Fiber Art
This past winter I have been obsessively exploring ways to print rust onto fabric and the complex relationship between rusts, oxides, and indigo. Last year, I created a natural dyes library as I find myself returning (after a long hiatus) to dye, textile printing and feltmaking, as expressive media. Creating color with plants is magical because color offers itself to us unconditionally—it feels like nature’s way of loving us.
I’ve also returned to “wet” and “Nuno” felt making—and making forays into working with these different techniques to create wall hangings and physical objects.
Living in New Mexico has introduced me to churro wool—a sheep long farmed by the Navajo—which creates a thick, strong, rougher felt. My “wet” felting experiments with this wool have shown me how I can create seriously thick hunks of wool —almost like flexible slabs of clay—that offer their own creative possibilities quite different from the Nuno felting.
Below are a couple of videos about my recent forays in creating a natural dye library and printing with rust. I’ve also included samples of my wool and dye experiments below—some finished work and some works in progress.
Rust Printing on Silk, Cotton, & Linen
I’ve spent the last several months neck deep in rust printing on silk, and cotton, and linen. This short video above shows how various the rust prints can look—from positively photographic to densely textured.
A Natural Dye Library
Building this natural dye reference library for myself has been intensely gratifying. Dyeing with plants and insects is so much gentler than with synthetic dyes, and the colors have so much more nuance.
Normally, I have an idea for a series of works and then I explore the materials that I think can help me bring my idea into fruition. But this time, the opposite happened—I felt deeply compelled by the materials themselves, even without a plan for them. But of course, ideas are springing forth from my beautiful swatches—some long dormant and some new. I’m so curious to see where it all takes me.
