Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Albino Nudibranch


I can't bring myself to do it.
I think this piece should be enjoyed for its tactile, sculptural form and have no distractions due to colour.
and so I would like to introduce you to this first piece from my next collection, although the next time you see it it might have some cilia - they go through a juvenile stage where they are naked in terms of adornments.
Of course this means I will be stitching away on another length of silk so that I can dye the next species.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Triple Shibori

Here we have a development - My organisms can have nodes... or courting display adaptations, or camouflage texture, or maybe they are pustules developed due to the animals being exposted to hostile environmental conditions... I am a micropalaeontologist - with experience in palaeoecology I can justify their evolution at many levels.
Wonders of wonders my worms are evolving as I sew. And those nodes are just asking to be stitched, burnt, padded, quilted or coloured and embellished.... on on....
-oops I should have said that this piece involves what I like to call Triple Shibori which is Shibori on three planes or three stitching/wrapping processes ... it isn't difficult just time consuming - which I try and see as mind numbingly meditative... and that's a positive isn't it??

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Silk as far as the eye can see.

Five metres of silk and hand stitching... it feels lovely compared to pushing a needle through layers of melted plastic which I expect to gather by hand.
I can do 5 lines in a few minutes so hopefully I will soon be looking for the acid dyes.
This is Creature 1 taking shape... and after the long Xmas break it feels good to be getting back to work.