Some college updates …

I’m playing with new materials & textures for my final project. I usually work with plain old unbleached muslin (which I happen to love), but I’ve purchased some organic linen … & cheesecloth. Yes, cheesecloth. I wanted something light, airy, & with an open weave. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also very cheap! I washed & machine-dried it along with a few metres of linen & muslin, & the above photo is what I got: beautiful pleats & folds. I don’t know if it was a fluke, caused by the way the fabric became entangled in all those loose threads, but I’m going to experiment with cheesecloth & see what fun things I can do with it. I’m thrilled with how it turned out.

In our latest Dye Chemistry class, we learned the process of polychromatic dyeing! It’s AMAZING. We “paint” our silkscreens directly with dye water, letting them dry between several layers. We place our screens onto our fabric, & pull sodium alginate (a thickening agent for use with dyes) down the screens with our squeegees. The dye transfers from our screen mesh onto the fabric! The only downside to this method is that it can only be used once or twice — the image needs to be repainted each time. It’s a very fun & satisfying process, though!

Also in Dye Chem, we’ve completed our dye squares: 2-inch squares of fabric that we can keep forever, to help us choose & mix colours for future projects. Super exciting!

Some lovely bits of inspiration from my notebook!

I drew a cute little nautical-themed pattern, to hopefully be used as tote bag linings. I think one of the most fun parts about creating new patterns is scanning them into Photoshop & playing around with colour palettes.

Another little project, but I won’t say what this is for!

With all of this beautiful imagery surrounding me, & the return of the sunshine & sweater-weather, I can’t help but get really excited for the rest of my semester! It’s going to be a lot of work, but I plan to enjoy it.

xx Tara-Marie