The Story of Stuff
click on the link and watch the video if you have a few minutes.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Trip to Block Printing community in India
I should have posted these pics up sooner but I just didn't get the chance. I was busy trying to get results from the natural dye block printing I had learnt in India.
This is how the story goes. So, fortunately, I was able to meet Dipali Patwa, a textile designer and founder of MasalaBabyNyc, http://www.masalababynyc.com, adorable adorable children's clothing based on Indian aesthetics. She connected me with Fabindia. Fabindia is a leading retailer in India that works with various craft communities in India, bringing development through employment to their communities.
Check out the link for their website: http://www.fabindia.com/
Once in India, I was sent to Pipar City, a town an hour away from the city of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Not knowing what to expect, I was quite nervous but after reaching the house of Chhipa Yasin Shahbuddin, all my nerves were put to rest. I was given a room in their house and the family was very warm and welcoming. Yasin Bhai (brother Yasin) lives with his wife and two children, with two adjoining bungalows for his two brothers, Farouq Bhai and Ilyaas Bhai. Both brothers live in their houses with their wives and children.
Without a minute to waste, I was taken to their block printing factory a few blocks from their house.
Upon entering the factory, I was immediately in love with the atmosphere, the people, the work. I could not believe I was actually there, having the opportunity to learn amongst the block printers. Yasin Bhai and his brothers welcomed me into their homes and their work spaces without holding back anything. They took me around on rounds day after day, I learned how to achieve various color results using alum and iron printing. I spent time over boiling hot water, watching fabrics seep color from various flowers. They also didn't spare me from the physical labour. I washed my own samples in the 2 feet deep wells, amongst the other workers in the factory. The final day I was initiated into making the dabu paste, which is a mud paste that is kneaded with your feet for an hour. I was encouraged to step into the 2 feet deep well, with mud rising up my legs, stepping hard to get all the mud mixed in thoroughly. They had a blast making me do this. :)
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| dyeing fabric in dhavri ka phool, mahi, and alizarine |
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| Ilyaas bhai at the indigo vat |
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| washing fabric |
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| Yasin Bhai in the middle |
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| Farouq Bhai laughing while I step on the dabu paste |
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
MA Textile Design Exhibition 2010
Images from the 2010 MA Textile Design Exhibition at Chelsea College of Art and Design, UAL. The following is a result of hard work and sweat. The collection is based on our visuals of daily life, bringing awareness
to the ordinary through extraordinary techniques. The colors are attained through flowers, leaves, and barks, each gaining a personality of it's own and with a story of its own. The fabric's range from new to reclaimed fabrics that needed to continue living their life with a new meaning.The result of the show was self-satisfaction. After a year long effort to create my own standing and to prove that we can, even as a technologically advanced society, slow down and pay homage to the natural world around us. The patterns speak of pillars, architecture, and nature that surrounds us on our daily wanderings. We don't seem to notice them usually but through the fabrics, I wanted to give the viewer that special preview into what they might have missed on their walk over. The love given to each of the fabric was my way of slowing down and being aware of what each object in our life goes through before it makes it into our living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchen tables. The appreciation gained for time was priceless. The love for fabric created by nature and colored by nature grew immensely. I just hope now we can do justice to these fabrics and give them a home that will truly appreciate them.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
May - The Experimenting begins again
After coming back from India, I've been working on getting similar results on my block printed fabrics. It's coming along well, with great mistakes! All I need to say is, Sodium bi-carbonate is not the same thing as Sodium Carbonate.
Here are a few pics of the samples taken by the very talented Amar Abdel -Halim.
These samples are of linen fabric gotten from TRAID, L
ondon. The fabric was accumulating dust with no buyers, hence it was donated for my project. Lugging it across London was fun, after changing 3 buses and Vedika holding onto the other end of the roll.
The fabric was washed and left overnight in a bath of detergent and soda ash. Next it was dipped in a solution of Harde or myrobalan so that it may produce a better color at the end. Once dried, it was printed on with a mixture of Alum and Tamarind Seed powder. Once dried, it was dipped in a dye bath of Dhavri ka phool, mahi, and Alizarine. Dhavri ka phool and mahi are indian names for different flowers. Alizarine is the synthetic form of madder. The combination of these three gave our fabric a coral coloration, however, we were attempting for Red. After further research, I found out that the PH of the level, if it is too acidic will produce coral colors and hence needs to be neutral to produce the right color. So, the solution to that is adding soda ash to bring the fabric to a neutral PH. With a dash of soda ash, the result was closer to what we wanted. We had gotten a good dark red. The ground however became purple...So the experiment is ongoing.
The darker fabric was first dipped in Iron water before being dipped in the dye bath, hence it has a darker coloration.
Pics of the block in order of development:
Here are a few pics of the samples taken by the very talented Amar Abdel -Halim.
These samples are of linen fabric gotten from TRAID, L
ondon. The fabric was accumulating dust with no buyers, hence it was donated for my project. Lugging it across London was fun, after changing 3 buses and Vedika holding onto the other end of the roll.The fabric was washed and left overnight in a bath of detergent and soda ash. Next it was dipped in a solution of Harde or myrobalan so that it may produce a better color at the end. Once dried, it was printed on with a mixture of Alum and Tamarind Seed powder. Once dried, it was dipped in a dye bath of Dhavri ka phool, mahi, and Alizarine. Dhavri ka phool and mahi are indian names for different flowers. Alizarine is the synthetic form of madder. The combination of these three gave our fabric a coral coloration, however, we were attempting for Red. After further research, I found out that the PH of the level, if it is too acidic will produce coral colors and hence needs to be neutral to produce the right color. So, the solution to that is adding soda ash to bring the fabric to a neutral PH. With a dash of soda ash, the result was closer to what we wanted. We had gotten a good dark red. The ground however became purple...So the experiment is ongoing.
