Me Musing . . . July 1, 2008 . . .

I have returned from my 4 days of Adventures in Eugene, Oregon and what a time it was! Everyone I met felt like I had re-united with an old friend.

I'll just give you a brief report as there was much happening!

The two-day Heat Press Dye workshop at the Eugene Textile Center with Marilyn was fabulous. There were 4 of us . . . two of which were young men who have design, colour and sports-wear in their future. What a change that was from the usual 'ladies only signing up' for a workshop scenario!

The heat press works on microfiber fabrics . . . think 'polyester' (which when I found that out I almost un-signed myself from the class!!!!) Those of us who had our fill of polyester clothing in the 70's runnnnnnnnnnnnn when we hear that word!!!!!!! I must admit however, that it is making a comeback in a new way. Even the famous designer, Issey Miyake has been doing a line of clothing called 'Pleats Please' in polyester!!!!!!!!!! Probably because once the fabric is heat pressed the pleats are permanent.

The dyes were painted on white paper and we then cut out shapes or used the whole sheet for dyeing onto the fabric.

Once we had our composition layed out we went to the marvelous heat press machine and within 60 seconds a whole new piece of fabric appeared before our eyes!

These are some of mine (except the green-yellow one on bottom left)

I had taken some $1 a yard green Walmart fabric with me and decided I'd use it for my samples since I don't wear white . . . not sure I'd wear this green either, but thought it would be interesting for something later . . . maybe pojagi (wrapping cloths)!

We did a variety of techniques and one of my favorites was this one of pulling parts of the fabric through a cardboard design we had made. The little 'pull throughs' got colour on their tips and the back side got colour from the sheet of dye placed on the back side of the fabric. This is mine done on organza.

We tried our hand at doing words which were printed out from the computer. Unfortunately we then had to cut out very carefully around the letters to use as a stencil. As Daddy used to say: 'another thing I wouldn't want to do for a living!!!!!'

Those two days went very fast and it was very difficult to leave such a wonderful work-space.

Just before I had left on the trip I happened to check the website of John Doan (the Salem musician who plays the harp-guitar and harpolyre we had seen on an Oregon Art Beat program on PBS). I could hardly believe my eyes when it showed he was doing a house-concert while I would be in Eugene. So I ordered a ticket and Saturday after class drove there for the concert. It was well worth the trip.

John and Deirdra's home is unique, the gardens unbelievable and the music John creates is beyond words. Because it had been soooooooo hot that day, everything was moved outdoors . . . which actually lent a more mystical feature to the evening of his Celtic Pilgrimage. (Here are links to photos of John's 1829 harpolyre and harp guitar and Celtic trip.)

A few years back, John had gone to 'thin places' in Ireland, then on to Scotland and England and Wales. 'Thin places' are where it is said in folk-lore (and occurs in real-time also!!!!!!!!!) that heaven and earth come together . . . or as some would say . . . 'the veil is very thin there'.

A friend of John's, after hearing the music John had composed while in those 'thin places' went to visit each of them and took incredible photographs which he put together in a magical slide show. So the evening was one of John telling us the story of the trip, viewing segments of the slideshow at the same time John played his original compositions on the harp-guitar. Talk about being transported into another realm!

The wind picked up at times and made the slide-screen shutter and it always seemed to be on a scene where it made the photograph come even more to life!

We are all anxiously awaiting the Celtic Pilgrimage DVD that will be available in a few months.

Sunday I returned to Eugene for my Indigo Shibori Dye workshop. We were outside at Mt. Pisgah Aboretum and 'dressed for a mess'!

Barbara and her son Michael led us through the fascinating process of indigo dyeing combined with Shibori resist techniques . . . which include stitching, pleating, clamping, binding. Wherever the fabric has any of those, the dye 'resists' that area. The gorgeous silk Shibori pleated/dyed shawl scarf I bought in early June while at the Pojagi workshop was done by Barbara and Michael. (see the June 11th musing)

Indigo Pot

My scarf which was done by folding
and clamping the silk with wooden blocks.
The white 'resisted' the dye as that area
was between the wooden blocks.

After seeing a scarf Barbara had done
by pushing the fabric into tight folds,
(it's on the table next to wine bottle)
I decided to try that on my scarf!
I sewed the long edges together then we
scrunched it up around a wine bottle and re-dyed it!
There were still a few white places showing,
so I dunked it quickly into the dye and those blended in to a soft blue.

The wine bottle resist created the dark 'zebra-like- stripes!
I was very pleased with the result.

I had also taken the raw-silk Mompe pants (ones that Japanese fieldworkers wore as they had lots of room in the knee areas for bending) that I had made for a demonstration while I was studying Tai Chi. I wasn't fond of the off-white colour on me . . . too much of it . . . and I wanted to try dyeing them . . . so we attempted to do some folding and clamping, however, since the fabric was fairly thick, it was more difficult than just doing a thin silk scarf.

When they first came out they looked like 'prisoner pants' with the white bands! So we dunked them again and the lighter blue appeared.
I washed them twice today and some of the dye came out, but I like them a lot better now. Plus, they are the most comfortable pants to wear!

Other than that . . . not much going on!!!!!!!!

Until soon,

Che'usa

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