Cherokee Syllabary Cherry Silk Scarf

Here's an interesting new design.  I made this silk scarf using syllables from the Cherokee language.  I won a benefit auction for a used working Nacho Cheese heater, and converted it to a soy wax heater.  I keep the was there all of the time, and when I am planning to do soy wax resist batiking, I flip the switch.  Like a double-boiler the water heats the wax to a low melt, and I don't have to fiddle with the dangerous microwave in my utility room-slash-art studio.  I rarely work in reds, but was making a peppermint swirl tiedye tee for a custom order and had prepared the soy wax resist lettering in advance.  This is made using analine dyes of 3 blended shades of red, so it has shading and is not just a solid vat red.

Most of the clothes in stores is made from cloth which was vat-dyed.   The cloth goes thru a batch of dye and is highly agitated (although not mad ) in order to achieve a consistent monotone of color.  If you've a friend who tells the same joke over and over, you can appreciate how I feel about solid monotone colors.  It is just boring.  It is done because vat dyeing looks better when fabric is dyed before the clothing is constructed.  Or, only after clothing is constructed does nonvat dyeing "look right."  Basically, its easy, quick and cheap to vat dye... if you're doing millions of, ie, yards.

Much more time-consuming and thus expensive is anything ombred (ohm-burred) where the colors shift like watercolor, or tied and dyed as in tiedye and mudme.  This scarf was time-consuming because of making each syllable and its pronunciation.  (Not all Cherokee Syllables are there.  My chart shows 13 rows of 6 columns and some columns have 2 syllables as in Ga Ka and Dla Tla.).  The dyeing itself was rather simple compared to some dyes I use which are prepared with exotic stuff like inner bark, heartwood, fungus, bugs and the like.

This sweet cherry scarf is being listed at Island Retreat on etsy.  You will find a link on the right, perhaps to this very scarf if it is listed.

If you would like to receive notice when I post something new, subscribe to my rss feed and you'll get my blog as an email.

Mudme Natural-Dyed Scarf

Mudme Natural Dyed Scarf

Mudme is a Thai technique for making great multi-colored tiedyes, by coloring bound objects which are then removed.  You can see I used a roundish shaped object (a rock) for the tie on this one, and instead of the traditional multi center, I used a soy wax resist to keep the white silk.  It is an imperfect process, and that is what makes this work so very intriguing.  Each scarf is a work of art, unlike any other.  There are so many uncontrollable variables which are interdependent.  For instance, the Madder Root dyestuff I was using had been reheated several times and was almost dust and twigs in the bottom of the pot when I sat it outside.  Then it rained and I thought for sure I'd get pale tones because the root was both exhausted and diluted.  But no.  You never know.  This one came out bright and just the color of fresh salmon.  Was it because oak flowers had fallen in?  Who knows!  There is a huge amount of serendipity in the process, and that's fun!

Silk, hand-dyed with natural madder root using vegan soy wax resist in a nontraditional mudme technique.  This scarf will be for sale at Oklahoma Food Coop and perhaps on etsy.  To buy it you can notify me by email.  $18 and that's a bargain!

Cherokee Quilt Concept- In my DNA

I just finished these wonderful marbled Cherokee Syllabary strips.  Each strip is 45 inches long.  Starting with a plain white cotton, I use soy wax batik to creat a resis, and then practice my Cherokee syllables along with the pronunciation.  Long ago, young girls would learn to embroider by creating an alphabet sampler in satin stitch or cross-stitch.  I've employed the same learning tool to help my ability to read the Cherokee language.

At present, this is not yet a quilt top.  I was just so excited about the pop-art effect that I had to share it.  The calico between hand-dyed strips gives a 3-D depth effect.  This one will be a corker to sew, if those starry little dots don't hold still! 

This top will be $100 as a top only, in the bed size of your choice.  Or it will be $450 fully finished with custom machine quilting, several options for loft and batting content, a choice of stiff like those nice quilts our grandmothers had which lay beautifully or puffy like a comforter, and any cotton backing that you fancy.  This quilt would make a wonderful "Going Away To College" quilt for some special Cherokee student who needs the hug of home while out there in the big old world.  So if you have a May graduation gift to choose, contact me at ktibbits@lrec.org for details.  Yes, you can make payments. 

Mad Hatter Bandana, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland

 

Here's a quarter-section of detail from another Alice In Wonderland-inspired fun piece of wearable art.  It is a soy wax batik resist cotton bandana in a dreamy kaleidoscope of colors.  Everyone should have a bandana.  tie it on your backpack or day sack and you'll always have something to carry pretty rocks in.  Stop by a mountain stream and wet it down for a neckerchief cooler that is good as an air conditioner in the backwoods.  Gather radishes and baby greens in it.  Clean a geocache with it.  Summon a helicopter when lost.  Wave it at a Saints game.  Wear it to Alice in Wonderland.  Pull your hair back.  Or, if you don't have hair, then the curls on this bandana are a colorful suitable alternative.

One only.  $15 includes shipping.  Artisan original.  Look for more items of this nature at Fluffy's Compleat Boutique in the Oklahoma Food Co-op.  Or visit some of the 3 etsy shops by clicking one of my items for sale in the righthand margin of this blog.

Mad Hatter Scarf, for Alice in Wonderland

I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp as an actor, because he brings so much depth to his roles.  Thus I'm in major suspense until Alice in Wonderland comes out, in early March (about the 5th).  Again he teams up with Helena Bonham Carter, who was just delightful in Sweeney Todd.

So here, we tried to make up costumes for Halloween last fall, based on the film trailers that had just come out for the movie.  But alas, a costume error on my part for the Red Queen costume plus dreadful weather and not enough time... and we gave up our plans.  However, I did manage to simulate that great Mad Hatter bowtie in a china silk scarf.  It was batiked with soy resist and then hand-dyed.

I am going to be listing this great little ditty at my Island Retreat etsy site when I get around to it.  If you'd like it, email me at ktibbits@lrec.org .  It is $15 and can be hand-washed in warm water and towel dried.

I love to hand-dye custom pieces, so if you have an inspiration, just let me know and I'll make it up for you.