, titanium to make yellow, and soda bicarbonate to make it more orange. I look forward to working with these fabrics in jackets and wall hangings.
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AuthorBobbe Shapiro Nolan, Fiber Artist in Eagle Lake, TX. Trying to learn to call the sewing room my studio, and myself an artist. I retired after 15 years in hospice nursing--so now I have the time!. Archives
July 2021
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