Wisteria silk dyed kimono

Here's a peek at the completed kimono jacket.

Parts of a garment being silk dye painted

These are the front/back and left/front sides of a short kimono in crepe de chine. The sleeves will be done next, along with the front collar pieces. Then steamed, etc, etc. Hope it turns out! Never have done a large garment piece before. Two plastic sawhorses with wooden stretchers taped to them are holding up the larger frame. It's taking up my entire living room at the moment. I'm running out of space in the house, so I think I'll throw out more furniture :)

If you click on the pics, they will enlarge. Once I get the main wisteria blooms painted, and then the vines and leaves, I'll probably add more to these panels. The background was mottle-dyed in a very light dusty lavender color so that my gutta lines wouldn't be stark white.

More sample testing

Sorry about the crease lines, but the top one was a practice piece using only black dye and water. The bottom one was done watching 4 hours of Miss Marple on PBS.

Testing design possibilities

Just seeing how far I can layer the gingko leaf before I lose its image.

Something old

Here's a recycled table I painted a sea turtle on with acrylics. It was about 12 years ago I did this.

I painted this from a photo and I have no idea why the back legs don't show, but this is what the photo looked like. The painting is holding up still because of several coats of clear coat.

What I've been working on.

I finally had a moment to load the camera software, so here are some pics of a few things I've been working on. The first is a test for a little pouch, hoping the patterns will match if I did it right. It'll get sewn up with a lining. Then a throw pillow that hasn't been sewn up yet and a yellow peony scarf. All the beautiful greens and flowers blooming right now is obviously influencing my color choices.

What are you passionate about?

Thank you Christine for this award! See Christine's amazing work by clicking on her name on the sidebar. I'm supposed to list 7 things I'm passionate about:

1: I LOVE working with clay, especially sculpture. It's the ultimate in playing in mud.

2: I LOVE working with silk dyes. The dyes on fibers are amazingly beautiful and the way the dyes flow along the fabric is a joy to work with.

3: I LOVE oil painting. Although very time consuming, it is a rewarding medium to work in.

4: I love being surrounded by beauty, or making everything around me beautiful. Unfortunately I have a lot of clutter in my environment right now, but there is color everywhere around me.

5. I love animals, especially cats and dogs.

6. I am passionate about being curious, learning, questioning.

7. Travel. Although I don't do as much anymore, however when I did, I enjoyed meeting people.

Today and yesterday I was able to be productive. Even with the itchy hives, I managed to make "sample" silk paintings for teaching silk. One is a small piece done only with black dye for the "Oops! I only have black dye!" challenge and the other is a piece on the differences between colors mixed with black and not mixed with black.

Nothing to post

My computer crashed, I'm struggling with the new one, I've lost my email addys, files, and bookmarks, I broke out in hives, rodents chewed up the wires in my car, oh well....at least it's interesting. And I really can't complain compared to the blizzards, the floods, and all the other stuff going on in the world.

On the other hand, I taught my first class at Chastain Arts Center Tuesday and we had fun. The students did some wonderful paintings and a fun "learn color mixing" scarf. Next week we have a "use only black dye" challenge. And other fun lessons.

All is blooming here in Atlanta (yes, acchooo, too!) and absolutely beautiful (acchoo again!).

Still painting the larger scarf

It's still not too late to sign up for class!

It's not too late to sign up for the silk dye painting class on Tuesdays from 10am-1pm for ten weeks.


You can go to the Chastain Arts Center website http://www.ocaatlanta.com/ or call to sign up at 404 252-2927. Personally, it's easier for me to call than to go on the website.

If you go to their website, click on "Programs and Services."