Tag: arts ink

Fiber Fridays #2: Dying Fibers

rissaw Leave a comment

Hello everyone!
This post is coming to you a bit late due to wifi issues so I apologize for the delay! This week I want to discuss with you guys what it is like to dye your own fibers for your work. Spoiler alert! It’s hard, at least in my own experience. Getting the perfect shade that you are imagining in your head can prove to be difficult.

My original intention for this fabric was to weave a really long sheet on a loom and use it to sew little purses and bags. I imagined almost “forest-ish” colors, such as deep orange, dark green, and a pale yellow for my weft. I wanted to weave in brown and beige colors and have a soft look to it.

I had to start out by measuring yards upon yards of threads for my warp , and spending hours in the weaving studio spinning them into the perfect measurements. I then took them to the dye studio, where things quickly felt more complicated. I had to mix the appropriate amounts of each dye with other chemicals in order to get the colors I wanted, and I had never dyed anything besides my hair.

When I finally got the bundles of threads into their respective dye buckets, I felt confident. The colors looked dark and moody, exactly what I wanted! I let these colors sit longer than the yellow. The yellow seemed like if I just pulled it out quickly it would be the lighter yellow I wanted.

The above photo was the result. I was embarrassed. These look straight out of a lemon lime ad. They looked citrus themed, far from what I ever wanted to work with. Far from anything I even care about. I was stuck on how I could make this work. I turned to a color palette generator, and put in the colors I had created in the fibers. The computer gave me a variety of different colors that could work as the weft. I decided to turn the cloth into an experimental project. At random intervals, the fabric would have a new colored weft.

Shifting gears with this project is what I believe really saved it. I ended up loving the end cloth and was able to use ti for the small bags that I wanted to use it for, as well as reupholstering a vanity chair. Weaving is always a rough journey for me, and dying my own fibers made it even harder. I would do it again though, and recommend it to others who would like to try!
See you guys later this week for actual Fiber Fridays!
-Marissa
Below is some of the final products:

People Watching: Midterms Edition

Isabella Brown Leave a comment

Hi again! I’m not sure how much this drawing counts as “people watching”, but who says “people” has to mean “strangers”? I’ve been spending a lot of time this past week opposite my friends just studying and I think today’s post portrays that rather accurately. Drawing on notebook paper instead of my sketchbook felt particularly fitting. The top image took place in the LSA building (where I spent six and a half hours today), and the bottom was in my friend’s apartment. I loved noticing how much stuff we surround ourselves with while studying: laptops, tablets, water bottles, my two indispensable pens, so many notebooks, planners, and… a french press? I suppose caffeine is a must. Good luck to everyone taking exams this week (I know I’ll need it)!

Wolverine Stew: The Uncanny

clydemg Leave a comment

I was born deep in the valley

To a mother who loved mountains

And a father who longed for the coasts 

I loved to venture out when I was young

And be with people in the sunlight

But my smile is always a bit too short

My eyes always a bit out of position

My reactions always a bit off cue

My phrases always looped like a record

My frame always stretched and looming

My walk always pointed and crooked

My name always unconnected to anything 

My presence always a bit unexpected 

I laugh at static to laugh at something

I live for stages to feel at home

I watch the world spin and want to spin with it

Maybe you see past the mask I craft

I certainly do, but I’m still not sure

What exactly is supposed to be underneath

I spent so long studying what might be there

But all I know I have is skin 

Fitted forever over an unknown 

But whatever might be there

I hope it’s something nice

Something that makes people happy

Something that’s close enough to human 

That would be nice

Please be patient with me

I’m learning how to be a person  

Fiber Fridays: Fabric Slashing + Intro

rissaw 2 Comments

Hello everyone!
My name is Marissa Woods and I am so excited to be returning to Arts, ink. this year as an artist and writer. Last year my content primarily focused on my illustration work and relatable content for students on campus. This year, I am taking the leap of journaling about my fiber arts practice. I plan on posting different techniques i am studying so you readers can learn along side me. This is a great opportunity for me to be able to log my progress over the year, as well as create more community awareness about fiber arts and the various topics I am passionate about.

I am going to cover a variety of topics such as weaving, sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, tapestry, etc. I plan to inform you readers on how to do them! My ultimate goal is to teach. Occasionally I’ll have free patterns uploaded for you to try on your own at home. I encourage you to become involved with fibers, it can be a great outlet and art form.

Our first topic, fiber slashing! (Sewing). I love the texture that this technique beings to the fabric. I am a huge fan of frayed ends and loose threads. This specific piece in the image was inspired by the women’s reproductive system. I am currently taking a women’s health course, which has majorly broadened my perspective. Feminism and fiber arts go hand in hand the more you look into its history. I will write more on this topic later!

In order to to do this technique on your own at home,
1. Lay 1 piece of fabric down
2. Lay a billion different little scraps of fabric on top of the first piece.
3. Layer a top piece of fabric, the same size as the first piece.
4. Sew with a machine around the border of your fabric sandwich, locking your inner fabics inside of a closed pocket.
5. Sew up and down, equally spaced apart, about 1/2 inch. (The wider the stitch gaps, the more fabric will come out when you get to the slashing. A smaller width can make it too small to get the fabric to pull up and out of the slash.
6. Using a seam ripper, CAREFULLY! rip into the top layer of fabric in the in between spaces. Be sure not to accidentally rip all the way through your back panel. If this happens, you may add additional stitching by hand on the back to re-form the support layer. Experiment with ripping into different layers of the fabric, instead of staying at the same depth!
7. Go crazy! Pull as many fibers as you would like to be frayed or pull out which specific colors interest you the most!

I hope everyone enjoyed this week’s first post! I am so excited to continue sharing my practice as well as educate about fiber arts! See you next Fiber Friday!

Wolverine Stew: Aimless

clydemg Leave a comment

I have a headache

I treat it with two ibuprofen pills

And drink them down with bean broth from the garden back home

Mixed with tattered bits of veggie bacon

That I took back here in a Tupperware container

The ones with light blue lids that pop when you press them on

Never thought that would remind me of home

But still makes me smile

And all my thinking of silver hands and standing stones

And jumping with banshees to avoid the last stair of the fire exit

That only goes down and not up for some reason

Lets me get out of that feeling of my face being wrong

The hair glued to the scalp

And the air feeling too still 

And I don’t mind the mosquitoes

Putting a bump on each of my right fingers

Because I get to wander and look at mushrooms and cobwebs

And send pictures and recorded rivers to Mom and Dad

Smiling at the texts they send back

Because I like to share the earth in photos

And at night, when I don’t need to write about headstones

(One of the few times staying up ‘til 1 AM feels good)

I’ll spend them watching Bella Lugosi and listening to jellyfish lofi

But this time, I don’t laugh alone

Words flowing between like a two-stream-at-least river

And that will always be enough   

LOG_022_KOMOREBI

Traveler Leave a comment

Of becoming aware in bits and pieces—not a violent awakening, like so many others, nor an abrupt transition from nothing into existence, but a gradual recognition: of the dappled sunlight on soil under leaf-laden boughs; of how the rain patters and plinks on the shed’s tin roof; of the songbirds that visit the tiny, overgrown garden amidst gold-white sprays of marigolds and gardenias, singing, effervescent. Like children watching the sun, the moon, watching both as they tread the same paths across the blue sky, the ubiquitous sky, the knowing and the not knowing of how it all happens, distilled into a warm cup of tea. Of one day waking up and saying hello.