Watermark Day 2

Here is the image for Day 2's Vertical dyeing performance!

A friend of mine lived on a lifestyle block north of Wellington and I have modelled this image on a little cottage and bridge on her land. This is dedicated to Jan. S.

Here is what happened when the dye started running. I haven't got as many pictures of this piece as I was distracted by something else that was going on at the time. I will come to that later.

The official opening was tonight too. Everyone who stopped to chat seemed to like it. It seems to be particularly appealing to scientists who want to know why some colours spread through the fabric faster than others. This one may radically change in colour overnight as I topped up the cups with a darker blue.

On a technical note - they are made of a very stiff type of cotton. The dye travels to where there are two layers or where there is thread embroidery. At the moment they have not had soda ash put through them so are not fixed. I cut out the outside patterns by putting all five together and cutting through all 5 with a craft knife. It was a bit like a Chinese papercut.

The reason for a lack of photos of this one is because when I arrived at the gallery someone had parked their bike there and chained it to the post in the room. Here it is chained to a post in front of my artist statement.  I went steaming off to try and get them to move it. Which I did very badly and not at all successfully. Someone more tactful than me, went and asked nicely later and it was finally moved at lunchtime. Whew!

This is a detail of part of the wallhanging dyed on day 1. The fabric has dried and you can see a shadow on the wall behind. When the fabric is white it makes a light shadow but once it is dyed it leaves  a much darker shadow.

Now I have to go and make up the dyes for day 3. Tune in again tomorrow!
Clare