More experiments

Here are more of the experiments I did before I came up with the Watermark exhibition idea. I was given a packet of feathers in a 'lucky dip ' exercise and because I was working with the willow plate at the time i dyed them blue with acid dye and then played with them, rearranging them and taking photos.
I created a pretty blue and white area in my studio

 I thought of these pictures as the two little birds from the willow pattern plate. Below - the cat got one.

Yum yum
Hungry felt ball

After the blue and white I started using bright colours. The bright colours were a shock, and then I realised that that was what I was trying to do!

research and experiments

3000 word essay later...I discovered that I got it in 2 days early, darn! I would have had more time to hone it a bit  if I'd realised it wasn't due in till Wednesday.

So having been back through all my visual diaries and notes I thought I would put some of the inspiration and experiments on the blog.

NB The wallhangings are currently hanging at Whitireia Library in Porirua, without all the dye cups and nothing dripping. They look nice against the windows but there isn't the element of performance so its not quite the same.

Images which inspired my exhibition Watermark which I've been burbling about recently.

 Blood red river

 Water collected from Chinese Rivers and lakes

Multicoloured rivers

Some of the things that I used for inspiration.

 White on white quilts and embroideries

 Chinese papercut patterns

Antique willow pattern carving plate which we use at Christmas for the turkey.

Artists whose work I looked at:

Work by Shinique Smith

Work by Julia Morrison

Work by Fiona Hall from the exhibition Kermadec.

Some of my experiments:

 Building 3D models in a plate then trying to fill the plate with dye (looks pretty but need something stronger than cardboard)

 Oops - seems to have rotated itself but you can see what it is.

 Trying to wick dye up fabric from plate

I saw a really bright coat in a shop in the local mall and started imagining dye dripping off it. So I made a resin version of a drip and took it to the shops and took photos. I felt quite subversive but that type of resin makes rectangular shapes because it is for coating flat surface- not quite drip like. Next time :-)

 Felt stones - I thought they looked like they have been sitting in the river and have been dyed on the bottom

Denim drinking water?

 Bird made from a sponge and feathers

 Bird soaked in dye

 Bird dropped onto fabric - 'The impact of dye on the environment?" -

Print of bird made from sponge and feathers

 Dye working its way down calico evenly

Vertically dyed calico

Eureka - the first dyed piece where the dye followed the seams.

Sometimes you have to do a lot of strange stuff to get to somewhere.