The darker fabric was first dipped in Iron water before being dipped in the dye bath, hence it has a darker coloration.
Pics of the block in order of development:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Day 3
White Flour.
I boiled white flour for about half hour mixing water into it. It smelled like dough. :)
There were lots of chunks in it, not fully smooth. Maybe it needed to be blended with a blender to get all the chunks out. But the consistency was quiet thin and with that the print came out more consistent as opposed to blotchy with the indalca. I even tried the indalca thinned out, but the color didn't transfer from that.It printed a light color. The Henna printed darker than the Rosewood. But all in all, it was an interesting day.
I liked the print on the silk the most when it was wet. Obviously when it got dry, it wasn't as contrasty but it was still visible and the fabric is somewhat stiff since we have not mordanted any of the fabrics.
Here are the pictures.
I boiled white flour for about half hour mixing water into it. It smelled like dough. :)
There were lots of chunks in it, not fully smooth. Maybe it needed to be blended with a blender to get all the chunks out. But the consistency was quiet thin and with that the print came out more consistent as opposed to blotchy with the indalca. I even tried the indalca thinned out, but the color didn't transfer from that.It printed a light color. The Henna printed darker than the Rosewood. But all in all, it was an interesting day.
I liked the print on the silk the most when it was wet. Obviously when it got dry, it wasn't as contrasty but it was still visible and the fabric is somewhat stiff since we have not mordanted any of the fabrics.
Here are the pictures.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9, 2010
This is day two of our natural dye experiment. I don't know what to say.
February 8, 2010:
We started with boiling St. John's Toad and Rose wood. We boiled for an hour, and then left it overnight. Amar printed a little with pigment.
February 9, 2010.
I put the St. John's Toad and Rose wood back on the burner for about 1 hour more. It reduced in quantity to about half of what we had started out with.
In the meantime we boiled two tbsp henna for 15-20 minutes, then mixed that with already mixed indalca. We did not strain the henna, so it was grainy when we printed with it.
Next we mixed our own indalca and made two batches. One plain Indalca, and second was with henna and indalca. The Indalca mixture was more thicker this time. We were trying to see what quantity was good for printing with. Something that could be applied to our ink bed easily and picked up smoothly by the blocks.
Result of henna + indalca: It was not grainy but instead botchy. The already mixed indalca produced a better finish.
Results of Indalca: After printing with plain indalca which was to act as a resist when we dye it. We dyed in chemical dye just to see quick results. We dyed it a bright blue just so we could see the contrast of the resisted white cotton against the blue dye. Success. It looks like batik. I am happy.
February 8, 2010:
We started with boiling St. John's Toad and Rose wood. We boiled for an hour, and then left it overnight. Amar printed a little with pigment.
February 9, 2010.
I put the St. John's Toad and Rose wood back on the burner for about 1 hour more. It reduced in quantity to about half of what we had started out with.
In the meantime we boiled two tbsp henna for 15-20 minutes, then mixed that with already mixed indalca. We did not strain the henna, so it was grainy when we printed with it.
Next we mixed our own indalca and made two batches. One plain Indalca, and second was with henna and indalca. The Indalca mixture was more thicker this time. We were trying to see what quantity was good for printing with. Something that could be applied to our ink bed easily and picked up smoothly by the blocks.
Result of henna + indalca: It was not grainy but instead botchy. The already mixed indalca produced a better finish.
Results of Indalca: After printing with plain indalca which was to act as a resist when we dye it. We dyed in chemical dye just to see quick results. We dyed it a bright blue just so we could see the contrast of the resisted white cotton against the blue dye. Success. It looks like batik. I am happy.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Dye Workshop
February 6, 2010 - Vauxhall City Farm.
I attended a dye workshop with Amar, where we got to learn informally about the natural dye process. It made a little bit more sense seeing it as opposed to just reading about it in books. We dyed wool yarn in Weld, Tansy, and Golden Rod.
First we put our yarn in a mordant, alum, which can be found in local supermarkets. We simmered the yarn in boiling mordant water for 45 minutes. This can also be done overnight in cold water and alum. After the mordanting process, we put the yarns in three different dye baths. Those were then simmered for 30 minutes. The results of those were:
1. weld - bright yellow
2. tansy - yellow green
3. golden rod - orange yellow.
Overall a good experience. Can't wait to try it ourselves in the dye workshop in the college. Don't know how successful we will be because we have to make a concentrate of the dyes. As in, take the dried marigold and boil and simmer it for 1 - 2 hours to get a concentrate before thickening it will indalca or manutex, a seaweed thickener.
I attended a dye workshop with Amar, where we got to learn informally about the natural dye process. It made a little bit more sense seeing it as opposed to just reading about it in books. We dyed wool yarn in Weld, Tansy, and Golden Rod.
First we put our yarn in a mordant, alum, which can be found in local supermarkets. We simmered the yarn in boiling mordant water for 45 minutes. This can also be done overnight in cold water and alum. After the mordanting process, we put the yarns in three different dye baths. Those were then simmered for 30 minutes. The results of those were:
1. weld - bright yellow
2. tansy - yellow green
3. golden rod - orange yellow.
Overall a good experience. Can't wait to try it ourselves in the dye workshop in the college. Don't know how successful we will be because we have to make a concentrate of the dyes. As in, take the dried marigold and boil and simmer it for 1 - 2 hours to get a concentrate before thickening it will indalca or manutex, a seaweed thickener.
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