Thus the name Sustainance. I chose the newer version of the word sustenance, which usually refers to food... newly defined: simply that which keeps something in existence. (From the Urban Dictionary)
That which keeps something in existence. Like the sun. Like community. Thinking a lot about that lately. The sun here has morphed into something a little bit egg shaped with all the handling. In this case, perfect.
...continued from here...
and finally finished here.
Continued from here...
I have begun to move outward, and to distort the frame in sympathy with the original ring of vision. With dreams of expanding the cloth to cloth idea. This could go on forever. But of course I will never have time. But then again I can imagine it. So there you go. Mend your ideas and they might last forever.
And today I really like this.
This one is coming along. I started this way back in whispering hearts and it has finally been tamed a bit. I've been experimenting with ways to control the tension with variations of a Kantha stitch, a good exercise in relaxing all the blue that included linen, silk velvet and silk gauze, all so different in weight and density. All so individual but now working together. The new yellow rays have created some excitement, pushing the blue right off the edge. Fly away blues.
This started as a heart sampler and formed into a circle of hearts. A community. Like the sun, something life sustaining. To balance the Blues. There were 9 hearts, until I cropped the piece, but I can fix that easily enough.
Continued here...
The warm weather is holding. So odd to be outside in short sleeves in March. I have my indigo vats going inside for now because nights are still cold. The radiant heat in the floor seems to be a real plus. The vats are happy. Thanks to Glennis, I am understanding them a bit more. And the walnut pot has been outside all winter and never seems to give up. I guess this will be the year of brown and blue.... so it goes. I like dyeing thin cloth. How you can see the weave when the light comes through. I need some thin window coverings for the warmer season. A bit of shade, but not too much. I figure I will stitch a lot of my thin dye samples together as window coverings, just to look through them for a while. I can cut them up later. There is a lot of thin cloth here. Because I have always been on the lookout for it. And then, I am weaving some too. Just small pieces. Using some very thin cotton linen yarn leftover from my textile industry days... trying to use it up before it ages too much. Or I do. It is harder to weave thin cloth, to get an even beat. Dense cloth you can really slam together, but thin cloth, you have to leave space, develop restraint. I use a little rocking dance, the distance of my leaning back as I pull the beater regulates the space rather than just judging how hard to press against the web. It works much better for me. The only handwoven cloth here is the second ring with the square dobby weave. When I find some extra time... ha... I will try a small piece of new cloth that makes those squares more like nine patches. Right?
I love how wind will bend a cloth and change the form of what's on it. Over and Over. I love the eye that forms when a ring bends. And I love how a thin cloth shows itself so honestly. Truly a cloth whispering. And I really love how any color can become brown with a bit of tweaking. Sometimes it is just the time of day.
This is an old fling thing, revisited. Disassembled. I have found new purpose in taking some old thoughts apart in order to put them back together.
It is nice to see students starting blogs and sharing their work. We all know how hard it is to find folks to come visit when we first step into this big web. So go say hi.
Then. there is the the woven/ dyed fling...
Hanging in the window since summer.
Waiting.
today, anticipating colder nights, i moved the potted plants off the deck, into the house. the clay pots left rings on the wood. aren't they beautiful? they sell plastic guards to prevent this from happening. and people buy them.
later, i tried isolating some pomegranate dye inside the ring. on cloth. nice. change is inspiration. preventing it might inhibit what makes us think.
i also tried filling some rings with marks. thread marks.
this yellow stone now seems like a sun dial. moon dial?
rays. rays are like fringe.
sometimes. the sea. there is a stillness in its movement.
i couldn't help combining these two images, one on the other. two kinds of gentle motion.
a motion that brings you pause.
then walking.
and under my feet. there were bits of sun that seems trapped in the fragments on the sand.
and later, caught in broken bits of ripple.
it seemed naturally to follow. a feather floating in some old sky with bits of a sunny day.
with friends.
and so.
the summer seems to have gone way too fast this time.
too much time in front of a computer.
i want to float more.
bye.
indigo shibori by Glennis Dolce (resource page)
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